Soul Cycle

Chapter 2

There's a shuffling, three angels of high status float above Isradriel in the assignment hall. They looked down at it with a puzzled look, then back and forth at each other before one decided to speak up.

“I'm sorry… You want to…what?”

Isradriel was looking aimlessly around the assignment hall, which isn't really a hall, but it was called that for effect. It was purposely avoiding eye contact with the seraphims, in order to not evoke suspicion. If they knew the true purpose of Isradriel's request, they would never give it to him. In fact, he would probably be punished for it. But luckily, the seraphims weren't the kind of angels to dwell on an odd request for too long. They had many angels in the past come up to them and ask for weird assignments, so they just assumed that the angels were looking for some extra credit.

“A protection assignment. Yes.” Isradriel said as calmly and respectfully as it could. Remaining calm in such a situation usually threw one off guard. Especially when you were trying to lie and avoid suspicion from one of the highest ranking angels in heaven. But Isradriel was able to remain calm and speak smoothly.

“You want us to assign you a guardian angel assignment?”

Isradriel nodded, looking up at the Seraphims. They looked back down at it skeptically.

“This isn't really an assignment we take an angel like you want to take… but I guess we could pull a random file-”

“I have a file.” The three angels' heads whipped down to look at Isradriel with puzzlement and suspicion. They looked back and forth between each other, looking back down at Isradriel, signaling for it to say more.

“I was doing some… studying on another assignment. This human came across our radar and I think he could use some help with the struggles in his life.” It was lying right through its non-existent teeth. And such high ranking angels such as seraphims were masters at detecting lies. But Isradriel wasn't truly lying, it was instead giving half truths. It's true that the human in the file it selected needed help. But Isradriel wasn't trying to go down out of the goodness of its heart and actually try to protect this human. It had other motives. But as long as the seraphims didn't know of them, or asking, then Isradriel wasn't technically lying.

Isradriel held up the golden scroll, presenting it to the seraphims. Most angels would just ask for an assignment and wait, but Isradriel had gone out of its way to make sure all the information it needed was present. All the seraphims needed to do was sign off on it. The seraphims were very busy, and if Isradriel had not brought any of that information, it might have taken weeks to get the assignment. But it had all the necessary info and all it needed was the signature of approval. The only hope that Isradriel had was that the seraphims weren't interested enough in the actual information to look deeply into it and read all the fine print.

The seraphim in the middle held up its hand and the scroll glided into it. After a few glances, it handed it to the seraphim to its left, and they just passed it around. One seraphim gave Israel a concerned look, but in the end the three just shrugged, the one in the middle bore a flame of light and signed the papers in a golden glowing signature.

“Well, Archangel Isradriel, this isn't really an assignment that an angel of your rank would take up. But given your current… status… we see that it would be fit for you to be assigned guardian angel.” Isradriel felt a pang of shame along with a hint of anger and its status was mentioned. It did not like to admit that it had sunk so low, nor did it want to be reminded. But all hope would be lost if it lost its composure now in front of the seraphims. So, it kept a calm face, politely accepted the golden ticket of passage and tracking star. It left the assignment hall gratefully, then began to prepare its accent down to earth.