God's Gone AWOL

[7] Meet the Hellbournes!

Under the glittering cosmos of Moonpath, Atticus joined Ophaniel for a short walk.

He was still trembling after what had happened down on Earth. Under any other circumstance, he might have even been slightly happy that Ophaniel requested to see him. However, the moment he received his summons, Atticus' only emotion was one of dread. Still, he agreed and returned to that beautiful space between realms. For no reason other than his own loyalty.

"Camael spoke well of your performance today," Ophaniel told him.

There was no trace of emotion on his frosty face. Atticus didn't know how to read the inexpressive manner of his own father, so he replied in the same passive way —just to avoid accidentally saying anything that would disappoint Ophaniel further.

"I was only doing my duty as a soldier,"

"Hm,"

That was it. That was Ophaniel's entire response.

"Did I do something wrong?" Atticus asked.

"You did nothing wrong,"

Exactly. He didn't do anything wrong, but he didn't do anything right either. No matter what Atticus did, it would never be worth anything. Even if he conquered the universe singlehandedly, or established world peace without taking an ounce of credit, somehow he would still manage to disappoint Ophaniel.

Ophaniel was naturally cold and expressionless, but would it really hurt him just to give a single word of praise? Was it so impossible? Even if his praise was false, was it so wrong just to ease the burden weighing down on Atticus' being? He didn't need to throw a feast in his child's name. He didn't even need to smile. If Ophaniel could offer just the slightest hint of affirmation, then Atticus could know that he wasn't worthless in those pale eyes.

All of the other angels in his generation were familiar with their bransgs. Although nobody wanted to disappoint their seniors, Atticus felt like he was the only one out there who was actually afraid of it. And every time he spoke with Ophaniel, those fears came true in the most heartbreaking way possible. All these years, no matter what he did or how hard he tried, he would still never be enough.

Was it selfish of Atticus to wish for acceptance? Was he asking for too much? Even if he could never be good enough for the world, could the world at least accept him for being the lesser creature that he was? Was it too much, that all he wanted in the world was for someone to take his hands in her own and say "I think you're perfect enough as it is. Who cares what anybody else thinks?". Was that impossible?

Was he asking for too much?

...

A few more hundred years passed with only a few major events here and there. the Underworld was discovered, then properly established. Demons figured out how to reproduce, which caused a major headache for Heaven. And Atticus and Bentley encountered each other a couple of times, but ended up parting on bad terms. Over all, the state of both realms gradually declined as the world of mortals slowly advanced.

The guerilla warfare of the earlier days had finally faded, replaced by a slightly more organized fighting system. However, the Earth remained as the primary battleground as it fit between the two warring realms. This of course brought forth all sorts of territorial disputes deciding who could physically go where —but in all truth, everyone was still constantly trying to kill each other so there were never any proper agreements on anything. In the end, the two different sides could only send out patrols, scouts and soldiers in order to beat each other back. The design of the war was quite atrocious, which was why it had lasted for so long. Nobody actually had any idea whah they were doing, but they knew that they hated each other.