Forever Yours

Prologue;

I turned around, the harsh wind whipping my hair onto my face, making it hard for me to clearly see him. The Meadow of the Throne had never been like this - it use to be peaceful and calm yet now given the circumstances the wind was harsh and cold. I finally spotted him,  he was standing a few people ahead of me, I was last in the long line of angels - what we liked to call the hierarchy. Based on your status and power, you'd be ranked into different slots of angels. I was an archangel, the strongest and most powerfullest, which meant I was at the very end.

This war had been brewing for a while now, the war between the Throne and Lucifer - a fellow archangel who would've been last if he wasn't standing on a large rock declaring that the angels were to choose a side - heaven or hell. 

I glanced towards the Throne, or what humans liked to call it - God. The Throne was dazzlingly bright, radiating the warmth of pure goodness, so luminous that, even for an angel, it was impossible to look directly at it for too long. My gaze then drifted to the arc of rippled silver ledges that circled the Throne. Each one marked with the name of the 8 archangels. This used to be our headquarters, a place to worship, to attend, to call on and deliver messages to the Throne.

"The time has come, Lucifer" his voice called from the Throne. The voice that had given all the angels gathered here immortality and all that came with it. "Is this truly what you desire?" 

"Not just for us, but for our fellow angels," Lucifer called out. "Free will is deserved by everyone, not just the mortal men and women whom we watch from above." Lucifer appealed now to the angels, an almost devilish grin plastered on his face. "The line has been drawn in the cloud-soil of the Meadow. Now you are all free to choose."

The first heavenly scribe stood respectively at he base of the Throne and began to call out the names. Starting with the lowest-ranking angel, the seven thousand eight hundred and twelfth son of Heaven.

"Geliel" The scribe called, his voice echoing throughout the meadow as the wind started to die down. "last of the twenty-eight angels who govern the mansions of the moon"

And that was how it began.

The scribe kept a running tally in the opalescent sky as Chabril, the angel of the second hour of the night, chose Lucifer, and Tiel, the angel of the north wind, chose Heaven, along with Padiel, one ofthe guardians of child beds, and Gadal, an angel involved with magical rites for the ill. Some angels made lengthy appeals, some of them scarcely said a word.

I waited patiently, my eyes constantly flickering to him but he never caught my eye, let alone look back to me. It went through quicker than expected. Till it was up to the first archangel, Roland. 

Roland floated up, lightly beating his pure white wings to declare his choice, he bowed before the Throne before speaking "With respect, I am not ready to choose" He looked at the Throne but gestured to Lucifer "You are losing a son today, and all of us are losing a brother. Many more, it seems, will follow. Please, do not enter lightly into this dark decision. Do not force our family to splinter apart"

I wanted to fly up and agree with Roland and fight for what is right but it was not my right to speak without my name being called. 

"You are wrong, Roland" The Throne boomed. "And in defying me, you have made your choice. Welcome him to your side, Lucifer"

"No!" A voice shrieked from the crowd, who I instantly recognized as Arriane's, who flew up to hover beside Roland "Please, only give him time to understand what his decision means!"

"The decision has been made" The Throne replied sternly "I can tell what is in his soul, despite his words - he has already chosen"

Arriane was next in the roll call, the 7th archangel, her choice was as I expected - Siding with heaven.

My eyes flickered back towards where he was standing, but he had since moved from his original spot and I frantically searched for him, biting my tongue before I was pulled from my search when Daniel's name was called out. He was the 6th archangel and a close friend of mine.

"Daniel" The scribe called out, "Angel of the silent watchers, the Grigori"

Daniel rose slowly from the crowd yet his eyes did not land on the Throne or Lucifer, they were landed on someone in the crowd yet I could not see who he was looking at but I knew it would be.

"With respect, I will not do this. I will not choose Lucifer's side, and I will not chose the side of Heaven" Daniel stated.

A roar went up from the camps of angels, from Lucifer, and from the Throne.

"Instead," Daniel began again, ignoring the outrage, "I choose love - the thing you all have forgotten. I choose love and leave you to your war. You're wrong to bring this upon us," Daniel stated the last part towards Lucifer, now pulling his eyes off the person in the crowd to Lucifer, before he turned to look at the Throne. "All that is good in Heaven and on Earth is born of love. This war is not just. This war is not good. Love is the only thing worth fighting for"

"My child" The voice boomed from the Throne. "You misunderstand. I am standing firm on my ruling out of love - love for all my creations"

"No" Daniel replied "This war is about pride. Cast me out, if you must. If that is my destiny, I surrender to it, but not to you"

Lucifer let out a foul laugh "You've got the courage of a god, but the mind of a mortal adolescent. And your punishment shall be that of an adolescent" Lucifer swept his hand to his side "Hell will not have him"

"And he has already made plain his choice to forsake Heaven" came the disappointed voice from the Throne. "As all my children, I see what is in your soul. But i do not know now what will become of you, Daniel, nor your love"

"He will not have his love!" Lucifer bellowed out.

"Then you have something to propose, Lucifer?" asked the Throne

"An example must be made" Lucifer seethed "Can you not see? The love he speaks of is destructive!" Lucifer grinned as the seeds of his most evil act began to sprout. "So let it destroy the lovers and not the rest of us! She will die!"

Gasps from the angels. It was impossible, none of us expected it. 

"She will die always and forevermore" Lucifer continued, his voice thick with venom. "She will never pass out of adolescence - will die again and again and again at precisely the moment whe she remembers your choice. So that you will never truly be together. That will be her punishment. And as for you, Daniel-"

But the Throne cut him off "That is sufficient. Should Daniel choose to stand by his decision, what you propose, Lucifer will be punishment enough." There was a long pause. "Understand: I do not wish this upon any of my children, but Lucifer is right - An example must be made."

Another angel flew up now, and floated beside Daniel. I strained my eyes and a confused look appeared on my face.

The angel floating beside Daniel, with the exact intriguing white wings, was Daniel. 

Two Daniel's now floated next to each other in the Meadow of the Throne.