The sky is rumbling and scraping. The lightening strobe continuous across the dark night sky.

Lucias looks up despondently because he knows it is going to be another bitter cold night. The sweater he is wearing is well worn and it does not keep out the cold anymore.

He huddles closer to the building and looks at the lightning as it lights up the sky every time it streaks down toward the earth.

His arms are folded around his legs, and he hides his face protectively between his knees and his arms. With one eye, he looks through the gap over his arm to keep watch. It is dangerous to fall asleep too deeply.

He notices two dark figures walk out of the shadows of a tree growing on the sidewalk. They walk in his general direction, and he keeps his eye on them suspiciously, without lifting his head.

He has not been on the streets all that long, about six months now, but already he knows to be wary of people. When they look at him, he often wonders if they do see him, but at night, he hopes desperately, they do not see him at all.

The two men walking closer to him, look well dressed, their dark coats billow out behind them in the wind rushing down the street. Lucias feels a sense of relief wash through him because they do not look like those who usually prowl the streets at night looking for trouble.

The one man closest to him suddenly looks up and straight into his eye. Lucias feels dread hurry through him. He intuitively knows that they are not just going to walk past him.

The one closest to him sneer as he nudges the man walking next to him. They both change their path, and they start walking toward him.

Lucias gets to his feet fast, staggering backwards. He pushes himself back against the wall and he wonders desperately how fast he would be able to run. If he started running now, would he have a good head start?

Astonished, he sees the man closest to him unfurl large black wings from behind his back. The man lifts himself into the air and then he swoops down at Lucias.

Lucias puts his arms up protectively and then he feels himself being body-slammed by a hard unyielding surface into the wall behind him.

The man says mockingly, close to his face, “We have been looking for you!”

Struggling to breathe, Lucias manages to ask, “Me? Why? I am nobody and I have nothing.”

The other man standing aside, watching intently, scoffs, “But you do, Lucias. You hold the key to everything.”

“You have me mistaken with someone else; I do not have any keys.” Lucias panics.

The man pinning Lucias against the wall laughs menacingly.

Without warning, another person appears and his voice bellows through the night sky, louder than the thunder banging loudly around Lucias. “Let him go, Camael”

The winged man lets Lucias go abruptly.

Lucias slides down the wall, dropping down onto his backside.

The winged man, Camael, turns away from Lucias toward the third man and he calls out thunderously, “Bodiel! Lucifer’s servant. Leave it be. You know this is how it should be. Do you really think God would allow this to happen? That this, even if it is your son, will survive? What makes you think you will succeed now?”

“God made a promise, and I would like to think He is just.”

“Of course, God is just. Only you and your followers would even question this fact. However, you betrayed God, by rising with Lucifer against Him. Do you really think, although He has given you hope and the means of succeeding, that the angels of the Twelfth Order will ever allow you to succeed?”

“We have succeeded thus far, and I will not allow you to now kill Lucias.”

Camael sneers. “Bodiel, you do not have a choice and I suggest you give up this endless desire to get back into the Heavens. You and your kind made your choice and now you have to live with that choice.”

“No, we need not! We have repented,” Bodiel yells unrelentingly. Without a second of hesitation, Bodiel storms toward Camael and with unbelievable speed, he runs into him and knocks him over.

Camael immediately jumps up, growling deep in his throat and then lunges at Bodiel.

Bodiel sidesteps and as Camael stumbles past him, Bodiel grabs him around his neck and twirls him around. He throws Camael onto the ground again and then falling on top of him, Bodiel grabs him around his neck.

Lucias hears a loud whiplash thump as a lightning bolt flashes above their heads. Electricity crackles in the air and Lucias can smell the distinct smell of ozone.

Bodiel lets go of Camael instantly and then lifting himself off the ground hurriedly, he steps back. He insists, “I believe that is your cue to leave.”

Camael jumps onto his feet and then joining the other man; they start to walk away from Lucias and Bodiel. When they are only a few paces away, the other man, who had been standing aside looks back menacingly and whispers loud enough for it to echo in the air around Lucias, “You have not seen the last of us, son.”

Lucias feels the blood in his veins turn cold and then he turns to his unlikely rescuer.

Bodiel walks toward Lucias and says, “Lucias.” It is not a question, but an affirmation.

Lucias steps away from him and replies, “Yes, I am Lucias.” He takes another step backwards as it dawns on him there was a winged man here just a moment ago and now this man, whose name he assumes is Bodiel, is looking at him kindly. This Bodiel sees him. It is different from the look he got used to over the last months.

He wonders how Bodiel seemed to appear out of thin air, and he wonders if he could believe the winged man. Is this his father? Lucias feels confused. Emotions sweep through him rapidly, from disbelief to raging anger.

Where has he been all this time? Through his childhood, when he needed a father figure and especially during the last months when he experienced immense loneliness, although he was always surrounded by crowds of people. He had learned the true meaning of hunger and cold.

Lucias collects his meagre belongings, set on walking away from this man called Bodiel, even if he is his father. For the moment, Lucias has forgotten the phenomenon he had witnessed. He saw with his own eyes – an angel.

With his belongings in his hands, he starts to walk away and then a girl appears from out of the shadows.

He sees immediately how pretty she is, and he looks down self-consciously. Ashamed he looks away because he does not want to see the pity in her eyes. He does not want her to see how dirty he is, and he does not want her to get too close, so that she can smell him and the fact he has not had a decent bath in the last six months.

Softly she says, “Lucias, do not walk away now. We have searched long and hard for you. We are so glad we have eventually found you.”

“Found me? Why were you looking for me?”

Lucias looks up at Bodiel suspiciously where Bodiel is standing a little separated from them, eagerly awaiting Lucias’ decision.

“Why?” Lucias insists, moving away, a frown across his brow. He is unsure of everything that has happened in the last few minutes.

The girl smiles reassuringly. “We cannot explain everything to you now. Come with us. We will give you a warm bed and some food and then Bodiel will explain everything to you.”

Lucias looks at her with a doubtful look on his face. Could they be trusted, he wondered. A winged creature, just moments ago, attacked him and he still could not wrap his head around the whole idea. An actual winged man. The urge to fly suddenly resurfaced in Lucias and briefly, he imagined soaring through the Heavens.

Adelaide notices the change in Lucias’ expression, and softly she asks, “So, will you come with us?”

Lucias clears his head and looks at the girl with the short, spiky black hair. “Tell me what you need now. I cannot just go with you. I just witnessed something unbelievable, and I am sorry, I am not sure you can be trusted.”

CONTINUE READING