Chapter 6: Angelic Commencement

Now before the Congregator, our current angel-to-be speaks with the shape-shifting creature in hopes to learn some of what is to happen to him as a new denizen of the afterlife.

"What are you then?" I asked. The Congregator seemed to take a moment in thought before answering. 

"I am the physical manifestation of human life on Earth. I watch over them all as they are all me. I am the living embodiment of their gathered self-reflection. I was once one being, but I have collected myself to be beyond one ego now. The person that I once was, male or female, has been lost to the void of my collective consciousness," it answered. I took a few moments to think over the answer. The Congregator was an omnipresent, but unseen being. It was like God in that sense, but not at all for any of the rest of God's supposed attributes. The Congregator wasn't a man nor a woman, it cared not for ethics or faith, and it did not rule over anything. Even the Grigori who might call the being this land's "ruler", meant little. This was Purgatorio, an empty world that seemed only to be grounds to make pilgrimage over when journeying from Earth to Paradiso or Inferno. 

"So what next?" I said simply. The only way for me to figure out what laid next in the afterlife would simply be to become a part of its community. 

"Before you arrived my systems showed to me who you are. You were sixteen years old at the time of your death and you died by gunshot. You are Aleksander Lethe...and...hold on," it said. A look of confusion somehow painted itself across the Congregator's constantly shifting face. 

"Is there something wrong?" I questioned. 

"You...don't exist? You have no experiences and no one remembers you...yet there is no mention of you being any sort of stillborn or third trimester abortion. If that was true your mother...whoever she might be...doesn't even remember it happening. That'd be impossible anyways becaue you died when you were sixteen. There's only one thing to describe you under what should be your life experiences," it said with great concern. 

"What's that?" I said in return. 

"It says 'The Paradox Key'. I suppose you wouldn't happen to know what that means?" it asked me. I shook my head. I tried to think as hard as I could, but nothing that I could pull from contained anything that was "The Paradox Key". I wondered what that group of words even meant. 

"Quite intriguing...since the beginning of my existence I have not seen one such as yourself. That is not something I say lightly. I believe I am somewhere near 200,000 years old...perhaps even more. To say that I haven't seen someone like you in over 200 millennia is no laughing matter," it told me with seriousness. 

"Well...I gathered from the Grigori I'm supposed to either choose which place I want to go or choose to become one of the Malakah," I stated. The being nodded its answer. It was getting easier over the time I spent in the Congregator's presence, but it was still strange to look to a face that was constantly shifting its features - from various races, from ugly to beautiful, from old to young and back. 

"You don't have much about yourself to base whether the chaotic, free, war-filled Inferno is for you or the orderly, peaceful, somewhat fascist Paradiso fits you more. Ultimately it's for you to choose, but I heavily suggest taking the route of the Malakah," the Congregator said. I glanced around the room and noticed the screens all around once more. People would use their past experiences to help them make the decision. I had none to my memory. The Congregator was right. I had to take the path of the Malakah. It was the way for me to find answers. I could journey through Heaven and Hell to find them. 

"I will become a Malak," I gave my answer.  

"Very well," the Congregator said and pressed a few keys at a keyboard attached to the throne-like chair in which it sat. A few moments later and a chunk of the ground began to mold itself before me into a table and atop the table was a simplistic black box in the middle of its darkened grey color and smooth texture, like the rest of this clay colored world called Purgatorio. 

"What is it?" I asked. 

"If you were to have chosen between Paradiso or Inferno, the box would've contained a syringe filled with the synthesized blood of one of two different Seraphim: one who first ruled Inferno and one who first ruled Paradiso. The blood of each one genetically changes your angelic composition in a different way when injected. Right now there are stumps of wings under your skin and just over your shoulder blades. They're waiting for the blood of one of the Seraphim to trigger their growth. There are also other parts of your being waiting for the change," the Congregator explained. 

"But I am to become a Malak. What happens to me then?" I asked with concern. 

"In becoming a Malak the box contains something else entirely - artificial means for you to be in either world. Each world has a genetic barrier to protect them from the other world. Archangels and the Malakah can move between them easily enough, but they are unaffiliated with the armies of Paradiso or Inferno. Generally both Archangels and Malakah avoid taking sides if they can help it," the Congregator stated. I nodded and opened the box. There were several different metal pieces and four syringes within the black, featureless box. Two of the syringes contained a red liquid and the other two contained a blue colored liquid. 

