Fallen Ascension

The Trial

I was put on trial for my insubordination. The prison that I was in was meant to think about the errors of my words. I could find no wrong in what I had told the Creators. Their fury had merely proved my point; they were flawed beings and I was the only one who could see them in all of their faults and glory. I was patiently waiting for a Keeper of Peace to eliminate me as I waited for the day of the trial. I knew the duties of what I had once been called. However I had to admit that I was mildly surprised that I wasn't destroyed yet.
I heard the prison doors open and opened my eyes to see one of my fellow prison mates being escorted to the torture chamber. She was how she was when I had first encountered her; defiant and extremely temperamental. She was currently spewing insults as she held her head high. She had, as far as I knew never broken during the horrible process of being tortured. I silently wished her good luck and hoped that I would see her return. The torture chamber doors opened and closed shut as she was escorted inside. I waited for the remainder of the day and looked at the doors as they opened again.
The only things that were brought out were the chains that had held her wrists. She had been eliminated in those chambers. Her cell was now vacant and I now had no one to talk to. The prison doors opened and closed and I looked at the wall in front of me. I felt something surge in my chest as my breathing grew heavy. I realized that it was the unfamiliar feeling of grief. Followed close on the heels of grief was anger; and then a swell of slight panic. I had no idea if I would be escorted to the torture chambers and not make it. I felt the grief resurface and the unwanted tears begin to slowly flow from my eyes.
I took a steadying breath and wiped the tears away when I finally ceased my crying. I heard the prison doors open again and looked at the stairs to see the same Keeper of Peace enter the prison. I watched as he walked over to my cell and glared at him with defiance.
He didn't care about my heated gaze as he unlocked my cell door. I wondered what I could do to make sure that I would survive. He reached for the chains restraining my wrists and I reacted as the chain slithered down the wall. I snatched it before it hit the floor and wrapped it around the throat of the Keeper of Peace, cutting off his air supply and squeezing the chain tighter with every exhalation.
His struggles slowed and I grabbed his weapon when his pupils became pin points in his eyes. I pressed the point of his weapon against his chest and sank it deep within his heart. His already weakened struggles slowly stopped and his hands that had reflexively wrapped around my wrists dropped to the floor of my cell. I took the keys that he had on his belt and unlocked my restraints. I stood up, rubbing the circulation back into them and removed the weapon from the dead Keeper of Peace's chest.
I looked around and unlocked my cell door, leaving without speaking.
Another Angel watched me and I realized that I knew him. Seal Master Nathaniel. His blue eyes that were tinged with purple were not accusing me as I thought they would be. I tilted my head to one side and walked over to his cell door.
"Why are you here?" I asked with curiosity.
Seal Master Nathaniel showed me that his restraints were specifically made for him. He was unable to show me what his crime had been. I held out the keys. He shook his head to answer my unspoken question.
"Then why are you here?" I repeated. Seal Master Nathaniel watched me and he looked at the shackles that held him.
"I fathered a Nephilim. Another child of mine was on the way," Seal Master Nathaniel answered. I was silent, unsure of what to say. I wondered if congratulations should be in order until his words sank in.
"I am sorry for your loss," I said. Seal Master Nathaniel said nothing. He made no move to indicate that he had even heard me. I looked at the keys in my hand and the lock on the cell door. I glanced at Seal Master Nathaniel and saw him silently crying.
"The day of your trial?" I inquired in an attempt to distract him.
"Today," he responded. "The day of your trial?" He questioned. I froze and blinked when I knew there was no hiding the fact that I was being placed on trial as well.
"I am unsure," I replied. Seal Master Nathaniel nodded and then glanced at the sound of the prison doors opening.
"Hide if you want a fair trial," Seal Master Nathaniel ordered in a whisper. I did as he had told me to do and heard his cell door open. Unable to curb my curiosity, I cautiously peeked around the corner of my hiding place to see Raphael the Archangel bring out Seal Master Nathaniel. I saw the needle and thread in Raphael's hand and watched as the two Angels with Raphael forcibly made Seal Master Nathaniel kneel.
I slowly brought my gaze to the wall in front of me as Raphael began to feel me watching. I desperately wanted to do something to help Seal Master Nathaniel, but I knew better than to reveal myself.
I flinched as I heard Seal Master Nathaniel scream. I couldn't see what was happening and I wasn't so sure I wanted to know. If the needle and thread had something to do with it, then I ventured the guess that Raphael was sewing Seal Master Nathaniel's eyes permanently closed. I eventually heard the screams turn into silence and then the door of Seal Master Nathaniel's cell open and close.
"Where is the other one that is meant to stand trial today?" Raphael inquired. I knew that they had discovered my absence and the body when the Angels began to whisper. Raphael was silent and I wondered if my hiding place had been found.
"Find him," Raphael simply ordered. I heard the sound of armored boots begin their search. I slowly released the breath I had been unknowingly holding and ventured a quick glance from my hiding place. Only to freeze when I saw Raphael standing directly beside me. The needle was bloodied and the thread was gone. I didn't see him move but he had the excess chain in his hands and was dragging me as I resisted.
We passed Seal Master Nathaniel's cell and I saw that his eyes had been expertly stitched shut. There was nothing that Seal Master Nathaniel could do to remove the stitches without cutting his eyes open and blinding himself in an attempt to see once more. I was only able to see this for a second before being pulled away. I looked at Raphael and knew better than to resist any longer.
There would be no fair trial for me. There was no such thing to me anymore. The best thing I could do was to cooperate until I wound up like the female Angel who had been destroyed in the torture chambers. Raphael was silent as he brought me to the level of the Seraphim. We reached it and I refused to shield my eyes or kneel as Raphael did.
The silence was somehow loud. I had expected words to be exchanged. Instead there was nothing. They knew my crime and my recent wrongdoing. The Creators had already decided what they were going to do with me. I was sure of that.
"We have come to a decision about what to do with you," the Seraphim informed me, speaking for the Creators.
"Why do you speak for them? They can tell me themselves what their decision is about my punishment or destruction," I said. My words had a ripple effect. The silence that had reigned was broken by my statement.
"You have the choice to apologize to us, admit your wrongs and remain here in Eden. Your other option is to be cast out from Eden and never enter the Gates again," the Creators told me.
"I chose the option to be cast out. I have no intention of apologizing of something that I am correct about," I said. "Living with humans is more appealing than living in a place that pretends to be perfect when it is not," I added. The Creators were once again silent. Something I was used to. Their silence was a furious one though. I stared at them, my head high and just as silent as they were.
The female Creator undid my chain and I felt an unseen weight wrap around my feet. The male Creator picked me up by the unseen weight and then threw me like a rag doll down towards the ground. The Human Realm grew closer as I fell from Eden.
Almost as if the unseen weight had read my thoughts of relief, it wrapped around my arms and spun me around. I only had seconds for the ground to hit me. It never did. Instead, the ground opened up, revealing what the Creators had so cruelly decided without my knowledge. As soon as I entered the yawning hole to Hell, the unseen weight was no longer. I couldn't fly anymore though and I reached for the lip of the hole. I wasn't able to reach it and I screamed as I continued to fall to the depths of Hell. I hit the ground and felt my bones and wings snap. I struggled to breathe and was unable to fight the darkness that danced around my vision any longer.