And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound. The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.
Revelation 8: 6-7
There was nowhere to go but up. So up Eliphas flew. Some guardian angel he'd turned out to be. A drunk driver had killed Gemma and now he'd somehow lost her soul as well. Was it too much to hope she had risen into the light and was safely in heaven already? Was there any way to find out? Could he ask God himself? Eliphas couldn't remember ever meeting God, but he knew from scriptures that none could bear his holy countenance. Everything felt so foggy and soggy in his mind. Was it a result of the attack by those other angels? Had the demon, Leraje, cast some spell on him?
Higher he flew, with a self-loathing anger burning in his chest. He had failed Gemma. That much he knew. Would he face punishment? He had to seek authority. He was now so high, his angelic perception could survey the majority of Texas.
As he gazed below, his heart grew white hot with pride at the sight of the thousands of steeples that dotted the land. He could see that very few of the churches actually had humans inside. "Of course, it's Woden's Day", he mused. But he saw that the larger churches were still active. One near the coast dwarfed almost all the others. Surely this must be where the most faithful of God's children worship. He zipped down near the sacred building, travelling hundreds of miles in an instant. As he approached, Eliphas peered through the roof and noticed many angels and demons milling about.
Demons? In the church! And the other angels ignored them! It was a simple matter to locate the pastor. He was protected on either side by two gargantuan Archangels. The pastor angrily barked orders at two other humans who were in the process of filling a row of black suitcases with handfuls of cash they were pulling from a hole in the wall. Eliphas floated above in confusion as the minutes passed.
"Got a death wish there, shiny?"
Eliphas whipped around to see a bright red demon frowning as he counted the glowing red capsules dropping from his hand into a knapsack.
"Definitely not" Eliphas warned as he drew his sword.
The demon laughed calmly and explained, "Slow down, punchy, I'm not threatening you. Just wondering what you expect to happen when those angels over there notice you're not sporting your sigil."
Again with these sigils. The angels who attacked him before had also mentioned them.
"I'm sorry, I seem to have forgotten how things work around here." Eliphas returned his sword to its scabbard with a sigh.
"I haven't seen a halo like that in a few hundred years. Did you just pop out of the abyss? When did you die? The Constantinian Wars?"
"I haven't died! At least I don't remember dying."
"Well, you're going to if you stick around here much longer."
"That's ridiculous. I have questions for the angels. I can't waste any more time on your kind."
"Spizz off then. Your descent." the demon spat back at the insult and wandered off hailing a smaller angel who approached with a wary eye on Eliphas. "How many?" the demon asked.
Eliphas left them to their business and floated down to the large angels. As he drew near, he warped his halo into the sigil of Uriel he had seen crowning the heads of his angelic attackers from before.
"Ho, friends! What news?"
The angels calmly turned their gaze to Eliphas with derisive sneers. "What do you want?" one retorted.