"What are these?" I asked. 

"The headpiece there with what looks like horns - it's just that. Angels of Inferno have horns and bat-like wings. Their horns are a personal identifier. Each pair of Hell angel's horns is unique to the individual. You put on that headpiece there and inject one of the red syringes and you will have the proper angelic composition to get you into Inferno. You will temporarily be an angel of Hell. Angels of Heaven have bird-like wings and halos. Their halo is important to them as it is formed by using a sliver of their soul and tying their ethereal light into a ring above their heads. Their halo demonstrates the strength of their soul with its vibrancy and color. That device there activates a synthetic light-based halo. It's like neon-tubing instead of using your soul's light," the Congregator explained. I gazed upon the gear in the box for some time before I spoke once more. 

"So I'm a Malak now?" I said sheepishly. I had no idea of how official titles and changes worked in this strange place - the afterlife. I knew about all of this about as much as I knew anything about myself.  

"Not quite yet. I need to dub your title and name, based on how you died or something significant to your death. I will also need to assign an Archangel to guide you through both worlds and show you what each of them are like," the shifting being answered. 

"Alright then," I said with a confident nod. 

"Very well. Please kneel," it said. I obliged the Congregator's commands and knelt on one knee. 

"I'm ready, Congregator," I said and bowed my head down. 

"You, Aleksander Lethe, will temporarily abandon your name and your previous life. You will become a Malak. You will learn the life and dealings of both Paradiso and Inferno and with guidance you will discover which lands you will take pride in having citizenship. At the end of your time as a Malak your memories may be restored and you will take your previous name once more. You are now a Malak. Your name is now Oblivion and you will be the Malak of - " the Congregator began to dub me.  

"I'll handle the rest of this," said a voice that sounded vaguely familiar. A figure emerged through the grey curved wall. It was a winged figure, devoid of horns or a halo that the Congregator had told me of. This had to mean this was an Archangel. His wings told though what he must've been before ascending to the status of Archangel - he was an angel of Heaven, the lands of Paradiso. 

"Chronos? You interrupted the ceremony - I haven't yet finished making him a Malak. He needs the customary Mnemosyne Swipe," the Congregator stated. There was no ill-intent or annoyance in the Congregator's tone. 

"Why don't you tell him to wait?" I questioned. 

"He doesn't answer to me. None of the angels answer to me. Not even the Grigori, though they treat me as such. In fact, I would say I answer to them," the Congregator admitted. I cocked a brow. This omniscient being of shifting shape had little power. I could see how people would perceive this being as initially being God. They would see the creature offers a judgment on moving on to Heaven or Hell, the creature was omniscient, and it was the manifestation of all the humans of Earth. Yet despite all that, the creature held almost no actual power over anything here in the afterlife. Not only did it admit it wasn't God, but it seemed confident in saying there was no God at all. It was a strange thought to think that the afterlife did exist after all, but God did not. 

"Right. Don't you worry though - the boy here's official. He came here cleared out, so we don't need to do a Swipe. As an Archangel I also officially take on the kid here. People won't bother too much about all this. I'm the Archangel of Time after all. People generally avoid making me an enemy...that's not to say some people aren't crazy enough to try the idea out from time to time," Chronos said nonchalantly. 

"Very well. I will continue my watch and await the next coming arrivals," the Congregator said and turned its chair about to view over the various screens. The Archangel, Chronos, tapped me on the shoulder and signaled for me to stand. Face-to-face with him now I could see his eyes were of strangely radiant silver, I would go as far as to say they were glowing. His hair was slicked back; it's hue a straw colored blonde. His face looked young too, almost like that of a teenager, yet the look in his eyes suggested something else - it was like looking into the eyes of a weathered old man with a past rife with turmoil. 

"Good. I'll take care of Oblivion here. So kid...let's get his whole thing started. It's going to be a long road, but I have a feeling you're going to be helping me more than I'm going to be helping you," he said curtly. 

"Umm...okay. I hope I can. I don't know s**t about anything, so it'll be hard for me to do anything now," I said. The words just came to me. Perhaps I had a vulgar tongue in my previous life. It felt more natural form me to speak with curse words abound. It felt like I was controlling or restricting myself otherwise. I could feel my thoughts taking their own form of flow too. As things became less and less confusing I was sure I would be a very sarcastic and dead pan humor kind of guy. A song played in my thoughts. It sounded like metal and I...really liked it. Perhaps that was a part of me too. There were pieces of me still lingering, though most of anything important that defined me as person was gone. I wanted - no, needed to figure out how to find or repair what I lost. Chronos would be the first person I could go to for help. 

