12 Seconds Short of Eternity

12 Seconds Short of Eternity Ch.5

5

Lucifer walked down the pathway after dropping an exhausted Michael at his home. His mind jumped from thought to thought. On one hand, he wanted desperately to believe his brother, that things would not change between the Lord and himself. He loved his Father so deeply, everything that was good in him, he owed to God. To please Father was so rewarding and to see his smile, hear his voice, and know it was for Lucifer alone, that was so satisfying, it was ecstasy and lifted his spirit higher than anything else, save Carnaval's smile.

It was the other hand that tormented him so, that little voice of reason, that shone through the cloud of God's aura. When one is first away from the presence of the Lord, the craving to experience him is overwhelming, but eventually the mind seems to function more diversely than when the Lord is near.

Lucifer and several other Angels had noticed this, especially when God had been focused on populating the Earth with creatures. It was during that time, all the Angel's capabilities to invent and create had exploded.

Belphegor had learned to replicate himself. Making multiples at will he was able to gather reeds, straw, wool and cotton then weave them into all sorts of goods. He would absorb his duplicates back unto himself when he rested, creating them anew as needed.

Kushiel had suffered from a painful chill with violent body tremors, that prevented her from holding a mere cup or fork, requiring assistance to eat or drink. Now she no longer felt the cold, and could project it into objects, freezing them solid. Her ice was used to preserve food in stone storages created by Samael, and thus the Angels always had fresh food. Unfortunately, she had yet to prevent the cold from radiating out into anything that touched her, so she remained semi reclusive to prevent harm from accidental contact.

All the Angels had experienced this time of maturity with their abilities, and sometimes it was a forced discovery when God was absent. It was during such a time that Carnaval, became the first Angel to take a tremendous step forward, tapping into the previously unimagined scope of her abilities.

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The Pishon riverbanks wandered aimlessly here and there, divvying up the land between the Euphony from the Souk. It was more of a creek than a river in most places, but still efficient at providing fresh drinking water to the homes of the Angels.

Her headwaters formed from dozens of natural springs. They were discovered by Raphael, as he searched for herbs along her banks, and followed the water into the rugged Ararat mountains east of the Euphony. The Pishon flowed down opposite sides from the springs in the mountains, the flow on the opposite side ended in the wetlands bordering the Medianoche Sea.

As you neared the Souk, the banks of the river changed. They drop sharply as black-clay sides, clustered at the bottoms with rounded river rocks the size of a fist. This seceded to wide shallow banks of rapidly flowing water, with mussels clustered amidst pebbles the size of a thumb. Small, dark-blue pools, about 20 paces wide, dotted these areas, filled with skillet size catfish and the occasional swimmer seeking relief on a hot day.

The particular day Lucifer was thinking of, had been surprisingly hot, relenting to a sultry, sticky night that had Carnaval tossing about in her bed. Desperate for relief, as the sweat soaked sheets clung to her skin, her hands fumbled in the darkness, before finding the cup she kept on a bedside table. She turned the bottom up but not even a trickle crossed her lips, it was long since empty. She lowered it, right-side up and focused, water quickly filled the chalice and she drank her fill.