Heaven and Hell

TWO

B E F O R E H E W A S D E A T H

-----

BEFORE THE SUN had set, Lucifer had sent out a new job for Lucius to accomplish. The latter found it as good old karma, for it was just mere hours ago when he had sort of laughed at his best friend for having a work overload. Nevertheless, Lucius had always never been one to complain. He liked his job fairly well and did it with equal amounts of passion and duty. It was something in which he took pride in, after all.

His task was fairly simple. Instead of simply weaving the lights today, he was ordered to pass the rays of sunlight through the several gardens located in Heaven. It was reported that the sunlight had not reached some of the flowers because of the tall soothing shade provided by the canopy of great trees spread out across the lands. It was a simple assignment, and as usual, Lucius took it with a smile on his face for he knew that he could accomplish it rather easily. Not that he would dare to refuse a job even if it took up much of his time, of course. He knew his position and he had no further qualms about it.

And so, Lucius set out at the beginning of his journey across Heaven's many gardens. The other angels of nature did not give much a care to Lucius's sudden entrance into their domain. After all, they were all part of one big family and there was nothing to worry about. It was only when he had reached the last garden, conveniently located just a little north of Heaven's Falls had someone asked him something.

The North Garden was significantly colder than the other few in which Lucius had visited today. It was the only garden placed in the far north of Heaven's Falls and though it had not reached extreme climates and was still warm enough for the growth of flora, Lucius could still feel the edges of his hair stand up from the change in temperature.

When he had neared the garden, the first thing in which he noticed was that this particular place had a lack of angels. Only four particular angels stood out, all male, all slacking. One of the angels in the garden had been the dark skinned man that was with Adelia the night before, and this made Lucius frown just the slightest in confusion. Wasn't the angel that of the night? What was he doing out and about during the day?

Lucius landed on the soft grassy plains, his wings folding gently behind him the very second in which he touched the ground. As if sensing a disturbance in the garden, all four of the angels jolted awake from their seemingly-nap, eyes wide and very much open with full attention. The first angel that got up was a man with pale skin and contrastingly dark hair. His wings were heavy behind him, the same color as compared to the strange white-haired angel in which Lucius had seen last night; black feathers from the spine and slowly trailing off to white in a delightful ombre. With every step he made, flowers bloomed around his feet, as if following after him. After a closer look, Lucius deduced that the flowers were all the same kind: chrysanthemums.

"What brings a day angel such as yourself here?" He asked, one eyebrow raised and arms folded across his chest. Lucius thought he saw boredom flitter across this angel's features, and to that, Lucius's frown deepened just the slightest once more.

"I was sent here by Lucifer. He said that the flowers needed more sunlight due to the shade provided by nearby trees. I am here to see to that request," said Lucius.

"Such an odd request that is." From behind the first angel, another spoke. This man had hair as red as the fire that blazed on the sun. It was not quite the bright glow of sunlight that Lucius weaved, but rather the red that resembled dying embers of a hearth. He had a warm sunkissed skin tone, freckles dotting nearly every inch of his skin and his eyes were as red as blood. "No need for it. As you can see, we can handle things here ourselves fairly well."

"Now, now, Wilhelm, that is not the proper way to treat visitors to the gardens." The dark-skinned man from the night before clicked his tongue, his eyes sparkling mischievously in the shade. "We welcome you with open arms to the North Garden. Please, my name is Calvin. This is Wilhelm," he points to the red-haired angel, "Dimitri," and now to the first angel, "and lastly, Fabian."

Lucius whirled around to see where Calvin had pointed off towards. The sight that had met him was an angel sprawled across an exposed tree root. His cheekbones were so sharp that Lucius was almost sure that it could slice through flesh if he tried. His eyes were dark, long eyelashes shaping them and he had hair identical to that of Dimitri's. In fact, they looked so very similar that it made Lucius pause for a moment to decide on how to differentiate the two. After a few more seconds of awkward and rather blatant staring, he had decided that it was not that difficult.

"Do what you must, I suppose." Waving a nonchalant hand, Dimitri slowly walked back into the shade in which the large oak tree had provided. "Not too much sunlight, though. We do not want to dry up my flowers, now, do we?"

Lucius couldn't decide if Dimitri's sentence had been used in a mocking tone or not. However, Lucius did not spend time pondering. Instead, he began his work, lightly curving his fingers as light began to gather at the tips, weaving like thread into a radiant ball of pure solar energy. Slowly, he dropped the ball onto a patch of land, watching as it spread across an area of the field in a bright flare of light.

From beside Lucius, Dimitri's jaw dropped with a soft gasp. He had not seen a day angel at work before, and though he might never admit it, their work seemed more like an art form than an actual responsibility.

After a few more repetitions of the previous movement, Lucius sighed in content, bright and pure happiness filling him when he noticed the flowers standing just a little bit taller. Though the difference was small, it was still a difference made.

"Thank you very much, I guess." Offering Lucius a smile, Dimitri nodded once. "Know that you are welcome back in the North Garden again anytime."

With that, Lucius took off with a powerful beat of his wings, soaring through the air with a smile still on his contented features. If he had anything to say about it, Lucius had just made a few new friends. And of course, it was always better to have more allies than enemies.

The setting sun's rays were soft around him, enveloping his very body in the warm glow that would be gone for almost 12 hours. Nevertheless, Lucius did not fret and complain like how he normally would've. Now, there was something else to look forward to in the night.

This chapter is dedicated to heartingly for the beautiful cover. Thank you so much ahhhh!

Vote, comment and share. ♥

And here we see the entrance of a certain bae hehe. Dimitri's past will also be revealed in time.

Until next time. ✩