"Ariel," Raphael regarded her as she walked inside. She looked up to him, intimidated. His face was serious; his eyes looked at her, bearing no readable emotions in them. Ariel feared he would punish her, however, she convinced herself that it would be just. But when Raphael spoke again, her fear turned into confusion. "Do not worry yourself, young one. I shall not place you back in your cage for such a meager mistake."
Ariel's eyes were hopeful when she looked up, but she restrained herself. "I am not worthy of your mercy."
Raphael smiled at her. "But you are of Michael's," he told her. "The situation with the false prophet may not have been avoidable if it was the will of God. Perhaps the humans understood things differently from us, that the message of His return meant horror."
"The humans have been misguided," Ariel agreed. "I have not had contact with one for years, but I can see how much they have strayed off the path of God."
"True." Raphael nodded. "However, we must not cease to perform our duties. Heaven must continue to prepare them for His return. Which is why I am tasking you to return to Earth again."
Ariel kept herself from recoiling, but just barely. "What shall be my task?"
"Restore order," Raphael said. "Guide the humans to the right path. They are confused and in fear now, but we must not let them destroy themselves because of such uncontrollable emotions." Then, he looked at her with questioning eyes. "Will it be a task you are capable of completing, Ariel?"
"Yes." Ariel was quick to answer. "I shall not fail you."
"I expect as much," Raphael replied. "Go now, Ariel. May God bless your journey."
Ariel returned to Earth, immediately feeling herself lost in the chaos of human minds. Before she had completed her descent, she could already sense the negative energies surrounding their land. Where do I start? she asked herself. She decided to return to the city where it had begun, and saw Chicago in a situation no better than the rest of the world.
The news about Maxwell Saunders' suicide minutes after his last transmission had spread further panic in the humans. People pointed fingers at their governments, claiming they were responsible for the coming apocalypse. Riots were brewing on the streets. Homeless people began chanting prayers for their souls. It was catastrophic.
Ariel descended to the streets, covering her presence from the humans as she made her way around them. Raphael had tasked her to keep things in order amongst the humans, but as she found herself in the midst of their thoughts, Ariel began to doubt her capabilities. Nonetheless, she had to try before calling defeat.
She first approached the homeless man praying loudly and begging for mercy. Ariel touched the man's mind and listened to his story. Left alone by his family when he lost his job due to the recession, he had aged in the streets. The homeless man was haunted by the images of his family leaving him behind, and the depression had triggered his mental illness. With the news of the end of the world, it was not difficult to drive him into panic. Ariel took it upon herself to cure the man, but like before, her power was limited if the target was conscious.
I cannot wait for them all to sleep, Ariel thought, looking around the area. Then an idea came to her, a rather ludicrous one, admittedly, but an idea nonetheless. She turned back to the homeless man and weighed her options. He is a believer, Ariel reminded herself, having heard his prayers. Taking the risk, she removed the illusion that kept her invisible amongst humans and revealed herself to the homeless man. At first, he took no interest in her. After a double take, his eyes widened at the sight of her. Ariel was certain that the man could not see her wings, but an angel's presence to a faithful follower was still strong.
"You— What are you?" he stammered.
"Do not lose faith," Ariel told him. "God will indeed return. But He will grant us salvation, not torment."
"I— God?" he repeated.
Ariel felt pity for the man and wanted to offer him peace, but a grab at her arm abruptly pulled her away from him. She gasped, turning to see her captor to force him to release her, only to find Daniel holding her arm. Immediately, she understood what he wanted, and she hid herself with the illusion again. Daniel pulled her out of the streets and into an empty alleyway.
Daniel turned to her, his face cross. "What were you thinking, Ariel?"
"I was ordered by Raphael to guide the humans—"
"By showing yourself?" he replied.
Ariel recoiled. "My influence on the humans is limited to when they sleep, Daniel. My illusions are weak when they are conscious."
"I know that," Daniel told her. "But there are other ways for you to fulfill Raphael's orders without revealing the secrets of Heaven."
