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Azaliah wiggled her feet slowly on the waters in the fountain. She watched the ripples intently even though her mind was on something far more important. And scary.
She sighed and used her hands to cover herself in fear.
Kill Lucifer? Lucifer? Her? She? Of all people they had to choose her. When she said she wanted to know her purpose, she was sure she referred to doing certain tasks in heaven like her guardian Nahamani or even Aleph not go and kill over a billion years old spirit.
What in God's kingdom will make them come up with something like that?And why her? What happened to Michael or Beth? What happened to the warriors in heaven that have at least fought a demon?
The thoughts kept swirling in her head and her eyes were so fixed on the water that she didn't hear Aleph approach. When the angel touched her shoulder lightly, she flinched and turned abruptly to punch him weakly on the chest.
"OWWWWWW". Aleph shouted while gripping his chest. "What is wrong with you? Don't you know that hurts?" Azaliah rolled her eyes and faced the water again while trying to pretend she was not scared to death.
"Stop whining, everybody knows my punch is like a soothing breeze, it has no effect on anyone". Azaliah said. Aleph's constant head shaking showed he disagreed with her.
"It did not feel like breeze right now, I felt actual pain". He said. Azaliah smirked lightly.
"Maybe you're not strong enough". She said. Aleph's eyes widened for a second and then he frowned.
"Hey you take that back this instant. I am among the strongest guardians in this place, I maim and I destroy anything that dares lay a finger or thread or..."
Aleph stopped talking when he realized that Azaliah was not listening to him anymore. He sighed and went to sit near her, his attention also drawn to the waves in the water.
Occasionally, he would look at Azaliah's face then sigh. He had no idea what to tell her that could make her feel better. She was going to fight Lucifer, and she had to win. Aleph hadn't even seen him before, half of the angels in heaven in fact had not seen him but they knew that if the older angels couldn't even say his name without looking over their shoulder, then he had to be bad.
Very bad.
He and Azaliah stared at nothing for a few minutes before he put his hand over her shoulder and drew her close.
"I know you're scared, you have every reason to be. Lucifer is vicious and evil and deadly, he'll cut down anyone who comes in his way without a seconds thought. He doesn't even care for his own subjects, did you know?He would dispose whoever he can to have what he wants. He is the scary and...evil and mean and--"
"Aleph?"
"Yes".
"You're making it worse".
"I AM!?"
Azaliah smiled softly and held him tight.
"You'll protect me right?" She asked. Aleph laughed nervously.
"Haha...yes". He replied. "It's my job". Azaliah let go of him and tapped his head.
"Good". She whispered. "I feel much better". Azaliah shifted her gaze from terrified Aleph's face to the approaching figure. Her eyes widened when she saw who came to meet her, and so did Aleph's.
"I would like to have a walk with you, if you don't mind". Michael said to her. Azaliah nodded slowly and began to move towards him not even saying goodbye to Aleph. The guardian angel wanted to follow but the hand Michael lifted up made him stop in his tracks. He gulped before nodding and bowing. He then watched them walk away while Azaliah kept a safe distance between her and the archangel.He sighed.
"I need a new job".
FLASBACK 2
Lucifer had figured it out. In this new garden, the creatures that stayed here were different. They had different body structure from them, some of them walked on all fours and the ones that didn't either crawled, hopped or climbed trees and jumped.
When injured they produced a red liquid from their body and they could easily be damaged, they did not have any fast healing ability and even the fastest of them could not match the speed of the slowest angel he knew.And the most annoying part, none of them could touch any of the creatures here but they could see them. The creatures would stare at them awkwardly and then run away after a few seconds.
Lucifer hated being treated like that. He hated not been accepted. What was so wrong with him that they ran from him?
He had not spoken a word to the fallen angels since he arrived and he didn't want to. He was to preoccupied with this new creation and so were they. The angels however did whatever they could not to walk in the same path with him out of fear.
They had gotten accustomed to the place in a way and Lucifer put himself in charge. He started to command those creatures however he pleased and even though he knew he could not touch anything, he struggled tirelessly to grab one of the items that sat on the tree. Another thing Lucifer had noticed was how fast the time was. He felt like he was fading away quicker than usual, it made him uncomfortable.
While he was staring at a creature munching on a reddish substance, the garden rumbled.
All the spirits stared at him waiting for him to do something in response but he only watched. The garden rumbled again and Lucifer saw a particular tree rustling its leaves violently. He moved slowly to it, his eyes fastened on the large branches and the restless leaves.
He was so engrossed in it, he almost missed the figure moving on the floor. The figure looked around the garden with a confused expression then he got up and stood on his two feet.
Lucifer's eyes widened. This creature was different from the rest of the others. He knew that this creature was more intelligent and more advanced than the others but that was not what shocked him. The creature standing looked just like them with two long legs, long arms. Two eyes at the front of his face, a mouth, nose and two ears. No long rods at the back of his body, no unusual patterns on his skin, a reasonable amount of hair on his head.
The creature in front of him scratched his head and then suddenly, turned to meet Lucifer's eyes. Never in Lucifer's existence has he ever been intimidated like at that moment.