The French Mistake

(Past time, Able's initiation into the Seraphim)

I led Able to a secluded part of the island, the fire was much more volatile and powerful in the entire Empyrean.

"How much longer? Able was sweating under his Hazmat suit, no normal angel could handle the heat of the fire without assistance.

"We are nearly there, I'm covering you with my grace, so stop complaining." We walked to the highest point of the mountain.

On the mountain's summit were 22 stone columns, all of which were lit with blue fire except for one.

In the middle of the columns was a large stone well, and inside the well was blood. 

The two of us stood in front of each other, Able looked nervous but quickly calmed down after I gave him a reassuring smile.

"So, how exactly does this ceremony work? Able looked inside the well of blood.

"Normally, all of us would be here to initiate and guide you through the ceremony, but since we are in the middle of a war and we need to appear strong, I will rush you straight into the ceremony." My eyes glowed as I started the initiative speech. 

"Brother. From today forward your life will be forever changed. Because today you are my son, we are bound to each other by grace. Sworn to protect each other, to the death if necessary. With our family comes duty. You will obey your Father in all things, and you will show your siblings respect always. With our Family comes power."

"The Seraphim does not die. The Seraphim does not forget. It rewards its children with wealth, status, and honor. Our family pays our enemies with pain, suffering, and death. And none suffers more than a traitor. Betray the family and you will die. Slowly, in the dark." Able was forced on the floor by my power as I spoke that last line. 

"This is your blood." Able winced as the needle pricked his finger, the blood fell into the well and glowed a bright red before a colorful smoke enveloped Able.

The body of Able fell to the ground and went limp. This would be the final test to prove if one worthy and be a full-fledged member of the Seraphim.

It felt like an eternity had passed when Able's body finally started to convulse, his eyes slowly opening as the empty column roared to life with a bright blue flame.

"It seems that you have passed the final test. The power, knowledge, and authority of the Seraphim are now yours to wield. Now, I don't think I need to say this again, but I just want to remind you that Ofinel is still drowning at the bottom of the Ocean, and that was me being merciful." Able was testing out his new powers as I left the mountain to continue working.

(Present time)

My feet touch the sandy beach, as the sun glared at me with all it's fury. The once salty smell that accompanied this beach, was now replaced with the unpleasant stench of blood.

Pink liquid goo and burned shadowy wings of dead angels filled the sand, over a thousand good solders were lost in this latest ambush.

Kemuel and his clones were fishing the bodies of the dead angels out of the ocean, for the first time I felt numb after witnessing the aftermath of a mass death.

Mary was sitting on a rock st the shore, her expression was unmistakable as the tears flowed down her face and into the blood-soaked sand.

"A true tragedy for heaven, but there are no friends in war. These men knew the risks and were ready to lay their lives down for the mission." My voice sounded odd saying those words, but I didn't care.

"How can anyone do such a thing? We may be enemies, but to mercilessly mass slaughter your own siblings is too much." Whispered Mary as she wiped her tears with her rainbow feathers.

"It was inevitable. Raphael is starting to get desperate, Castiel and Balthazar are working together and possibly have the weapons that he stole, rumors about Castiel dealing with the powers of souls are floating around, and we are still in this fight against him. He was bound to send the Rit Zien to clean house." The flapping of wings could be heard as the various leaders that control the Empyrean appeared.

"This is all your Fault! You promised to not shed any blood here, yet this entire place is covered in a sea of Blood!! "I should have expected this, you've gone soft, spent too much time around the humans, it's pathetic." The casual tone that Jophiel used when she spoke irked me.

"What did you say? My voice sounded robotic, as if something else had taken control of my body, golden chains sprung out of the ground and shackled Jophiel as she was forced on the ground.

"If you ever say that again, I wil tear your grace apart and broadcast your screams for every other disrespectful wrench who dares to question me."

