Chapter 10

The house was very large, it was Victorian styled with a fountain of three angles pouring water into a pool. There were roses of all colours trimmed and placed in pots with intricate designs on them that seemed to be telling stories. One had a woman bending to a man's feet and wiping it with her hair, I recognized it as the story of Mary after she broke the alabaster jar at Jesus' feet to wash it. Lucifer kept walking at his normal speed obviously accustomed to the scene, it was not until he turned he realized that I was still in awe of it all that he slowed down. The pathway to the house was made of stones glossed to perfection, there were lamps placed in moderate spaces between each other to light the way.


As we got to the door I saw two angels carved into the pillars at either side of the door, their hands resting where the hinges of the door would be to portray them holding it up. Lucifer reached out with his magic and the door opened allowing us access to the inside, the inside was covered in red carpeting and Victorian era furniture. Above us was a massive chandelier that was lit so that its glow casted the shadow of robed figures bowing before it. At the top of the stairs came a squeal and I looked up to see two children no more than twelve years old running down.


One had short brown hair that was now wet and sticking to his face, his dark brown eyes lit with excitement as he made his way for us. He like his brother were wearing towels that hung low from their frivolous movements, his twin brother had long brown hair the same shade as him but his hair was tied in a bun and dry. He had deep green eyes that seemed to flood you as you stare into it, as they both made it over to Lucifer they threw themselves into his arms and laughed along with him. But then there was a frustrated sigh that followed someone sliding across the floor at the top of the staircase and screaming threats and profanities.


"I swear to the gods I will hang you from the roof and make you wish your sorry asses didn't enter this world." An older boy said before he stopped and realized that Lucifer was back and a stranger was with him.


The boy had dark red curls that bunched up in his ponytail making it look like he had a bun on his head, he wore contacts. I could tell because he had a bright red contact in his left eye while the right had a sea blue contact in it, he had a grey sweatpants on with a long sleeve v-neck sweater that was rolled up to his elbows. He wore hanging earrings that had upside down crosses on them, he stopped screaming at the twins that were now hiding behind Lucifer and giggling. He gave them a pointed look before giving Lucifer a hug and giving a dramatic descriptions of how much of a hard time the imps as he called them gave him.


"Oh and who's the new chick?" he asked losing his overeating persona and going to a cool and casual presentation


"This is Azrael a new angel and he also brought with him three Greeks one of which happened to the the head of that house." his news brought a sparkle to the boy's eyes, "Oh and his mundane name is Levi."


He then turned to me and began introducing everyone to me, "The twins are Timothy god factor Raphael, that being the one with the short hair and Daniel god factor Raguel him being the one with the long hair. And this is Alaric god factor Uriel, that makes up all of the angelic house that have been discovered up until you." Lucifer explained and transformed to Eli.


I followed suit feeling the energy draining from my body, he then sent the twins on their way to get changed and asked Alaric to show me to my room and quarters while he gets to his. My quarters according to what Alaric explained is the place where I reside as Azrael, it is like my throne room of a castle while my room is as simple as it means. The house felt larger from the inside almost never ending, we passed three halls that were like ballrooms but I didn't see inside because they were closed by giant double doors etched with gold. After making it to the fourth hall Alaric stopped and turned to me and handed me a key giving me a smile before turning around and started to head back the way we came.


"In there's your section of the house, there should be a manual book in the center of your quarter that would be able to explain anything you might need to understand. Wish I could help more but I don't have clearance from you yet to enter there and the twins would mamaguy Eli into giving them almost anything." he said not turning around to say what he had to say, before he turned the corner he gave me a salute with his index and middle finger and disappeared down the corridor.


I looked down at the key he gave me and noticed that it was like everything in this house a bit old timish, it was one of those keys that had the two long ridges and a cute design on the bulb. On the head of my key was a skull that had little flowers growing out of the eyes and around the head. The entire thing was made of silver and little flecks of gold, I looked up at the door and saw on the right side had the keyhole. Written around it was something in what I would imagine to be Hebrew, as I stared at it my mind began to make sense of it and I saw the words morph into the statement 'The gate of death and life'. The entire ordeal had me a bit on the fence so I didn't read much into it, I just pushed the key in and unlocked the doors causing them to sound like gears were turning.


