the room, where the three of us stand back and watch. My body is a mess, spread across the operating table with tubes to my face, and my torso completely ripped open, and at least half my guts hanging out. Blood is everywhere, sprayed across the doctors and nurses from head to foot.
I can’t watch any more.
I turn my head and see the younger of the two. The first thing I notice is his blue eyes. I have blue eyes too, but these are nothing like mine. Man, they’re so intense they’re practically blinding. Imagine a paint palette, then mix electric blue and indigo together with a touch of ice, and you still wouldn’t be close.
He lets me stare as I try to figure him out. His hair is long and yellow-blond. He wears it partly loose, partly braided, but mostly tied together at the base of his neck with a string of crimson and gold threads.
The other dude is the one with the older voice, but it’s weird because his darker skin is just as flawless and young-looking as the other one’s warm-ivory skin. Even his silver-grey eyes are similar in intensity, though not quite as potent. He has long hair too – must be the fashion wherever these two come from. This one’s hair is bright copper and tied with a white silk cord. They’re wearing similar clothes – quality suits with T-shirts underneath.
It’s clear they don’t belong here. Not in this room. Not in this time. Not in this world!
The thing is, from the moment they pulled my soul from my body I’ve been experiencing everything astronomically fast. I’m noticing details in fractions of seconds, as if my powers of observation have multiplied a thousandfold. And it’s amazing!
Listen to me, Jordan, I need you to focus
, the blond one says, turning me to face him with his hands on my shoulders, pumping waves of calmness into me.
My name is Nathaneal, but you can call me Thane if you like
. He nods at his companion.
This is Isaac
.
Isaac grins and nods.
In case you haven’t worked it out yet, lad, Nathaneal and I are angels
.
‘What? Like angels from heaven?’
Not quite
.
‘So, what are you saying? There is no heaven?’
All the mortal religions try hard to explain this, but the human mind can’t comprehend the complexities of the afterlife and, unfortunately, I don’t have time to go into details now. But, briefly, there are four dimensions: Earth, the mortal realm; Skade; the human concept of hell; Avena, where angels live; and Peridis, the destiny of the human soul, which equates to the mortal conception of heaven
.
Are you following, lad?
Isaac asks.
I nod at Isaac. ‘Trying.’
We don’t normally appear physically until the moment of transference when the Guardian ensures the soul of their charge emerges safely
.
My mother believed in angels, said she had talked to one named Solomon ever since she was a little girl. I thought it was a bedtime story.
I would have thought with my ‘troubled’ history and everything, it wouldn’t be angels from Avena coming for me, but something darker.
‘You saw dark angels, lad?’ Isaac asks, in his speaking voice.
‘Nah, I don’t think so, but I heard you two talking before you pulled me out of my body.’
They exchange a glance over the top of my head but don’t say anything.
‘If I had seen dark angels, would they have taken me to Skade?’
‘They’re called Death Watchers, lad – dark angels who live in Skade, and whose job it is to encourage the dying to choose their world.’
Nathaneal runs a hand through his hair and takes a breath. ‘Jordan, we are running out of time – you don’t have long in this in-between state.’
‘So talk to me.’
‘I need your help, as long as you’re willing.’
For all his polite asking, I don’t see how I have a choice. I wonder what he’d say if I declined.
The two glance at each other again. ‘You always have a choice,’ Nathaneal says. ‘Free Will is one of Avena’s strictest codes. However, it’s beneficial to know that many times the
I can’t watch any more.
I turn my head and see the younger of the two. The first thing I notice is his blue eyes. I have blue eyes too, but these are nothing like mine. Man, they’re so intense they’re practically blinding. Imagine a paint palette, then mix electric blue and indigo together with a touch of ice, and you still wouldn’t be close.
He lets me stare as I try to figure him out. His hair is long and yellow-blond. He wears it partly loose, partly braided, but mostly tied together at the base of his neck with a string of crimson and gold threads.
The other dude is the one with the older voice, but it’s weird because his darker skin is just as flawless and young-looking as the other one’s warm-ivory skin. Even his silver-grey eyes are similar in intensity, though not quite as potent. He has long hair too – must be the fashion wherever these two come from. This one’s hair is bright copper and tied with a white silk cord. They’re wearing similar clothes – quality suits with T-shirts underneath.
It’s clear they don’t belong here. Not in this room. Not in this time. Not in this world!
The thing is, from the moment they pulled my soul from my body I’ve been experiencing everything astronomically fast. I’m noticing details in fractions of seconds, as if my powers of observation have multiplied a thousandfold. And it’s amazing!
Listen to me, Jordan, I need you to focus
, the blond one says, turning me to face him with his hands on my shoulders, pumping waves of calmness into me.
My name is Nathaneal, but you can call me Thane if you like
. He nods at his companion.
This is Isaac
.
Isaac grins and nods.
In case you haven’t worked it out yet, lad, Nathaneal and I are angels
.
‘What? Like angels from heaven?’
Not quite
.
‘So, what are you saying? There is no heaven?’
All the mortal religions try hard to explain this, but the human mind can’t comprehend the complexities of the afterlife and, unfortunately, I don’t have time to go into details now. But, briefly, there are four dimensions: Earth, the mortal realm; Skade; the human concept of hell; Avena, where angels live; and Peridis, the destiny of the human soul, which equates to the mortal conception of heaven
.
Are you following, lad?
Isaac asks.
I nod at Isaac. ‘Trying.’
We don’t normally appear physically until the moment of transference when the Guardian ensures the soul of their charge emerges safely
.
My mother believed in angels, said she had talked to one named Solomon ever since she was a little girl. I thought it was a bedtime story.
I would have thought with my ‘troubled’ history and everything, it wouldn’t be angels from Avena coming for me, but something darker.
‘You saw dark angels, lad?’ Isaac asks, in his speaking voice.
‘Nah, I don’t think so, but I heard you two talking before you pulled me out of my body.’
They exchange a glance over the top of my head but don’t say anything.
‘If I had seen dark angels, would they have taken me to Skade?’
‘They’re called Death Watchers, lad – dark angels who live in Skade, and whose job it is to encourage the dying to choose their world.’
Nathaneal runs a hand through his hair and takes a breath. ‘Jordan, we are running out of time – you don’t have long in this in-between state.’
‘So talk to me.’
‘I need your help, as long as you’re willing.’
For all his polite asking, I don’t see how I have a choice. I wonder what he’d say if I declined.
The two glance at each other again. ‘You always have a choice,’ Nathaneal says. ‘Free Will is one of Avena’s strictest codes. However, it’s beneficial to know that many times the
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