Heaven - Lucius
❝He was a love that became violent.❞
Hell - the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
❝In the midst of destroying chaos, they became it.❞
***
The heart betrays all. For Lucius, the betrayal that was served to him cost him the life of the o...
MAYBE IT WAS because Dimitri was not too used to the location just yet but he could not sleep well. In fact, all through the night, he could only toss and turn, his blood screaming loudly in his veins and his muscles contracting painfully. He could feel his body changing beneath the layer of skin that covered him and the thought of discarding who he was created as petrified him to no end.
In the morning, when the sun had finally shown mercy and risen high above the far away hills, Dimitri trudged out of bed with dark rings around his eyes and his back hunched. Fatigue decorated his face and when the four brothers met up in a gathering room in the north wing for breakfast, he spared no effort in sentimental salutations.
The table was already prepared with a spread of food and drinks fit for kings. It was a sight none of the four were used to since they were taught to live humbly when in Heaven.
"Are you feeling alright?" Calvin asked, his eyebrows furrowed. He had stopped mid-way in slicing up some mangoes, hands poised in the air and unmoving the second he saw Dimitri.
"You look..." Fabian hesitated, pursing his lips, "dead."
"Honestly, I feel like it as well," Dimitri confessed. He brought his fingers to his brows, pinching the bit of skin in between. Sluggishly, he dropped into an empty seat beside Wilhelm, leaning on the table for support. "I could not sleep at all."
"I could not even stop thinking about the chaos of heaven, much less catch a wink." From beside Dimitri, Wilhelm snorted rather ungratefully. "You are not the only one."
"He was badly injured when we found him, Wilhelm," Fabian chided. With great poise, he pierced a blueberry with his fork, chewing on the fruit slowly. Dimitri squinted at Fabian, not quite knowing how it was that he could still sit with such a perfect posture and not look tired one bit.
Wilhelm waved it off, rolling his eyes and fanning Fabian's comment away. As quickly as the topic came, it melted away with a new one. It was almost as if they had all silently agreed to never talk about it; not at the breakfast table, at least. The red-head leaned closer into the table, his voice dropping.
"Have you heard?" he asked.
"Heard what?" Calvin wrinkled his eyebrows, plucking at the grapes that sat on his plate.
"New species have been created. Rumor has it that the Almighty was devastated when he heard news of the destruction of Heaven and the death of his angels. His broken heart gave birth to a new era on the land that was once below us. On Earth. I heard the demons call them 'humans', 'mankind'."
"Beings created out of a broken heart," Fabian shook his head, muttering under his breath. "A tragedy just waiting to happen. A creation like that is unstable, volatile. Heartbreak will be all they know and can create."
"Creatures of destruction," Dimitri agreed.
"You give these new breed too little credit." Clicking his tongue in disagreement, Calvin wrinkled his eyebrows. "I've also heard something similar. And also that humans were created in memory of angels. They look almost like us, just without wings and without immortality."
"The remaining angels feared they might become rebellious if given the chance to live for too long. The more they prove their worth, the longer their lifespan will be. The gates of Heaven will be open to those who have died and were good in their life."
"And yet we will never be able to return," Dimitri sourly added. "While the angels embrace the new breeds, we will be tossed in a forsaken realm, forgotten and unwanted because they've branded us as demons for the loss of our wings. For something that we did not wish for."
"The world has changed, Dimitri." Fabian spoke quietly, his voice barely even audible from the echoes of Dimitri's madness. "We cannot blame them for changing too. And maybe that's a sign that we should too."
"In order to survive in Lucifer's stronghold, there's nothing else we can do other than change," Calvin agreed. "With an old mindset in a new foreign land, we are doomed. For now, this castle is a safe place. However, who knows when Lucifer will betray us?"
Dimitri's heart plummeted. It was true. Lucifer had betrayed Heaven, a place in which he had preached righteous lines and taught many other angels the way it worked. To the outside eye, Heaven might have been Lucifer's home but in reality, it was nothing but a pot that brewed his dark intentions. He could not say for certain how long Lucifer had been plotting to create the new realm of Hell but he was certain that such an extravagant and immensely traitorous act must have taken him years of cultivation and planning.
Silently, Dimitri began to wonder how long it would take for him to plan something similar. Perhaps he could usurp the throne in a few years, gather enough strength from the fallen angels that were trapped in Paradise and fight against Lucifer and his demon army.
"I know that look." Fabian frowned, shaking his head as he narrowed his eyes at Dimitri. "You are plotting something."
"Just innocent mindless thoughts," Dimitri casually replied, leaning back into his seat. "Nothing but daydreams that you shouldn't bother to concern yourself with."
"If anything, you are a thinker. Thinkers do not just dream up of mindless fancies without some content to them." Calvin shook his head, folding his arms across his broad chest. "I thought you trusted us better than to keep us in the dark."
"We four are brothers, Dimitri," Wilhelm chimed in. "There's no one else we can trust here. We only have ourselves."
Frowning, Dimitri's gaze drooped, falling to the table and over the silverware.
"It is not you that I do not trust. The walls will talk."
In perfect synchronization, the rest of the group had their lips formed into an 'o', heads lifting with understanding before pursuing their lips shut. If Dimitri didn't know better, he might have thought it was black magic that caused such harmony in their actions. Then again, they've been friends for years upon years and it was only inevitable that some traits and habits would be shared around the group.
"Then perhaps another place another time." Calvin shrugged. The legs of his chair scraped against the floor as he rose to his feet. "After all, it seems like we will be having a lot of the latter in the coming few days."
"How long do you reckon we will be staying here?" Fabian asked, getting up as well.
"Can't say," Calvin hesitated. "If we're lucky, months. Until then, we are just Lucifer's prisoners with a different title."
Lucifer had called them princes but the five of them all knew what they truly were.
False princes. Prisoners.
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