Twigs crunched underfoot. Footsteps left lush greenery crushed on a path rarely walked. Lucifer parted the branch’s of the tree with a hand, his eyes wide with curiosity. Even Heaven’s pristine perfection could never rival the natural beauty that oozed from every verdant leaf, each vibrant flower petal. Lucifer had seen things he had never even imagined and he had only been in the Garden for a few hours. A strange, four-legged little creature with tawny fur and large, perky ears. It sniffed the air around the angel’s feet, nuzzling against his ankles. Everything in Eden was so beautiful, so friendly. It was paradise—better than Heaven, even. Nothing could ruin here. Birds chirped in trees; Lucifer’s hand trailed over the bark of a tree, his mind lost in hedonistic sensations of sight and sound and feel.

Lucifer jumped four feet in the air, flapping his wings wildly, pure white feathers falling on the ground as he whirled around. Something had touched him. He landed with the grace of a tree branch falling on someone’s head and the subtly of a lightning strike.

What he saw before him was astounding. It looked like an Angel, but it had no wings, and what was an Angel without their wings? And its skin was a shade of brown, not any of Heaven’s grayscales. It was… beautiful. It belonged in this Garden. Was this the “man” that everyone in Heaven was talking about?