Messenger

Heaven

A layer of existence in the astral plane.

Home to angels and an execution ground for demons.

It had been created by the Divine God soon after the creation of humans as a means to separate the three.

The demon God had created hell for the demons as well.

The names, heaven and hell, were not what they were originally called. They were given by the inhabitants.

Heaven was called heaven as the angels saw it as a divine sanctuary, a home, and a safe haven.

Hell was called such as demons saw it as a cage to contain them and despised it for the sake of wanting to be free and wreak havoc on the world, especially to terrorize humans.

They were created almost at the same time and in the same space and hence, they can be understood as neighbors of some sort.

It is easy to imagine that reality is a giant tower, and every floor is a layer of existence with the physical world, Gaia, as the ground floor.

Hell and heaven would be two floors in a row, for example, floors 2 and 3 respectively.

This allows relatively easier intrusion into hell from heaven or vice versa.

Both races used this connection to invade each other's territory and members of both species had died on the other side.

There wasn't a single occasion where a previously thought-to-be-deceased individual returned from the other side.

Until that day.

The day when the archangel of humility and kindness came back from hell.

***

Under the blue sky, a white marble castle stood tall on a floating island enchanted to stay in its place eternally.

It was surrounded by many smaller isles which orbited it.

A bright sun illuminated the whole world and gave the place a lively feel.

Small white dots could be seen soaring through the endless and eternal sky.

If one were to look closely, the white dots were revealed to be angels.

They were human in appearance, except for their brilliant snowy wings on their back, clothes that were woven out of gold, and their natural good looks.

It could be said that they were the perfect older siblings of humans.

They flew playfully and giggled in groups. Some practiced aerial combat in the air, some practiced combat on the isles, and some blasted magic as a little bit of tomfoolery.

In this relaxed environment, a single angel rushed to the central island as fast as it could.

He flew like a bullet, straight and fast. His wings flapped frantically as the horrid image of what he had just witnessed ate away at his mind.

'I have to report that thing to Michael as soon as possible!' He reminded himself.

'Where did an abomination like that come from? What is it here? Isn't it more like a demon?'

Questions ran rampant in his head as he gave his maximum effort to fly fast.

The angel had snowy white hair reaching his elbows, silver irises, and two pairs of wings.

He broke through several sound barriers and landed on a marble road at the entrance of the castle and he started running from there which significantly reduced his speed.

He started running from there as the castle had a barrier that blocked out aerial passage as a result of some shenanigans.

'These brats.' He exclaimed angrily in his mind.

'There should be a line between harmless pranks and causing trouble.'

Although he was enraged, he doubted he could have moved his wings any longer anyway.

He walked through the pearly gates and got into the flight chamber.

The flight chamber was located right at the entrance of the expansive, majestic castle. Its structure took on the form of a cylinder, a single, vertical hole that granted access to platforms on each of the castle's floors. The angels would use it to fly to their desired floor or fly out of the castle.

The angel tried to spread his wings but the exhaustion accumulated over his long flight would not allow him to. It stubbornly refused to move, even for a little bit, and tore down his patience.

'Tsk. Do I have to use the stairs then?'

Stairs. For aerial beings like angels who enjoy being in the air, using stairs is like a human walking on two hands instead of their legs.

It is unnecessary and it is uncomfortable. If the tricksters saw it then he would be the laughingstock of the decade.

'Damned demons, it isn't time to hesitate because of a personal preference!' He said to himself and started running towards his left where the stairs existed.

Even though he was running, his feet were almost invincible to the naked human eye so it looked as if he was flying.

He breezed over the ground and jumped into the tight, claustrophobic, spiral of stairs.

The angel gulped as he felt uncomfortable.

He felt trapped and vulnerable to attacks in this tight space.

He slapped his face.

'Come on! I used to use the stairs all the time! Did 60 years of being an angel change me this much?'

'Remember what that thing looked like! That thing could wreak havoc here and are you going to doom this whole place just because of your tastes? Come on!'

Reminded by the emergency of the situation once more, he swiftly scaled the stairs.

He bumped into the walls repeatedly as a result of going too fast but he did not relent.

After going through five, ten, fifteen, and twenty floors, he finally reached the top floor of the castle where the seraphim resided.

Normally, he was not allowed to go there without permission but he excused himself this once.

He ran through the grand corridors, past enchanting paintings and statues only to realize that he absolutely had no idea of where to go.

Right at that moment, he felt a cold sensation behind him.

He didn't try to look backward and see who it was as he had already accepted her as a possible encounter.

Hoping to be spared from her judgment, he delivered his message.

"Seraphim Uriel, I wanted to report an urgent matter." He started to talk.

"What urgent matter, Metatron? If I do not like your answer then I will give you the taste of my sword sheath." A cold and serious voice came from behind.

"I want to report something to Seraphim Michael."

He took a deep breath and remembered what forced him to fly this far.

"I saw something breaching the barrier between hell and heaven. I went there to investigate and found a weird-looking thing. He looked like an angel but smelled like a demon. He said his name was… Seraphile? I think?"

Uriel dropped her sword.

"Impossible. He died, I saw his body!" She murmured.

'Smelled like a demon…? Something is definitely wrong.'

"Guide me to him. This is too urgent to waste time waiting for his return."

Her eyes blazed with strength and also a longing.

'What happened to you, brother?'