Redeemed

Prologue

All around me was whiteness. It was like I was adrift in a sea of satin, or diving into the surface of a pearl. It seemed to glisten slightly in all the colors of the rainbow. It was beautiful, and I felt at peace in this simple, perfect space.

I looked down at myself. My slim frame was wearing white robes that cascaded down to my feet, which were bare. My long dishwater blonde hair fell around my shoulders, looking even duller than normal against the shocking white fabric.

Where was I?

I walked forward a couple tentative steps, noticing that the ground was soft and pleasant against the soles of my feet. I wasn't too cold or too warm--I felt perfectly at ease. As I moved, the whiteness stayed firm around me. It was just white, as far as my eyes could see.

"Hello?" I called.

Suddenly there was a stirring around me, like the sound of huge wings flapping. I could almost hear the individual feathers as the filaments rose and fell. I suddenly had the sense that there was a huge winged creature whooshing over my head, but when I looked up, there was nothing there.

"Who's there?" I asked.

I expected silence to answer me, but instead a voice boomed out from all around me. It came from nowhere and everywhere at once, "I AM."

I trembled in the might of this powerful voice. I felt as if I was in the presence of something that was beyond my comprehension. The impulse to bow came over me, but I fought to dismiss it. What was I thinking?

"Where are you?" I asked.

There was no answer from the voice, but another flurry of the sound of wings responded. I whirled, following the noise, and found myself standing face to face with a teenage boy.

Not just any teenage boy, I realized with a wave of adoration. He was perfect. Everything about him, down to the most minute details, seemed to be shaped by heaven itself. He had flawless, porcelain skin. His dark brown hair fell just past his chin, waving slightly. The boy's jawline was firm and strong, as were his muscled arms that I could see peeking out from below the white sash he wore draped over one shoulder. He was intense, and he was beautiful. His full lips pursed and his deep brown eyes looked at me in a mixture of confusion and...was that repulsion I saw?

"Magdalena," as he said my name, his voice was pure gold--smooth, strong, and a little bit seductive. "You don't belong here." His jaw tightened and my stomach fell.

"What...what do you mean?" I asked, full of fear.

This beautiful boy took a step away from me, the repulsion I saw before spreading in earnest across his expression. "You don't belong here," he repeated. "You are a sinner."

A sinner? I opened my mouth to respond, but before I could I realized a dark stain was spreading across my white robes. As I lifted my hands to rub at it, the ground opened up below me, and then I was falling, falling down through fire and brimstone while the boy's perfect voice resounded around me.

"You are a sinner."

"You are a sinner."