INTERFERENCE (A Short Novel)

XII. The Angel

XII. The Angel

                

Alizé, the Seraph of Harmony and Mayhem, gleefully hopped on the floating holographic-looking octagonal plates that serve as the steps of the stairway that connects the Chorus Wing and the main hall of the Crystal Palace Building 015, Annex. On her way out, she waved as she walked past several heavenly beings that strolled around the building’s lobby. When Alizé reached the main entrance, the crystalline glass doors dissipated into little hexagonal plates to give way to the exiting angel.

In front of the Crystal Palace Annex is the large Xereziel Plaza. The place is normally filled with heavenly creatures and is almost always buzzing with activity. But when Alizé noticed a large crowd of heavenly beings gathering in a circle at the middle of the plaza, she immediately opened her wings and took flight. When she landed right outside the circle of angels, Alizé realized that all of them surround a certain object – an object of interest, because a lot of them were taking pictures with their holophones and crystal cams.

Seeing Alizé, the heavenly beings parted to give way to the little seraph, for they all know who she is and what she does.

In the middle of the circle, Alizé saw the unconscious soul of a human male: thin, with light skin and dark hair. It is lying prone and naked on ground. To Alizé, the human is definitely not a spectacle to see, but she knew that what stirred the curiosity of the inhabitants of heaven is the fact that the vast realm of The Kingdom is devoid of human souls. A sight of one can surely attract a large crowd of angels, for only a few of them had actually seen a human, let alone a human soul.

Alizé is one of them.

She felt the excitement among the onlookers. She heard them chatter excitedly and nervously about rupture, ‘The Great Tribulation’, ‘Coming of The Kingdom’, and other speculations.

But of course, Alizé knew better.

The human stirred. When it opened its eyes, the crowd let out a collected gasp of surprise. Startled, the newly-roused human hurriedly climbed to its feet. The human screamed. It tumbled backwards, with several angelic hands breaking its fall. The human then got back up on his feet, looked around with eyes wide and mouth agape.

The human screamed.

Two archangels approached the human. They tried talking to it in celestial tongue, but the human obviously can’t comprehend what they were saying.

“Where am I? What are you people?” the human asked. “Wait… you… you have wings! Oh Jesus. This can’t be real…”

Alizé, being the sole angel in the crowd with the Gift of Tongues, completely understood the human’s language.

“I’m not yet… dead, right? Tell me I’m not dead, please,” the human said to the archangels, its eyes pleading. Alizé knew the voice too well. She can’t be mistaken.

“Hello, earthling Jeremy. You shouldn’t be here,” Alizé greeted.

The archangels, sensing that Alizé has got everything under control, stepped back into the crowd.

“Didn’t I warn you about not calling ever again?” the little seraph said condescendingly.

The human was shaken. “A… Alizé? Is that you?” it asked.

“Yes. It’s nice meeting you, Jeremy.”

“Uh, yeah. Nice meeting you, too, Alizé,” the human said, apparently mesmerized by the angel’s beauty. It studied her round eyes, her porcelain-white skin, and her golden curls. “You… you are very beautiful.” The human knelt down and touched the angel’s cheek.

The angel batted her eyes. “Thanks. Does that mean you’ll make me your girlfriend?”

“Uh. No, no…” the human withdrew its hand. “Look, Alizé. I’m in heaven, right?”

“Duh.”

“Oh fuck. I’m naked,” the human said.

Using her celestial tongue, Alizé asked a non-humanoid angel to get clothes for the human.

“Why am I here?” the human asked as it tried to cover its genitalia. “What’s going on?”

“I told you: you’ve already cracked the celestial barrier. Your soul must have seeped into the crack, and you ended up here in heaven, in this place, because I am here. All because you tried to call me again.”

The human looked around, observing the aspects of the angels around itself: the humanoids, the zooids, the giants, the wingless, the faceless, the formless and the indescribable ones. The human did not appear to be surprised nor scared of what he saw. He seemed pacified.

“Am I dead?” the human asked.

“Your body is probably dead by now, yes. But human souls aren’t supposed to come here after death.”

“Why?”

“Human souls do not go to heaven or to hell when they die. Their souls should stay in the purgatory until the Final Judgment.”

“Then why am I here?”

The angel that ran Alizé’s errand returned with a fresh set of white clothes for the human.

“Wear this, earthling,” Alizé ordered. The human obeyed.

Alizé resumed. “Like I said, you broke a compact. You shouldn’t be here.”

The human stood up and looked around. The human saw the massive Crystal Palace, the golden structures on the Xereziel Plaza, the flying vehicles, the holographic displays, the Skypaths, and the shining skyscrapers at the distant heart of the Silver City.

“You were right. I don’t belong here,” the human said. “I… I’d definitely love to stay in here, but I… I need to go back down to Earth.”

Alizé twirled a clump of her golden hair, thinking. “That can’t be done. I’m not even sure if they’d let you stay in here. It’s always up to The High Council, you know.”

“Then where should I go?”

            “This is not the first time that a human soul accidentally found its way here,” Alizé said. “There was one human before you, ages ago.”

“What happened to him?” the human asked.

“Her. The High Council gave her two choices: to go to the purgatory to await the End of Times or to go to the purgatory to be rebirthed as a different human. She chose the latter.”

The human did not say anything. It simply looked around. “I wish I have the option of staying here.”

“Do you want to stay here?” Alizé asked.

“Can I? You said there were only two choices?” the human asked.

The angel smiled. “There’s always a third option, earthling Jeremy.”