"Secrets?" Ariel repeated the word in confusion. "Our existence is no secret to the humans. There are non-believers, but they are aware of what we are and who we serve."
"No, Ariel. Things are different with the humans now," Daniel told her. "Faithful or not, their view of us has been skewed with their fantasies and culture. They perceive us as either fictional or saviors."
"Are we not saviors to them? Do we no longer protect them?"
"We do, Ariel. But not in the way they believe," Daniel explained to her. He let out a frustrated sigh before looking her in the eyes. "Ariel, you must tread carefully in dealing with the mortals. Especially in a crisis such as this, your presence might trigger something you do not wish."
Ariel thought about what he said. Trigger something you do not wish. She repeated the words in her mind. "Is that the reason why the prophet, Maxwell Saunders, delivered the wrong prophecy?"
Daniel frowned. "Perhaps."
Ariel studied his expression, thinking he was keeping something from her. She had been thinking it odd how the other angels were allowing what was happening to the humans. What happened to the prophet was Ariel's fault, but now that the situation had spread across the land, she had yet to see other angels besides herself and Daniel take care of the situation.
I should not doubt my brothers and sisters, Ariel told herself. But the issue with the deceased prophet still troubled the angel. Then, she remembered something. "The demon." Ariel looked up. "Could he have done something to affect the prophet?"
Daniel's brows furrowed. "The demon. Have you not taken care of it?"
"I- I have," Ariel said. "But he lives. Why would Hell interfere with the prophecies?"
Daniel chuckled. "You have seen the reason, Ariel. It is all around us now. Chaos. Panic. Fear. Hell must be enjoying the widespread anarchy."
Ariel looked at the street at the end of the alley and realized Daniel's claims were obvious. Demons preferred pandemonium over peace. And with the return of God, it was an opportune event for them to meddle with Heaven's affairs.
"Could it be that they are trying to drive us into war? Before God arrives?" Ariel wondered, but her words fell on deaf ears. She turned to Daniel, who had his eyes closed and his wings tucked around him. Ariel knew the position too well and did not wish to interfere with him while he received a word from Heaven.
Barely any time had passed before Daniel opened his eyes and announced the message. "Raphael orders you to stop with this lost mission.”
“What?” Ariel demanded. “But the humans are in disorder.”
“Your powers are limited to when they sleep, and you cannot influence a crowd, Ariel,” Daniel reminded her. “There is no point in attempting the impossible.”
Ariel was taken aback by the message. Her eyes fell once more to the negative energy that was gathering in the humans and thought of her own powers. "Will Raphael be sending other angels to keep things in order?"
"I am not certain," Daniel said with his eyes narrowing. "The archangels will do as they are required to. And I will be returning to Heaven to assist them."
“What shall I do, then?” Ariel asked him.
“Whatever you can,” Daniel answered her. “You are not tasked to keep things calm. Neither are you tasked with anything until the archangels say so. I only request you not to do anything as
foolish as what you just attempted.” Ariel lowered her head, feeling defeated. Daniel bid her goodbye, and with that, he stepped into light and disappeared.
Ariel was alone yet again. To calm the unrest amongst humans with what little her powers could do was a difficult task. Daniel had warned her not to use her own presence to bring hope to the humans, but she had few options aside from that. What else can I do? she asked herself. Being pulled out of this task felt like a message telling Ariel she had disappointed the archangels. But she wanted to prove herself nonetheless.
She spread her wings and took flight. Landing on top of a high-rise tower, Ariel looked around the city of Chicago where the air was indeed mixed with the negative energy that polluted the humans' minds. A weight tugged at her chest; she didn't know what to do. She set her foot over the ledge and dove into the open air. She scoured the area to study the human activity. There were confused families, frantic internet viewers, and news reporters giving meaning to every other event that could be linked to what Maxwell said. Every action the humans made only increased the anxiety, despair, and fear.