"Nice language kid. How's about we get out of this boring grey world and check out one of the more violent ones? I'm sure you've already been told a little, but to make it simple - Paradiso is fascist crazy violent and Inferno is anarchy crazy violent. Both are equally insane. I'm supposed to help you pick which insanity you'd rather be a part of," Chronos told me. 

"That's about what the Congregator told me. Why do you keep calling me kid? How old are you anyway?" I questioned the Archangel who looked at least five years my junior. He strolled through one of the curved walls of the spherical building that contained the Congregator. I followed just after; going through the strange flowing material this world was made of. It seemed we went to the other side from where I entered from. Two doors with nothing in front or behind them stood before us. 

"I'm infinite years old," he said without hesitating, answering my question. 

"What?" I said replied just as quickly. 

"I haven't had been associated since I left my human life and became what I am now. Once I was given the 'gift' of manipulating time, I became so much more than I use to be...more than I'd ever want or would ever ask for," Chronos said wistfully and looked away. He was silent for a few brief moments. 

"I'm sorry," I apologized. 

"What for? You wanted to know my age? Look at me. You'll see what I'm talking about," he said to me and pointed to his face. He closed his eyes and rapidly over the course of less than a minute he seemed to age from what looked like seventeen or eighteen to about seventy or eighty. He grew a long white beard and his straw blonde hair became long flowing silver instead. 

"You - you made yourself older?" I questioned him with amazement. His power of time went further than I would've thought.  

"Yes. I am the Archangel of Time. My ability is not limited by size. I can turn back time on something as small as my own cells...or I could the exact opposite. I can also do the same onto others. As you may learn with your interactions with me, I am much more powerful than people initially perceive...and they usually perceive me to be quite powerful to begin with," Chronos admitted. A few moments of silence passed again. 

"So I'm a Malak now. What do we do first?" I asked. He smiled a grin that pushed into corners into his cheeks. 

"Learn to fly," he said and patted me on the back. He swiftly yanked the black box from me and tossed me one of the blue syringes from inside. 

"We're going to Heaven first?" I questioned. He nodded at me. 

"Remember they prefer 'Paradiso', but yes. Put this over your head too after your wings sprout," Chronos told me and tossed me the two metal pieces that had been described to me prior as what would be my functioning halo as a Malak. I held the metal pieces in one hand and a syringe in the other. Chronos seemed to be waiting for me. 

"What do I do?" I said, lost. 

"Inject the blue stuff into your neck. Once that's in your system and your wings are all done, toss the two emitters in your hand over your head. Don't worry about them, they'll set themselves in place," Chronos explained. I shrugged...he knew best after all. I took the syringe filled with the strange, almost baby-blue colored liquid and pressed off the cap. I temporarily put the "emitters" (as Chronos had just called them) into my pocket as I used freed hand to tap the syringe and push the plunger a little, ensuring it was safe for use. I took a deep breath as I glared over the size of the needle. It almost looked more like a miniature knife than just a mere needle. I had to get myself to the idea that I was about to shove this thing into my own neck. 

"Breathe...and then just go for it," Chronos advised me. Easier said than done - still I heeded his advice. I breathed slowly and deeply, in and out.  

"F**k me...here goes nothing," I said through erratic breathing that I tried desperately to calm. And then I went for it. I felt it pierce the skin, like the world's largest bee stinger, and I pressed the plunger down until there was no blue left in the syringe. I could feel the cold liquid course immediately into my body and snake down my back until it turned from ice to electricity. I could feel the surge of thunder course through two bones that I had never felt before just near my shoulder blades. I could feel it creeping out, pressing against the skin of my back as it began to take new form. 

"Alright, just be calm. Your wing-cherry's about to be popped," Chronos joked but with some concern in his tone. Just after his warning I could feel the bones begin to sharpen and start to pierce through. It started as a singular sharp feeling, but it evolved into more. It was like two hands with extremely elongated and razor-sharp bone fingers slowly exiting out of my back. 