When the final gear was unlocked the door pushed out with a little pop letting air enter into the room, I then slid my fingers into the space that had opened up and pulled the door making it open and reveal a breathtaking sight. Inside the room was a forest, an actual forest with trees and the sound of animals filling my ears, I walked in completely aghast by the sight that lay before me. The wind blew in my face carrying with it autumn leaves that was pulled and pushed with no real purpose, the breeze whipped my hair back and bringing a sense of peace to me that I had never experienced.


My feet carried me along the dirt pathway to a glass pillar that had a book on it just as Alaric had told me, on it was a white dove sitting and cleaning her wings. When she saw me she jumped up and fluttered her wings in a manner that did not portray danger or fear but rather excitement, she then flew up into the trees and began to whistle that loveliest of tunes. The sound echoed through the treetops and with every repeat it became louder until the sound began to buzz in a familiar way, it was so intune with me that it felt like the energy of the god factor within me buzz with it. I felt like I was covered in a blanket of light and nothing weighed down on my shoulders, my knees went weak and I fell to the soft grassy pasture that felt like cotton against my skin. It was not until I felt something lick my cheek that my eyes opened making me aware to the fact that they were closed in the first place.


Before me was a white wolf who had his tongue lolled out of his mouth and looking down at me with his icy blue eyes, he bent down and nudged me with his nose. Then the dove came down from the trees and landed on his head burying itself in his plush white coat, it was like every creature in this place was in a realm of serenity that was beyond life itself. And I was not accustomed to the feeling so it had gotten to me and I collapsed under the release, but when the dove stopped singing and the wolf had woken me up I felt refreshed and a little more stable. The wolf then moved away from my head waiting for me to sit up before he went over to the glass pillar and sat down next to it. I then remembered that the book on the pillar would have some sort of explanation to this craziness that was this house concept.


So I pushed myself to my feet and walked over to it still feeling a little too relaxed but I was able to make my feet obey me and reach the pillar that I used as some support. The wolf though was very close to me and pushed itself up against my wobbly knees to ensure that I wouldn't fall making me laugh a little and scratch behind its ears making it tap its feet against the ground and pant. After having another moment of pure bliss my mind drew me back to the book which I quickly opened it in case of me losing myself again.


When the book opened the pages flipped until it came to a sudden stop, the page was of me but when I was in my god factor form. But the paper looked so ancient that I was confused that they were even able to get this picture. The picture had to have been of the first Azrael, he wore a black silky robe that wrapped around his body like a dress of the days of old. On his hands were a double edged sword and on the other a skull that had orange flames coming out of its eyes and mouth. His, or my I should say, face was covered by the cloak that was part of the robe I wore. The only things I could see was the blinding glow of my luminescent eyes and the curl of my lips to form a sickening but sweet smile.


Looking at the picture a question came to mind about how did I end up with this power in the first place. When it passed through my mind the pages began to flip again until it landed on a page that was written in Hebrew but I understand every letter. It spoke about the first era of the gods and how they ruled the earth with a strong arm and sometimes abused their power to force their superiority upon the mundane. But as they continued a group of gods who could not stand for what their fellow comrades were doing and decided to sacrifice even themselves to stop the evil. The gods who stood up against the others were unknown, but it was said that they were the gods sworn to be the protectors of the human race.


They worked on a spell that would be able to rid a god of their power and remove them from the plane of life, but the complication arose of the balance. The balance needed the gods to exist and use their power to cause and control their realms of rule, and so the group of gods came to the conclusion that they would give the power to the mundane race. It was their only choice that was left, they could not for see that the human race would become corrupt and use the power of knowledge to destroy themselves, even without the god factor. So the gods stripped the power from all the gods of old and bestowed it as the god factor within the mundanes, only a selective few would be compatible to be able to hold a god factor.


If someone who did not have the necessary ability to contain the god factor and came in contact with it,I they would die from the weight of the magic. The gods also gave some of the human race the abilities of other creatures that once served the gods and to used their powers selfishly. As a mundane who contained any form of the god factor were to die the spell would restart, it would take the power and seek out another who would be able to hold the measure of magic. And so generations within human kind were gifted with the power of the gods, but for some it was hidden and did not awaken within them.


