Divine Intervention: Of Thrones and Thorns

Chapter 2: Isaac

Update: This Chapter is now available on Youtube as an audiobook!

I stepped down onto the streets of the City of Glass; the tall shimmering buildings refracted waning sunlight in the most beautiful ways. There was a time the buildings excited me, when I felt nothing but pride as I walked these same streets. The Saints stained into the glass now looked down at me with shame and the angels, in their many forms, didn't even give me a passing glance. I squeezed my eyes shut and kept walking forward. There was something cold about the city now, like the finality of secrets held by our pantheon were finally starting to come to the surface and since they were made from ice, they cause the atmosphere around us to go stale and gelid.

It was strange how no one spoke to each other anymore. I passed by so many strangers and yet no one looked at me with a smile or a nod like they used to. Trust is a funny thing, there is so much of it until it's broken, then when you pick the pieces up and place them back where they belong you can only focus on the cracks that are left over.

"Hey!" A woman's voice cut through my thoughts. She was a pretty thing, glowing pink eyes and long wheat colored hair with glowing streaks that matched her eyes between her locks. There was something vaguely familiar about her, but I couldn't quite put my finger on what.

I blinked at her, she was standing in the middle of the path I was taking, and I didn't want to be rude.

"Oh uh... hey."

"I had a great night with you, I thought maybe-"

"Hey, listen, you seem nice," I said cutting her off. She winced at me, and I felt a curdling in my stomach as I opened my mouth to speak again. "But whatever we did before. It was casual. There are plenty of other guys... or girls who are more worthy of your time than I am."

A halo of pink light glimmered just behind her head... she was Blessed by a saint, and I wondered to myself if it was the same saint as Loris. Though, the shape of her halo was drastically different from his, having pointed ends that shot outwards from her head like a star. Loris had delicate petals in his halo, I could stare at it for hours once.

"Oh no, I get it. Really no hard feelings. I'm just glad you didn't lead me on like a lot of other guys. I just thought to myself it was worth a shot. The worst he could say is no." Her words pierced me, and I felt the sizzling burn of shame bubble up my chest.

"There's a lot of things I could say to you that are worse than 'no' trust me, I'm not someone you'd want to be involved with." I brushed past her before she could get another word out and continued towards my destination. It was a little cottage in the middle of the city, where the surrounding skyscrapers were made from glass of all different colors, the cottage itself was made from old mossy wood that had been overgrown with ivy in years past.

It was like a beacon in the middle of a dark cave, a sanctuary of life left untouched. I still remember how Loris' father fought with the city planners to keep the cottage the way it was. He was a man of great stature and honor; the Pantheon had a statue of him erected near the cottage and each time I stood before it I was drenched in the darkness cast by its shadow. It wasn't fair how such a great man could have been stolen from this world, only to leave people like me in its place.

The porch creaked in a painfully familiar way as I stepped up onto one of the stairs. The mat in front of the door said We Welcome All! Please Come In! It was his mother's idea, of course, and there was so much of her in him that it was almost too painful to think about.

I grabbed the doorknob with my hand and twisted... It was locked, the knob giving resistance to my twisting. At first, I was confused, then there was anger, then shame. He never locked his door, never.