P A R A D I S I C   L A N D

----------

LUCIUS PURPOSELY SLOWED down his pace so that Adelia could reach their destination first. It was worth it, to see her jubilantly bright smile as she waved at Lucius from where she had landed. Due to the flight, her hair was a mess, strewn in all directions as she ran her hair through it again and again but never seemingly able to tame the strands. Lips stretched into a full-blown smile, Lucius thought that his heart might burst just by the sight of her.

"I won!" She cried with joy, her wings fluttering a little behind her when Lucius finally landed on the grassy ground. "By any chance had you purposely flown slower just so that I could win?"

Lucius couldn't help but smile. Of course she would figure it out. After all, he had never met another angel quite as brilliant as Adelia was. She viewed the world with such scrutiny but held bits and pieces of curiosity deep within her sapphire blue irises. There was no border to cease where she could inquire. If the world went by her rules, Lucius was sure that Adelia would have demanded to know the reason behind every small little thing. Her intelligence, besides her outstanding beauty and challenging defiance, had been the one to draw Lucius towards her.

"Of course not." Lucius tried to hide his smile but his lips betrayed him. "Why ever would you think of it that way?"

"Well, you seem like the sort that would think of himself gentleman enough to let a girl win. But I will have you know that just because I am a female does not mean I will lose to you if you placed your entire effort. I just save my strength for the people that are worthy of it."

With her nose high up in the air, Adelia rested her clenched fists on her hips, the air of outright snobbery surrounding her. She seemed indignant but the glint of playfulness in her eyes made Lucius release the breath he had not known he was holding.

"I did not mean to offend you in any way, Adelia." Lucius started, his smile bashful and sweet. He thought he even saw Adelia crack a small smile of her own. "It was just all in good fun."

She did not reply, simply waving off the matter casually before reaching up to comb back her hair again. Lucius noticed that she did that a lot; run her hands through her thick curls only to have it bounce back with even more vigor and volume. He liked it, though. It suited her really well and in his eyes, only she could pull off such a look so elegantly. If any of the other much fairer angels had done it, he might have even raised an eyebrow at them. Then again, Lucius had always been taught not to judge others just by their appearance. Everyone was made beautiful and unique and he should be thoughtful enough to respect that; even if their definition of beautiful was not his own.

It was just that even the gleam of the bright stars could not hold a flame against the bright light within Adelia's irises. To Lucius, no other angel could shine as brightly when placed beside the only one he thought mattered.

"So what was it that you wanted to show me, Lucius?" She asked, batting her long eyelashes in what she thought was the least flirtatious way, yet it made Lucius shudder.

He cleared his throat, scratching the back of his neck before gesturing over to a little alcove hidden within the tall trees and colorful flowers.

"This way," he stated before quickly walking over to where he had discovered the most amazing entrance to another realm. "I found someplace which might just be better than Heaven. The nights last just the same but the days, the days last for so much longer. I know that you adore the night time but maybe you will finally be able to find some joy in seeing the sunlight without having to disturb your rest."

Shaking her head, Adelia did not seem the least bit convinced. "Paradise, you mean?" She asked, pointing over to the edge of Heaven. "We will lose our wings if we go down there. Cast away and reduced to nothing but a monstrosity that is banned from our home. Is such a beauty really worth the risk?"

"Everything that is beautiful is a risk," Lucius affirmed with a nod. "What is the worth of immortality if we do not spend it chasing more than daydreams? Besides, I have already gone down there before and returned unscathed. As long as we do not descend by the edge of Heaven, we are fine. Flying up from the path of Heaven's Falls will do us no harm. You will love it there, I just know it."

Adelia wrinkled her nose, hesitance displaying clearly as she took a step away from Lucius. It was a small one, not quite obvious enough but Lucius, who had his attention solely fixated on Adelia, could tell the difference nearly immediately. "I do not know about this..." She trailed off, uncertain. "The prospect of danger is much too high and if time is really as inconsistent as they say it is, we might spend too much time in Paradise and end up missing out on our duties."

"We will not," Lucius assured. Reaching out a hand to Adelia, he held it out there in the air, his wings gently lifting him an inch or two above the ground. "Do you trust me?"

A slow but sure smile slowly spread across Adelia's features, stretching her lips so beautifully that Lucius thought she herself would be a sort of heaven. Her smooth hand slid onto Lucius's palm, gripping it lightly as she lifted herself off of the ground to flutter mere inches above it. When she nodded once, Lucius thought that his heart was about to burst from his chest.

