Radicle (Terminal trilogy #2, can stand alone)

Chosen

I waited ten minutes outside the door, but Lilith didn't return. I guess she had gone around the main entrance with the selected, and I went into the main hall with no fanfare.

I mean, there certainly were a couple things to mark my entrance. But mostly it was whispering. I found I recognized a number of followers already in the crowd, accompanying their chosen recruits. They pointed as I walked to the center of the room- it was so crowded it honestly was a feat to navigate anywhere, but people did their best to part. Finally I was standing in a circle of people, and I gestured for them to sit down. This again was hard to do, but as many as possible succeeded.

I thought that standing in the center of the crowd would make it easier to present to them, but all it did was make me dizzy. "Hello, friends." I said with a wide smile. It was important to bomb recruits with as much love as possible at first. "My name is Nichael. And I am here to show you the way."

There was chatter, but when I outstretched my hands to signal for them to quiet, my followers in the crowd shushed everyone around them quiet. Then I took out my wings. I did my best to put on a show with it too, forming them from my Grace slowly like they were fountains of starry water. I had to be careful not to knock anyone over, however, as my wingspan really didn't fit in the circle I had confined myself to.

"This building here, and the one next door, belong to the CFA." The first rule Stacy had drilled into my head was that few wanted to join a church. That carried negative connotations. The first meeting had to skimp around that part. "We're a special interest group dedicated to change and equality. Think of the world outside- what is it but corrupt and cruel? The Few control everything. Our government is our everything. They control the hospitals, farms, courts, police, banks- literally everything. They even dictate who can leave to Earth."

I had to take a thirty second pause to think of what else to say, but luckily my silence came off as moody and dramatic. "Society- The Few's society- has conditioned us into a placid state of non-questioning. But the CFA knows better. We know we deserve better. We know we don't have to live like this- products of a system that encourages us to fight our equals instead of our superiors. We don't need to live a life based on obligation. We are told to smoke and drink and have sex. We are told to hoard our money and express our anger and indulge our obsessions. But at the CFA, we know better."

I had little idea what I was saying, actually, and felt I may have contradicted myself a couple of times already. But I seemed to have struck a chord with some people. My followers were clapping occasionally, and some of the newer faces seemed almost keen.

"I am an angel. This is apparent to you. But you don't have to fear me. You don't have to fear any angels. Think about it- why do you kill angels? Who told you we were evil? No one more than your superiors. And your superiors were told by their superiors- and so the pattern continues, right to the top. I came here in secret, to observe those who attack us without relent. And I have found nothing to be angry about. All I find is sadness for a population that could be so much better off. With help from me, you can have elections! You can have a free market! You can live in a world where your merit isn't by how many you have killed, but instead by how much you have built!"

I flared my wings up to clear the way as I turned out the door again. But the new recruits weren't free, of course. No matter how inspiring a few of them may have found my speaking skills, they weren't ready to give anything.

Sure, maybe a few of the sadder ones would be willing to write a few checks for the church. And by the time they realized they were wasting their money, they'd probably feel like they had given up too much to stop.

But if we really wanted all of the recruits to submit, we were going to have to exhaust them first- dim the lights, make them uncomfortable and just keep talking.

There seemed to be an increasing amount of murmuring going on in the room I had left behind, and I knew I had to find a second speaker pretty soon. I started to leave, but a voice behind me made me stop.

"So, does Heaven have elections?" Tecie was waiting in the shadows next to the doorway, and I guess she had heard my speech from there.

"Of course not." I sighed. "We don't need them. The Brothers of Blood are immortal, after all."

"What about a free market?"

"We don't have a market." I said, as irritated as I always was when Tecie tried to deconstruct Heaven's principles. "I've explained this to you before. I was obviously just lying most of that speech."

"So what, I shouldn't be questioning who told me angels were evil then?"

"It doesn't matter that your kind thinks us evil. We know yours to be evil. There is no thinking needed."

"You seem to thrive on double standards."

"That's the exact reason I don't mind this sort of work, misleading demons into misfortune. Things in Heaven and things in Hell are never equivalent."

Tecie sighed. "'Things in Heaven and things in Hell are never equivalent'. Don't get too caught up in all this cult stuff, you know. Don't become a follower of your own lies."

"Speaking of cult stuff, I have work to do."

"I'll be listening."

I ran up through the living house of the church. I didn't know a single person's name, but I didn't doubt that the first person I found would do whatever I asked. And indeed, in the hallway of the second floor, I found three people who were willing to give speeches to the recruits. I coached them briefly on what to say.

"They are not yet free of society's grip. If you come on too strong with our dogma, they will flee. Ease them in gently. Speak of numbers and facts until they are too tired to think. Force them to take notes on it all. Quiz them always. Reward the best, punish the worst. And don't forget to clean them of their sins- they must confess, and you must forgive them."

After I sent a man named Jeff in, I went back upstairs and made a list of about ten people who were to run workshops and lectures throughout the night. People who wanted to leave the meetings were to be allowed, but only after a long time. First they had to questioned- did they really want to leave? Why? Did they not desire freedom?- and then ridiculed. Only then, when they were feeling terrible, would we let them go.

Next I had to give the same speech to the second group. I almost forgot there was a whole other group, but the speech went about the same the second time around. I was worried for a moment that my lineup of speakers weren't going to be willing to stay up all night to speak to two different groups of people, but then I remembered Stacy's confidence. These people, they loved me. And if they didn't, they were going to continue burning in Hell for the rest of their empty, pitiful lives.

That was what I told them, at least.