Until The End Of Time

Prologue

"Please...Master, please! Don't walk away, don't do this!" 

Kye pleaded on all fours, ignoring the dirty, wet ground and the murky water rising on her knees and elbows. The rain was getting heavier with each minute. Her dress, which used to be white, was now a questionable color and soaked through. Her whole body shook since it didn't give much warmth. Long locks of dirty brown hair stuck to her face. Dark circles formed under her bloodshot puffy eyes. 

Kye had not slept for four days since Michael'd ordered his men to remove her from the loft and take her to the warehouse.

The place used to be a prison for the "damned souls"— people who Michael deemed worthless or problematic to society. Kye had suspected it'd just been his excuse to build a playhouse. Sure, most humans taken there had been criminals, but Michael was not God. It was not up to him to pass judgment. Since the archangel had lost his interest in the warehouse for the most part, it had, once again, become abandoned. Up until Kye had been taken there.

January was usually the worst month of the year, with bitter cold and nonstop rains. They ranged from drizzles to heavy showers, which lasted for days. Because of that, Ayham was often flooded, especially in Eastwick Alley, where they were all standing, the part of the city that nobody gave a shit about.

They had been waiting in front of a large opening leading into the city's sewage tunnels. It was a complicated system that anyone could get lost in besides the people who called it home. The Resistance had been using the tunnels to commute right under the angels' noses since after the War.

A group of six men surrounded Kye while they waited for the exchange to happen. She stared at the man in front of her. He had not looked at her once since they'd gotten here.

The rain was falling hard. Michael checked his watch, then looked up to the sky. He searched for signs of Heaven, but as usual, all Michael could see was gray clouds and occasional lightning.

The rain had made it difficult for him to open his eyes. Human meatsuits had their limitations, but Michael needed this one. It was adequate. Without it, he was just light and energy floating around, too huge and too intense for this world.

"Did I do the right thing, Father?"
Michael tilted his head, not expecting an answer.

***
Some people said the War had turned the world upside down, but in Kye's opinion, the problems had already existed long before that. The War had just happened to magnify them a thousand folds. People like her, her folks, and their neighbors were just pieces in a shitty board game designed by Fate.

Twenty years ago — a blink of an eye— the Hosts of Heaven had decided to reveal themselves and carried out God's Judgment Day.

No one could confirm whether it had been an order from God, but everyone had had a taste, or more like a whole three-course meal of heavenly wrath. The War had lasted for three years. To Earth's credit, its inhabitants had put everything on the line for a counter-attack, but apparently, the latest and most destructive weapons mankind had ever created had been no match to what Heaven'd had to offer.

In those short three years, a pandemic, then famine, had also happened, wiping out half of Earth's population. The angels' original plan had been a big reset button, but after a long debate, they had somehow settled for "leave half for reeducation."" Called it mercy, or luck. Humankind should feel grateful enough to obey whatever they dished out then. After all, the inferior kind had been blessed with a chance to redeem themselves.

Kye had failed to see the difference between that and immediate death, but she had been 'grateful'. At least, there had not been a lack of food, clean water, or medical care. She had been selected to serve a master in Aax District, the place where all Ayham City Council officials, humans and angels alike, lived.