"I admit that I had not been the best friend in which you could have but I cannot deny that you have done nothing to make me think that you are untrustworthy. So yes, I do trust you. I do hope that you will not betray that trust."

Her tongue darted out to wet her bottom lip, an action in which Lucius deduced to be unintentional.

"Never," he assured, his grip tightening on her hand.

Their wings gave a combined wind power that could shake the leaves off of a few nearby trees. The beautiful green leaves cascaded down around them like snowflakes in winter, flying along with the motion of the breeze created by them.

Lucius flew into the alcove, his hand holding onto Adelia's ones as he sped down the long stairway, allowing the wind from the motion to brush through his hair, combing it backward haphazardly. Since the stairway was shaped in a spiral, Lucius was careful not to go too fast. Yet, he could still hear the echo of Adelia's delighted exclaims, her voice reverberating through the entire stone structure like a wind chime on a windy afternoon.

The stairway was dark since night had fallen upon them in Heaven but Lucius knew the way. He turned and kept an exact angle of flight, careful not to edge too close to the walls in fear that he might harm their wings. Since they flew instead of walking, they soon arrived at the bottom of the stairway.

Lucius's heart was thundering in his ribcage, begging to escape as he took in deep breaths to calm himself down. Adelia, who wasn't too far behind him due to their still-connected hands, was a face full of smiles. Lucius never thought that he had ever seen her smile so widely before. She was most definitely brighter than the moon, brighter than the sunlight that he wove as a job.

"That was amazing!" She cried, gently landing on the damp stone flooring. Her chest rose and fell with each breath she took, shoulders heaving as her smile remained as constant as the stars she placed at night.

On his arm, Lucius could feel the condensation of water vapor hitting his skin, cooling down wherever it touched. Unconsciously, he wiped at his exposed hand. The sleeves of his shirt had risen to his elbows due to movement and it allowed more surface area for the water to hit.

"So where are we now?" Adelia asked, voice still amplifying her breathlessness as she took a few steps towards where Lucius stood. At her question, he simply grinned, gesturing to the scene behind himself. For as far as the naked eye could see, it was simply just miles and miles of mist but Lucius knew better.

"Just a little further," he replied enigmatically, reaching his hand out again. This time, Adelia took it without question, her fingers intertwining with his as the both of them took off once more.

To some, it might seem as though Lucius was flying through the mist without any sense of direction. He kept going forward, occasionally twisting and turning to avoid a few larger stones. When the scene before them cleared up to something far beyond a white cloud that could not be seen through, he heard Adelia let out a small startled gasp from behind him.

At this point, the thundering of the great waterfall that connected Heaven and Paradise could be heard. The natural flow of water was now behind them and the scene before them was much more breath-taking than anyone could ever imagine.

They had arrived at the perfect time. The sun, which was a dazzling orb of orange hues and golden highlights was just above rising above the horizon behind a row of mountains and cliffs. It ascended into the sky, the palette that colored the heavens above was much brighter and warmer than dusk had been. Dawn was just as beautiful here as Lucius remembered it to be in Heaven. Immediately, he could feel his entire being lighten up and the euphoric feeling of sunlight against his bare skin nearly made him shiver. It was warm to the touch, like how Lucius imagined a strong embrace from a loved one to feel like.

"I have seen many dawns before just as I go to sleep," Adelia started, taking a step closer to where Lucius stood. He cracked open an eyelid, curious irises focused on Adelia. Her own sapphire eyes were concentrated on the glowing rise of the sun, gaze unwavering. She seemed mesmerized. "But I have never taken the time to really view it as something more than the end of the night. I never knew the dawn was so beguiling."

"Things are always more beautiful when we take the time to really know it." Lucius nodded in agreement before turning around to gesture at the edge of Heaven. He had to tilt his head upwards to see the top of Heaven's Falls and yet, he couldn't even properly observe the beginnings of it from where he stood. "And most of the time, it just a takes a different angle to realize that things are not always as it seems."

For the first time in the past five minutes, Adelia turned to properly look at Lucius. He felt her gaze before he met it and it was a sensation much more delightful than the heat that came with sunrise.

"For the next few hours, it is time to open your eyes and see things differently, Adelia. The day can be beautiful, just as how the night undoubtedly is."

It seemed like she was doing it a lot, these few days, for again, she cracked a smile.

[A/N]:

I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I have a lot of important points planned for this book that will explain Lucius's behavior in the [Kisses From Death] series and I can't wait to see all of your reactions.

Until next time.

xx aurora