Radicle (Terminal trilogy #2, can stand alone)

Welcome

We hadn't gotten to know each other much better by the time the elevator stopped, but it had been a long ride. I had, without knowing it at first, dropped the entire use of her name- what was I doing referring to her as a friend? I had to watch myself.

The doors opened with a feeble ding to blue room that reminded me of some of the rooms in the Church Tower. A few soldiers were waiting for us.

"This won't take too long." Tecie promised. "It's a bit of a walk- everything in Hell is- but the actual meeting won't exceed an hour. You'll spend the night in the city, and I'll come to pick you up in the morning. It's going to be a fun little field trip."

A city? Underground? The exact makings of Hell has always been unknown to us, of course, and no one had the slightest clue what is was actually like. Sans Percial, of course, but he did not speak of his time in Hell. I had always imagined Hell as some sort of palace, or another plane of existence entirely. A city though? Like Heaven?

The soldier-escorts took us through the aqua halls in silence. Tecie rarely spoke to me, though sometimes I'd catch her looking with her head turned slightly askew. I think I liked the soldiers more. The one to the right of me had ram horns. The one to the left had white scales.

"Put this on." Said Tecie suddenly, handing me her coat. "Your clothes are too angelic. You're going to stick out."

There was a set of doors at the very end of the hall, and I was taken outside- really, an honest outside. There was a wind. The sky was overcast. A shell of the moon was hanging prematurely in the day-lit sky.

I tried to will an explanation out of Tecie, but she was now looking very solemnly at her hands. I voiced my thoughts instead. "We are deep underground."

"Just noticed that, huh?" Tecie sounded ready to laugh. "Oh wait- you're wondering about the sky? It's not real. It's one giant, far too high-definition screen. I don't think anyone knows why we have it or how it's powered. But it seems to run automatically. Even the weather. I like it though. Keeps out the claustrophobia of our situation."

If it was fake then it was good. I kept my head turned up to try to examine it closer, but the glare of the not-sun peeking out from behind a cloud stung my eyes. "In Heaven, we have a real sky."

"See, that's one thing I actually knew, believe it or not. Though- what else do you guys got there?"

I remembered the position I was in, and stayed quiet. Was she honestly milking me for information? She was doing a rather poor job of it then, being so obvious and all. I hoped I wasn't going to come off sounding so fake when it got to be my turn to shake people down for hard facts.

She raised her eyebrows. "I'm not trying to spy here. Genuine curiosity! Right here! I know, incredible. I'm not asking for your current population or how you make your swords. I just want to know how your life's been."

I was not going to say anything. The desperation card had been a good one to play though. I considered giving in at first. But I kept strong. Heaven belonged to the angels, and the angels belonged to Heaven.

"Nothing." I said, eventually growing tired of Tecie's waiting stares.

"Hmph! Boring."

All the buildings in this city were so large and tall. The tallest building in Heaven was the Church Tower, of course, but it was unable to compare to the sheer size of these buildings. And the demons! So many of those foul creatures loitered the streets. Many stopped to stare. Could they sense my divinity? Could they smell my Grace? Did they know I was more than them- and were they jealous?

I would have been, if I was in the awful position of being one of them. Which, I guess, was going to become my reality in some long moments.

After a long and straight walk, we came to a circle. It was only then that it occurred to me that all the side streets we had passed were circles too- the whole city must have been.

There, in the central square, were three buildings larger than the rest. They had ancient names chiseled onto them and pasted to the signs nearby- the soldiers paused to speak to their superiors with their small black devices, and I had enough time to read- 'Melchior, Caspar and Balthazar.' Before we had to go. Odd names, they were. Spoken like an angel's name. In fact, hadn't we had a Balthazar quite recently? I hoped he was still alive, or else his spirit might come haunt me for muttering his name under my breath while I read the building's inscription.

"This building- Caspar, though I think it's very silly to call it that- is the main headquarters of The Few. They have most of their meetings here. Usually they're televised, so I guess if you can get past the total oligarchy we have here, we're have a fairly transparent and progressive government. This will be secret though."

Many of the words she used lacked relevant meaning to me. I was led up the great steps of the building- they were like a bumpy endless slope. It reminded me of the barracks in Heaven inside- great tall walls, off-red patterns on the floor and well worn railings. It made me physically uncomfortable to see the demons that sat inside though, so cold and casual with their tails wrapped around chair legs and foreign wings covering couches.

The soldiers left me here. Tecie continued on. Another elevator waited.

"Are you nervous?"

"I have no idea what's expected of me." I admitted. "Is a speech needed?"

"I think they'll be the ones asking the questions. But it never hurts to draft something up while you still have the time. These old elevators aren't exactly known for their haste. We'll have a while."

I didn't need a while. I tried to think of a speech to give, but I really had nothing but harsh words of war for these demonic leaders. Peace? Preposterous. Maybe I would say that, if prompted. Lying was a vice worthy of a felling in Heaven. And in Hell, as everyone knew, these sorts of punishments were much worse.

"So." Tecie said with a sort of sudden nod that was supposed to catch my attention. "How old are you anyways?"

"Angels don't have a concept of time." I was fairly aware of what time was, of course, and knew a myriad of illegal words to describe it: hours, days, minutes, quarters, halves, years and cycles. I was not wholly aware of their meanings, of course, but their names stuck in my mind.

"Really? So what, you're just that old?"

"I am not old. I am eternal as long as Michael keeps me in his favor." It was one of the vows we knew in Heaven, and had always known, and was always going to learn.

"Michael-"

"You don't have the right to say that name." I snapped at her.

"Michael... is a real name you know. There are plenty of demons named Michael. One of The Few is named Michael." She said softly.

"He has no right to that name."

"And yet, he lives. And he seems to be doing quite well."

I looked away, embarrassed. This was not a fight I was going to win.

The elevator arrived. We stepped out into a soft floored and narrow hallway. I shifted in my clothes uncomfortably- the sleeves were too tight, and it was far too long. I almost tripped on the coat's back like it was a cape.

All of the doors were unmarked, but the faded residue of room numbers was still lasting. We came to a room numbered nineteen, and Tecie stopped by the door.

"I'll be waiting here."

I did not acknowledge her as I entered the meeting room.