With a flutter of wings, God's most beloved archangel found himself in a place he'd never been before. It was... beautiful. The scent of nature and the sweet breeze filled the air. The atmosphere was tranquil, not even the sounds of birds and the ruffling of leaves able to disturb such a peaceful setting.
The angel's eyes scanned over every perfect detail, filling him, not with peace, but with confusion. Why would his father keep this place secret from him? Why would he go to such great lengths to hide it?
The sound of a footstep triggered an automatic response from Lucifer, cloaking his angelic form from view, completely invisible to any being that may be nearby. Oddly enough, however, he felt no power in this garden - no angelic power, anyways. And he knew his father wasn't here. He was certain to make sure Father was busy with other problems in heaven before coming here. So... who- or rather - what was here?
Lucifer merely observed two beings, heart full of curiosity and nothing more, frolicking among nature, talking in a language he didn't immediately understand, before his grace corrected that, allowing him to overhear their conversation. Well, the best he could, anyway. He didn't quite understand some of what they were saying. They seemed like peaceful beings, to say the least.
But that only begged the question: why were they a secret from him? What was so special that they had to be a secret?
He only continued to observe them, now looking beyond their physical forms. He saw something he'd never quite seen before... It was almost like angelic grace, but... not. It seemed to be their very essence. Everything that made them... them. It wasn't, necessarily, their life force, so he observed, as their physical body didn't seem to rely on this foreign substance. It was more in the mind. This... thing... was capable of such terrible things. He could see it. Unending sin and destruction... pain and tyranny. It rested deep within them - that capability - and it set him on edge.
And then it hit him like a train. Why, of course. That's why they were secret. Dad was growing tired of the archangels... they were going to be put away in favor of these new... toys! These things were capable of anything! Dad was going to get rid of them!
Anger and panic flooded his system, making him practically unable to think of what to do next. Michael knew these things existed, so why the hell hadn't he done anything about it! Oh, of course - Michael was so blindly loyal to Father that he would never dream of such a betrayal. That's why Father had kept it secret. Because Lucifer would see the truth!
Without hesitation, he flew back to his heaven, the trees and the lake doing nothing to calm his nerves, for once. He was angry. He was so, so angry. The emotion was too much, and he took it out physically on a tree, punching it just once, which caused the bark to crack, and the tree to topple as he screamed out in frustration. Normally, Lucifer would care greatly about the well-being of his forest, but he was far too gone for that.
Who could he trust? Who had the strength to oppose their father? Who could see this obvious betrayal as well as Lucifer? Not Raphael. Not Gabriel. They were far too young and inexperienced. None of the lesser angels would stand a chance.
He knew it would be difficult to pry Michael's loyalty away from Father, but he had to try. It was their only chance. This was the end of the archangels - no - all angelkind. Lucifer couldn't stand idly by and watch this happen.
And so, Lucifer disappeared, in search of his beloved older brother.
To be continued...
