ephemerality.permanence

"Why are you so frightened?"

The man cocked his head confusedly as he asked the question. He looked down at the dagger in his hand. It was simple, something anyone could find lying on the ground in a city like this, with a broken point and rusted blade. His eyes glanced up again as he took a step forward, his fist forming a relaxed grip around the knife’s handle.

The person in front of him was indeed frightened. He had no idea who this guy was, much less how he ended up backing him into the corner of an alley. There was no doubt in his mind that this stranger with the rusted knife was insane, and yet he seemed to emit the strongest sense of lucidity that it was hard to believe so. Unsure of everything, he leaned as far against the wall as he could, almost hoping he could fall through it.

"That’s weak of you, don’t you think? Wouldn’t you fight until death, like a cornered mouse?"

The man against the wall whimpered in response.

"Things are less interesting, but still quite interesting. Well, now we’ll see some color, yes?" He smiled a terrifyingly innocent smile. The long coat he wore stirred as he stepped forward once more, bringing the cracked tip of the dagger to the man’s chest. With one swift movement, the blade was buried in the center of the victim’s heart.

"Hello," he said, still smiling. "My name is Averah. The angel."

He looked down at the man, whose chest was bleeding profusely. The latter grabbed at the handle of the knife, apparently thinking if he removed it the wound would go away, but lacked the strength to pull it out. He lolled his head up at the angel before him, making short gasping noises and reaching his now bloodied hand out at him. If someone could only end this pain he was feeling, he could finally rest. It was tiring, everything was so tiring. As he stared up, the only answer he received was the gaze of the angel’s eyes. Those snowy blue eyes. Until now, he had not noticed; those eyes held all possible emotions and feelings, knowledge of things he did not know existed and a view of his own soul. He saw his darkest fears, hatreds, and memories.

He saw himself dying.

With one last bit of strength, he grabbed his head with both hands, latching onto patches of hair and ripping them out, and let out a blood-curdling scream. But that was the last noise he would make.

In a burst of movement, Averah slammed the palm of his hand into the center of the man’s chest, pushing him into the wall with the sound of bones shattering.

"What a mess," he commented, glancing with disdain at the crumpled body on the floor. "Fascinating, however." As he walked away, the corpse lit afire.

Legends of gods and angels have riddled human thought since consciousness was developed. Is there more than what we see? A powerful force, watching over us? These were the questions that humanity considered. Of course, the only answer was science and logic. It is sometimes believed that the original intent of science is to disprove things, as a theory that people could easily follow rather than something they could only follow blindly.

Yet nonetheless, a good portion of humanity chose to believe in this higher force. Religion was thus created. It began as one simple belief, but was broken into several different ones. Regardless of their path, each belief was similar in essence. The belief that something existed that could not be seen. Religious people based their lives around this thought, each automatically thinking that theirs was the correct path to follow. This thinking led to disagreement, and then eventually created war. For thousands of years different sects and religions would do brutal battle after battle, attempting to prove some sort of superiority over the other, to force their spiritual philosophies onto others.

The truth, in fact, was that none of these belief systems were correct. While all religions had truisms within, none of them were able to interpret it correctly. It could be said that the one that was closest was Christianity, in their following of one supreme being who uses messengers known commonly as angels to carry out His will.

The majority of this is accurate. What is not is that this God does not necessary impact their lives. All the thanks and prayers they give to Him did nothing but give them more confidence. God exists on a separate plane of existence and as a separate manifestation. Thus, His influence lies in that area, and it is so subtle in the "human plane" that He would not even bother helping or hurting people of no consequence to Him. Due to the fact that the laws of the universe would not allow His presence in the "human plane," He created angels. As described in lore, they are His messengers. They took responsibility for things He could not, and developed various ranks and power as they grew in number. But there was always the occasional rebel.

In God’s domain at the innermost reaches of Heaven, there was little to do but stand. Stand and wait. Some angels had come to believe that the surroundings in His sanctuary changed form quite often, due to unknown factors. Most deduced that it was decorated with images of the physical world.

Today it was white, a white that might have harmed mortal eyes. But Auriel could not have been bothered less by it. He might not have known the difference. Regardless, he did what all angels in the sanctuary did: stand and wait. This suited him fine. He was in no hurry, and was patient even for an angel, if that was possible. There was no need for him to do anything other than wait. And so that was what he did.

