The two men wandered along the cliff, and the tallest stopped to check the height of the sun. He used his hand to guard from the light. It was nearing sundown, but the heat was sweltering.
"Hard to believe this was once this world's most magnificent Garden." He didn't look sad, just resigned.
The other one bent down and took a handful of sand in his palm. His dark eyes studied the glimmer of it from the sun.
"To see a world in a Grain of Sand, and a Heaven in a Wildflower."
He brushed his hands against his thighs. "Sometimes humans get it right. You know as well as I do that they had to leave that Garden. You can't blame me for that forever, Michael."
Michael kept staring at the vast plain, now only sand and rocks, but once the area was covered in colors.
"You ruined the whole plan, Father wanted them to obey, and then you came along with your smooth tongue." Michael's voice was tired, this was a never-ending discussion. Lucifer's eyes gleamed, he never tired of teasing his brother.
"Look at them; do you think they would have stayed there for long either way? And why shouldn't they have the knowledge? He created them in our image, we have managed OK knowing the difference between evil and good."
Michael blew his nose, "Some of us have. You have delighted in it. All I'm saying is that it wasn't our business interfering. Especially that early. That poor woman got all the blame."
"I know Daddy-o means he created the perfect habitat for them, but how could they know how good it was there when they didn't know of anything else? It's like keeping an animal captive and showing it off to your friends. Wrong, if you ask me."
"Take a look at the world, Lucifer. We both know this wasn't the ending that was planned. I have had so much work up through the years, centuries, millenniums, just because you wanted some fun."
Michael turned to the horizon, where the sun was setting. How many times had he seen that? How many more times would he see that? Lucifer spoke silently beside him.
"How do you know this wasn't the plan?"
Michael blinked. "What do you mean?"
"Do you really think The Grand Old Man would let anything happen that he didn't approve of?"
"I am the oldest, I am trusted. He would have told me. What would you choose? Living in a little piece of Paradise on earth or in this chaos they call the Modern Age?!
Lucifer shook his head as he folded out his wings. "As opposed to you, I have faith. Faith that humans are capable of creating Paradise wherever they are. They just need to know that Hell exists."
Michael spread his wings, he had protected the world for so long. He could manage a bit more. Help someone find that piece of Paradise.