"Who are you to question my decisions? Jophiel, you were chosen by me. Everything you have is mine, your power is mine, your faction is mine, as long as you stay in your place, but I'm not afraid of shedding the blood of every single person you care about if you ever speak to me in such a manner again, understand? Jophiel nodded as fear was plastered on her face.

I released her and the rest of the other leaders disappeared, I look back at Kemuel and Mary, who looked uncomfortable.

"The angel Isaiel, is being summoned to Ken Lay's heaven by order of Raphael, who has called for a ceasefire for the time being." One of Raphael's supporters spoke on angel radio as every angel began shouting.

"Hey Isaiel, are you okay? If the war is too much, then the rest of the seraphs can take over in your place."Kemuel voice carried a tone of worry but an edge of Fear as he carefully spoke.

I didn't say anything and flew off to Ken Lay's heaven, Raphael was alone and greeted me when I came in.

"Brother, such a pleasure to finally speak to you one-on-one. Now, I'll get straight to the point for both our sakes. Leave heaven, go to the moon, Earth, or some other place. All I ask is that you and your seraphs leave, and I will stop deploying the Rit Zien to the battlefield." Raphael stood up and outstretched his hand to seal the agreement.

"Do you feel nothing? You massacred over a thousand angels and you feel nothing!! Your a healer, what happened to do no harm? Every time you do something like this, makes the thought of killing you an approaching reality. Because, you won't stop and your not the brother that knew." I started deep into his eyes and made it clear that this was not a threat, but a promise that I would keep.

I left heaven and walked around Earth, it was so peaceful compared to the chaotic mess that was home. I took a stroll in a park and watched the humans go on with their day, giving me a reminder on why and what I fight for.

I teleported to Chuck's house, where Father took back residence after the apocalypse. Father was eating an apple while watching the news.

"Son, are you okay? My father's gave me a worried look as I sat down at the table. "I'm fine Father, just tired from all the fighting." I could tell that Chuck didn't fully believe me.

"What's the point! The glass table cracked from my voice. "So many angels look up to me for answers that I don't have, and all you done up to this point is continue with your sabbatical." I didn't know why I was feeling so angry, maybe it is due to the massacre, or to how I felt when Jophiel challenged my authority.

"Where is he? I punched Chuck. "Where is the God of this world? I punched him again as he was thrown into the refrigerator.

"Bring him out!! I screamed as I slammed Chuck into the refrigerator again. "Son, I advise that you don't try to test my patience." White light was coming out my Father's eyes as he was getting angry.

"Why? Because your worried that you might lose, old man? I didn't know where this confidence or imagination that I could beat my Father. "No, I'm worried that you may die." I sneered and lunged at my Father, who teleported out of the way.

I began to create blades of light and fired at Father, who seemed to not take this seriously and destroyed the blades with a mere thought.

I teleported next to Father and grabbed him by the shirt, my vessel was much taller than his scrawny body and I thought that I was winning until Father had enough.

"ENOUGH!!! Just like lightning, I heard the voice before I felt the blow. I was throw out of the house, smashing through buildings, trees, and flying through such high speeds that people thought that I was a shooting star.

When I finally went back down due to gravity, I fell and made a crater on the beach due to the strength of Father's power.

I could feel my body regenerating, making up the mass that this body had loss. All I could sense was sand, I could feel the atoms stick to me as the sand got wet due to the rain.

The hairs on my body stood up as I could feel my Father approaching. I struggled with my body to stop the instinct, but I still found myself leaning on the ground at the feet of the Father.

"It seems that Apple doesn't fall to far from the tree, with you, Michael, and Lucifer. The three of you are quite alike in many ways more than one, always taking after me." My Father sat on the sand next to me as the rain stopped.

"Can I tell you a story? I asked him to break the silence between us. "You may." Replied Father, not angry at all as my body continued to regenerate.

"There was a man who decided in his bleak, boring, mediocre life that he was going to write a book."

"The man wrote short chapters at first, thinking that no one was going to be interested in such a story. But he continued to write more chapters, with the help of some people who were interested in the idea of the story, he started to improve his writing and create longer chapters for his readers to enjoy."

