Dr. Sofos Kotos - the Devil. He has taken the personage of a world-renowned Greek geneticist in order to win a wager made with God. His name, Sofos Kotos, contains the Greek word for darkness, or skotos, as well as the Greek word for "wise one," sofos. He convinces a young student to enter into a pact with him who helps him win the wager.

Chrysostomos Fotou - this story's Faust. He is the young Greek exchange student who enters into a pact with the devil in order to satiate his desire to find the truth behind human existence. He is an orphan whose parents seem to have been very religious, though he shows few signs of following a religious worldview. His name means "of golden mouth" in Greek, indicating his extraordinary oratory capabilities.

Sotiri Wagner - this story's version of the legendary apprentice to Faust, is Chrys's Greek-American roommate during his college years who eventually becomes his best friend. After the demise of Chrys, he begins to write the "Synthesis" work that we assume nullifies all of the devil's efforts, even though the devil has already won the wager with God. His first name comes from the Greek word sotiria, which means spiritual salvation - i.e. that which he wishes to bring to the world through his work.

God - appears briefly in the first two scenes. He is emphasized as a constant creator who is always interacting with the world he governs. Through His actions, as well as the Devil's, we see that the story follows a very dualist aspect of good versus evil.

Jesus - marks the first scene. It is implied that Satan played some role in His death, though we are never sure what it was. His Second Coming would mark the apocalypse, according to Christian doctrine, which is the outcome that Satan hopes for, should he win the wager with God.

Other characters that are mentioned only fleetingly in the first few scenes are philosopher and historian David Hume and pioneer geneticist Barbara McClintock. Their purposes are to simply shed light on the thoughts and decisions Satan is making in his pursuit of victory in the wager.

Chronology of Scenes:

Scene 1 - the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Satan stood before Jesus as he was dying, with a pointed beard hiding his sinister smile, and a dark cloak. The moment before His death Jesus made eye contact with Satan, at which point Satan grinned slyly, indicating his involvement in Jesus' demise. As Satan walked away from the deceased, he noticed a white haired, white bearded old man sitting on a large stone and immediately recognized him as God. A conversation ensued between the two in which God stated that the kingdom of truth would just now begin to flourish, beginning with the death of Jesus. We once again see that, in the words of Goethe, Satan is truly "part of that Power which eternally wills evil and eternally works good." By taking part in the killing of Jesus, Satan paved the path for the resurrection, the most symbolic occurrence in Christian history.

Scene 2 - took place in the realm of the supernatural, somewhere in a higher dimension imperceptible to mortals. The scene is analogous to the Prologue in Heaven of Goethe's Faust. God and the Devil were speaking of the implications of the death and resurrection of Jesus. God asserted that Jesus' life, death, and resurrection made evident His presence in the Universe, and so long as man strove for the deeper meanings of life, He would always be acknowledged and never doubted. A wager was then made between the two supreme beings on this point. The terms of the wager were the following: Satan bet that by 2000 years after the death of Jesus, he would have convinced half of the world's population that God does not exist. The mere thought of such a thing angered God, but, knowing the true nature of how the Devil functioned, He willingly accepted the bet. As Satan journeyed back to the world, he pondered the possible outcomes of the wager, should he win. He thought to himself that, should he be successful, the only possible way God could negate his evil doings would be the apocalyptic Second Coming. Should this occur, Satan pleasingly thought to himself, the kingdom of the underworld would expand tremendously.

Scene 3 - mid 18^th century, on a grassy hilltop somewhere in England, Satan realized that his efforts thus far had not been substantial. There was not much hope in these times of disproving the existence of God. In his hand he held a sheet of paper with a quote by David Hume that read:

The last sentence of this quote struck Satan as a very novel view. Should he convince the world that he, the devil, did not exist, then humanity would be forced to believe in a God that was truly malevolent. How else could they explain all of the evil that existed? The realization then occurred to Satan that to argue on such philosophical grounds would lead to nowhere. For instance, the Jews had always believed in the vengeful God of the Old Testament. Other approaches aside from philosophical ones had to be taken in order for him to succeed.

