Chronicles of the Seventh Realm, Scroll 1 : River of Blood

Chapter 5

(this is going to be a long one, everything had to fit into 7 chapters, sorry in advance)

Sentenced

Tzofiya sat twirling her thumbs, wearing an expression of annoyed frustration. She couldn't understand why she needed to explain things all over again. He needed to be stopped, so I stopped him. Bound him away from the realm of Adam forever. He will never be able to touch another child of Eve. What's the point of the continued questions? ...My answer will not change no matter how many times I'm asked, she reasoned as she sat, waiting to be called. She could hear Constantine's protest all the way out here. Rolling her eyes to his words, she looked around a moment then stood and walked over to the window.

The water broke the banks in a rush, and Tzofiya saw Benjamin's face in her mind's eye. The office building she now stood in disappeared, and she closed her eyes. Well over a thousand years had gone by, but she could still feel him touch her, hold her, and kiss her as if it were yesterday. Tzofiya let her mind wander. She smiled, thinking of his tender touch on her wings.... Her reverie was broken; she had to be called twice by the attending angel.

She blinked several times and looked at the woman a moment, then nodded. The angel was a fairly short woman. She wore her hair pulled back in a tight bun. The green thong matched her dress perfectly, and Tzofiya smiled, thinking it was more form fitting than professionalism called for. But I guess it's professional enough, she noted, seeing the thin green belt that held it all together.

"Thank you," Tzofiya said, moving toward the direction she indicated. The angel smiled as she led the way past a smirking Constantine who sat watching Tzofiya accusingly as they passed. Behind a pair of French style doors, a woman and man sat waiting. There was no desk in this office. It was a round room with four chairs that sat around a large sunburst in the floor. The attendant smiled as Tzofiya made her way farther into the room, and pulled the doors shut behind her. She went back to her desk and Tzofiya looked intently at the pair who silently judged her.

No matter how many times she saw them, she was never comfortable around these angelic beings, and often wondered who they were, and where they came from. Rumors were ramped when the chosen were first brought here and given the choice to serve or be tossed back into the garden with their dying brothers and sisters. Many believed they were also children of the garden, but perhaps from another time.

The pair still radiated slightly, but wore a modern look of white-collar society. As if they would ever be mistaken for human. Tzofiya chuckled internally at the thought and sat down adjacent to the pair, who watched her every move. As she came to a rest, they began speaking in turn, one after the other and often finishing one another's sentences until they past judgment.

"Tzofiya, daughter of Lilith," the female began, "archangel and guardian to the children of

light."

"You have been summoned here because you stand accuse of interfering with the sentencing of a lawbreaker," the man finished. "The decision you made to banish Benjamin, son of Lilith, prey to the hounds of the deep..."

"Has turned out to be much more harmful than any one could have realized at the time," the woman said.

"What has happened?" Tzofiya interrupted.

"You will let us finish, guardian," the male responded forcefully, then continued. "Because of your actions, humanity is at a far greater risk."

"It is unclear at the moment how far Benjamin has grown, and what he will accomplish, because we are shielded."

Shielded? she repeated internally, lowering her brows.

"But his recent actions have shed a new light on his existence." They paused in their speaking, and gestured to the sunburst on the floor, which began to glow.