Lyris smirked as he leaned against the stone pillar, his long blonde hair draped around him like a cape.
The Egyptian city he was visiting this time was filled with beautiful women, on every corner.
He kept his eyes peeled, searching for his next target, although any one of them would suffice.
Everyone was glancing his way, his golden locks sticking out like a sore thumb.
Whispers filled the air as people passed by him, curious about the intense golden coloring of his hair and where he may have come from.
Suddenly, he made eye contact with a woman whose beauty rivaled that of the angels he'd shared Heaven with.
She bit her lip and winked at him, then turned to her friend and whispered a few things before giggling along with her, hardly breaking eye contact with him as she did so.
Lyris raised his brow and pushed himself away from the pillar, approaching the woman confidently.
Without needing to say a word, he held out his hand, to which she took instantly.
Off the two went to his quarters to indulge themselves in physical intimacy.
Rinse, lather, repeat.
Lyris continued his evening with multiple different women, one after another, reveling in mortal pleasures.
Then came the most beautiful of all, the girl he was most excited to eat up.
He lay on top of her, pressing his lips against her skin and listening to her loud moans penetrate his ears.
Just as his hand was making its way down, he felt a weightlessness to his body.
Lyris sighed heavily, his shoulders slumping.
He was on his way back to up to Heaven.
There he stood, on the puffy, white cloud flooring, deep blue and golden skies twinkled around him, the air as pure and delicious as ever before.
In front of him, a golden throne, sparkling in the rays of the sun, its intricate design showing the history of life itself.
Upon its velvet cushion, floated a ball of light.
Within that ball of light, was his father, also known as God.
Although he could not see his father's form in the light, he could just feel that he had his face in his palm, his disappointment punching through the air and through Lyris' entire being.
Lyris rocked on his heels, his hands held behind his back as he awaited to hear the same lecture he'd always been given.
His eyes rolled in anticipation, annoyed that the two of them kept repeating this ritual.
'Just give it up already. I'm not changing my ways.' He thought.
"Lyris!" The deep voice boomed like thunder, echoing throughout the clouds, snapping Lyris out of his thoughts and causing him to cover his ears.
"You are the angel of animals, but you are acting too much like an animal yourself. Your behavior must come to a stop. I will not have one of my angels behaving in such a way!"
The ball of light turned into a deep orange color, as he scolded Lyris.
It felt like his father was shaking his finger at him, although he couldn't be for certain.
Despite the intimidating nature of his father, Lyris still stuck to his guns.
He closed his eyes tight and stuck his tongue out as far as he could.
"You're the one who made me this way! If you have a problem with it, then you should've made me differently. It's not my fault you messed up!"
His father's ball of light changed from the previous deep orange hue to a dark red color and grew in size.
Lyris shrunk down, his shoulders flying up to his ears as he cowered in front of his father, his previous bravery gone in an instant.
"That is incorrect. Do not blame me for your misdeeds, for I have created you with equal opportunity to everyone else. You have developed these disturbing habits on your own."
He stared at his father with a confused, yet challenging, look on his face.
"If you didn't want me to become my own being, to do what I wanted, then why didn't you just make me the way you wanted me to be without room to disobey you?"
Without a word, lightning clapped around them, a bolt hitting right next to Lyris.
Lyris jumped and held his right hand up, "Alright, alright! I promise, father. I will calm down and behave more like you would wish for me to."
His father inhaled sharply, "This is your final warning, Lyris. If you do not stop your heinous actions, I will punish you. I won't let you off the hook any longer."
Lyris nodded, "Right, right. I promise!"
"Alright, you are free to go."
Lyris promptly returned back to Earth.
'Yeah, right!' he thought as he searched the roads for more beauties.
This had been an ongoing problem between him and his father practically since he was born.
God, of course, always threatened to punish him, and Lyris, of course, always promised he'd change and behave.
Then God would let him off the hook, and he'd be on his merry way, doing the exact same thing that he always did.
Just as he was about to pleasure his next willing participant, he found himself standing on that same white cloud flooring, with the golden throne and his father in front of him.
Lyris rolled his eyes.
'We didn't even get to the good part this time. What gives?!' he thought.
Suddenly, he realized that things were different this time.
In front of him was not a ball of light, but was instead his father's human form, sitting upon the throne with an angered look on his face.
Lyris trembled in fear.
"F-father!"
"LYRIS!" His voice thundered so loud that Lyris believed his eardrums had burst.
"For the sin of your animalistic nature, I am banishing you to wander the earth until you learn how to behave yourself! Only then will you be allowed to return to Heaven!"
In his hand, was a large golden staff, embedded with crystals and gems of all kinds. Atop was a large circular crystal that shone like the sun itself.
He slammed it down against the flooring with a deafening 'CLAP' and Lyris was sent shooting down to Earth.
Everything went dark.
Lyris furrowed his eyebrows, he never felt any impact.
Suddenly, he felt a soft, light feeling caress his bare chest, followed by the sense of a being next to him.
His eyes flew open as he turned his head to the side.
It was the beautiful woman he'd been so excited to pleasure earlier that day.
She was gently running her fingers up and down his chest as she stared at him hungrily.
"You're awake now sleepy head? Are you ready for round two?" Her voice was enchanting and soothed his aching ears like a healing elixir.
'Oh, thank you father, it was just a dream.' He thought as he rolled on top of her, pinning her down against the bed.
Without hesitating, he planted his lips against her neck, making his way down to her breasts.
Just as he was sliding his hand down, ready to pleasure her further, she let out a horrified scream.
"What? What is it?" He asked as he looked up to see her terrified face.
"You monster! Stay away from me!" She shoved him off of her and scrambled out of his dwellings.
Lyris stared after he confused, as he went to scratch the back of his neck.
"Ow!" He was surprised to feel a sharp pain as he did so.
Feeling a trickle of liquid down his neck, Lyris pulled his hand around to take a look and investigate what had happened.
Except, instead of his hand was a giant, golden, furry lion's paw attached to his wrist.
Lyris screams of horror turned into the roars of a lion as he slowly shifted from human to beast.
He suddenly lurched forward, his eyes wide, and sweat dripping off of every surface of his body.
The plush surface beneath him was damp as well.
Lyris squinted against the darkness, some light from the streetlamp and the building across filtered in through the closed blinds of the window.
He gasped for air and slowed his breathing, along with his heart rate, as reality set in.
Was it just a dream?
Lyris looked down at his hand.
It was difficult to see in the low light, but it definitely was not a large, beastly, paw.
He opened and closed it a few times and sighed in relief.
'Yes. This feels like the human form, a human hand…' he thought as he glanced over to his side.
Up on the bed next to him, was Camille sleeping peacefully, without any knowledge that he had just relived a horrific moment in his life.
He stood and sat by her side, staring at her calm, angelic face.
"You risked your life for me. Why? Was your guilt really all there was to it?"
Hello dear readers!
What do you think of Lyris disobeying his father like that? What would you have done if you were Lyris? What would you have done if Lyris was your child? Let me know in the comments! I'm curious!
- Thalia