A D E L I A

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LUCIUS COULD NOT remember much about how he came to be. There was a flash of light that was so blinding that it had made him cringe, and a melodious contradicting harmony that soothed him to the bones. The notes soon formed something that provided information beyond words ever could, whispering into his mind about who he was and his name, but never how he came to be other than the fact that he was a proud creation of God.

Though that was what the voices told him, Lucius could never pinpoint how the Almighty looked like. He had thought that the Almighty had eyes a warm honey brown, kind and welcoming that he was enveloped with serenity. His hair was of smooth dark brown locks that resembled the fertile soil of the gardens of Heaven, falling a little above his shoulder in waves and accompanied tanned skin that was colored by the sunlight.

However, when Lucius had awoken to a new environment and spoke with other angels that were just like him a few days after his creation and first breath, he found out that He was not the way in which Lucius had thought to be. Some angels said with utmost confidence that the Almighty had hair that was a part of a wild fire's flame; the very first, in fact. Others claimed that His hair was the midnight black that painted the night and allowed the stars to glow against the pitch darkness. Some even theorized that it was the sunlight's radiant golden glow that shared the same color of His hair.

As time faded on, more and more combinations came and went, hence forcing Lucius to drop the topic completely. He came to the conclusion that it was perhaps not in his ability, nor the other angels, to see the Almighty as he truly was.

Once, many decades ago, Lucius had asked the archangel that tutored him, Lucifer, about the Almighty. Sadly, archangel Lucifer had only smiled grimly, shaking his head. He had said, "'Tis not our job to know who the Almighty is and what He does. We need only love him and obey his every wish and command."

Lucius was a curious angel, and such simple and carelessly thought out evasion was not enough to deter him from wanting to know. Alas, Lucifer was still right about one thing. It was not in Lucius's fate to know more about the Almighty than what He allowed; it was, to put it simply, not part of the job description.

For many years, Lucius kept himself busy in the blessed grounds of Heaven as an angel that took great care of nature. He wove the very fabrics of golden light, to which he had received his namesake as he soon found out. Hour after hour, Lucius found himself easily mesmerized by the aureate glow of the sun that hung high and bright in the sky. He could spend all of eternity simply weaving the light in the sky, directing it towards the mortal grounds of every realm and he would still live on without qualms.

But alas, as the earth still revolves around the sun, and the moon revolves the earth, there will always be a change in the magical hues of the sky. After the sun's great set every evening, the brilliant silver moon was raised to its peak, its ethereal glow blessing the grounds of the Heaven in a softer hue as compared to the radiant light of the afternoon sun.

It had been an irritating notion for Lucius at first. He had worked rather hard each day for the sun's glow to be maintained nothing short of dazzling, and for it to so easily replaced after a mere day seemed a huge waste for him. He had not expected what awaited for him one night, just as Lucius set out towards the edges of Heaven's Falls, a place in which Heaven was connected to a realm known as Paradise by the work of a thundering waterfall.

There, at the mystical bellowing waters, was an angel so beautiful and mesmerizing that she had seemed like a goddess in her own right. Her skin was a much darker shade as compared to Lucius's own pale complexion, and her hair fell down her back in noir waves that matched the water of Heaven's Falls. Her eyes were of sapphires, brighter than the stars that formed the ever constant constellations in the night sky.

Lucius was shocked to see the angel just there, just sitting in such peace and quietness with her feet dangling over the edge of the waterfall as if the danger could not even bother her a single bit. At the moment in which Lucius's heart was caught in his throat, he knew that the angel in which he had just met would alter the course of his life past the point of no return.

For the first time in his life, Lucius thought the stars dull, too lacking of life as compared to the blue irises of the angel's eyes. She had turned nearly immediately when she had noticed the beating of wings behind her, and for that, Lucius somewhat cursed once under his breath for being indiscreet. In his defense, of course, he had not expected to find another at the very spot in which he had come to call his own over the years of his existence. There would always be a lack of soul at the edges of Heaven whenever the sun was still high in the sky. Lucius had not thought about what it would be like when the golden star had set and was instead replaced by the shining silver moon.