How am I supposed to put things in order? Ariel felt desperate. She flew lower and searched for any sign that would help her calm the humans. Her eyes fell on a mother unlocking her home with her sleeping child on her shoulders. The opportunity presented itself to her, and Ariel did not wish to let it go.
She watched as the sleepy girl was tucked into bed. Human children had a lower capacity for staying awake than adults, and at noon, the mother was already readying her for a nap. Ariel tried to peer into the mother's mind and saw that even she was affected by the news that was spreading all around. Her daughter was not. The child was still innocent of the troubles of the world and slept soundly even though her city was collapsing in itself. Ariel learned that the name of the girl was Leanne, and her mother was Alicia. Her father had left them when Leanne was much younger, leaving Alicia to fend for herself and her daughter. Ariel felt sympathy for the young girl.
In Leanne's sleep, Ariel weaved a happy memory of her and her father. A time when her father had built her a swing set and Leanne had played on it for days. This was before they’d lost their home and had to move to the small apartment in the city. And this was before her parents' divorce.
But Leanne still loved her father, and Ariel tugged at the girl's affection to deliver her message. Her father beamed at her as Leanne sat on the swings and told her all about the angels, Heaven, and God. He told her that their Father was returning to save her and her mother from the sadness. Leanne's heart was filled with hope, and when she woke, she told her mother about her dream.
But Alicia didn't want to hear such things. The news of the so-called apocalypse had driven Alicia to paranoia, and when Leanne spoke of such things, she was afraid that her daughter was influenced by something. She treated her daughter with condescension as she tucked her in the backseat that night. Alicia left Chicago for Boston to see her parents, seeking their help.
Ariel felt her heart sink at the mistake she’d made once again. A child's words were heard with less regard than an adult’s, and their dreams were translated as fantasies. It was already nighttime, and most people in Chicago had already retired to their beds. But Ariel was still at a loss. No help from Heaven came, and she did not know how to start weaving everyone else's dreams to strengthen their faiths in God and Heaven.
She prayed. She called unto Heaven for assistance, admitting that her powers weren't enough to influence an entire city of humans. A much greater power, or a greater number of angels, were required to fulfill such a task. Ariel was nearing her limit. She had attempted to weave the dreams of a few people, but they weren't nearly enough.
Silence met her prayers still. No word from Heaven came to her as no help came. Their numbers were limited, but surely not all angels were so occupied they could not help the humans, especially when it was God's will to look after them. Has Heaven abandoned me? She could no longer stop the questions from invading her mind.
Chapter Nine: The Face Shifter
Smoke mixed with the cold night wind in Chicago. Using the shadows as his disguise, Caelum followed the monster wearing Maxwell Saunders’ face who seemed to be enjoying his own private tour of the city. Caelum wondered what its aim was, having walked around the entire city nonstop for the day. Is he searching for something? Or someone? Caelum wondered. But why wear the most popular dead man’s face?
There was only one possibility what the thing was, Caelum deduced. A doppelganger wore the faces of others, and in claiming multiple identities, such a monster never held a true history, hence, he could not read one from it. He remembered Baron mentioning something about the unusual activity of the Earthly monsters as of late. In his few months of hiding on Earth, he had rarely encountered a monster, having no affinity for them. Monsters were either hybrids of humans and other creatures or merely cursed humans. That made them less pleasant to Caelum than ordinary humans.
And yet, I am stalking one? Caelum laughed at himself. Perhaps a change of scenery is long overdue. I’ve been playing with mortals far too much lately.
But as far as Caelum could see, the doppelganger provided him not much game. Aside from the face he’d copied, he saw no interest in the monster. Maybe Caelum had been hoping for too much. The monster could have easily seen Maxwell’s face on the local news and decided that it would be interesting to copy him.
But then, there was Baron’s mentioning of the monsters’ strange behaviors recently. He speculated if this was somehow in relation to that unusual activity. The doppelganger headed on to the next corner where there stood an abandoned building scheduled for demolition in a few days. As expected, the doppelganger went inside the building.
