Peng Lai is a mysterious island surrounded by a thick layer of fog, a series of whirlpools, and seven gargoyles that roam the sky above. Cherry blossom trees grow all over this island, giving this isolated land a beautiful shade of bright pink. An incredible collection of flora and fauna reside under these trees while green grass covers almost every inch of the island. There is a gigantic lake with clear water in the middle of the island, and a water dragon named Slippy resides there.

Jackson Price, the emperor of Dalion, is standing on the water while grinning at me. His crooked grin paired with those baby blue eyes makes him one of the most aesthetically pleasing men I have ever seen which says A LOT given how old I am. His biracial roots give him a permanent tan that, when paired with his dark brown hair, gives him a smile that would grip every woman’s heart and make every man question their sexuality.

I can’t help but let out a small giggle.

“This the first time your smile does nothing to another person?” I ask.

His eyes tell me that I was right, but his lips say, “Just surprised by how candid you make God out to be.”

“Never thought I’d ever say this, but you suck at lying, False Messiah,” I comment.

“And that is only one of the many reasons why I’d like you and Lilith to join me in my quest to destroy the church,” Jackson says, this time with a straight face.

“Like I said,” I repeat, “neither Lilith nor I have any quarrel with God.”

“But you don’t have any alliance with God either,” Jackson points out, “Pledge your alliance to me, and my father will grant you all that you wish for and beyond.”

I laughed aloud this time.

“C’mon, are you sure you’re not cursed like the other children of Adam and Eve?” I ask. He answers with a confused gaze so I continue speaking, “I told you, slowpoke, Lilith and I are more than the typical humans. We don’t have greed or insecurities like them.”

“Which is why you have no wish or desire for us to grant,” Jackson murmurs as the realization hits him. Then, he chuckles at his own mistake. I could tell that he is not turning his charms on deliberately, but his voice is so mesmerizing that he is oozing charisma. If I was one of the normal humans, I would have fallen heads over heel for him.

“Go home, False Messiah,” I say as I pick up a handful of sand, “There is nothing for you here.”

I throw the sand at Jackson. The wave of my throw takes Jackson by surprise and sends him flying past the whirlpools and the fog that he had spent the last two days crossing. Above my head, the gargoyles seem unsure about whether they should descend so I whistle to them, telling them to come to me.

“Hey guys,” I greet them with a smile and pet their heads.

These gargoyles – my gargoyles – all have a lion’s face with a single horn in the middle of their adorable forehead which makes it easy for me to caress their head of golden, soft hair which I comb for them every other day. Their eyes, like mine, are green but theirs are bigger and shine with more innocence. Their body is shaped like a werewolf’s body while their fur is shiny with a wonderful shade of bright orange which makes them look like a part of the Sun when they dance in the sky at just the right angle. They sit the way a dog does, and that breaks my heart because, due to the shape of their body, they have to crouch every time they take a seat which puts a certain amount of stress on their backs. I wondered if God designed them that way to discourage them from being lazy and/or taking too many breaks.

When my beautiful gargoyles are happy, their spiked scorpion tail would wag in the cutest, albeit fatal, way, and that annoys Lilith, but I like it. That shows me that I am scratching their ears in just the right way or prevents me from brushing their hair too hard. Plus, it’s not like we have any guests anyway, and both Lilith and I are immune to the gargoyles’ poison sting so why restrict them or ban them from wagging their tail?

“Who was it?” asks the woman I am closest to.

I turn around to see Lilith walking towards me in her white satin dress. She has chosen to change the pigment in her hair to brown for the day, and her eyes are as dark as night. I could never understand why she likes to change her appearance so often, or why she does not allow me to call her anything other than ‘Mother’ or some variations of it but I don’t need to know everything about her to love her like a daughter so I never ask. Still, I refer to her as Lilith when I talk to anyone else. It’s easier that way, what with her being so famous among the celestials and non-celestials.

“The False Messiah,” I tell Lilith, “No need to worry though. I’m inputting his scent and movement into the gargoyles’ mind. He won’t be able to sneak past them anymore.”

“Good,” Lilith says then frowns all of a sudden. She orders, “come closer.”

“Okay?” I speak with so much confusion that my words come out as a question. Still, I lean into her arms.

Lilith takes a deep breath in my hair. She chuckles at what she smells, then gives me a look that tells me she knows something that I do not. Hers are the arms that first held me, and her heart is the one that has never stopped loving me, but when she smiles like that, I can’t help but feel like I’m being challenged intellectually.

“He’ll be back,” Lilith answers the question I never asked, “his pheromones are reaching out to you.”

“I can detect atoms with my skin,” I remind Lilith, “pretty sure I would have noticed if his pheromones are anywhere near me.”

Again, Lilith gives me the look that tells me she knows more, but this time she does not explain what she knows or discovers to me. Instead, she leads me back home, away from my gargoyles and away from the sea where the False Messiah had been standing on. I hold on for a full minute before, like a normal human, I give in to my curiosity.

“What did I miss?” I ask while holding Lilith’s hand.

“Nothing important, sweetie,” Lilith replies before she changes the topic, “How is the Sun today?”

“Brighter than yesterday, but I didn’t get to soak up as much as I would have wanted to because I had to deal with the False Messiah,” I reply. I stop asking about what Lilith discovered then and there because there is never a point in pushing Lilith for an answer, but the dissatisfaction in my eyes is almost impossible to hide. Lilith ignores that.

We walk in silence to the lake where Slippy the water dragon is sleeping in the middle of the lake. There, sitting on top of my majestic dragon is the False Messiah himself.