equal Luc’s stature, his own muscular body rising thirty feet into the air, he took one step that resounded across the valley like a clap of thunder and placed himself between Luc and the frightened man creature that howled in terror then ran, fell, and rolled back down the rocky slope.
Luc reduced himself to his original proportions and fell back on the plush turf laughing, unfazed by the menacing regard of his friend who sunk back to a mere eight feet tall.
“Adonai will know.”
“Oh, I’m counting on it!” Luc’s eyes flashed with anger. “I’ve told Him these pathetic men will never develop if left to their own slow, cognitive abilities. Besides, you’ve just helped me initiate worship! That creature will grunt stories of his brush with ‘the gods’ for the rest of his life! He’ll be esteemed and honored. I’ve done him a favor….”
“You have disobeyed Adonai!”
“I’m showing Him I can think for myself!” Luc roared with a pent-up fury that drove Rapha backwards to shatter the rock wall behind him and send another resounding crash across the valley.
Finally, all was quiet. Rapha looked up from the mound of shattered rock toward Luc whose face registered vague surprise at his own violence. There was regret, but no apology. “Admit it, Rapha. You have doubts as well. How long will Adonai keep us slaves to His will? He plots to dishonor us, the greatest of His creation, yet we continue to bow and scrape and—”
“Silence!” Rapha’s voice thundered across the valley cutting off Luc’s tirade. He had never controlled his friend by force but the words against Adonai were an insult he would not endure.
Enraged, Luc fixed mute but murderous eyes on him as Rapha continued, struggling to remember how Adonai maintained the celestial court without anger. “Adonai has given nothing but honor and power to us. You shame Him, and yourself, with these words.”
Finally Luc’s tongue was loosened, dripping with bitterness. “Shame? You want shame? Continue blindly following orders until you find yourself nursemaid to the mud creatures, my friend!” In a split second Luc launched himself off the precipice and, like a glorious phoenix, traced an arc of fire through blushing, sun-kissed clouds.
Rapha’s mind skipped immediately to a more recent memory.
It was another day atop Luc’s favorite mountain. When Rapha appeared, Luc was tracing a lazy finger in the air to swirl a dark cloud in the sky above him. “You heard?”
Rapha allowed a tight smile, “How could I not? Your anger still resounds through the cosmos.”
Luc sneered, “Gabriel. Michael. ‘Thank you, Adonai!’” he mocked, “‘We will honor and obey.’” A spasm of fury flicked across Luc’s features, “They grovel while Adonai humiliates….”
“No! They were chosen because they refuse to stir contention about what they do not understand.…”
“Unlike me.” Luc finished, his eyes piercing, his hands clenched into fists. “I, who have been closer to Adonai’s counsel than any other; I knew this was coming. I warned you. I understand all too well.”
“And make assumptions based on a glimpse of His plans.”
“Assumptions?” Luc’s volume rose, “What more is there to know? Adonai announced it. He plans to elevate these creatures,” Luc spat the word, “to give them dominion over this place. Can you honestly say that is no insult to us, His servants of light, His firstborn?”
“You mean insult to you, Adonai’s favored.”
“Yes. Insult to me. If anyone should be offered dominion it is I. I, who have been Adonai’s most trusted, the morning star of all His creation, not some vile creature of dust!”
“But you told me Adonai will dwell within them. They will be children of the Most High in every sense and one day His highest purpose will be realized through one of them—” But Rapha’s words were cut off by a whizzing blow and his mouth tasted earth from the chunk of mountain that had hit him. Immediately he transformed into his transparent body but Luc was one step ahead. Cords of light were flung ‘round Rapha’s chest and were tightening their painful grip even as Lucifer, arms outstretched, summoned a continuing barrage of rocks and trees as he spun in the air like a malevolent cyclone.
“NOOO! Adonai has betrayed me!” Luc screamed over the tumult of his storm, “He says I am not ready to rule! He gives authority to Michael, to Gabriel, to these, these animals….”
Rapha dodged and blocked Luc’s projectiles as he struggled to contain his own rising rage. “Please,” he shouted, gritting his teeth in the effort to escape the grip