Scene 4 - early to mid 1930's, an invisible Satan went to one of the premier learning institutions of America, Cornell University, searching for some insight that would help him gain ground in his struggle to beat God. As he whisked his way through numerous classrooms and student gatherings, he eventually found himself in the laboratory of geneticist Barbara McClintock who was currently undertaking the task of proving the theory that physical exchange between chromosomes was the cause for genetic recombination. Fascinated by the diligent work of Barbara and her co-workers, Satan became enthralled by the concepts and methods of their studies. In trying to figure out why it was that these people were so absorbed in their work, Satan read a thought of one of the younger research assistants: "If genetic material is the basis of our lives, then where is there a place for God?" It is at this point that Satan comprehended the true power of an objective worldview on the meaning of humanity. Such a worldview concerns itself with the tangible, that which can be proved or disproved before the eyes of humanity. The natural sciences, of which genetics is one of the most influential, have been successful throughout modern history in erasing most of the subjective features of the world in search of an objective reality. Satan had found his science.

Scene 5 - move-in day at Harvard University, September 1^st, 2025. Chrysostomos Fotou entered his narrow, double-bedded dormitory room and unpacked his things. A picture of his parents was mounted next to a box of their old belongings with the words "Seek And Ye Shall Find" engraved on it (another mention of striving). The box fell to the ground and a variety of religious icons and jewelry scattered all over the floor. Chrys looked at his late father's cross for a short moment and then put everything back into the box. He met Sotiri Wagner moments later and after they were neatly situated in the room, they spent the rest of the night talking about themselves, their beliefs, and their ambitions. It is in this scene that we discover that Chrys is a self-proclaimed atheist whose main interest lies in the study of the sciences, while Sotiri is oppositely a very spiritual person who wishes to study the world's religions in order to get a stronger understanding of the spiritual realm and its effects on people.

Intermediate scenes - we see the progression of both students through their first year of college. Their friendship grew tremendously, mainly due to the deep conversations they had on an almost daily basis about the true nature of human existence and the existence of God. Chrys became more and more frustrated in that he could never disprove Sotiri's arguments, while Sotiri found Chrys' arguments so difficult to disprove that instead of trying to argue against them, he silently began to try and find an amiable medium between the two arguments, to come up with a synthetic worldview of two opposite ones.

Scene 6 - the first day of class, 2^nd semester sophomore year. After attending class Chrys sat in his room wondering whether or not to continue pursuing a career in biology. He was displeased mainly with the content of the knowledge he had acquired thus far in college, believing that he had gained no real insight on the meaning of life from his studies. As he watched television he found a documentary on the discovery channel whose title was "Genetics and the Human Genome Project." (an instance of self-reflexivity) To his delight, he found that the focus of the documentary was on Dr. S. Kotos, the world's premier geneticist, and his research at Harvard. Chrys' anticipation of attending that first class the next day was so great that he hardly slept that night.

Scene 7 - the next day in the Principles of Genetics lecture. Chrys was seated in the front row of a very dimly lit room where Dr. Kotos was lecturing. Most of the lights were out except for the light from the projection screen and a few others whose purpose was to allow the students to take sufficient notes. Chrys, like all of the other students, was completely absorbed by the intense teaching style of Dr. Kotos, who, after only the first day of lectures was already on the receiving end of a standing ovation from the students. As the students were leaving the room Dr. Kotos mentioned the availability of work-study jobs in his laboratory. As he mentioned the jobs his gaze was set directly on Chrys, who noticed immediately and was the first to sign up for a job.

