CHAPTER 1
I remember the morning they were going to bring her to life. Lucifer was literally glowing with excitement. She was a masterpiece, shimmering brown hair, green eyes, well proportioned, brown hued skin that was vibrant and soft. She wasn't overly tall but was finely boned and well muscled. Lucifer always made his creations just that extra touch more beautiful and delicately crafted, Lillith was no exception. She had been built to be strong, independent and creative, she was all that and more.
"Well brother, you have certainly outdone yourself." Elohim congratulated him.
"Thank you. Indeed I have. She needs to be more intelligent than the other animals if she is to build and create the way we want her to. She needs to be able to make her own decisions unimpeded." Lucifer had always been an advocate for humans to have free will. Elohim, not so much.
"We must put some limitations on her, her future mate and their offspring. They have to protect what we have made and understand that we gave them this so they always honor it," Elohim said.
"They will honor it brother. Look at how beautiful it is! Why wouldn't they?" Lucifer was also a bit idealistic and naive about things.
I spoke up, although I was perhaps the weakest one of my family we had always treated each other as equals. "Lucifer, I think he has a point. We are creating something that may be capable of completely restructuring this world. They have to have some understanding of balance and harmony."
"Not just that Remiel," Elohim spoke. "They need to understand their place in it. The animals, they instinctively know their roles, hunter or hunted, eater of waste, pollinator of plants, they know what their purpose is. We created them with a specific purpose in mind. This new creation has to know it's role. We can't have it running about the place with no limits or ingrained path. It can literally do everything all the animals can do, it can hunt or be hunted, it may eventually learn how to cultivate plants if we allow it and build it's own habitat. It is not a creation that has a defined niche, it is fluid. We must make it fear something. It must know its place."
"Why does she have to fear us?" Lucifer's rebuttal began. "We can teach her balance and harmony and how to watch over this world without destroying it."
"Lucifer," Michael spoke up. He pretty much always sided with Elohim and he was equal to Lucifer power wise. "I agree with Elohim. Let's not unleash this new creation with no limits at all. If it works well we can adjust the mate to have less limits if needed."
Lucifer looked at us, his pale gold eyes piercing. Lucifer rightly deserved the title of Morningstar or the most beautiful of us. His long hair matched that blinding, golden white color that shows only when the sun first crests over the horizon in the early morning. He stood taller than all of us and although his skin was pale his aura of power glowed sunset reds and purples. Elohim was darker hued, his eyes were almost lavender in color, his hair was dark and short. He carried about him a sense of power that none of us ever matched, his fiery aura reflected the fires of creation, shifting in red-gold tones moment to moment. Michael was bronze and gold, he was the ultimate warrior even though there was no need for one that early on. He always had his red hair tied back and he had immense strength. His green eyes seemed hardened by battles that he had yet to fight. I often wondered if somehow Michael had known what was yet to come and was preparing for it from the beginning of time.
"Brothers" Lucifer said, his tone reasonable yet somewhat soothing, "Why should we create something as wonderful as her and then hobble her? Why should we make the most exquisite and intricate thing we have ever made be forced to fear us? We have not made any other creature fear us. She can love us as we love each other can't she? When we create her mate they can love and protect each other and learn together as so many of the other creatures we have created do. When we first spoke of creating her we did it with the idea of making something as similar to us as possible. Obviously they will not be able to grant life or create animals from dust but if they are to be like us in other ways they should be treated as partners in this world they are to care for. Not as some lowly creatures that must bow before us. We don't bow to each other do we?
I would never expect Remiel or Raguel or Uriel to bow to me even though I am stronger in some ways than they are. We are all the same family and all have our own skills and strengths. These new creations that are to be similar to us, are they not also family?"
I watched Elohim as Lucifer spoke. He was the only one that could bring our creations to life so he always had the final say when it came to what would and wouldn't be allowed to exist. The longer Lucifer spoke the more frustrated Elohim seemed to get.
"Lucifer!" Elohim's voice crackled, he seemed offended by the idea that a creation we made could be family. "You have, as usual, become too attached to your creations. You and I have both worked on this new creation, I wish it to thrive as you do but it is something we give life to. It is not born of the universal energy as we are, it did not spring from the darkness with the need to make everything balanced as we did. It is therefore, by nature flawed and inferior. It needs to know it's place."
"Elohim, brother. I mean no disrespect but aren't we defying that need to create balance by creating her to begin with?" Lucifer countered. I think all of us winced when he said that. You couldn't argue the logic but Elohim didn't like to be wrong. His eyes narrowed. Lucifer felt the need to continue, he always was overbold. "After all, we are essentially creating her to do part of our mission which means she has to be more intelligent and creative than anything else we have made. This automatically makes her out of balance."
"Must you always try to humiliate me?" Elohim snapped.
"Nothing could be further from my mind." Lucifer's tone was silken. "I just want this creation to be successful. We all know how hard you work to keep everything running smoothly throughout the universe. Myself and the others, we are merely helpers. Truly you are the one who bears the most responsibility since you must make the final choice of which creations to bring to life. If you truly feel she should be hobbled and made less than what she could be I understand. It just seems a waste to make your greatest creation a shadow of her true potential."
Of all of us, Lucifer had always known how to appease Elohim's ruffled feathers. He had always been able to see into what truly motivated others, even his fellow archangels. It had seemed to us that Lucifer could never truly push Elohim into anger. I guess everyone has their breaking point. Elohim mumbled and grumbled a bit, which usually meant that he was once again going to give in.