Auriel spent a good amount of his time on Earth in the physical world. He had no particular job; his only duty was to investigate metaphysical activity on Earth and track down renegade angels. However, since angels rarely ever rebelled, his most recent occupation was to travel in search of abnormal activity on the physical plane. He had become fond of many habits and mannerisms used by humans, mimicking some of them in his time there to mix in.

Eventually he ended up being on Earth more than Heaven. Of course, staying in such an unimportant position offered no chance of gaining rank—Auriel was, in fact, a somewhat lowly angel—but he hardly minded. It did not matter to him if he only had two wings or average magical abilities, for he really had no use for him in a job with so little combat involved. Angels had not rebelled since the fall of Satan. Also, being an Inspector, he received a Flame of Arcanum, which he could shape into whatever weapon or barrier he required.

Auriel was now starting to wonder whether The Lord had seen him waiting or not. However, just as he began to think that, the being came before him, assuming the form of a human. This was random, as well…One day He might be a deer, the next a tree, the next a giant lion. Auriel kneeled, folding his wings.

"Auriel, Third Class Power, Earth Inspector." It was a simple voice as usual, a voice that seemed like it could be heard from any normal person and yet there was no sound exactly like it.

As if in reply, Auriel stood, stretching his two wings.

"It seems a messenger has disobeyed The Law." His face changed little as he said this, as did the angel’s before him.

"Yes."

"His name is Averah. He is a first class Principality, original occupation to watch over new and old religions. He is very young, in his five hundreds. His given name was Seriel, and he changed it to Averah when he first killed. The sin took place in a small city in Lithuania. You will be the Punisher."

Auriel nodded.

"Though he is only a Principality, he has the talent of a Seraph. It is this reason that this is urgent. Some have stated him being nearly as powerful as Raziel. However, you will have the support of the Flame. That is all."

With these last words, God turned and walked through an invisible portal. Though Auriel bowed calmly while He was leaving, thousands of thoughts rushed through his head. The Lord’s speeches were always like this: statement after statement, as simple as possible, with nothing extra and no regard to things like sentence structure. It hardly made a difference, considering he still made his point. But what Auriel was thinking about was this Averah, having the ability of Raziel. Raziel was a highly regarded angel, in the Seraph order and one of the Holy Sephiroth. He had also been known to have seven wings—one more than the typical Seraph—and magic beyond that of any normal angel.

Auriel processed these thoughts both quickly and placidly. The Lord was correct in that he had the Flame of Arcanum to aid him, which might have been more than he needed. Auriel was also used to Earth, which Averah was not, having done his job from heaven. Likewise, Auriel had always had good magic for a Power, and he assumed that would help as well. His last thoughts were of different pursuit strategies as he exited the sanctuary.

"They won’t let me return."

The cloaked body of Averah sat dimmed in a confessional booth.

"Excuse me?" the priest on the other end asked.

Averah looked to where the priest’s voice came from. "I didn’t know you were here yet." He recited the ridiculous process of the so-called "confessing", which he learned in the short time he was on Earth.

"Forgive me father, for I have sinned. This is my first confession."

"Continue, child. What sin do you carry?"

"I killed a man." There was silence.

The priest coughed thirty seconds later. "You must look to God for forgiveness," he said slightly nervously, his fatherly attitude breaking down. "Only He may redeem you. Are you of the Catholic religion, my child?"

"No."

"Do you believe in The Lord?"

"I am an angel."

The priest coughed again, and when he continued, he sounded more angry then nervous. "Angels do not commit sin, child. You must now look to God…"

"God will not redeem me, he has already forsaken me," Averah interrupted coldly. "He has no doubt sent another angel to destroy me. I need to reach a Portal to return to the metaphysical plane. Apparently your accursed religion can do nothing to aid me."

"I assure you, child, you are not an angel!" The priest was truly angry now.

"Humans are incapable of acts of heaven." Averah smiled as he exited the confessional and took off his coat, revealing three white wings. He began to walk out of the church, setting fire to it as he passed. When he reached the door, he turned around, facing a statue at the altar of a crucified Jesus with God watching over them. Averah threw fire at both of them before stepping out of the door.

"Unfamiliar," he said, putting his long cloak-like coat on while the church behind him fell to a pile of burning rubble. "I find it hard to believe how ignorant these religions can be. What a strange world." He looked up at the raining sky and lifted his collar up as he pushed forward into the busy streets.