I had now started to understand how it was that we were able to have the god factor within us but I was still confused as to how this housing system worked. And as on cue the pages moved and landed on one that had no illustrations, it did say though that it was up to those who held the god factor to deem the house as a physical entity. The housing system was just that, a system that gave the head god of particular pantheons the ability to once again have his/her own allies to build an empire. Each god us allocated a realm of rule according to their god factor, but the system if willed could become tangible. I then understood that the house that I and the other angles were in was just a manifestation of the system built to give the gods hierarchy. It was also constructed to be a place hidden away from enemies so that we can live in peace and hoan our strengths.


I then felt something fluffy rest in my bare feet making me look down at the wolf who choose my foot to be his pillow. I smile made its way to my lips and I looked around at the beauty of this place, as I admired it the book flipped to a page that had a picture that was uncannily identical to the forest I stood in. On the sides of the picture was a description of the picture giving an explanation of what it was about. It said that the forest like the house was a manifestation, this time it was a physical representation of my power. It repeated the words that was on the key hole saying the gateway of life and death, it explained that the overwhelming peace that overtook me was the sigh of relief.


It was the feeling of release from the plane of life right before you got to the realm of death, it was a place where no burdens could weigh you down. And so the forest created a feeling that engulfed those who stepped into its atmosphere, it was also not meant for certain people to dwell in. Only I and the creatures that existed in it would be able to withstand the 'sigh of relief' but since I had now come to this place I was not accustomed to its strength. At that moment I felt as if I had made enough progress on my knowledge and a wave of want washed over me almost making me topple over. Cian came to mind and no matter how much I wanted him to leave I wanted nothing more than to see his face. The book made no motion making me aware that it had no answer to letting me to see him, so I closed it and sat down on the grass no longer feeling the heavy peace anymore.


I scratched the wolf's head making him relax even more if that even was possible and rub his head up against my thigh. Then he popped his head up in a sudden alertness, his eyes burning with a curious intensity. He then jumped up making the dove get up in shock and flap her wings before flying away, the wolf sniffed the air when she left and began trudging away. He stopped after a few steps and turned around to look at me as if asking why I wasn't following him, so I got up from where I sat and followed after him. He led me through the thick forest filled with different trees which were homes to exquisite animals but I didn't have time to see them all. As I got closer to whatever the wolf was trying to get to I felt a pulling in my chest to get there faster, it was as if I was a piece of metal being dragged towards a magnet.


We came to an opening where a pond lay, the waters were crystal clear and reflected the sun onto droplets on the plants that surrounded it making them look like diamond. This part of the forest was somehow not as lit as everywhere else, though the sun shun it was not bright. It was just enough to bring warmth but held no true light to it, I walked closer to the pond and realized that the fog that was in the distance was actually where the water from a waterfall met the pond's surface. The waterfall reached so high that it seemed to have been falling from the heavens itself, it was enchanted just like everything in this place that was now dubbed my quarters.


The wolf nudged my leg closer to the water with his nose and panted looking at me with expecting eyes. I was not sure what he wanted from me but I walked up to the pond so that the water ever so gently grazed my toes. It was so warm to the touch it broke the little tension left in me, I smiled at the feeling but I still had that gnawing attraction to something around here. It was not until I looked down at the surface of the water that I saw a figure facing away from me, he sat on the floor of a massive room reading to himself. The room around him was filled with all sorts of books, but I knew it wasn't a library because there was no chairs or anything that brought the feeling of a library. There was though a few statues in between the shelves of men holding flames and covering their eyes, the boy who sat in the middle of the image perked up as if he sensed something.


It was not until I looked around to see what could have caught his attention that I realized I was no longer standing in the forest, I wasn't looking in from the pond but was now in the middle of this room. The boy turned around causing his muscles to move like liquid in his hoodie that hugged his body, when his face met mine I took a step back inhaling sharply. But how? I asked myself as I saw those deep green eyes staring back at me with a mirroring confusion, he got up from his seat and made a full body turn so he could look at me better. I thought that we weren't able to cross into other houses, even with permission it was supposed to be physically impossible for a god factor of one pantheon to enter another's of a different pantheon.


"How are you here?" He asked right before he reached out for me and a sharp sound burst through my ear making a warm liquid leak down my cheek before my vision failed me and I collapsed.


______________________________________

Comment