Now, now. Aren’t you a peculiar fellow… Caelum smiled and followed the monster inside.
While the demon was in pursuit of the monster, Ariel was in search for him. With the amount of negative energies that surrounded the city, it proved difficult for Ariel to filter out the demonic energy in the air. But she kept on searching for a trace of the demon that she’d assumed to have had a hand in the chaos amongst the humans. Ariel had already felt hopeless in keeping the peace in all the humans’ minds all by herself, with Heaven keeping its silence. Is this my punishment? she wondered, though she found it hard to imagine Heaven risking the state of the mortals to punish one angel. Ariel shook away the thought. Heaven has a reason for this.
She stepped inside the loft the demon had called home. Inside, she felt his energy concentrated in the items, however, he was nowhere to be found. The place looked as though it had been abandoned since her first visit. She frowned at the thought, but quickly reminded herself not to consider such beings to be diligent and neat. Hell is hell, after all.
She turned to leave only to be stopped by a rustle in the shelves. Quickly, she wheeled around, brandishing her weapon and found herself face to face with the former feline medium the demon used earlier.
“Miss… Fortune?” Ariel remembered the odd name of the cat. With an owner who was proud to call himself a walking irony, it was to be expected that the pet would have such a strange name. The cat meowed her a greeting and proceeded to jump from the shelf and walk towards her. Ariel knelt down and accepted the creature who rubbed its cheek against her palm.
“Too bad your owner has not been taking care of you,” Ariel cooed. The angel had always been fond of animals. They were loyal and simple, unlike the mortals. They do what their instinct tells them to survive without being smeared with greed and lust and pride. She smiled at the cat who meowed once again, telling her she was hungry. Ariel sighed. “I see. How irresponsible of your owner, leaving you all alone after he had used—”
Ariel stopped mid-sentence, remembering the trick Caelum had used to communicate when she had taken his voice away. The angel picked the cat up and cradled it in her arms as she stood up and put her on the study desk. Ariel patted the cat on the top of its head.
“I require your help, littl
e one. Please stay still and I will fetch you a meal afterwards,” she promised the cat, and it agreed to her terms. She rubbed her thumb on the cat’s forehead, focusing her energy into extracting the cat’s. Surely, there would still be a trace of the demonic energy in the cat that she could use to track down Caelum. And soon enough, dark energy appeared above the cat’s head which the angel gathered in her palms.
Ariel focused on the energy in her palms and let it lead her to the owner. The energy expanded towards the northeast side of the room. Ariel quickly released the energy and made her way to the window but was stopped again by the feline resident of the apartment. “Oh, my apologies.” She made her way back to Miss Fortune. The angel sighed to herself. She was now bound to search for the cat’s food in the gloomy apartment of the demon she sought. Ariel hoped that the energy she gathered would be enough to lead her to where Caelum was hiding.
Caelum would admit that the abandoned building he entered could be a perfect hiding place for a demon like him. With shadows cast everywhere, Caelum found it easier to follow the doppelganger and figure out its intentions. But after minutes of standing in the middle of a room filled with old desks and chairs, the doppelganger’s visit to the peculiar place remained uneventful and unenlightening. Caelum had to admit to himself that he was getting bored of his stalking.
Perhaps I was mistaken to think this would turn into something interesting. Caelum frowned. He hoped to be the one to discover a grand scheme that required the monster to take the disguise of the false prophet. Alas, no such thing suggested that to him. He was considering turning away from the vicinity and taking his leave when a familiar energy suddenly appeared nearby.
Oh. Perhaps there is hope. He smiled. Jumping from shadow to shadow, the demon left the doppelganger alone and reached the top of the building where the familiar figure awaited him. Dark locks of hair danced around in the wind as the angel folded her nearly invisible wings.
The Damned and The Pure Series: Books 1-4 (The Damned and The Pure Series Box Set) Page 9