Scene 8 - the devil's pact scene. The day after Dr. Kotos gave his famous lecture on the genetic basis of behavior, Chrys could barely concentrate on his work in the lab. His thoughts were constantly going back to the content of that lecture and the implications it would have on his worldview. Mainly, he could not stop thinking about the meaning behind the idea that all of our actions and behaviors are a result of our genes and our experiences in our environment. Dr. Kotos caught these thoughts and quickly came to his side, and without warning proceeded to ask the questions that were forming in Chrys' head at the time: "What place is there in this world for God? What purpose would He be serving by creating a world full of machines whose sole purpose is to perpetuate their own DNA?" Anxious to be able to address these questions and to know as much as he possibly can on this subject, Chrys jumps at the offer of Dr. Kotos, who promises that with his help, Chrys will be known as the most intellectually honest man on the planet for finally making our true reality as humans clear. Dr. Kotos' price for his duties was not at all unreasonable; he simply asked for Chrys' soul, something Chrys did not believe in anyhow. And so Chrys was deceived into a damned fate.

Intermediate scenes and Scene 9 - Chrys continued his studies of human genetics with fervent desire and chose to remain at Harvard for graduate work in the field as well. He received his Ph.D. in May 2032 and began teaching at Harvard as an assistant professor the next year. Sotiri had a similar fate. He was also accepted to Harvard for his graduate studies, and received his Ph.D. at the same as Chrys, only his was in the Philosophies and Theories of Religion. They were still the closest of friends and continued their deep conversations. Sotiri began teaching at the nearby Tufts University. Chrys now followed Dr. Kotos around the world where the two of them gave a series of lectures and public speeches on their studies. Chrys undertook the most difficult parts of the speeches, namely the probability of a gene for religion, the lack of human free will, and the possible moral and ethical implications of such a worldview. In all instances he was successful in getting his point across and making people believe in his words. Dr. Kotos was rejoicing the whole time, knowing that with the final stop on their journey in that year, a lecture at Oxford University in England, his goal would have been reached, and the wager won. The night before the lecture, Chrys had an odd dream that an old man with a white beard sat in one of his lectures and repeated incessantly the word "repent." Thinking nothing of it, Chrys gave the final lecture, unknowingly winning the wager for Satan. The date was April 9^th, 2033; two weeks before the bet was officially over.

Scenes 10 & 11 - Chrys' realization and death. Having returned home from England the next night, Chrys went directly home and to sleep. That night he had another dream. In this one Chrys found himself confronted by his parents, both of who were pleading with him to leave the devil and save his soul. Their voices were so piercing that their final cry of "Repent!" awoke him immediately. Having suddenly been overcome with the terrifying realization that the devil had swindled him into entering a pact, he panicked and called up Sotiri. Sotiri spent that night and the next 10 nights consoling his friend. The first night alone left Chrys in a state of utter despair, so for the sake of his physical and spiritual well being, he prayed to God for his forgiveness, took hold of his father's old cross, wrote a note describing his deception by Kotos, and took his own life by jumping out of his apartment window. The date was now April 20^th, 2033; 2000 years after Jesus died on the cross.

Scene 12 - Chrys' funeral was held on Easter Sunday. The eulogy was given by Sotiri. In it he mentioned the story of his friend's demise, from start to finish. Satan was present the entire time, seated in the back row of the church, with an ecstatic smile on his face, the same face he wore to the crucifixion of Jesus. He knew that he had won the bet. He was just waiting to see what the Almighty's reaction was going to be. The grin was wiped clean off of the Devil's face as Sotiri spoke of his discussions with Chrys, and how they had helped him form a new worldview on humanity; one that takes into consideration the objective and mechanistic principles that govern nature, but also one that points out the deepest possible understanding of reality. Sotiri's Eulogy ended with the following quote: "Our God is one who is continually creating, constantly involved in the workings of our world. The tools He uses to work His magic can be something as tangible as DNA, or something as profoundly spiritual in nature as the Devil himself." Satan was reminded once again that he would always be "part of that power which eternally wills evil and eternally works good." The day was April 23^rd, 2033; 2000 years after the resurrection of Jesus.