LITMIR.BIZ

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flew over the Field of Tranquility directly toward the location of the new building. He had no idea what he would say. As he neared the crowd around the tarp-draped building, he had second thoughts. There were thousands of angels surrounding the front entrance, all waiting for the unveiling. The lowest class made up the majority, but a few prominent hierarchs were also in attendance. A temporary stage was built at the front to provide some elevation above the crowd. All of the work that had been put into this crystal structure was finally coming to a head, and Gabriel no longer had anything to do with it. Showing up like this would be embarrassing.

      When he realized there would be no angels on the back side, he decided a closer look wouldn’t hurt anyone. He flew in and casually walked up behind the impressive structure. He climbed up to the highest vantage point on the building, staying careful to keep hidden. He was quite nervous, but he couldn’t help himself.

      From where he crouched, he could see Raphael—upbeat and smiling as always, waving to the crowd as he ascended the steps and then gestured for quiet. He said a few words and then beckoned for Arrayah to join him on the makeshift stage. She stepped up, looking radiant in a simple white robe, her brown hair upswept and light glinting off of the dainty silver crown and diamond Humilitas necklace she wore. She gave a small, humble bow of her head to acknowledge the applause greeting her.

      Gabriel didn’t want to take his eyes off her, but he couldn’t watch this. Looking away, he saw the top tier of the crystal framework specially designed for this building. The pure crystal had been cut, placed, and carefully angled so that it perfectly caught the radiant glow from God’s throne—the light that spilled out all across Heaven—and reflected it back from the front of the community center in a dazzling display. It was his idea. A thick canvas tarp had been stretched across it until the big reveal, and in a few moments, Arrayah would pull on a cord and it would drop away, scattering brilliant, colored light across the gathered crowds.

      He should be the one pulling the cord. He should be—

      Gabriel leaned closer, squinting. From this vantage point, it was clear that the golden pins holding the topmost and heaviest bank of crystals were not driven fully in. One of them looked on the verge of sliding out. Gabriel had completed this section himself in earlier days—had he been so distracted even then? If the pin slid free, all the weight of this corner would be on the remaining pin, and the weight of the crystals might be enough to dislodge it or crack the thin, silver framework supporting each row.

      “I thank you all,” Arrayah was saying, “but the credit does not belong to me.”

      That’s the truth, Gabriel thought. Although he couldn’t deny that she looked better out there on the stage than he would have. She was lovely. She always seemed so at ease and polished with everything she did. She sashayed gracefully over to stand under the row of crystals.

      Looking back to the protruding pin, he gauged the distance between himself and the tier. The scaffolding used during construction had been removed, and there was no room to unfurl his wings. He did not even have a hammer.

      “It took a team of angels to complete this beautiful building,” Arrayah said. She stepped closer to the lower end of the cord.

      The tarp had been tightly secured to ensure it did not blow off prematurely. Arrayah would have to pull hard. Would one strong tug be enough to dislodge the pin? The rows of crystal were so heavy it had taken a dozen angels to lift and position each piece. Arrayah was standing directly beneath them. She would be crushed.

      Gabriel drew a dagger from his belt, one solid piece of iron from blade to hilt, and leaned out across the gap. He stretched forward and used the pommel of the dagger to knock the pin further into place. It barely moved—he needed to strike it harder.

      “And of course,” she said. “all the praise and glory goes to our God.” Her hand closed around the cord.

      Gabriel reached out, straining, and slammed the iron pommel into the pin with all his strength. It drove in, but with too much force, splitting the crystal. Gabriel became overextended from his swing and lost his balance as a loud crack sounded when the silver framework ruptured. He clutched at the only thing available, the row of crystal, and the cracking sound repeated as the entire row broke free, each section knocking loose the next as it all collapsed.

      “Arrayah!” he shouted. There was an explosion of light as the tarp dropped away. Crystals and silver struck his body as they fell, and an instant later the stage crashed into him. Everything went dark for a moment, and when he opened his eyes, he was lying in a heap of debris—the boards of the stage had broken beneath him and become half-tangled in the tarp and shattered shards of crystal lay everywhere. Their light was so dazzling he could hardly see.

      As he rubbed his eyes, he made out Arrayah picking herself up from the floor. She had thrown herself to the side when it all fell. The sound from the crowd was a blend of gasping and gossiping. Gabriel saw Raphael storming up the steps, literally shaking with anger, his overseer’s robe flapping behind him like a white flag in the wind.

      This was not good.

      “I can’t believe you, Gabriel! Are you really this selfish?” Raphael said. Gabriel pushed shards of crystal off of him and attempted to pick himself up. He started to defend himself but drifted off, seeing Arrayah shaking her head in disappointment, and decided to go in a different direction. “I’m sorry, Arrayah.”

      “You did this because you were replaced,” Raphael said. “You always make everything all about you. You were only replaced because you gave us no effort, and now you have screwed up everything for everyone! Why couldn’t you just stay away?”

      “It was an accident, Raphael.”

      “You accidentally brought the front of the building down at the moment we were about to reveal it? We couldn’t even find you half the time to work on it, but your timing is impeccable when you want to make a statement.”

      “I thought the crystal might fall on Arrayah. I didn’t mean to mess this up.”

      “Well, messing things up seems to be the one thing you are good at these days, Gabriel.”

      Gabriel could hear angry shouts from many in the crowd, and he saw the disappointment in Raphael’s eyes, but it was the sadness on Arrayah’s face that hurt the most.

      “I’m sorry.”

      Gabriel left. Not a single angel tried to stop him.

      Lucifer needed to get to the cosmos to breathe. He was so angry he could feel it burning in his throat. He could feel its power, like nothing he had experienced before. He was careful to hide it from the seraphim and thrones when he passed them on his way down the steps, but he felt like everyone was looking at him. The golden stairs below him now looked stained. The shimmer of light exuding from each seraph made his stomach turn. He wanted to shove their heads under water until their light faded.

      The three upper platforms seemed unending. Trying to ignore the bright colors around him, he hurried past each level and away from the light. The throne angels wore crowns. What a joke. He should shatter them. He longed to rip the velvet from their robes and strangle them with it.

      On the outside, he stayed as smooth as ever. His emotions were like boiling water about to overflow, but he shoved them deeper. God’s answer made no rational sense. Lucifer watched with his own eyes an explosion in the cosmos that caused the formation of newfound planets. God couldn’t be whom He claimed to be; He was too busy with his ridiculous new Son to possibly know what had happened. Lucifer would not believe any longer. He refused to. He would become his own god.

      Lucifer took a deep breath, filling his lungs to the full expansion of his broad chest. The other angels already praised him like a god. What was the difference? His angels had a right to know more than God told them. He would give them answers. Lucifer stopped walking down the steps, mentally daring God to put him in his place if He was all knowing. If He was the almighty Alpha and Omega, why did He let Lucifer leave? He

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