I howled in horror as the bones of my wings slowly slid free from within my back into the open air. I could feel the warmth of what I could only assume was blood leak down my around my body. I continued to cry out in horror as the rest if my wings exited their former home under my skin. They were free now; I could hear the blood dripping off of them. 

"Bone wings are always gnarly looking no matter how many of 'em I've seen," Chronos said whistling. 

"These are the wings of a Heaven angel?" I asked weakly. 

"Almost. Give it a minute and the feathers will come," Chronos said and crossed his arms. I felt myself fading. The pain, the blood loss, and the feeling of new muscles and bones were forcing my brain into shock. I dropped to one knee with the muscles on my face tightened as if someone were stretching my face over my skull. My vision was going black and the only thing I could hear or see was the now muffled noise of myself in pain and the unfeeling color of grey ground below me. Soon enough I fell down and my consciousness fell out with me.

I awoke with a gasp, like waking from a nightmare. The pain I had just felt had been very much its own form of nightmare. I felt something...something new. It was hard to explain, but I felt the best way to describe it would be if a man who had no arms suddenly had them and was feeling all the sensations of his new limbs. I had two fresh limbs that I could feel with. They were sensitive as well, freshly born onto my body. I twitched them slightly and I could feel my feathers gently flick the hard ground I was laying on. 

"There you go. Now you got 'em. Won't have to feel that pain anymore...though it'll definitely feel weird for you when you switch over to the Hell wings. Theirs are more bat-like than bird-like. It's a different sensation to have a thin fleshy membrane between elongated fingers rather than the smaller fingers and feathers," Chronos stated. 

"Christ...that hurt," I said, mentally exhausted. 

"He'll be there, but I don't know if we'll see him. He's usually doing something or other for Uriel," Chronos stated. 

"Who?" I spoke. 

"Jesus Christ. Fun fact, the 'H' that people often include actually does allude to one of his names," Chronos answered with a smirk. 

"What do you mean?" I said with a raised brow. 

"His middle name...when people say 'Jesus H. Christ'. That letter 'H' originates from when me and him went on a...'temporal vacation' I guess you could call it. We were in Egypt, and I dared him to use his power to make himself a God in their eyes. He agreed to the wager and they eventually called him Horus. He went on ahead and took it on as his middle name after those times," he answered. 

"Wait...so there's a Jesus, there's an afterlife - but there's no God?" I questioned, confused. How could all of what I didn't believe it exist but the biggest part, the creator, be nonexistent? 

"Jesus is a Nephillim. Seems he was lucky with the way his birth came about that he didn't end up deformed like lots of the other Nephillim end up. Uriel did some trickery in impregnating Jesus' mother, probably why he turned out as normal looking as he did. Funny too, when arrivals come up here and eventually learn that Jesus has two mommies," Chronos said with an empty laugh. A lot of what he was saying flew over my head. I understood enough pieces of it to log it into memory if I wanted to research it later. I was curious though as to the types of beings I was to meet. 

"Nephillim?" I inquired simply. 

"Half-human, half-angel. Jesus' half-angel mother is the Archangel Uriel who is the Archangel of Reconstruction. His heritage allowed him the ability to heal the sick, change water to wine, make water solid for him to walk over, and so on," Chronos explained. 

"So is he still -" I began to say next. 

"Enough with the inquisition, alright? You're ready to stretch your wings now. Let's get some air time. Flying is pretty important around these parts, as important as walking or breathing," Chronos said and walked on towards one of the two doors in front of us, the one at our left. I followed after him and he turned to me. A lump of something soft flung into my face. 

"That's a set of clothing. Figured it's time to dump the toga. Put that on before you walk in," he said. Chronos opened the door and shuffled inside and shut it quick. It was strange to see how the door way was connected to nothing yet he just stepped in and didn't come out the other side. I worked the clothes around - a pair of jeans and a white t-shirt. The shirt itself was sew with openings right to where my wings would come out. I hadn't thought about it, but all angels' clothes had to be designed around their wings. I flapped my wings a few times to ensure they had fit comfortably into the shirt and then I set on towards the door. 

There were nine rings of silver at the middle of the door and something written in gold in the center of the middle-most ring: "Paradiso" written in a very plain, almost boring font. I glanced over to the other door. It was a door that looked almost like it was stolen from some other structure. Its wood was splintered and fraying in some areas and from initial glance it appeared like the doorknob was hanging off of it. It had the word "Inferno" spray-painted in red on its front, all across rather than in the middle of the nine silver rings inlaid on its beaten wooden texture. 

