Purgatory

Divine Incompetence

Authors note : Please heed the tags. Violence and incarceration ahead.

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Artemis was beginning to wonder how long he could scamper from roof-top to roof-top over what appeared to be the suburbs of this place. He was, as always it seemed, completely in the dark about his whereabouts. Artemis had a hunch though. He had a hunch and he hoped to god that he wasn't right. The sulphur, the black sky and the people with black eyes all pointed towards one conclusion. This place could be Hell.

The machete he had picked up from purgatory was always in his hand and he was always on the lookout. He couldn't sustain this though. He knew he couldn't. Fatigue was dragging at his body, hunger was burning in his gut, and paranoia sent tremors though his body- infecting his mind. Artemis was unsure of what he was running from but was absolutely certain that he didn't want to find out. He assumed had been in this place for days, he couldn't tell due to the fact that the sky was always dark here, apart from those red sparks that shot across the sky.

No-one had approached him or given him a second look before he had arrived, but he saw how things happened here. He heard the screaming that sounded in the night that emanated from the larger buildings and from below the grates the street. He did his best to avoid thinking about that.

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Zaphkiel strode down the corridor to his office, which consisted of a small corner in the celestial library affectionately known as 'the stacks'. He grabbed the paper he needed and headed for the door only to interrupted by Hael.

"Where are you going?" Hael hissed.

Zaphkiel looked both ways to make sure no-one was listening in, "I just had a meeting with" he lowered his voice even more, "Naomi."

Hael tilted her head, "what?"

"Naomi," Zaphkiel hissed.

Hael frowned, "I can't hear what you're saying, you've got to speak up."

Zaphkiel raised his voice to an audible volume, "Naomi," he enunciated.

Eyes widening, Hael asked, "Why?"

Zaphkiel leant in conspiratorially, "About the report. To do with the seal and Fowl. She's sent me to meet with Nathanael about our findings."

"I should go with you," Hael said.

"No!" Zaphkiel barked, she was not stealing his moment. His volume had raised to the point other Angels were looking at him, he lowered his voice, "No. Naomi asked me to do it, she said only me," he lied.

Hael tilted her head, "That should be fine... as long as you've read my report on the possible ramifications of the living human on the closing of the seals, he is referred to as the emissary, not sure why yet. I wrote a risk assessment of prophecy 4732 with prophecy 6668, you know, the one I gave you last year. If you haven't, I should probably go."

Oh, dear. Zaphkiel had not read that report, in fact he had spilt a coffee on it and had disposed of the evidence. He did not need to eat or drink but he found it to be pleasant. It had been the only copy of the report and he had told her he had given it to management, "Yes, I read the report, very interesting, I was impressed." He lied. "I should go." He made for the door and was gone in a flash. What harm could this possibly do? Every angel in heaven was convinced that their work was the most important thing in the universe.