Heaven Is A Place On......

Heterodox

Definition

1 : contrary to or different from an acknowledged standard, a traditional form, or an established

religion : ox

2 : holding unorthodox opinions or doctrines

It's true: individuals often see other people's ideas as unconventional while regarding their own as beyond reproach. The antonyms and heterodox developed from the same root, Greek doxa, which means "opinion." Heterodox derives from doxa plus heter-, a combining form meaning "other" or "different"; orthodox pairs doxa with orth-, meaning "correct" or "straight."

The Archangel Michelangelo stood in front of his subordinates dwelling and sighed. This was going to be a very unpleasant conversation and he was not looking forward to it.

His subordinate was brilliant and talented - their world architectural skills were second to none and much of the space that Heaven had carved out for themselves had been designed and created by them - usually the most beautiful and scenic parts. They truly were a visionary.

Unfortunately, some of the views they held on certain matters... didn't quite run alongside management's views on how things should be. It wasn't even, really, like they ran contrary to them either. They just sort of ran off in a completely unexpected direction and completely ignored what the rest of the population thought about things. Personally, Archangel Michelangelo wasn't bothered at all by his subordinates somewhat weird actions. From what he could see, they did no harm to anyone and keeping Heaven's best architect happy seemed like a good idea to him.

However, this was Heaven. The law was The Law. no dissention or break from the norm was tolerated. At all, as Lucifer and his cronies had found out centuries before. Everyone toed the line that might as well have been drawn in granite. Heaven was a harmonious eden and, by hook, crook or knife, it would stay that way.

No exceptions.

Archangel Michelangelo sighed again. This was not going to go well.

He knocked on the door of the modest house.

It was opened by a cranky angel, their hair sticking up every which way as if they'd been dragged through a hedge. In fact, Michangelo stared closer, there actually were various bits of flora stuck in it.

They were wearing a rather battered white coat - like doctors on earth wore (although he suspected theirs were much cleaner than the one currently being exhibited) and had a pair of flying goggles pushed back on their forehead. The multiple pockets of the coat were stuffed with a variety of treats, dog toys and laser pointers, along with a heck of a lot of other stuff he couldn't even identify.

Michangelo smirked. He couldn't help it. His subordinate looked exactly like the human's caricature of a mad scientist. (Michangelo had a secret love of the human's old b-movie horror films. These were definitely not Heaven's approved watch list and so he'd had to build a secret TV room in his basement that was rigged to self destruct if anyone but him or an invited guest entered it. Paranoid overkill? He'd worked in Heaven's managerial forces for millenia - he knew 100%, from personal experience, that no, this was not too paranoid.)

He tried smiling brightly at his subordinate. "Hi Stella, can I come in?"

They scowled at him, but stepped aside and let him pass into the house.

Which was not a house at all. In fact, the door led straight into a huge grassy area with a large lake bordered by an ancient forest. Mountains could be seen in the misty distance.