Heaven, but better.That had been his catchphrase, the heart of his pitch to the Council. The one some among them considered blasphemous. But it was true.
Air was sweeter than aether, sharper. He’d neverfeltcolor before, but Earth’s palette was so vivid, its features so replete with texture, with shades made possible only by variations in light and fluctuations in temperature, that it pressed into his skin, enveloping him.
And the span of it…
The world rolled on forever, endless to the horizon and stretching further into the cosmos beyond. In comparison, Heaven was an island, adrift in the sea of the Void.
Perhaps it was proper to say that the Creator had outdone Himself, but Luc didn’t bother with that. He hadn’t breathed Earth into being himself simply because he didn’t have the tools. The Creator was a means to an end; that didn’t make Him superior to Luc.
Hadri had always told Luc that he had the most power he could have as an angel, but he’d been wrong. Michael had the most power. If Luc wanted to be higher than Michael, he couldn’t remain an angel. No. He’d have the power of the Creator or none at all.
So even though Earth was everything Luc had imagined it would be, andmore,he didn’t bother to sweep the entire length of Lila’s Garden before pausing by the trees Hadri had mentioned.
“Are you certain these are the correct trees?” he asked Braun, who had led him straight to the spot hidden in the grove.
“Yes, sir. I overheard the two humans discussing them, sir.” The boy shifted nervously, probably because Luc had told him what he wanted with the trees. Partially, at least. He’d made it sound as if the power within them could help the angels in general, not him alone.
“Hmm.” Luc frowned as he circled the two trees, inspecting their bark, then their leaves, then their fruit for any sign of what lay inside. Frustratingly, the trees didn’t differ in any respect from the other trees in the Garden. If not for the loose tongues of the Creator’s strange new creatures, and the fact that Luc knew, in theory, where every tree should have been placed, they might never have found the correct spot. Truly, the Creator had hidden the trees in plain sight.
“Perhaps, sir…” Braun began, but cut himself off.
“Yes?”
Braun frowned, and Luc sighed in exasperation.
“Spit it out, warrior.”
“Yes, sir.” He scratched his head. “Uh, perhaps, sir, the power of the trees is inside the fruit. Perhaps one has to eat it.”
Luc considered the idea, then asked, “Are the humans nearby?”
“I can check for you, sir.” Braun hurried away, swiftly returning. “They’re over that way if you follow the stream, sir.” He pointed.
“Very good. Let’s test our hypothesis, shall we?” Luc plucked two fruits from one tree and handed them to Braun.
“What are we going to do, sir?”
“Offer them each one. Once they eat the fruit, we’ll watch to see what happens.”
“Sir?”
Luc shot him a glance.
“I mean…yes, sir.” Braun took off in the direction he’d come from, and Luc followed him at a leisurely pace.
He had no wish for the humans to gain the Creator’s knowledge, but neither did he wish to test the Creator’s protective measures himself. There had to be some trick to the trees. The Creator couldn’t have just left them in the open like that.
He’d let these unwanted creatures deal with any harmful effects of the fruit; if they became a problem later, he’d deal with them, weak as they were.
Hidden behind a giant maple, Luc watched Braun hand the fruit to the humans as a gesture of goodwill. Amiable, and naive to any ill intent, they devoured it quickly.
Suddenly, both humans had an epiphany, but it was not the one Luc had been seeking.
Naked! We are naked!they cried out.
Luc frowned.
Of course, they were naked; anyone could see that. Luc hadn’t known the Creator could make a creature dumber than Castor, but he stood corrected.