"Sooner than he imagined, more people began to read and like his book. Some even posted their positive reviews to attract more readers to the story that he was building."

"But as they always say, good things come to an end. Some of the readers asked for him to tweak the story, which he did since he could see their point of view about their complaints." My body was fully recovered as I reposition myself from the crater.

"But then the comments become conflicting, some wanted to tweak the character to less human, others wanted him to show more humanity and not become so cruel. So, he tried to have balance between the two. But more complaints about his decision and previous one were raised, he tried to appease them but failed." I could taste the bitterness in my mouth as I continued the story.

"You had potential in beginning, now you made something so boring, This story is going straight to shit, authors really like making shitty books like this one." These were only some of the comments that he received for his chapters, but he still continued to write for all the other readers who greatly appreciated his story." A smile appeared on my face as I continued.

"The author knew that his story wasn't a bestseller, but he enjoyed watching it grow into something in such a short time since he made it." My Father smiled as I concluded my story.

"I understand how the author feels, nothing gives a writer more satisfaction then making a story that people enjoy reading." Father teleported us back to the house as I laid on the sofa.

"Trust me, I believe that the author is currently writing multiple chapters for his books, when he is supposed to be sleeping at this hour." I grabbed a chess board and arranged the pieces as Father sat in front of me.

"Are you sure that you want to play chess with me again? Failure is the best teacher after all, and you never won once." Father smiled as the two of us spent the rest of the day playing chess against the other.

(Raphael's pov)

I stomped up the Royal Palace steps as I came back from being tricked by that arrogant angel Castiel, he had secured the weapons and is now getting stronger than anything that I prepare for.

"What happened to do no harm? The words of my brother flashed through my mind, my emotions were in constant turmoil after that conversation.

"Who am I? I kept asking myself that question numerous times but to no avail. "I am a healer, I am a commander, I am an Archangel, i-i am a lover..? I recoiled from the sudden pain in my head, fragmented memories started to stir and cause me unimaginable pain.

I calmed myself down, and looked around my surroundings. I needed to be perfect, no angel should see me in such a state.

I rushed up the stairs and finally reached the summit, where only one angel stood in front of the gates and watched my movements.

I paid no attention to the guard, and walked towards the gate instead the Palace. But, I was stopped by an invisible barrier near the gate.

"Do you know who I am? I am Archangel Raphael, and you are blocking my way into the Palace. So move, or die a grousome death at my hands." I tried to snap my fingers to destroy the angel, but none of my powers were working.

"My name is Purpose, and I am the guardian of the gate and none shall enter the Palace until The Creator returns." I slammed my fist at the invisible barrier, small sparks of electricity appeared on my hand.

"You claim to be Raphael, and yet you have strayed from your name's purpose, then I will help you reclaim that purpose from the usurpers." Before I could move, the angel's finger touched my head and I saw black.

I was in a dark, cell in the dungeons, the holy fire was crackling and seemed to try and touch me.

I heard the sound of footsteps approaching as Michael opened the cell door, his expression was stone-cold and for some reason I felt angry in Michael's presence.

"Tell me Raphael, have you finally come to your senses? I doubt you wish to stay in this dark cell for the rest of the eternity." Michael's voice was cold like ice, not any ouch of heat within him.

"Screw you!! You erased my wife, you had no right to take her life! My voice sounded hoarse, as Michael simply folded his arms.

"She was a human, the two of you had a job and she managed to distract you from the mission, which means she needed to go before you became too attached." My head was hurting as the memory changed.

I was strapped into a chair in an unfamiliar room, I knew that someone was there in the shadows and that I was afraid of what was going to happen.

The shadowy silhouette stepped forward towards the chair, l could only hear the sound of a drill and a ringing noise in my head as I screamed.

When I returned from that strange memory, I was back in Ken Lay's heaven and my head felt strangely different, all that I knew was that silhouette was Naomi and she had the answers.