"Hello?" The strange angel asked, her head slightly tilted to the side as Lucius slowly touched back down towards the grassy ground. "Is there something in which I can assist you with?"

For a few mere seconds, Lucius simply stared at the maiden. Of course, he knew that it wasn't proper etiquette to simply stare at a maiden like that, but he couldn't help it. She was of stunning beauty -- just as the other angels were as well since they were all crafted by the Almighty Himself -- and in Lucius's defense, she was staring back just as well.

He stuttered for a few seconds, mouth opening and closing before he swallowed the bile in his throat. "Why are you here, by Heaven's Falls alone in the middle of the night?"

The angel raised a single eyebrow before rolling her eyes, wit radiating off of her though she need not even speak a single word. Standing back up to her feet, she dusted the dirt off of the palms of her hands before lifting off of the ground with the beating of her dark midnight black wings and landed right in front of Lucius.

"The night is my domain. I weave the lights of the moon and place the stars when the sun sets. The edge of Heaven had proved time and time again that it was the supreme place for angels of celestial nature." With a hand placed on her hip, the angel fluttered her eyelashes rather challengingly. "Is there a problem?"

"No." Raising two hands in defense, Lucius began to shake his head profusely, his thoughts jumbled like a clueless man. "Not at all."

The girl assessed Lucius with little to no curiosity. In fact, it seemed as though she was taking her time to look down on him instead. To further emphasize that fact, she did not use mere footsteps to steer herself around. The dark feathers of her wings allowed her to fly just mere inches from the grassy ground, her eyes quite literally staring down at Lucius.

"You are an angel of the day." Quite simply, she said, her arms folded haughtily across her ample bosom, further amplifying the voluptuous curve of her figure. "What are you doing awake in the night?"

Suspension dripped from her every word, the warning bells of her head very obviously sounding as far as Lucius could tell. The question, however, was not one in which Lucius could answer. It had been more of a sudden urge to head towards Heaven's Falls in the night rather than a logical idea. Lucius had merely been curious of the night and the mysteries in which it held, rather than have a legitimate reasoning for leaving the comforts of his hut to explore. So instead of answering the question in which she had asked, he decided to rebut with his own question.

"How did you know I am an angel of the day?"

If she had noticed his tactic, she did not show. Simply, the angel fluttered gently to the ground before smiling rather mischievously. "You have hair of sunlight gold and skin as pale as the clouds during noon. How could I not know? Any angel could tell that you are one of the angels in charge of beautifying the day, rather than an angel working in the other panels."

Lucius smiled, his heart thumping wildly in his chest as he continued looking on. The edges of his lips quirked into a small smile, revealing his pearly white teeth as he shook his head slightly. "Quite very observant you are."

"I try," the angel beamed with pride.

As silence hung above the both angels, it was not to last. It took a mere few seconds before a new entrance was made. Lucius first noticed the loud fluttering of wings, a beating that was powerful and strong. Then came the voice that accompanied, a deep baritone that attracted the girl's attention as well.

"Adelia, sunrise is upon us. We have to report to Lucifer about tonight's progress."

The angel that had appeared was a handsome young man, physically the same age as Lucius was. He had the same dark skin tone that matched Adelia's, the girl's name was, but his hair was a bright snowy white that almost reflected the light of the moon. His wings were odd. From the spine, it consisted of black feathers before it slowly lightened to gray and then white when nearing the tips. Lucius had only ever seen white feathers during the day. Who knew that the angels of the night had such varying appearances as well?

"I'll be right there, brother. Have patience for once." Adelia joked, tucking her long luscious hair behind her ears before casting Lucius one last look. "And to you, stay out of my night, day creature."

With that, she and the mysterious new male disappeared into the darkness, beyond the huts and out of sight.