I took a breath, looked forward, and placed my hand on the door. There was something like that of a mild electrical shock as I touched it. I went briefly over to the other door, the one to Inferno and placed my hand against it. An electrical charged bolted through my hand, cooking my arm and shooting me back about the length of half a football field. I hollered in surprise and rubbed my arm as I tried to recover from the jolt for a few minutes. I carefully walked away from the Inferno door and took way back towards the Paradiso door. 

"Malak," I said to it for some reason. I had a feeling it was rejecting me (though not nearly as strongly as the Inferno door) because I was new. It didn't know that I was allowed in yet so it was sending a mild charge against me. A few seconds into that type of thinking and I wanted to slap myself for being f*****g dense enough to think a door had any sort of thought processes. I ran my fingers over my artificial halo and then through my bird-like wings first. With that done I tried again and the nine rings on the door shined momentarily. The light of the rings was similar to the kind of light when you press the button to bring an elevator up to your floor. Finally now I could open the door and step through. 

 

As soon as I stepped through I felt a rush of wind from all directions. I was falling. My eyes widened from the surprise and instantly dried out as I rapidly approached the ground below. 

"What...the...f**k?!" I yelled in horror. Just then, in the corner of my eye I saw Chronos swoop in. He didn't come to catch me; he was just flying near to me as I was plummeting towards cement. 

"I thought you'd never show up. How long does it usually take you to put clothes on? I've known women who could get their make-up, their hair, and their clothes done up faster than you put on that shirt and jeans," he ribbed. Now was not the time for jokes. I tried to move my wings, but I couldn't do that anymore than an old woman could control her umbrella in the middle of a hurricane. 

"Hey a*****e! How about teaching me how to fly before I become sidewalk pizza?!" I yelled at him angrily. 

"Oh chill out, there's still a few minutes before that would happen. Besides, most people learn how to fly without too many hitches like that. Maybe a few broken ribs, sometimes an arm or a leg - " Chronos began to ramble. 

"How about none of that happens, you shiteater! What the hell do I do?!" I screamed as I flailed my arms about as if they would help me fly. 

"Obscenities again...you should really work on your vocabulary. I know you died when you were sixteen, but that shouldn't be an excuse," Chronos said with a wag of his finger as he continued to fly nearby, effortlessly. 

"For s**t's sake I swear to...well I guess he's not real - but I swear to the guy that people...f**k it - just teach me how to not slam into the ground, you bag of dicks!" I hollered, twice as obscene as before. 

"You should knock it off with the names, you know. It doesn't make you sound very smart. Anyways let's get on with how to use your wings since you're going keep moaning about it," he said in a very condescending tone. I shook my head. It didn't matter as long as he told me what to do before I became flesh paste and bone soup. 

"I'm sorry alright! Just help me!" I yelled against the wind as I continued my descent. I could only be thankful the door into this place was so high up or I would've hit the ground by now. 

"There that's better. Okay, let's get started then. Imagine how your hands move when you are swimming. Think about how you push the water when your hand is submerged: up, down, and around. If you got that visual, now try and get yourself to move your wings in that way, swatting the air as if you were underwater. You'll be pushing a bit harder with your wings against the air than you hand would against water, but that's the basic way to get yourself in the right mindset," he stated. My brows furrowed. There was no way it was simple as that. Think of it like water and then I could fly? Was he being facetious with me again? Still, I tried to do what he said. I thought about the feathers of my wings, the bones within, and the muscles where my wings met the skin of my back. 

With a quick breath I tried to calm myself as the ground continued to get closer and closer. Then I pushed and I felt the resistance of my new appendences against the current of air that had previously been pushing up against me. Using Chronos' guided thought process I continued to move my wings, until slowly I began to flap them just as he had been doing since we had been airborne. My fall began to slow more and more until finally I had gotten myself steady and stationary. 

"There you go. Not that hard is it? It's even easier than learning to walk - I'd hope so considering your age," Chronos stated in a way as if I had accomplished nothing more than opening a packet of ketchup. 

"So that's the first thing to do as Malak. Now what?" I said as I began to hover down at a speed much less than the free fall I had been at moments ago. Chronos followed just nearby. 

"I was thinking of taking you to the Crumbling Castle," he said as our feet finally touched solid ground. Where we had dropped there was a majestic fountain of flowing water, the ground around it made of curved ivory bricks. There was gold inlaid within the fountain itself, it appearing to be made of marble and pearl otherwise. 

