by Rue Volley
“I am fine, mother,” he said as he moved his head and broke her touch.
She grinned and glanced up at El, who smiled down on them, the sunlight forming a halo behind his head. She rose up as they all heard a voice behind them. Elohim stepped up and grinned at all of them. His wings stretched out to each side and arched, then tucked themselves behind him and disappeared from sight. He was a tall man, broad shoulders, chiseled jaw. His strength could be seen. El favored him as Lucifer favored his mother. She was smaller, but did not look weak. Her hair jet black and her face soft and gentle. Elohim had blonde hair as did El, shaggy and a bit disheveled. It suited both of them very well.
“My sons,” he said as Lucifer rose, but El reached their father first. Elohim placed his hand on El’s shoulder and stared into his eyes. He leaned into his ear and El laughed as Lucifer approached the two of them from behind. Elohim removed his hand from El’s shoulder and opened up his arms to Lucifer. He hated that, he always hated that his father would hug him and in turn greet his brother as a fellow warrior would.
“I am not a child,” Lucifer said as El turned and looked at him.
His father closed his arms and crossed them on his chest. “Well, you certainly had to be carried in as one.”
Both El and his father laughed, but Lucifer did not. The constant reminder of what he was not had started to wear on him. He knew that he should beat it back and take his rightful place in his father’s Guard, but this rivalry had beckoned him like a siren's song. He could not stop it, as you cannot stop the tide of the ocean. His father looked toward the skies and then back to El.
“We have things to discuss,” he said as he turned to walk away and El walked at his side. Lucifer started to follow the two of them and El turned and grinned at him.
“Mother will need help with dinner,” he said as Lucifer narrowed his eyes and his mother placed a hand to his arm. He sighed as he watched both his father and brother stroll off to the left and into the Garden of Light, a place where they often walked and discussed things of importance, things that Lucifer would love to be a part of. Things about the future of Moriah, the future of their people. He felt his mother’s fingers move on his skin and he turned to her gentle eyes. She stared at his face and then touched his cheek.
“You are not harmed then?” she asked and he shook his head ‘no’.
“Thanks to El, I will never know if that was to be my time of ascension.”
She pulled her hand from his face and her expression saddened. “You are so very young, ascension is for old men and women who have lived for a millennium.”
“Ascension is for warriors, many fell in the war, Mother, and some not much older than I am.”
“Lucifer, walk with me,” she said as she wrapped her arm in his and he reluctantly stepped forward as she headed for the house.
“If you have hatred in your heart for not being a part of the war, then you can hate me, do not hate your father or your brother. I asked them to exclude you.”
He stopped and turned to her. “What? Why? Why did you do that mother? You know I wanted to fight for Moriah, I wanted to wear the armor of the Helios Guard and take my rightful place at Father’s side.”
“Oh Lucifer,” she said quietly as she placed two hands to his face. “My love, you are not built for war, you are built for diplomacy. We all have our purpose and yours is not with a sword in hand.”
“You don’t know what my purpose is! Have you visited the House of Sight? The maidens who can foresee the future?”
She shook her head and looked into his eyes. Hers the exact same color and shape as his own. “A mother knows her children’s future, I do not need a charlatan to tell me, I see myself in you Lucifer. You are like me as El is like his father, I am not built for war, they are.”
He stepped back from her. “You do not know me, I am strong, I could have fought for you and for this world if you had not stolen it from me. I will probably never have a chance again to…”
She stopped him, her tone soft and even, never losing her temper, “To what? Prove what does not need to be proven, my son? Your father knows that you love him, so does El. Your love is enough.”
He pointed at her and yelled out. “That was not up to you to decide for me!” he turned and ran away from her as she called out his name. He spread his wings and took to the sky as she shielded her eyes from the two suns and three moons that filled it. His shadow slowly disappearing from her sight.
Chapter Two
False Prophet
“Well you look defeated.”
Lucifer turned and grinned as Ariel walked towards him. She was a girl who Lucifer had longed found solace in when he ran from home out of frustration. Her hair was bright red, long, braided over her shoulder. Her lips full, skin pale and eyes bright. She was an angel, just as they all were, but she had a gift of future sight, something his mother did not believe in and often mocked. Moriah was torn on how to utilize these angels’ skills, some depended upon their word and some ignored it. Lucifer had never asked Ariel to read his future and their friendship was much deeper than any other he had. He stood up and spread his wings out to his sides as she watched him. Her face soft, not unlike his mother’s. She stopped and stared at them.
“You are growing.”
He arched them and then pulled them in behind his back, tucking them away and not ashamed of showing them off.
“My mother stole my chance at glory.”
She laughed and stepped up to him. She looked into his eyes and then shook her head ‘no’.
“I see great glory in you, you are leader, but you have not realized it yet.”
He smiled and sat back down on the edge of cliff overlooking the vast Red Sea. Its color was caused by the algae that grew in it, the same algae that created the life-giving oxygen in the atmosphere. “You see things in me that I cannot see. It is also not what my father sees when he looks at me. He will never look at me like he does El.”
