ephemerality.permanence

Averah let the ideas in his mind flow like sand through an hourglass. He was now free of the vices and shackles of heaven, but he had never been in this situation before. He was entirely lost, without a clue of what to do next. He was now a fallen angel, just like Satan and his followers thousands of years previously. But he did not compare himself to Satan. Satan was a ruler, just like God. He was king of the other fallen ones and created demons to serve his will. Again, similar to God. God created angels to carry out His will, for He needed jurisdiction of the entire universe.

And in the end, God won that war. As Michael and his army defeated Satan, the fallen were sentenced to hell, an eternal prison. But God’s mistake was to make a seal that prevented only the fallen angels to escape hell. Demons that were powerful enough were still able to escape the seal, and roam free on earth. Just as Satan orders them to. Satan, the voidal darkness.

Averah did not believe in either approach. Both God and Satan are completely similar in goal: they want to be able to control everything. If Averah had a goal at all, it would be anarchy. To release all from the control of God was his ambition. Then they would understand.

Then they will be free…

Auriel stood inspecting the church, with his hands in his coat’s pockets. At first his wings felt cramped beneath that ankle-length overcoat, but as time went on he barely felt it at all. The church he saw before him no longer resembled a church. It was a grotesque mass of construction materials, something that might have been crushed by a wrecking ball, if it were not for the fact that some of it was melted. In fact, the only way the former building could be distinguished as a church was the shattered stained glass strewn around it and the obliquely angled steeple poking out of the top.

"Wonderful," Auriel said aloud. Another thing he had borrowed from humans was the concept of sarcasm.

The Power carefully inspected the building, but found nothing of interest. The only piece of information he could ascertain was that Averah was the only thing that could have done this. No clues as to where his target had gone next, no magical residue, only this rubble.

As to why it was a church that Averah had destroyed, Auriel had only one guess. Churches were the only places where messengers could go between heaven and earth; they were called Portals. Averah might have destroyed the church and the Portal as a showing of his rebellion.

When Auriel was finished looking, he turned, having felt several eyes on him during the time. It was a small, poor family, a mother, a young man, and two children. All very dirty and poorly clothed. At the moment Auriel saw them, the two children gasped in fear and hid behind their mother, clutching at her torn dress. The young man, who Auriel guessed to be the oldest of the woman’s children, clenched his fists.

"Not to worry," said Auriel peacefully as he walked slowly toward them. "Please, do not fear. I have no weapons, and I only mean to ask a few questions."

"Who are you, and what do you want?" the young man asked in a raspy but sharp voice.

"I am simply a man interested in this catastrophe. It doesn’t happen everyday, you know." This was an answer Auriel used quite often. Apparently, it had worked.

"Yeah, I know," said the young man, unclenching his fists and sighing. "But I don’t have anything to tell you. Who knows how it happened."

"Yeah, we were here." He seemed much more relaxed now. "But only one guy came out—wearin’ a coat like yours—went off to the city. Didn’t look like he cared at all." He added in afterthought, "You don’t know him, do you?"

"Not exactly," Auriel answered. "Thank you for your time." He quietly slipped the young man and the mother hundred dollar bills, then started off in the direction the young man had gestured to. As he moved, the Flame of Arcanum glowed brighter. He was getting closer to his enemy.

Averah looked superciliously between his adversaries. Two weak messengers, probably from the Angel order from each of their one wing. He could kill both of them with relative ease, but he had a far better plan than that. The Grigori they brought with them would prove even less of a challenge.

"Very well," the Principality said to them. "It will begin here."

They did not reply, and probably were not listening. The two Angels led the Grigori forward, allowing them to attack while the former began casting magic.
The Angels had chosen to ambush him in a place away from human eyes, to avoid any unnecessary problems. It was a small forest, probably planted and cultivated by humans, just outside of the city. It was nighttime, so very few people would be there, which was just as well as there was a vast array of magic being used.

Averah would not let the battle end quickly. He had already prepared a powerful barrier spell, which repelled both the attacks of the Angels and the Grigori. He had no intention to fight them, but rather to convert them. In order to do so, he had to use a very potent magic he himself created, that severed the magical ties between angels and God. The fallen angel had not used it yet, and he considered it good luck that the first angels God sent after him would be as weak as these.

He started the chant. The Angels, noticing a magic they had never heard before, called back the Grigori and began casting defensive spells, but this only gave Averah more time to finish his new spell. He neared the end of it, his eyes glowing white, his wings lifting him in the air, and several white shining beams shot out of his third wing, instantly destroying the Grigori and causing the two Angels to faint. They rose shortly after, saying nothing.

"You are now free," Averah said. "You may do as you wish."

The Angels seemed slightly perplexed, but Averah could see when they finally understood, as if emotion had appeared on their faces for the first time. With this new knowledge, they spread their one wings and lifted into the air, flying in opposite directions.

"It began here," Averah murmured under his breath, in both awe and surprise.