"Where are we?" I questioned my Archangel mentor, distracted by what was around us. Besides the fountain we appeared to be in a town square. I noticed people, other angels, shuffling around their business. Their halos glowed radiantly above each of their heads, some halos more bright than others. They all seemed to utterly discount that I or Chronos even landed here. I supposed it wasn't an uncommon appearance - everyone in the afterlife could fly and I was sure new arrivals showed up all the time. The buildings around all looked regal, even something as simplistic as the barbershop down the way appeared to be intricately architected with an eye for precision and gothic style. It was as if everything here was built for nobles of a bygone era. 

"New Nazareth - sometimes called the 'First City of Order' by those who haven't actually read a proper history book. It is usually the first city new arrivals come across," he said. As he said this I glanced up to notice an angel plummeting towards us, and another just after them further up, and a pair of others further up from them. 

"More new arrivals?" I asked. 

"They trickle in. Thanks to the way time is distorted in Purgatorio and the fact that there's two worlds for an angel to potentially go through there isn't a constant flow of new arrivals. There are still quite a lot that come through at any given time, but if it were otherwise - I can't imagine," Chronos stated. 

"Where's that crumbled castle you mentioned?" I questioned next. 

"The Crumbling Castle. That's what the place is called now. It was a royal palace that once belonged to King Jehovah Yaweh. Paradiso historians argue whether his name was Jehovah Yaweh or Yaweh Jehovah. His reign was long ago - well to regular angels and humans anyway. To me, the Archangel of Time, it feels like it was little more than minutes ago. He told me personally he couldn't care less about what they called him as long as they knew he was the King of Paradiso. Anyways, the Crumbling Castle was once a grand piece of architecture back in its day; I'd say it was the most prized work of the carpenters of Paradiso at the time," Chronos said, giving me a brief history lesson about wherever it was he was to take me. Most of it flew over my head, but I figured it was good to know at least some of the history of whichever place I decided to plop myself into. 

"What happened to it?" I inquired, curious now about why it was called the "Crumbling Castle".  

"About half of a millennia ago Uriel's predecessor and the previous Lord of Order and Peace, Gabriel the Archangel of Might, came into a massive war with the warmonger Adolf Hitler. Adolf made a desperate, but nearly successful bid to take over the entirety of Paradiso by launching an attack on the Lord's Palace. Adolf and his quickly organized army nearly took the castle and Gabriel's life. It was due to the heroics of Gabriel's champion and Commander of the Paradiso Armed Forces, Muhammad, that the tide of the war was won and Gabriel's life was saved. The brave men of Muhammad's forces came from the very ranks of the Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals, and so that Hitler had killed during his life as a man on Earth," Chronos told the story.  

My eyes widened with his dropping of names. Muhammad, the prophet of the Islamic faith, heralded an army against Hitler with the very people he committed genocide against in the previous life during World War II. Not just that, but it was "about half of a millennia ago"? What the f**k? Were my ears working correctly? 

"How...a half of a millennia? Hitler? Hitler was a Heaven angel?" I said, barely able to compose my words. 

"Okay first off, remind yourself - Heaven and Hell don't work like how you were told they do. It is chaos and order, not good and evil. Heaven, or Paradiso as I've told you many times, is a world in which the primary beliefs are in a world of order. The people here chose this world in the belief that order creates a more functional society. Hitler was one of those people. After all that's said and done - the time scale thing...like I said before the time difference between Earth and the worlds like Paradiso and Inferno is due to the fact that they are on entirely different planes of existence. Time distorts. Sometimes it is possible for something like Adolf Hitler to clash with the people here a little more than five hundred years ago, but on Earth World War II was less than a hundred years ago," Chronos explained. I nodded, again, being just a faithful student to the teachings of his mentor. Chronos surely knew all there was to know with him being the Archangel of Time. 

"Now what about the Crumbling Castle that you want to take me there for?" I asked again. Chronos ran a hand through his long blonde hair and was noticeably irritated by its length. He took a moment with hand over his head and the hair seemingly shrunk back into a shorter length, something not much longer than my military-style buzz cut. 

"Right. I was going to take you to meet a group that has set-up shop there. They call themselves The Survivors of Ragnarok," he said. 