She sat down next to him and stared out at the Red Sea. “What purpose would it serve if we were all exactly the same? If we all went to war and killed? If we all thought one way? I would think that would be a fate worse than death.”
Lucifer sighed and turned to her as he studied her profile. Her face was beautiful, she had grown up so much over the past two-hundred years. They all had as the war waged on, but for the past few months, the war was no longer a focus and now they were all left with simply living and thinking about their true purpose. “Will you read me, I mean, really read me and tell me what I am created for? What am I to do now that war has ended and I have no chance of proving myself in that way?”
She sighed and looked down at her hands and then turned to him. She touched his face as the wind blew up and caught the small bits of her hair not bound in the braid. Her eyes were a beautiful blue, a color he could easily get lost in. His eyes lowered to her lips and suddenly he felt something new for her. Something he had never felt before. His first taste of love.
“I will not,” she whispered to him, he narrowed his eyes as they lingered on her beautiful lips.
“Why Ariel? Why will you not tell me?”
She took her hand from his face and then stared out at the sea. “I have never offered because…”
“What? Am I to die soon?” he asked and she looked back to him and smiled. “No, I don’t see death, I just…I see strength in you, but for some reason, I cannot see your future, I am sorry. I just cannot.”
He stood up and held his hand down to her as she took it and rose up. She ended up to close to his chest and he grinned at her, “Is it that you can’t see or that I make you nervous, Ariel?”
She took a long breath and leaned up close to his lips, “You flatter yourself.” She laughed as her wings spread wide and she went up into the sky. Lucifer laughed and spread his own wings as he chased her up into the clouds. She called out to him as he flew behind her.
“It would be best if you could actually catch your prey.”
/> He shook his head and bit his bottom lip. She dove close to the surface of the Red Sea and glided below him, her red hair falling from her braid and spreading out past the middle of her back. Lucifer flew above her and watched as her form mesmerized him. She was truly beautiful and it was not until that very moment that he realized how much so. He dove and ended up to next to her. He held his hand out and she took his and they glided across the surface of the water until a large creature, a Veeleon, which to humans would appear more like a black dragon, rose up out of the water simply to grab some air, its black scales dripping with red water and sunlight shimmering on the surface. Lucifer rolled and pulled Ariel to his chest as they veered off to the right, both laughing. She buried her face in his chest and then looked up at him as he leaned in and kissed her lips. His first kiss and the only one to ever haunt his soul.
***
Lucifer returned home hours later with Ariel, hand-in-hand. His mother stepped out of the house as he approached and she spoke with a sterner tone than usual.
“Where have you been?” she asked as Lucifer stopped and glanced at Ariel.
“With Ariel, we flew the Red Sea to the other shore and back.”
She stepped up to him and barely looked at Ariel. Her distrust or need in what she considered charlatans of their people was very clear. His mother was a gentle soul, but she hated war and the sight-seers had sanctioned it all. Telling of the coming invasion and that they would need to defend Moriah. She always felt as if diplomacy could have been a better solution, perhaps a deal to share their resources instead of selfishly keeping them to themselves. She was not the only angel who felt this way, there were many, but Elohim had always believed they should preserve their own, and therefore she followed as he led. She then turned to Ariel.
“You have grown.”
Ariel nodded to her. “Lady Castiel, it is very nice to see you again.”
“Well, I am sure my husband has sent my best to you as he visits The Mount.”
Ariel looked to Lucifer and then back to her, “He is always gracious my Lady.”
Lady Castiel hesitated and then looked to Lucifer. “You must be hungry.” Lucifer nodded and held onto Ariel’s hand as his mother looked down and saw it. “You are welcome to feast here this evening, Ariel.”
Ariel nodded to her as Lady Castiel turned and walked towards the golden house. Lucifer squeezed Ariel’s hand and glanced at her. “She does not hate you, she hates the future being told as if someone can read it.”
Lady Castiel stopped on the steps and turned back to the two of them. “Come,” she said as they followed and joined them all for dinner.
Lucifer sat down and Ariel sat next to him. Elohim sat at the head of the table, as always, and El to his right side. Lady Castiel took her seat to his left as both Lucifer and Ariel sat down the right side of the table. El stared at Ariel until Lucifer spoke up.
“Ariel and I…”
“What?” El said as he interrupted him.
Ariel grinned and parted her lips. “I wish to mate with Lucifer, he is a perfect match for me.”
Lucifer knocked his glass of wine over on the table as El grinned and Elohim raised an eyebrow. “Well, you certainly picked one who is brutally honest.”
Ariel grinned. “I think honestly and being forward best serves Moriah and its future, would you not agree my Lord?” she asked as El raised his glass to her and took a drink. He lowered the glass and stared at her.
“You do know he is a scholar and not a warrior?” he asked and Lucifer felt a bit of anger start to rise in him. Another glass of wine was served to him and he picked it up.
“The world is not completely built on fire and brimstone, brother.” El leaned back and narrowed his eyes as the words sounded more forceful than he had ever heard come from Lucifer’s lips before. Then he laughed and raised his glass, standing up and toasting the two of them.
