In a Realm of None

Chpt 1: An Angels New Halo

One by one, the angels fell down to earth. Their halos broken and without a way back into the heavens. What had happened? Their lives were peaceful until a sudden drop sent them to realm of the mortals. Had God had enough of the angels? Were they sent here on a quest? Are they to help the mortals? They knew nothing. They look up at the sky with confusion and some try to fly back into the clouds, but they fly straight through and into the vast emptiness that God has created beyond earth, the cosmos. The gates to heaven didn't open. They're stuck here among those that they have watched for eons. What are they supposed to do? Without any guidance, they all disperse. They leave to experience things they've seen the mortals do. They leave in an endless, confused state wondering what they did to the gods to deserve this. One angel in particular was devastated more than others, Isla. She considered herself close with God, the bridge between the angels and God. But, she thought, what if she was sent here to become the bridge between the angels and the mortals instead? What if that's God's plan for expelling the angels?

In her excitement of her own delusions, her attempts to talk to the humans. They're walking though the city in a hurry. No one stopping to look at her, an angel in the middle of a city. She tries to talk to some as they rush by. 

"Excuse me?"

They dont stop. She tries again.

"Hello?"

The same thing happens. Maybe they're just busy. She decides to go up to someone sitting down on a bench reading.

"I know you're busy but I'm an angel. Can you help me?"

Her words were nothing more than a breeze of wind to them. She realised; they couldn't hear or see her. She wonders throughout the city attempting to talk to someone. There must be a mortal out there that can hear her. As she's wondering around, starting to lose hope, she hears a scream. She flies over as fast as she can. In a dark alleyway surrounded by four men are a man and woman. One of the men is grabbing the arm of the woman. The man that was with the woman yells.

"LET GO OF HER!"

The man she's with punches the other in the face. The other two push him to the ground and start to beat on him. Isla watches for a second then attempts to stop it. She flies over and holds out her hands to stop the man punching the woman. But his fist runs straight through Isla's hands and face, as if she's not there at all, and hits the woman.

"This is meant to be a quick job. Let's just get rid of them and be done with it."

Isla's in shock. She can't help these people. There's nothing that she can do to stop these men. One of them pulls out a knife and walks over to the man on the floor.

"No please leave him alone! Please! We have children! Please!"

He tries to get up to run away but he's too late. He's stabbed in the gut. He falls to the ground and the man who stabbed him is smiling.

"You're children'll be paying your debts now."

He stabs him again and again and again. He keeps going while the woman screams and cries. They lay the man down so he's looking at his wife.

"Now you can watch as your wife pays her side of the debts."

The horror of what Isla is looking at is different from when she is looking down from above. Watching this cruelty up close and personal has broken her. At that moment she realised that God didn't send her or any of the other angels down here to become a bridge between them or to help the mortals. They were disowned. As she looked on as the woman was screaming and crying, she thought that no God should or would allow this to ever happen. The God that she knew was merciful and wonderful in all sorts of ways, so... why? Why can this happen to the mortals' bellow? Why does he allow this? No God would allow anything like this in heaven. So why to the mortals? These humans have it tough already, Isla has watched them for years. She has seen the brutality of humans before; the wars, starvation, the absolute cruelty that they commit and not only to other humans, but to the animals and the world itself. To Isla it never felt real until now.

Once the screaming stopped and the men were finished with her, they left her there to die. That poor woman. Tears rained down Isla's face uncontrollably. She couldn't do anything. She can't even let anyone know about their bodies. So, she walked. She didn't say a word or think anything but about what happened to the husband and wife. Her mind filled with fear, terror, confusion and sadness. She walks and walks without stopping. It feels as if she has walked for hours but her perception of time is not used to earth yet, in reality she had walked for 2 years, but she doesn't know it. She continues walking by a shipping yard until she is woken out of her depressive daze from the sound of gun fire and a man yelling.

"ARAAAAAAA!"

She tries to ignore it, but the gunfire continues and her curiosity gets the better of her. She flies towards the noise and peeps through a bullet hole into the tin shed. As soon as she looks through the hole, her instant thoughts were 'the devil'. She was frozen. She sees a demon. Its beathing heavily and is covered in blood. It stands over bodies that have machines guns next to them and it grips a katana in one hand as tightly as it can with blood dripping from the tip. The demon falls to the floor and Isla backs away. She slowly looks through the bullet hole again. She was wrong, it's a human. It has been shot and is bleeding. Its back is covered in tattoos of dragons, snakes and koi fish. She slowly walks inside. She looks down at the floor and sees a pool of blood. She lightly hovers over it towards the human. His face is facing her and his eyes are about to close.

"Angels? I'm not ready to die yet..."

Isla stops. Did he just see her? Did she hear properly? She touches him and her hand doesn't go through his body. She actually touches him. Wait, he can't die. He is the only one that can see Isla. She drops down into the pool of blood and lays him on her lap. How does she heal him? She holds him and starts to say random things.

"Heal please! God please, it's me Isla! Please heal this human!"

Nothing happens. There is one way that she can heal him though. She takes her halo that broke from when she first fell to earth and crushes it with her hands, turning it into a golden dust and putting it into the man's mouth. Nothing happens. She begins to cry. The only human that could see her died and now if God allows the angels to return, she cannot. Her key to heaven is now gone. She cries and cries, when she opens her eyes, the man is looking up at her.

"Have I died?"