Parousia

Griffin

Please keep in mind that this book is in rough draft form and will be edited later. *** UPDATE: Parousia is undergoing rehaul and polishing. Stay tuned for publishing news. Reviewers of the eBook and/or Paperback will be entered into a contest for either a gift card or to have their book sent to a celebrity. If you would like to participate in the opening of my blog, please visit here and join the mailing list / subscribe. https://www.authorstephaniehansen.com/ ***

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Since the new hell banishing, she had looked over her daughters with a sense of freedom. Beyond her digital water color easel, she watched everything unfold on Zitro with a zealous interest. Would her daughters be considered the fore-mothers of this new world, gifting words of encouragement and rights for freedom? She put her digital brush back to the canvas imagining new things for this planet. Glowing dunes in front of sparkling clouds. The rainbow-like version of the Milky Way. She grinned, remembering how she lit the path for Thyone. It worried her seeing Thyone's reactions to Mada, a married man. That kind of indecent behavior would tarnish the possibility of her becoming a fore-mother. She decided to look in on her more reasonable child.

"How are you infiltrating my thoughts from the new Hell, Lucifer?" Avodus asked. She didn't care if her daughters became some big wigs. She only ever wanted them to be happy and good people. AND, she never ever believed one was better than the other.

"What, no - Hello, I've missed you, it's been so long," Lucifer answered speaking in her mind even though it should not be possible.

Pins and needles cold spiked her skin and she knew his presence was next to her. Avodus shifted away but the hair-raising feeling followed.

"Why didn't God just allow you to make your own world so you'd leave ours alone?"

"Where would the fun be in that?"

"Oh, that's right, you lack the kind of creativity that would require."

"But then, how am I here getting under your skin."

He was right. She also realized there had to be a reason for his sudden presence. She had to check in on Araceli. But, she couldn't let him know she was doing so.

"True, so why don't I give you your own world to create?"

She could feel him pressing into her like a shiver up the spine.

"Here, let me draw you a world of your pleasing," Avodus distracted Lucifer as she watched Araceli through her peripheral.

"Well, you know my favorite color is red but I have a flare for dark, ash gray."

She could see his twisted smile in her mind's eye but she mixed the colors as he wished. She also saw Araceli, Vee, and the new man gathering material. They had found the sap from the trees. It was filled with glitter and Vee stared at it for a long time. Avodus' heart settled a little knowing they were making progress to build the bubble-like dome for protection.

"You stopped drawing. What is that?" Lucifer asked.

When Avodus looked down at her picture, she saw two figures standing very close to one another. She had never planned on drawing that. And then she felt his warmth. Not the scary warmth he normally had but the warmth from before he had gone evil, back in a time before she knew all things in the world and believed in almost everything. She had to catch her breath. She couldn't let the smile escape.

"Avodus, I know you remember."

And then his physical form appeared but only for a moment. And it wasn't the one she knew now but back then. When his eyes were like puppy dog love and not the blank, stern look that had captured him. She had to get rid of him. So, she did the only thing she could.

As Lucifer spiraled away and into the picture, a piece of Avodus missed him. Once the swirling was done, she snuck a look at the picture. Lucifer stood motioning with his index finger for her to come with him. She discarded the canvas, sending him back to new hell but it was as if a vice squeezed her heart to do so.

Araceli!

She looked back and Araceli was focused on the sap collection but behind her. A griffin appeared with the 3-D shadow and jumped next to Vee who fell over. The new man caught her and then turned her face toward his by holding her chin with his hand and...

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