The Watchers II

"I talked to Lucifer," Samael said to God. He called her by praying to her. They were in the Fifth Heaven, standing at the edge where Eden used to be. Instead of the vegetable garden and the orchard, rich with vegetables and fruits, the salt water covered the valley.

God folded her hands behind her back.

"About her plans to watch over humans up close," Samael said.

God nodded.

"The Thrones and Cherubs think it's a bad idea."

"Not all of them." She glanced at him before her gaze was on the sea, stretching before them.

"If a human refused to follow Lucifer's commands, she might kill them all."

She nodded.

"Could that endanger the creations?"

She sighed and faced him. "The fate of humans and creations is tied together."

"So, it could."

She nodded.

"You're tied to creations, too."

"Not the same as humans." She sighed again. "Yes, there is a small chance their extinction could endanger my existence, but it's not likely."

"Is Lucifer, your first and the most ardent worshipper, aware of it?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because she would create a fuss about it."

"She is always making a fuss. If it isn't one thing, it's another," Samael said. "Are you going to agree with her plan?"

"Yes. With a minor change. She's not going to oversee the humans."

"Why?"

"With her animosity towards humans, she's unsuitable for that position."

"No, why are you indulging her?"

"She's my younger sister. How can I not indulge her and refuse her when she rarely requests anything from me?" God said. "Thrones and Cherubs have valid concerns. It's bound to result in disaster, irrespective of the leader, and we'll all endure the consequences for millennia." She glanced at him, but he couldn't read her expression. "I could decline, but it's inevitable, albeit postponed."

Samael pinched his eyebrows together. "Wait... Without Lucifer in the equation, it's just a bunch of angels watching over humans. How can this result in a disaster?"

"I gave free will upon both humans and angels. Angels, like humans, are susceptible to temptation. The distinction lies in the fact that there are fewer temptations in the initial four heavens." A brief moment of silence. "As Eve and Adam demonstrated, beings with free will must learn through their mistakes." Her voice softened, tinged with sorrow. "As much as it pains me, I cannot prevent them from erring. I could attempt to, but that would only breed hatred. If they despise me, I cannot serve as their pillar of support or be the one they turn to. I am the light, and without me in their lives, all that remains is darkness."

"I am already your darkness and rage. I can be the one who they hate."

She chuckled. "You're already complaining about how everyone tends to pin their mistakes on you. You complained about being overworked and you even insisted on leaving the Second Heaven because of it."

He smiled. "Yes, I did. But I'm a complainer and like to overact, you know that."

She patted his shoulder. "It's generous of you to offer, but they already blame you too much as it is." She smiled; Samael knew that by the thickening glow around her. Then the glow diminished, revealing her exquisite face and lips pressed into a thin line. "They need to learn to take responsibility for their actions, humans and angels alike, and bear the consequences of their actions, instead of shifting blame or resenting those who endeavour to guide them away from error."

"Lucifer included?"

A softness layered her face. "Yes, though..."

"By removing her from the leading position, you're trying to protect her." It wasn't a question but a statement.

"Yes." She looked at the sea, at the blue-green water that sparkled under the evening sun. "I can't for long, though. She's too set in her ways and I will have to part from her far too soon."

"She believes she's doing it all for you."

"I know." A sad smile curled her mouth. "I know." She sighed and patted his shoulder again, telling him, "Take care."

She vanished in an explosion of light.

Samael let out a deep sigh, his gaze fixed on the undulating waves as he listened to the gentle sea breeze. Significant changes were on the horizon, and none of them were good.

#

The short, scorched yellow grass covered the hill with green valleys around it. It was hot and the light breeze was lifting the fine sand and swishing it around, making Samael wrinkle his nose in disgust at the dust that he could feel everywhere, even in his nose. He had to use small miracles to get rid of it, and then he floated above the ground, protected by the elements by a shield, as he descended the hill.

He never wandered in this dry and hot part of the Fifth Heaven. He preferred the cold air of high mountains and thick forests. But he heard the Watchers, the name Lucifer gave the group who descended from the Third Heaven to keep a close eye on humanity, had settled here and he had to get a look at them.

"My lord! My lord, please wait for me!" Beelzebub's voice came from behind him.

Samael turned to see the creature running after him as if the stumbling and kicking through the scrubs and high yellow grass could be called running. He waited until the Shadow reached him. How was the Shadow even able to follow him when he used a small miracle to appear near where, according to the information he got, was the Watchers' residence? "I told you your presence is unnecessary."