"You may have a point. This creation will have a larger task than the others, it should have more resources available to it to do that. What do the rest of you think?" That was the other thing that happened constantly, the two of them would come to a grudging agreement and then ask our opinion on things. No matter which way you went you risked upsetting one or the other. It never seemed to occur to them to ask for our input on their projects beforehand. We all stood there for a minute, trying to gauge our responses correctly. Slowly all the others started looking at me. I have no idea how I had become the speaker for the group. I remember thinking I was going to have some sharp words with my brothers after I talked us out of this awkward situation.
"Well, it seems to me that you are the ones who have put all the time and effort into this creation with a certain thing in mind." I aimed for a neutral position. "I don't think any of us really have a right to tell you what to do with it. The final decision, as always, rests with you Elohim." As I finished speaking I caught a quick glare from Lucifer. I decided to amend my statement. "You both raise a valid point though, since we are expecting much more from it, it should be given more knowledge and freedom." His glare shifted into a more approving look. The others just nodded in agreement, such great helps they were. Elohim and Lucifer stared at each other, neither one truly willing to give an inch. Lucifer finally offered a bit of a compromise.
"She's not going to be immortal like us. We can make her mate more controlled if she seems too independent and reckless. Then work on how to control their offspring if we allow them that. She is only one creation. How much damage can she truly do?"
If we had known then what was going to happen I think all of us would have just torn her lifeless body apart and never let either Lucifer or Elohim attempt that idea ever again. That's the one thing I have never understood about the various beliefs that have grown up around us. How could any of you truly believe there was an actual plan in all of this? If Elohim was truly omniscient and knew the future, why would he not have stopped all of it before it happened? Trust me, not a one of us had any idea of what was going to result from this decision to create a more complex being. Elohim let his eyes drop from Lucifer's face, we all knew what that meant.
"Perhaps I am being overcautious with this creation. It is truly just one being. Let us see what it can do before we decide to limit it. If nothing else I can just not make it a mate and let it die out in the normal course of life. It is time to see what we have truly wrought my brother." Elohim extended his hands over her chest and face. "Breathe my creation, witness the world around you. Open your eyes and live." We felt the vibration of his words echo in and around us, the world trembled for an instant, then she took a shuddering breath. She opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was Lucifer, he had leaned over her as soon as Elohim finished speaking.
"Oh, she's truly a masterpiece!" Lucifer was almost breathless with excitement. She looked from side to side, shifted her arms and legs a bit, trying to figure out how her body worked. Within seconds she was sitting up. It seemed she picked things up quickly. I will always remember how she locked eyes with each one of us in turn, you could see her mind already starting to work. She tilted her head to one side and slowly bent one of her legs in preparation to stand, then she bent the other one, leaned forward a bit and stood upright, just as we did.
"Marvelous! Look at her, she's already learning how to move! The design truly works!" Perhaps I should explain Lucifer's giddiness. Admittedly there were animals we had already created that walked on two legs but if you look at how they are engineered it is quite a bit different than how humans move about. Many of them still lean forward quite a bit to balance correctly. She was the first truly upright, bipedal creature with proportional, useful arms we had created. We were all a bit excited with the improvements but Lucifer's enthusiasm for his creation went far beyond all of ours, even Elohim's,
"Yes, it is wondrous Lucifer." Elohim's tone did not match his words. "Try not to get too excited about it. Of course it figured out the movement. We designed it to move that way."
She took a few shaky steps, Lucifer placed a steadying hand on her arm. "Careful child." He couldn't seem to take his eyes off of her. Elohim's face darkened, concern and disapproval simmered in his eyes.
She looked at Lucifer's hand on her arm, her hand slowly came up and covered his, an inquisitive look graced her features. He opened his hand under hers, as if to show her how to use her fingers, she copied the movement. Their fingers opened and closed on top of each other, her hand clasping his. He slowly turned his hand over so their palms were touching, he softly gripped her hand. "This is how you use them. Look." Lucifer guided her over to a tree that had some low hanging fruit on it, he reached up and pulled some off the branch, she quickly copied him. "Well done! Watch, this is the important part for you." He brought the fruit up to his mouth and took a bite, she copied him. A smile crossed her face as she experienced all the various tastes. It appeared she was born hungry since she devoured that first fruit in record time.
As she reached up to grab another one she paused to look at Lucifer. He hadn't eaten his since we don't get hungry. If we eat something it's because we are in the mood to taste something not because we need it. She didn't know that though, a confused look crossed her face. Taking hold of Lucifer's fruit bearing hand with her empty one she pushed it towards his face. He took another bite, she smiled and resumed acquiring her second fruit. I will never forget the look on his face when she did that simple act. Ultimate love, that was what softened his features and filled his face with joy. Her simple act of concern had captured the heart of an Archangel.
"Amazing!" Uriel's quiet voice came from behind me. "I think they actually accomplished it. She understands the concept of sharing and compassion already."
"Yes, well we shall see how long that lasts." Elohim's voice was harsh. "Lucifer, you should not dote upon her so. Let her figure things out on her own, the other creations did."
"I shall do as I wish brother." His eyes locked with Elohim's. "I helped create her, I shall guide her and teach her the importance of harmony and balance in this world. We can't expect her to figure out all that on her own."
Uriel, myself and the others exchanged worried glances. Lucifer and Elohim eyed each other, the tension grew.
Michael attempted to calm the situation. "This is not the only world in our care Lucifer. You cannot spend all your time here. I think that is what Elohim is trying to say."
"I know my responsibilities and I am perfectly capable of teaching her and upholding them." Lucifer's arm had curled around her shoulders as if to protect her from Elohim and us. "I appreciate the unneeded concern. Now if you'll excuse us, there is a great deal to cover." The two of them walked away, his hand placed protectively on the small of her back.