When Angels Fall In Love

Chapter 10: Fireside Companion

Angels didn't need to eat or sleep, therefore angels never experienced hunger or the freedom of dreams like the humans do.  What Erelah was experiencing now though was something akin to sleep.  When gravely injured and manifested in their physical embodiments angels shut down, a form of rest while their bodies used the break from exertion to enter a deep healing hibernation.  There were no dreams, no manifestation of time passing, there was just nothing.  Pure darkness while the conscious mind drifted on a sea of softly cresting waves.  Or Erelah could have just been dead and didn't realize it yet.  There was also that possibility.  She felt at peace and still, a perpetual stillness that only the dead seemingly managed to achieve.  But if Erelah were dead then that meant she would never see Samuel again...The sorrow she felt was a rogue wave in the sea of calming beauty, it disrupted the peace that held Erelah tight in its grasp.  The sorrow spurred determination, a fierceness to wake up, to live and see Samuel's handsome face smiling back at her.

Sounds slowly started to creep in.  They were soft and distant but fading into existence until Erelah could register the sound of chirping crickets and the distinct crackling of a fire.  Little by little her body came back to life, feeling returned to her fingers, the smell of burning leaves and sweet pine sap filtering into her nose as she breathed it deep into her lungs.  The last to return to Erelah was her sight as she blinked and blinked again before finally the world around faded into view.  A dark sky littered with white stars greeted her, large trees towering high above, their highest branches obscured by darkness as she slowly realized she was laying upon the cool earth with her wings tucked closely around her.

Erelah's body felt stiff, despite this she managed enough strength to sit up albeit unsteadily.  Yellow light danced across the grass and leaves, casting writhing shadows as she turned her attention to the roaring fire and the person sitting on the other side of it.  Her eyes met with a familiar green alight with the fire's glow.  Erelah's heart gave a happy thump against her ribs.  Wait, her ribs...Erelah tentatively brushed a hand over her wounded side, finding only a dull ache when she pressed her palm against it.  Relief was a welcome friend as she glanced back at Samuel and smiled at him.  He had not left her side and it made her body warm and tingly at the thought of his kindness.  She could see his aura then, wondering how she hadn't noticed it before when it shown so bright now before her eyes.  She could only guess what was the after effects of her healing.  Power still lingered through her veins and allowing her to see one's of the purest auras she had ever seen from a human.  It undulated and writhed in soft blues while the edges were as green as his eyes, not marred by dark speckles or splotched by undertones of deep red.  She should have expected it, he had been nothing but kind during every encounter and his aura seeing it now only confirmed to her the nature of his soul.  It drew her in like a moth to a flame, mesmerizing and beautiful...

"Erelah?"  Samuel questioned, calling her back from her daze until the power faded and his aura dissipated with it.  His brows were pinched with concern as he studied her face.  "Are you ok?"

"I feel better.  I'm sorry if I scared you."  Samuel nodded, a bit of relief creeping across his features.

"I tried waking you...almost thought you were dead.  The first angel I meet and thought you died in my arms."  His smile seemed a little forced, Erelah could see how deeply this affected him but she still found all of this rather peculiar.  He was so calm and accepting about the fact she was an angel, like it was a usual and comfortable occurrence...

"How are you so calm about all of this...about me?"  The question seemed to hang in the air like a sword dangling by string.

"I believe in God, Erelah.  If it was my destiny to meet you then I must accept it..."  His answer stunned her into silence.  "At first when I saw you in that meadow, I thought I was dreaming...you seemed so unreal and then you disappeared.  I kept thinking maybe it was all just a dream but then I found myself searching for you.  I sat in the meadow for days and hours on end, hoping to just catch a glimpse or a remnant of you.  It seems my searching wasn't in vain after all."

"So very strange...I have never in all my days come across a human like you."  It was the honest truth and deep down it almost scared Erelah.  If their meeting was preordained by her God, her Father, then what was to be her role in this human's life?  Only the archangels could speak to the Father, therefore unless she revealed this to Michael her questions would remain unanswered once again.  Michael could never know about this and Erelah did not like keeping secrets...once she left tonight she could never return.  Samuel would never see her again and it made her heart hurt.

"May I ask how long you've been alive?"  The question was quite brave on his part but if this were to be their last meeting might as well make it last...

"253,309...I am considered quite young in term of my kind."  Erelah was a little embarrassed by the way Samuel stared at her in awe.  "Oh, stop gawking. I'm not that old..."  Samuel laughed.

"I'm sorry, I just realized how insignificant my life is compare to yours."

"Short, not insignificant."  Erelah corrected him.

"How so? When compared to you I'm about as insignificant as a bug."  Erelah smiles at him.

"Even a bug has purpose though.  Not to mention, I quite envy you Samuel." It was Samuel's turn to smile as he studied her from across the fire.

"You envy me? A lowly human?" Erelah nods despite the disbelief dancing in his words.  "What could you possibly envy?"

"Your ignorance, your desires, your freedom...I was assigned a job at the moment of my creation or what you would call birth.  My sole purpose of my infinite existence to protect and serve, to guide and watch over...I am a weapon and a guardian while you can do whatever your heart desires.  The last time an angel did so it tore Heaven apart and ushered in sin and chaos into the lives of humans."

"Book of Revelations..."  Erelah nodded solemnly.

"Among my people we call it The Fall.  More than fifty thousand of my siblings fell with Lucifer the day of The Fall.  I hadn't been "born" yet but it left a deep mark, a scar on the hearts of those who were alive..."

"What does that make you then?"  Instead of flinching away from the question Erelah only shrugged, looking to the Heavens in question.

"I still have my wings and halo...I think you might be right Samuel maybe this was meant to happen."  Too bad they were never going to find out...