Angelus II

Lucien

He saw her when he opened his eyes. She was all aglow, like sunlight before it comes out. He knew instantly that he had to disappear. So he took the child from his chest and laid him in his bed. Then he was gone to her sight. Putting his hand to the child’s head he stayed to look at her. He thought she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. He wanted to reach out and touch her hand. But he restrained himself. Instead he moved a little away from the bed and put his hands behind his back. But his breathing became heavier. So he turned and left.

And then one day, he came to protect her because she was protecting the boy. Those were his thoughts. There were clouds of bright light. Not any light. There was war. Great storms of increased fighting. And in it he saw Aaron and Dalili. At the middle of the great storm. So he came.

He wrapped his arms about her because she carried Aaron. He wrapped his wings around her because she carried Aaron. He wrapped his life around because she carried Aaron. That’s what he told himself. In his arms, she felt like the lover he’d always known. And the boy, felt like the child they’d always known. In his wings there was the family he’d always known. He knew that as he let them go. He knew that if he did not give in, they’d be his. So he left them in this safe place.

In his sleep, he dreamt he came to Dalili. In his dreams he kissed her with his emotions buried in the kiss. That was a kiss none ever dreamed of. It was filled with his love and the love he had for everything around him. He wrapped his wings around her protectively. In his swift embrace, they were together. He cried out in his dreams because Dalili laid her hand on his breast just below the heart. In his dreams Dalili told him that she loved him. In his dreams Dalili showed him that she loved him. In his dreams.

Believing he was no good to God, he took himself to the Adjudicator. Lucien told the Adjudicator he was no good. So he chose to be no longer Angelus. The Adjudicator look at Lucien. He saw in Lucien's golden eyes, a woman. He saw the woman had a name. And he saw the graceful light from Lucien moving towards the woman. And so the Adjudicator took the Angelus from Lucien. His big body fell to earth and the only thing left to him was the manicae. And even those drifted away into slumber. Those manicae became part of his soul. He fell to earth and was made man.

In early morning when he was found. He was naked and they could not wake him. So for some days he was left to sleep. And when he woke, he knew nothing of himself. No name, no place, no people. But around him children would come. And he always made them laugh. So they sent him to the Children’s Home.

The French priest looked at him as he rocked a baby. He stood before a stain glass window of an angel. The priest seeing the sight thought that he was the angel. All alight and with wings. The priest heart thought that he was that angel. The young man looked up at the priest and smiled, so light and elegant.

So graceful. So light. So elegant. Thought the priest. Lucien. We shall call him Lucien.