"But my lord, you might need something."

"I doubt it."

Beelzebub furrowed his eyebrows, looking as if he wanted to say something but didn't know how.

"What?"

"I would also like to see the angels' abode. Can I?"

Samael glanced at him. The times when Beelzebub ran around with his private parts only covered with a cloth were long over and now he pranced around in a robe, a shabby version of the one Samael wore. He resumed his hovering forwards. "Be careful not to be noticed."

"Yes, my lord." Beelzebub followed him. "I heard they build a tower."

"Yes." Samael pointed in the distance. "There it is."

"It's small compared to our palace."

"Yes, it is." Samael nodded.

"It doesn't have any columns, either."

When they came closer, they saw a wall, the height of a human, built beside the tower, and cob-like structures inside the wall. People moved among them.

"It's a human dwelling," Beelzebub said.

"It seems like." Samael shielded his eyes as he glanced around, seeing four more towers a distance away. He hid his hands in his sleeves as he faced Beelzebub. "Do you want to get a closer look?"

"Can we?"

"If I camouflage us, we can, as long as you don't draw attention to yourself," Samael said.

"I would never."

"Of course not." Samael rolled his eyes. "If you by any chance do, don't hit anybody and run, let me handle things."

"Yes, my lord."

Using small miracles, Samael changed their appearance, so they resembled the people strolling inside the wall. Beelzebub looked good, bear-chested, with a leather skirt on his lower body and with a head of hair, even if it looked like a bird's nest. Samael told him so.

A blush and a bashful smile appeared on Beelzebub's face. "You look good too, my lord. Very manly."

"I always look manly." Samael with a distaste glanced at the skin that covered his chest and back and a hybrid between a leather pants and skirt that reached his knees. Didn't these humans know what pants, shirts, and robes were? They were so ignorant. Too ignorant. It would probably be better to use cloaking.

A cough drew Samael's attention to the side to see Ayinel, dressed similarly to them, walking towards them. He gave him a nod in greeting.

"Who's that?" Beelzebub whispered to Samael.

"One of the three angels you had the honour of meeting," Samael whispered back.

"Not that grimacing one?"

"No," Samael said in a low voice before he addressed Ayinel, who had now reached them. "What brings you here?"

"Curiosity. The same as you," Ayinel said.

"I talked to Lucifer and God," Samael told him. It was months ago since he had those conversations, but it didn't hurt to mention them, to let Ayinel know he had kept his word. He started walking towards the wall made of stones.

"God told me." Ayinel joined him.

"Has she also mentioned the results of this project?"

"No," Ayinel said. "But even without saying it, I know it's going to end up terribly."

"How can you be so certain?"

"There is a reason why angels live in the Second and Third Heaven, and not in the Fifth one."

"Which is?"

"Even though we are born out of purity and goodness, and we represent God's light, we are beings of duality, just like humans," Ayinel said. "We carry both light and darkness, and we are prone to temptation. And since our strength is greater than of humans, when we succumb to temptation, the consequences are far greater."

A surprising sound came from Beelzebub's mouth.

Samael glanced at him before his attention was back on Ayinel and then at the dwelling and the entrance to inside the wall, which was now just a few steps away.

"What is this?" a voice said. This time it was coming from above.

Samael glanced at Lucifer, who was descending. "A group expedition, it seems."

Lucifer's feet touched the ground. She narrowed her eyes at Samael. "You better not be up to something."

Samael splayed his fingers over his collarbone. "Me? Never."

Lucifer's glare intensified. "Don't ruin this for me."

Samael sighed. "I'm flattered you feel that just appearing inside the wall would cause a calamity, but I don't hold this kind of power."

"Yes, you do."

Samael lifted his eyebrows.

"You do," Lucifer stubbornly repeated.

"Not just by appearing," Samael said. "I would at least have to swing my hand to do some damage, not just stroll in there. I won't do anything, I promise. I won't even talk to humans." He glanced at his subordinate. "Beel here will say I'm mute."

She studied his face.

"I promise," Samael said.

"You'd better keep your promise," Lucifer told him before she turned to Ayinel, who pretended he was invisible.

Samael didn't understand why the angel hadn't left when Lucifer's focus was on him. In his place, he would have. "Well, anyway," he said, and then, as fast as he could without looking as if he was trying to run away, strolled to the wall and its entrance.

