We joined the fray, hoping to draw the attention of the more powerful angels - Gabriel, Michael, Uriel - onto ourselves and away from them. I found myself squaring off with Michael, who was aghast at our audacity.
'Azrael,' he cried, 'you are an Angel of God, not an Angel of Death! Remember whom you serve!'
We fought long, but his sword ended up near my neck, the flames licking at me, and in his eyes, in that instant I saw his resolution falter briefly, I saw that he too wondered as I did: could an Angel's soul be destroyed as the others had? Would my own brother destroy me so utterly for what I had done? Never before had angel turned blade upon angel! We did not know what to expect, for all we thought we knew seemed to have dissolved, that our courses should bring us to this moment.
Before he could make his decision, God's voice overwhelmed us all, and the fighting ceased instantly, everywhere, the demons vaporized by the mere power of hearing God speak: 'HALT!'
And the gates were mercifully thrown open in that moment, and the souls and Angels alike boiled through, drawn towards the Light of the Lord within, a Light which swept away our horror at what had occurred, and let us realize that now here we were - two rebellious Archangels and a few million human souls, standing once more in the very midst of Heaven surrounded by amazed and pointed and startled and flabbergasted angels who gathered around us in a great circle, crying to get the attention of everyone until Heaven finally fell quiet.
Well, we thought, we did it! We're inside! And the human souls! The human souls saw the angels who had remained inside the gates, saw with new eyes even those who had struggled to keep them out, and realized they had not meant them real harm, that they had been seeking to protect this place, protect this light, and their forgiving nature sheared away all pain of loss and gave way to great joy. Oh, I can't remember this moment without wanting to dance, to sing. The souls were jubilant, and when the angels began their great potentially cacophonous singing of questions and exclamations, the human souls began to sing!
2/--
We joined the fray, hoping to draw the attention of the more powerful angels - Gabriel, Michael, Uriel - onto ourselves and away from them. I found myself squaring off with Michael, who was aghast at our audacity.
'Azrael,' he cried, 'you are an Angel of God, not an Angel of Death! Remember whom you serve!'
We fought long, but his sword ended up near my neck, the flames licking at me, and in his eyes, in that instant I saw his resolution falter briefly, I saw that he too wondered as I did: could an Angel's soul be destroyed as the others had? Would my own brother destroy me so utterly for what I had done? Never before had angel turned blade upon angel! We did not know what to expect, for all we thought we knew seemed to have dissolved, that our courses should bring us to this moment.
Before he could make his decision, God's voice overwhelmed us all, and the fighting ceased instantly, everywhere, the demons vaporized by the mere power of hearing God speak: 'HALT!'
And the gates were mercifully thrown open in that moment, and the souls and Angels alike boiled through, drawn towards the Light of the Lord within, a Light which swept away our horror at what had occurred, and let us realize that now here we were - two rebellious Archangels and a few million human souls, standing once more in the very midst of Heaven surrounded by amazed and pointed and startled and flabbergasted angels who gathered around us in a great circle, crying to get the attention of everyone until Heaven finally fell quiet.
Well, we thought, we did it! We're inside! And the human souls! The human souls saw the angels who had remained inside the gates, saw with new eyes even those who had struggled to keep them out, and realized they had not meant them real harm, that they had been seeking to protect this place, protect this light, and their forgiving nature sheared away all pain of loss and gave way to great joy. Oh, I can't remember this moment without wanting to dance, to sing. The souls were jubilant, and when the angels began their great potentially cacophonous singing of questions and exclamations, the human souls began to sing!