“To peaceful and lasting unions,” he said as he placed the glass to his lips and drank of it, his eyes locked onto Ariel’s. She rubbed her neck and then took a drink as his attention to her was unsettling.
After dinner, they all retired to the large patio that sat along the back of the house and overlooked the Red Sea. Off in the distance, large black shadows could be seen breaking the surface as Veeleons rose from the depths to feed and find air. Ariel stood along the edge of the banister and her hair slowly moved with the wind as El stood with Lucifer and tapped him on the shoulder.
“I have to admit, I am impressed.”
Lucifer looked at him and then back to Ariel. “We have known her forever, we played as children, but suddenly…”
“Suddenly, she became more,” El said as he stared at her.
Lucifer turned to him. “Yes, much more. It was sudden and took my heart by surprise.”
El laughed, “Such is lust in men.”
Lucifer shook his head. “No, I don’t feel lust for her, it is more.”
El looked at him and shook his head. “Lust leads to mating, it is not love. Love happens decades after the initial rite and once grace is shared.”
“No, not for me,” he said as he looked back to her. “She is special, she has always been special to me and it was not until I kissed her that I knew.”
El stared at his profile and then back to her. “Was she sweet?”
Lucifer grinned and looked down, then back to his brother. “Sweeter than any honey.”
El looked back to her and took a long drink as Lucifer left his side and walked to Ariel. He stopped as she turned and her face lit up with a true smile. She was breathtaking and El had not noticed until now.
Chapter Three
Conquer and Divide
El stood in the dark room and stared at his brother as he slept. Lucifer looked peaceful as always and El took another drink of his wine and then lowered it. He walked up to the bed and reached down, touching Lucifer's shoulder and shaking him awake. Lucifer looked up at him through blurred eyes and spoke, his voice cracking. “El? What is it?”
“I want to show you something,” he said to him as Lucifer pushed himself up and stared at him.
“Are you alright?”
El nodded and drank the rest of his wine then tossed the glass aside. It crashed to the floor and shattered next to the wall. Lucifer stared at it and then back to him.
“Come,” he said as Lucifer pushed from his bed and followed him out of the house and into the night air. El stopped and then stared up at the night sky, it was filled to the brim with stars, too many count. The three moons hung low, one large and two smaller flanking it, farther off in the distance. Lucifer rubbed his neck and stepped up next to his brother and then stared upward as he was. El reached up and pointed a finger at a section of the sky.
“Do you see that cluster of stars?”
Lucifer cleared his throat as he narrowed his eyes to see it. An angel’s sight is much more powerful than that of any other creature. Seeing farther, and with better accuracy, than anything else that existed in the universe.
“I see them,” he said, his speech still sounded quiet with sleep.
El turned to him and grinned. “I am being sent there, by Father.”
“What?” Lucifer said as he looked at him and then back to the cluster of stars.
El smiled and then placed his hand on his shoulder.
“Yes, we are in need here on Moriah, no one knows this, but I do, Father told me. The iron is running low and we have to have more.”
“But the war is over.”
El shook his head, his expression hardening. “The war is never over, just because we defeated the invaders does not mean that more will not come.”
“So he is sending you there to collect?”
El nodded to him. “Not only to collect, to conquer.”
“What?”
“Lucifer, you do not know of these things, as you are a scholar not a warrior and I know that Father has never confided in you, but our planet….our planet is dying.”
Lucifer stared at him in horror, “What do you mean, Brother?”
El went on, knowing that Lucifer was desperate to know. “That solar system has one planet that is much like our own. It is inhabited with creatures, in our own image, placed there by Father for future use. But, they are a barbaric lot, they murder and pillage, they are not righteous in this as we are. War is but their way, as ours is for survival.”
Lucifer took a breath and then asked everything he knew that he should. “You say Father placed them there, what do you mean El? He created them?”
El nodded to him. “They look as we do, but they are wingless and cannot take to the skies, they have something we need Lucifer, they have an energy inside of them, a grace that we need to harness. War has weakened our grace from decades of fighting, and their world is rich with iron and water, too. We must have all of it.”
Lucifer looked down at his hands. “So, Father planted the seeds of life and now wants to harvest it.”
“Yes, Brother, he does.”
Lucifer looked up at him. “Why tell me this, why now?”
“Because I want you to come with me, to stand at my side and help me in this mission. It will take time, but I want you there with me, along with a battalion of Helios Guard.”
“You do not think these creatures will not fight to retain their world and their grace as we have?” Lucifer asked.
El stared up at the stars again. “When we show ourselves to them, they will kneel before us. To them we will be saviors, gods…they will not question it and those who do, will perish.”
Lucifer shook his head and stepped back from him. “We do not enslave, we defend. That is the code of the Helios Guard. We don’t conquer and divide El, we only do as we need to.”
“You are a foolish child, Lucifer, if you think that war is not necessary, war is all that I have ever known and all that has saved us and our people. It is because of war that we are safe here, it is not because of reasoning, as mother would like to fill your head with. Peace is created by war, by strength…not of weakness. I thought of all angels, you would understand this best.”
