The three angels hurtled toward Earth with almost frightening speed. Just as quickly, they halted, and landed gently. The thumping of their wing slowed and stopped as they did so. My older sister, Gabrielle, preceded the twins, and her golden hair shined brilliantly in the sun. Yet somehow, she was nothing compared to them, whom all eyes were immediately drawn to. They were our older brothers, yes, but there was something altogether unfamiliar about the awe we felt in their presence. Our flippancy about them when they weren’t around suddenly meant nothing. Gabrielle stepped aside for them, and joined Raphael, Michael, and me in waiting for them to speak.

“Hello brothers, sister,” God began, nodding cordially at each of us, his hair dancing in the wind. It made even Gabrielle’s look as dull as tree bark, and I wondered how I appeared in comparison. I knew it must be something of a funny sight—my siblings crowded around, tall and fair with wings of white, and myself wedged in: small and dark haired and winged.

Satan nudged his twin brother in the ribs. His manner was nowhere even close to resembling God’s formality. In looks though, they were extremely similar, though Satan’s features were more sharp and defined. Satan and I bore an odd likeness, in that we lacked the family eyes of turquoise blue. Mine were like the rest of me, dark, while his were a vivid red. “Will you tell us the surprise already?”

Our eyes collectively widened.

“You don’t know the surprise, either?” Raphael asked.

“Unfortunately, no. This is all God’s doing.” I wondered if anyone else detected the note of resentment in his tone, or the glimmer of smugness that crossed God’s face.

We all turned to God, who only drew our suspense closer to the brink with his silence. Finally, he said, “I have completed a project.”

“Without Satan’s help?” Raphael broke in.

“Is it another place like this?” I asked.

“Can we see it already?” said Michael.

“Yes, it was on my own. And no, it is something completely different. And if you wish to see it, you must wait,” God said, a vision of patience. Satan’s look of suspicion only increased.

“Wait?” Michael exclaimed. “We’ve waited long enough!”

“I didn’t know your power of creation could work independently of each other,” Raphael murmured thoughtfully, eyes darting between the twins. He elbowed me, and I knew what he meant: the twins were even more powerful than any of us had known. We had previously thought their superior power was held in check by the other. Apparently not.

“It won’t be long,” God assured us. “They are just as eager as you are. In fact, I was afraid they would find you before I had a chance to introduce them.” There was a rustle in some nearby thickets. “Ah, I think our guests have arrived, if they haven’t been hiding here for a few minutes now.” He raised his voice as he directed at the thickets, “Adam, Eve, come meet my family.”

I took a step back when I saw the creatures he called Adam and Eve, and Michael did as well. We were both full of fear immediately on seeing them.

Their movement told us that they were more like animals than plants. But animals tended to be covered in fur or feathers and scales and appear utterly unlike us. Appearance was what immediately separated them from animals, for they looked almost exactly like us. Walking upright, with two arms, two legs, hair on their heads, and eyes, ears, nose, and a mouth, it was clear God had modeled them off of us, with one distinct difference. It was this difference which spooked us so much.

“Have you cut off their wings?” Raphael asked in whisper.

“Eve, would you please turn around,” God told one of them.

The one who looked more like myself and Gabrielle than our brothers nodded obediently and turned. We saw her back. It was smooth, with no trace of wings at any time.

I snuck a glance at my sister to see her reaction to the creature that was so much like us. Her eyes had rolled in the back of her head, and she was mumbling to herself incoherently. She was having a prophecy, a normal occurrence for her that could last for a few hours. That was why no one had taken any notice, though undoubtedly we would have to know what it was later. I shrugged and turned back to the more exciting spectacle.

“You see, they are animals created in our image, with both males and females that have the ability to procreate,” God was explaining. “With a few obvious weaknesses to stop them from surpassing us, not that such a thing is possible. Though they look like us, they have no powers and clearly no wings, which means no ability of flight. They are also animal in that they are guided by their instincts, and not by the same feelings and intelligences we possess. However they do have the ability of speech and learning capacities. Eve is the female, and Adam is the male.”

There was a long pause. The pair stared at us with piercing eyes, and we stared back. None of us had expected a surprise like this.

“So you’ve created fancy looking animals?” Satan sneered. He threw an arm around God’s shoulders companionably. “You should have asked for my help after all, and we could have really made something impressive.”

God took a sharp step away from his twin. “They are impressive,” he insisted, turning into the sulky child that only Satan had the power to bring out in him. “Are you telling me you do not see that?”

