A Cold Day In Hell - BLLK!Demons au X Reader

Chapter One - What Happens After Death

Anri stares down at her list with a frown, her white wings fluffing up in irritation. Angel administration had always been a tough job, but these days it was just getting harder. The numbers don't make any sense, and in her millennia of work she'd never seen anything quite like it.

Heaven was severely lacking in new souls. This wasn't what concerned her. In history there had always been periods of exorbitant cruelty. Of genocide and malice. This wasn't anything new, every few centuries there'd be a new special wave of evil, as humans were prone to doing.

What concerned her, was the fact that Hell wasn't getting more souls either.

It was completely impossible, the way that both realms had stagnated like this. Usually it was one or the other that was getting the most souls, not neither.

She turns her attention to Purgatory, and her breath is stolen from her. Anri can't believe what she's seeing, the sky-high numbers of souls being ferried to Purgatory was - should be, impossible. There was a backup of four billion souls waiting to enter Purgatory right now, and Anri immediately feels a headache start at the back of her skull.

That was- how?! How has it gotten this bad?! What stupid dumb-fu- the Holy Spirit stops that sentence from continuing, but doesn't even try to quell her rage. There were supposed to be Angels who took care of the population charts in Purgatory, ones that were supposed to immediately let the higher-ups know when something this catastrophic was happening.

But they didn't. What on earth was the cause of this?!

Anri teleports in under a second, standing at the gates of Purgatory with a grim expression. Her mouth drops open in shock, as her eyes gaze over the sea of souls. It's crowded at the gates, with people jostling and swarming. Anri feels suffocated in seconds, and uses her wings to push her into the air above the crowd.

She looks further up the beach of the island, eyes following the bay. It used to be a beautiful island, but with how crowded everything is, she can't even see the glimmering white sand she remembered. Past the valley flooded with people, she spies the gate from AntePurgatory to actual Purgatory. From her vantage point, she can clearly see the swarm of people trying to climb the golden gates, but the Angels there subjugate them with ease.

Anger heats her blood, and she beats her wings against her back, the powerful limb propelling her through the air. She soars over the souls, coming to a stop by the gates.

"What in Heaven's name is going on here?!" she demands, an Angel snaps her gaze up to Anri. She's a lower-class Angel, and Anri can feel her power barely pulsing in her body.

"Oh, thank the Lord! My Lady, we need your help!" she begs Anri, pushing away from the souls and into the air with Anri. Anri blanches at her request, realising that these people had been reporting this all along.

But nobody had come to help these Angels. What was going on?!

"How did- how has this happened?" Anri asks, taking the other angel's hands in her own, worry clouding her features. While Anri was an Angel of Judgement, she still knew how to be kind and protective. It was her job as one of God's warriors to protect the weaker, and she proudly took up that mantle.

"We don't know! It's been like this for centuries now! Please, we beg of you, these people are suffering!" the lower Angel wails, tears slipping down her cheeks.

Anri's hands clench around the girls, eyes flickering to the side in thought. How could she fix this? She couldn't let these souls into Heaven, their sins would instantly make them burst into flame and they'd die again, this time more painful. How could she...? How could she fix this...?