-----

"What has gotten you in such high spirits, Lucius?" Just as any other day, Lucius was rested on the edge of Heaven's Falls, the golden sunlight in his hands when a man with light brown hair and green eyes that embodied the leaves of summer stepped into his line of view. "I knew that you loved to weave light but this smile on your face is just... haunting."

Needless to say, Lucius's mind had been on the intriguing angel named Adelia. There mere thought of her brought a smile to his face. Such a creepy thing it was, but Lucius couldn't help himself.

"Cassiel, have you met any night angels before?" Lucius asked, the concentration he had on the ball of light in his hands long forgotten.

"Night angels?" Cassiel frowned. "Not that I know of. Why do you ask?"

"I met this girl yesterday, right here." With a heart so damn bright, Lucius spun around, his dimples forming as he smiled. "She was an angel of the night. And my dear friend, she was nothing short of a work of art. Her skin was almost as dark as the night sky, her eyes shining like the stars within. And her hair, long waves of ebony black that trailed down her back just as majestically as Heaven's Falls. I've never met another angel with such beguiling beauty."

"You sound so obsessed, my friend. Practically infatuated." Cassiel grinned before laying down on the grass, his wings spread out, arms placed behind his head as a pillow. "She must have been a real delight."

"No." Shrugging, Lucius frowned a little at the memory of whatever conversation he had with Adelia the night before. "She was rather rude, actually. Simply blatantly looking down on me just because I worked in the day rather than during the night under the beautiful gleam of the stars."

"The sun is the biggest star of them all, Lucius." Shrugging, Cassiel propped himself up on his elbow.

Lucius knew this tone way too well. After all, Cassiel had been a friend of his for a long time already. Whenever Cassiel used that tone of voice, it was when he knew that he was right, and there wasn't a single way in which Lucius could rebut him.

"Don't you have other things to do? Has Gabriel been slacking again?"

"Gabriel has. Gabriella, not so much. The archangel has been working me towards death these few days." Cassiel groaned.

Perhaps it was because there were so many names in the world, there were two particular angels in which Lucius knew with the same name. Gabriel the archangel, and Gabriel, the friend. To differentiate between them, much of the angel population had come up with a brighter and more feminine name for the archangel: Gabriella. She hated it, of course, seeing that it had to be her to change her name instead of the other angel, but after time, the name grew on her. More often than not, she would answer to Gabriella instead of Gabriel. That, however, did not mean that she had forgotten about the group of angels that had come up with the nickname in the first place. Unfortunately enough, it was Cassiel and his friends.

"She had always been about work, you know that." Stating the matter of fact, Lucius laughed. It was a melodious laughter, truly living up to the name of the bright ringing choir of angels. His laughter sounded more like a song than an actual laugh.

"Work is fine when it's something like yours. Always creating art and weaving majesty. We're just mere angels of protection. What I would give to work under Lucifer instead." Cassiel sighed.

"God's most beautiful angel indeed," Lucius agreed. "Lucifer is rather forgiving when it comes to responsibilities."

"You know, I almost suspect that you are lying. There is no possible way in which the highest ranking angel in the Heavens is not overworking you guys. He must be strict in some way."

"No, not really." Frowning, Lucius sat up a little straighter, the edges of his lips turned down just the slightest. Even at that, it was unnatural. "It is more often than not just usual protocol. Report to him after our work's done and we get the rest in which we deserve."

With a groan that amplified Cassiel's skin-deep sorrow, he slammed back to the ground with a thud as small dandelion fluffs flew from the impact. "You lucky bunch," said Cassiel.

Though the conversation soon melted into many other things before Cassiel had to take his leave, Lucius had not taken his mind off of the enchanting beauty he had met the other night. Curiosity nipped at Lucius's toes, urging him to find out more. Even when Cassiel bid his goodbye, he could see that his best friend's attention was not on him. Rather, it was on a particular night angel in which Lucius would no doubt visit again when night falls.

This chapter is dedicated to @aestheticNOT. Thank you so much for these two wonderful covers! I love them so much. :')

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Until next time. ♥