The Fifth Archangel

22: Ruin and Revival

I was dying. Slowly but surely, my life force was draining away. I had been taking other angels' Grace for a month, and my original archangel Grace was reduced to a teeny speck. I was barely able walk anymore, let alone destroy the Devil's Gates.

Thankfully, I only had one left, the one in Calvary Cemetery, Wisconsin. Crowley dragged me in front of the gate and pointed. "Go ahead. Last one, Kei."

I put my hand up, and nothing happened. I closed my eyes, dropped my hand, and started to wobble on my feet. Crowley snapped his fingers in my face, and my eyes snapped open.

"C'mon Kei!" He demanded. "do it!"

"I- I can't." I breathed.

He slapped me, "

I closed my eyes and raised my hand again as I focused all my energy on blasting the door with Holy light.

It didn't happen immediately, but the pitiful ball of white light did appear, and flew towards the door. It smashed against it.

I opened my eyes, expecting to be met with the sight of Crowley's blue wall of energy. Except that the gate wasn't open.

It had a pitiful crack in it instead. I marveled for a quick second, before I found myself being hurled off my feet.

I soared though the air for a few seconds before crashing into the gate.

Crowley was in an uproar, "You pitiful, weak, little archangel! You can't even destroy the last one!!" He snapped his fingers and his two demon guards exploded. Then he waved his hand violently and cracks appeared in the ground.

I recovered and got up shakily. "Stop it, Crowley."

"And why, pray tell, should I do that?" He yelled.

I held up my hand towards the gate, determined this time to not fail. A burst of light exploded off my hand and flew towards the gate.

The gate exploded, and the demons flew out.

And like an idiot, I just stood there. But in my defense, I thought Crowley would have put up his blue force field again and whisked my off to Hell. But he didn't.

The smoke billowed towards me, but I couldn't do anything. My Grace was drained, and I was too weak to move.

The demons flew over me, engulfing me in a world of blackness. I couldn't see, and I nearly fell over. I saw a bolt of lightning coming at my face and I blacked out.

I woke up on a ratty sofa that stunk of whiskey. I sat up, my head pounding and my Grace weak. There was a single man in the room I was in, which was dark and poorly kept. He stared, still, at the single window on the wall opposite the sofa. The man was wearing a beige flannel and dirty jeans, with messy, brown hair.

I got up and drew my archangel blade. "Ah, ah, ah. Put that thing away, Keistelle; there's no need to be hostile. I did save your life, after all."

I relaxed slightly, but didn't put my blade away. "Who are you? And where am I?"

He turned around, and that's when I realized who it was. "I'm surprised that you don't recognize me, Keistelle."