II. Gods and Monsters

7. Trinity

By the time Oli had made it to the old man's chapel he was stood out in the graveyard.

"Ok, how did you know I was coming this time?" Oli asked him.

"I didn't," the old man told him matter-of-factly. "I was just standing in the sun."

"Oh..."

"What's the matter this time?"

"Metatron and Hades."

The old man looked to the sky as if he expected to see them drop down right in front of him.

"Come inside," he told Oliver.

Once they were in the chapel, Oli couldn't help but get a little frustrated.

"Why didn't you tell me Hades had a brother, never mind one like Metatron."

"It didn't seem important to me... Why is it so important to you?"

"Because big brother now has a target slapped on the back of my head! And on the back of all those I love!"

"Oh..."

"Yeah, oh! And now I'm seeing fucking visions with weird symbols in them! Were you gonna mention those?!"

"Symbols? Like, three different ones? One above the other?"

"Yeah. How did you know?"

"Because I don't believe in coincidences..." Carter muttered.

The old man strode over to the far wall, where an old bookshelf stood tall and proud. He raised his hand and gently slid an ancient-looking book from the shelf. He turned and placed it heavily on the table in front of him. Oli noticed that on the front it had the same three symbols that had seen in his vision.

"This is the symbol of The Trinity," Carter told him.

"Like, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit kind of thing?"

"No, The Trinity. They were The Lord's most trusted servants in the days of old."

"Never heard of them..." Oli admitted.

"Most people haven't. It's not something Heaven's very proud of."

"What do you mean?"

"Let me start from the beginning," he said, turning over the cover of the ancient tome to reveal an elaborate drawing.

"Millenia ago, The Trinity were the voice of God's will. They were the messengers and were the three who most frequented Earth. They were almost impossible to tell apart," Carter told Oli.

The old man gestured to the drawing. It showed three angels stood side by side. The one in the centre was your typical angel. Medium-length blonde hair, handsome features, palms facing outwards, draped in a white shawl. In fact, the shawl was the same one Oli had seen in his vision. To his right stood what looked like his twin, except he had what must have been their equivalent of a buzz cut and held a great sword. The third on his left was only slightly different again. He was skinnier than the other two, bonier, with blonde hair that must have stretched down to the bottom of his shoulder blades and bright blue eyes. He wore a pair of forearm guards, like an ancient knight's, that conformed to his arms perfectly.

Oli gave Carter a quizzical look. What did any of these three have to do with what was happening now?

"The one in the middle is what Christians call 'Angel Gabriel'. What they say about him was true, he was a messenger of God, and considered the most important, but his brothers also played this role. They were often confused for one another by the human race, hence why artistic representations of 'Gabriel' vary in appearance."