In the beginning......

“As the sun set, two of His angels were walking across the field, sure that the field that they loved and hated would still be there the next day. Little did they know that something else wouldn’t.”

 

- Haylel, the Master of Death

 

 

“Angels, right face!” I shouted, and my angels fell into place.

 

“Ease up,” I said, and they relaxed and sat down on the ground.

 

“Alright, here’s the agenda for the day. Angels, go straight from here to Peter for your assignments. Shifts, as usual, end at midnight, and unless you’re in a threatening sitch, try to tune in to The Word. Arkies, all of you who have a name of A through E, will have training today. F through K work in the portals, so umm, if you have a weak stomach, let me know after I read everyone else’s. L through R will work with Lazarus and Ruth, and everyone else is on call. No one is off today, I just got a report from up in the Serphs, they need all hands on deck. Go!”

 

About 200 angels at once, whether flying or running or just disappearing, left The Field.

 

“Alright, now for the rest of you. Princedoms, you have classes until noon, work sessions, training and internships till nine, tune into the word, then eat. Reminder that all of you who are on the Committee of Organizations that involve Natural Disasters, there will be a meeting tonight at ten o’ clock until about midnight. Be there, or you will not have any say in anything until there is a new matter to be discussed. As for you Powers everyone is on call for the day, classes until 3, training and work sessions until nine, tune into the word, then eat. If you are in charge of a Special Case, I strongly recommend that you tune into the Case and you pre-write a pass, because I don’t know exactly what’s going on down there, but it’s getting worse. After this, if anyone needs to contact me, I’ll be training, then up with Lazarus and Ruth, attending classes and then I’m going up to the Serphs for daily deaths. I know you guys are wiser now, but if you see more than one Fallen down there today if you get called, call one of us, I can’t stress how important that is, we almost lost three angels yesterday because of the casualties, and need I remind you that the three of them were wiser than you and me. So please, I know it’s just the mundane world, but please take caution. Alright, get out of here, if you need me to sign passes, form an orderly line in front of me. Your pass must have the Case’s name, VTBDT, and birthday,” I said.

As you can see, I run a pretty tight Field. My name is Leoma, and I am head Princedom for all of the Angelic Beings except those in the First Triad- which would be the Cherubim, Seraphim, and the Thrones. We Virtues are few, probably about twelve of us. And I am the Lead Virtue- the one closest to going into the second realm of heaven. I would’ve gone up about a millennium ago, but I gave the power to one of my other fellow captains. As Virtues, we act as mediators, messengers, and go-betweens between the first realm of heaven, the second realm of heaven, and earth. The only place that we are not allowed is the Uncertainty Realm, the place where those go if their future is uncertain, such as babies or young children, or those who didn’t know God, and they’re good actions weighed as equal as the bad. Usually that’s a very rare case, we usually, or so I’ve heard, get children or infants. I think there’s only three people in that realm that are about to become Angelic Beings. Well, I’ll know soon enough.

 

As I head over to the training field, I was stopped by Emmett, another Virtue. He has curly red hair and green eyes that remind you of jade when you look at them. He’s not too bad-looking, but this barely crosses my mind as I try to get past him.

 

“Leoma, I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind giving me a hand this afternoon? I just got a report from up in the Serphs, they’re predicting a mass murder somewhere in Barcelona and Seattle, and no one else has the time. Could you help me?” he asked, grinning.

 

The Serphs- technically it’s the Seraphim and Cherubim Stations, but Serphs for short- are the departments that basically control what’s going on down below. Some things are beyond their control, for instance this crime wave that’s been going on around the world. I don’t know what those crazed humans are thinking, but it’s not good.

 

I came to the gate of the Serphs, and was stopped by a guard.

 

“Pass, please,” he said, and I held out my right hand to show him the mark of the Virtues. On my right hand, extending down to my middle finger, and ending where a human’s pulse would be, is a blue cross. On the tip of my middle finger is a black triangle pointing downwards. On the left side of the cross is an intricate pair of wings with a V right beside it, and on the other side is an L.

 

“Leoma? Head Virtue, Bible verse Proverbs 12:18, clean record and controller of the Third Militia?” he asked.

 

“Yes,” I replied.

 

“You may proceed. There is a Cherub named Alphaeus waiting for you at the entrance,” he said, and I continued to the door, where I saw the familiar face of Alphaeus grinning at me. He still looked like a young angel, with about 15 human years on him, but I knew better. His blue eyes held a thousand and one years of knowledge on him. He flicked away one of his golden strands of hair and said:

 

“Leoma, we’ve been expecting you," he said in a singsong voice. He led me down the hall, past the Reports Room.

 

"I think this is the first time that Sarah’s officially taken a break before midday, there have been so many killings. According to James, God has been reconsidering the time of the Apocalypse. He wants to know what humans think about it, so he took form of a group of people to go out and ask people about it. It was hilarious, people thought that the apocalypse was going to cause so much fear and pain that it’d be better to die. I declare, if that’s what the humans think, then I must be as smart as that human Albert Einstein,” he said, and I chuckled.

 

We continued to the end of the hallway, where a big oak door was. I turned to Alphaeus.

 

"Alphaeus, I can't go in there! Peter will demote me! Let me go change, and then I'll come back," I said, trying to reason with Alphaeus but to no avail.

 

"Leoma, you don't really have a choice. Peter came out of his office, to me, specifically. Not to one of the elders, but to me, telling me that the moment Leoma gets in the door, I need to see her, so don't waste any time bringing her in. If it really is that urgent that he'd take the trouble just to give me a message, I think it's important enough that he won't mind your daily fashion sense," he said, and shoved me through the door, forcing me to come face to face with the Second Elder, Peter.

Reviews

[b.e.laing]

Hi Snoopy!
This starts out as a fun romp. I love angels and angel lore. The dugout feel of this is irresistible. It moves quickly, and you get the sense of a lot of activity and a crowded situation without needing a lot of description going into it. In fact, I kind of saw everything through a haze which was like being up in the clouds. It wouldn't hurt to give us some sense of where we are, though, a little background to grab hold of as we go into the scene. To me, it was like everybody getting together for baseball practice. They were all a hardworking team with a great deal of spirit. The team spirit really came across, along with the fact that Leoma really knows her job. The pace you set carries through the whole piece. Your writing has a good tempo to it. Thinking back, though, I don't remember a sense of color about it. This stands out in my mind. It reminds me of the black and white movies of the 1950s. I don't know if you intend this or not. Some color added to your world might bring it even more to life. Either that, or you want the monochrome effect, which is there and working. I'd sharpen it, if you do. Keep your focus as clear and bright as possible.
This was just so much fun. Thanks bunches.