“What would have been impressive was if you had taken the same care on their insides as you did on their outsides. Created creatures like us—“ Here Satan gestured at us, his siblings, “—in more than just appearance.”

“You wanted him to create angels?” I asked, speaking for the first time in a while. “Is such a thing possible?”

“No,” God said, blushing.

“Yes,” Satan said at the same time, a fierce grin coming over his face. “Brother, if you would let me, I could add the finishing touches on your creations to make them infinitely more like us. That is what you wanted in the first place, is it not?”

“No!” God barked, and the tone in his voice made me shudder. “These humans are perfect the way I have created them.”

The smirk did not fall from his twin’s face as he said, “You may believe what you wish, brother, but those humans,” he spat this word in particular disgust, “will lack what you tried in vain to create.”

Gabrielle was still locked in a stupor, but the rest of us could only watch as the bickering of our eldest brothers escalated.

“You are jealous!” God seethed. “Jealous that I have created something this magnificent!” He flung a toned arm in the direction of Adam and Eve. They themselves were cowering together, clinging to each other. I pitied them.

“Jealous of what? These animals? Never!”

The two were raising their voices even more, and I clamped my hands over my ears. I could not stand the fighting, especially between my two most powerful brothers. I wondered if Raphael and Michael were as scared as I was at what they might possibly do to each other in their rage.

Michael looked down at me with concern, and he brought a white wing around me comfortingly.

“Make them stop,” I whispered to him. “This is awful.”

“You are jealous!” God shouted. “You hate the fact that I did something without you, by making creatures that do not have to listen to you! They will obey only me, and that is what you loathe!”

“Stop this!” A new voice entered the fray, and it was not Michael, although he was the one I had so implored. Michael had been about to speak up, the bravery in his eyes told me, but now Raphael had beaten him to it. He was much smaller than his elder brothers, but he was still standing up to them, staring them down defiantly. “This is completely unnecessary,” he said, his voice bringing with it a welcoming calmness. “You two need separated to sort out your thoughts. Fighting over something so stupid is useless.”

The glares that God and Satan were giving Raphael were evenly matched in fury. In that moment, they were united again, this time against he who had dared to tell them what to do. But their unity did not last long, as they each complied.

“We’ll work this out later,” God said.

“Agreed,” Satan replied, the normally silken tones of his voice now clipped and bitter.

Without a word to any of us, they flew off in opposite directions with a grace none of us possessed. We were silent for a few minutes, with only Gabrielle’s mumbling easing the silence. The humans had fled in the direction of their master.

“Do you think she is seeing something important?” Michael asked, nodding in her direction.

“Yes,” Raphael said. “And I would not be surprised if it has something to do with this little feud.”

“They will get over it soon enough.”

Raphael did not respond. Clearly he did not agree with Michael’s statement.

I didn’t know what to think. “All I want is for there to be peace,” I sighed. “Though I believe it may be unlikely.” I sat down in the grass, and Michael sat with me, taking my hand.

“Why do you say that?” he questioned.

I exhaled. “They are too much alike in that neither of them will ever admit they are wrong. You are right, Raphael.” My head tilted up to look at him, as he was still standing. “It is stupid, but it will be difficult to prevent.”

There was a long pause as each of us considered what the future might bring.

“It will be okay,” Michael said optimistically. “They are brothers, just as the rest of us are. And sisters, too,” he added. “They cannot be angry at each other for too long, I think. Like you two said, it is such a foolish matter to argue over, and they’ll see that truth for themselves. If they don’t, we’ll have to make them see it”

“How can we make them make up with each other?” I asked.

“We just will,” Michael said. “Have faith.” He squeezed my hand reassuringly, and until then, I hadn’t noticed how cold it was. “Don’t be afraid,” he told me in a low voice. “I will not let anything happen to you, I promise.”

I looked up at Raphael again, and saw the promise in his eyes as well. They made me feel reasonably reassured, yes; however, I had never before felt so powerless, though I suppose that was because, until now, there had been no reason to be afraid. All I could do was nod, and hope for the best.

Birds flew overhead, and the three of us looked up as they passed, squinting our eyes against the sun. They were birds of all colors and sizes, and yet they were moving together in a collective group, with the same destination in mind. None of us knew what it was.

“Do you think they are leaving?” I asked aloud, though I did not expect a response.

“Yes.” It was a female voice that answered me, and I turned to look at my reawakened sister. Her eyes burned with an unfamiliar intensity. “They are leaving. If only we could be so lucky.”