Beelzebub followed him.

"Hey, wait for me." Ayinel joined them.

Lucifer appeared by Samael's side too, but cloaked, though her cloaking, since she was his junior, didn't work on him, but it did on Ayinel and Beelzebub. "Just in case you forget your promise."

The dwelling was big compared to the ones Samael had seen before, with cob-like houses and with people squatting by the stomped earth path that led to the other side of the wall where another entrance was, the items they seemed to exchange on the cloth before them. There were no angels in the dwelling except the three of them.

"Who is in charge of the Watchers?" Samael in a whisper asked Lucifer.

"Samyaza," Ayinel said.

"Never heard of him." Since he knew all the angels from the highest and middle order, it meant he was one of the angels from the lowest order, the ones who occupied the Third Heaven. To give such a prominent position to an angel from the lowest order... What was God thinking?

The family of the cob-like house they passed gave them inquisitive looks.

"You didn't miss anything," Ayinel commented.

"Why was he chosen?"

"God decided angels had to volunteer for the position of the Watcher, and Lucifer had to select from among the volunteers to form the group that would journey to the Fifth Heaven. Additionally, she granted the Watchers the option to choose their leader from among themselves," Ayinel explained.

"He's not suitable," Lucifer said.

So that's why those two were here. To see how the Watchers were doing. "Do we have something for an exchange?" Samael enquired. "We got quite a few suspicious gazes."

Lucifer snorted. "They have nothing worthwhile."

Ayinel squinted his eyes at the wares on display. "They are offering food and things made from stone. Give me a stone and I can make something."

From somewhere, Beelzebub pulled a fist-sized stone and gave it to Ayinel.

"Why are you carrying a stone?" Samael asked.

"I thought it looked nice."

Samael shook his head.

Ayinel made a blade and Beelzebub, since Samael was mute, exchanged it for nuts. The three of them nibbled on them while Lucifer, because Samael didn't offer any to her, was casting them dark glares.

"You did say there's nothing worthwhile," Samael whispered to her.

Lucifer huffed and walked ahead.

Ayinel apparently heard him, since he was giving him a questioning look.

Samael turned, so that Lucifer was behind his back, tilted his head in Lucifer's direction, and mounted to Ayinel, "Lucifer."

Ayinel nodded.

Lucifer stopped before one of the cloths, intently looking down before she squatted. She glanced at Samael, light in her eyes, and gestured to him to join her.

He reached her and lifted his chin in a "what is it?"

She pointed at the figure of a curvy woman with a bloated belly. "It's God."

"You want it?"

Lucifer nodded. "I would have taken it, but..." She made a pout. "God wouldn't like it if I did that."

"Why would I want that?" Beelzebub, who was behind Samael, asked.

"It's a representation of God," Ayinel said.

"God is a beam of powerful light, not a fat human." Beelzebub frowned.

"God is everything." Lucifer grabbed Beelzebub's leg and pushed her nails into it.

Beelzebub yelped, jumped, and then fell on his ass. He cradled his leg. "Something bit me. It's numb now."

"I'm certain you're going to be fine," Samael reassured him.

"It's Mother Earth," the woman selling the figure said.

"God." Lucifer nodded and stood, looking pleased.

"It's a symbol for nature," Ayinel explained to Beelzebub, who was still sitting on the ground, holding onto his leg. "God is nature, though nature is not God. It's like..." He pinched his eyebrows as if he was thinking.

"Like your leg is you, but you're not your leg," Samael said to Beelzebub. "Do you have more stones?"

"That's why worshiping nature is worshiping God," Ayinel finished with his explanation. "Though God isn't that fond of idols' worship, even when those represent her."

Beelzebub fumbled with something inside his skirt before he pulled out a stone and offered it to Samael.

He's not touching that. Samael gave it a side glance before he looked at Ayinel. "Could you make another blade?"

Ayinel rolled his eyes at him, took the stone, changed it into a blade, and then gave it to the woman, who happily exchanged it for the figurine. After it was given to Samael, he passed it to Lucifer.

Lucifer, with a wide smile on her face and the figure against her chest, rose into the air with strong flaps of her wings.

The wind rose and swept through the ground, lifting or shifting the skins with the wares.

"No consideration for those around her whatsoever," Samael commented. "Well, except for God."

"Is she gone?" Ayinel asked.

"Yes."

"Good. Now, follow me," Ayinel said. "Oh, and lose your shadow."