"Who are they?" I quickly replied. He scratched at the back of his head, yawned and stretched out his arms and took way towards the fountain. I followed after and watched as he gazed down into the reflection of himself in the water. He ran his hand through the water and then glanced up to the sun in the sky. 

"You would've asked anyway so I'll just answer now...my God, if you only knew how annoying it is to have to pretend all this time to not know what's going to happen next - what people are going to say, what they will do, and so on. Anyways...that sun there..it isn't the same as it is on the plane of existence of Earth. When and where the sun or moon is in the sky of Paradiso is all on the whim of Uriel and her government lapdogs. They usually stick to a twelve on, twelve off pattern in order to keep people comfortable with a schedule they were familiar with in their past lives. It sure as hell doesn't beat an actual star like how Earth has," Chronos said wistfully. I nodded. It was interesting to know, but I hadn't actually planned on asking about it...not yet anyways. With him being the Archangel of Time I wondered if he actually did know that I was to ask such a question. I let a few moments pass before speaking again. 

"So what of these 'Survivors'?" I asked again. 

"They are extremely small organization that works diligently to prevent war breaking out between Paradiso and Inferno. They work in tandem with a branch in Inferno. I want you to join their cause. I have a comrade there who leads the group. His name is Nine...like the number. He's a good friend. Either way, joining up and getting to know both branches of the group will definitely help you decide which world's a better for you while also taking on a good cause," Chronos responded. 

"Very good. I have another recruit that I'm mentoring as well who will be joining us. Perhaps you two can become friends," he suggested. He retrieved a cell phone from the right pocket of his pants and dialed up a number. 

"Pit? I have another I'm to mentor. His name is Oblivion...I'll tell you that later. I want you to meet up with us at the Crumbling Castle," he said into the receiver. 

"What? Oh yeah. Discontinue your search for Reminiscence for now. I have a different way to solve that problem. I'll tell you about it when we get there, okay? Good. See you there," he said hung up. 

"Pit?" I questioned simply. Chronos nodded. 

"Now I'm mentoring two Malakah. It might be breaking the rules...but then again I made the rules so I guess that's okay. Pit's full name is Propitious, but we just go with Pit. Your name is Oblivion...not really sure what kind of nickname we can do with shortening that up. Obby? No that sounds dumb. Livi? No...that sounds like a girl. Ion? Nah. I don't know. Let's just stick with Oblivion for you alright?" Chronos declared. I shrugged. Names didn't really matter to me. I had no idea who I was, so whatever people were deciding to call me was probably as good as anything. 

"What about Reminiscence? Who's that?" I queried. Chronos looked indifferent to my question. 

"She's the Malak of Remembrance. She was given the gift to restore memories. The gifts are chosen based on a Malak's death as a human. Whatever the case - angels across Paradiso and Inferno are not really okay with that. Malakah with restored memories are opting to never choose upon Paradiso or Inferno. With their memories fully restored and their abilities intact they are, in essence, upgraded straight from Malak to Archangel. Most Angels have spent centuries, millennia even, in waiting for the time they could ascend to the status of Archangel. Both Archangels and your common angel are a little more than unhappy about this. Both Uriel and Lucifer are urging all Archangels to make it their top priority to eliminate Reminiscence, the Malak of Remembrance," Chronos explained. He seemed to be a man of lengthy explanations so far. 

"Poor girl. She gets dropped into the afterlife with the biggest s**t sandwich to be in the middle of. She's got everyone gunning after her for an ability she didn't ask for," I said with sympathy. I had a hard enough time not having memories - sure she was possibly able to restore hers and functionally be an unofficial Archangel, but at what cost? From the sounds of what Chronos had said either she is hunted for her ability to help people or she is hunted by others in hopes they can kill her and prevent her ability to help people. 

"Well try not to feel too strongly about it. After we visit the Crumbling Castle and you are added to their records as a new member you'll be joining me and Pit in finding her and unfortunately putting her down," Chronos told me with steely resolution in his tone. My heart skipped a beat. I hadn't thought that part of my getting to learn about Heaven was to kill somebody. It was hard to shake the fact that Heaven did not equal good and righteousness and Hell did not equal evil and wickedness. As part of my learning in becoming a proper angel, I was to kill one of my own.

Author's Note

As always, if you see grammar problems or awkward sentences (or perhaps something else) please let me know so I can fix it up right away. Hope you enjoy reading!