Bent Halo

Chapter 1: The incident

My name is Gissella, I am a Nephilim, a half-angel, half-human. I  live in Heaven because my mom is an angel. I rush my way to the throne room, where a bunch of angels is speaking to the King.  It's very loud, the Seraphim flying and singing above his head and all. I walk into the room and all I see is light. 

"Hey, Nephilim! Can I ask you a favor?" I turn around and see an Angel. "I need to send this letter to the Angel of Death, but I also have other jobs to do. Oh, why did I, of all the angels to have to signed up, end up as the understudy? Anyway, can you deliver the letter? PLEASE?!?"

"Uhh... sure." I grab the note and start to fly over to the stables. I mean the Angel of Death is a horseman, so he should be there, right?

As I am flying a bird collides with me. We both fall to the ground. "Heehee, I'm sorry, bird," I say, standing up, and the bird flies off, but the note is missing.  "OH NO!!!" I look around and see it crumpled up on the floor. "Phew..." I sigh as I pick it up. I start to unwrinkle the paper, but I accidentally rip the envelope open.  

"What's this?" I say as I notice my father's name on the note. I read the note in a hurry. "Th-they can't do that!!!" I say when I finish reading. I rip up the note and put the stray paper in a bush. They can't send him to Hell! It's not fair!  I fly back to the throne room to ask the king why. 

"YOU ARE BACK, GISSELLA. DID YOU DELIVER THE NOTE TO ANDREW?"

"Who's Andrew?"

"THE ANGEL OF DEATH."

"Yes... no."

"WHERE IS THE NOTE IF YOU DID NOT SEND IT?"

"I, uh... I lost it."

"FOR DESTROYING THE NOTE AND THEN LYING TO ME, YOU SHALL SERVE UNDER ANDREW, THE ANGEL OF DEATH AS HIS ASSISTANT. YOU WILL ALSO BE CAST TO EARTH TO WORK FOR ANDREW, SO YOU CAN REPAY FOR WHAT YOU HAVE DONE. YOU WILL LEAVE TOMORROW AND YOU HAVE ONE HEAVEN DAY TO PREPARE. YOU SHALL FIND ANDREW IN THE GARDEN BY THE BUSH YOU HID THE NOTE IN, YOU MAY GO."

I walk out of the throne room sulking, What have I done? I fly back to the bush and I see Andrew. 

"So you're Gissella? I heard about you. Let's get training, you only got one day after all. Oh, did you know that one day here is five days on earth?"  Word travels fast.

 He leads me over to a shed that I've never seen before.  "This is where we keep the weapons, such as my beautiful Scythe, for instance. And of course all of the warriors' swords. We also have some old weapons from the previous Angels of Death," he explains. He opens the shed with a single touch.

"Here, try my Scythe," he says handing me the weapon. As soon as it is in my arms, the weight pulls me down to the ground. "Well... that's not going to work." He looks through the weapons. "Hey, this is new." He holds up a box. "Let's see." He tries to open it but it was locked. "Well... it's fine." 

He puts the box down and continues looking. Out of curiosity, I walk toward the box and touch it. It opens, just like the shed did. Inside is a bunch of blades. There are a few small knives, a wind-up bracelet blade, gloves with hooks for nails, and various swords and daggers.

"Hey, you opened it. Guess that means it's yours now." Andrew says, looking up from a sword.

"Yeah, guess it does."

"Okay, bring your box outside. I'll have to teach you how to use these." We walk outside and the shed disappears. He began explaining, "The number one thing is if you have to kill someone, only use the tip of the blade. It makes it nice and fast, they never feel a  thing."

"What happens if I just slash at them?"

"Uhh... Well, they die slow and painfully. Just don't do it. Not a pretty sight. Also, I have to teach you the commands, before you kill someone."

"Why can't I just kill them?" I ask.

"Well, it all depends on where you are sending them. If I say שלום  (peace), it will send the person to Heaven and if I say עינויים (torture), they will go to Hell. "

"How will I know if they are supposed to go to Heaven?"

"It's the marks. If they have an arrow pointing up, then they go to Heaven and if they have an arrow pointing down, they go to Hell. It's easy, really. Now show me your weapons."  As he goes through all my weapons, he tells me what happens to the souls after a person's death. "If a person's soul goes to Hell, they burn forever in the Lake of Fire. It's always sad to send people there. On the other hand, if their soul gets sent here, they become a ray of light until they reach Heaven, where their spirit will separate from their soul and be granted a new body."

"Uhhhhh, so how exactly do we train?" I interrupt. 

Andrew looks at me and without blinking he waves his hands and a crowd of people appears. Some have marks while others don't.

"You have to practice using them. Say the commands for their marks, but don't kill any without a one."

"Are they real?" I ask worriedly.

"No," is his response.

I grab a small dagger and walk over to one of them, who had a down arrow. I say the command עינויים (torture), and I bring my hand up, however, before I could stab them, they bring their arm up and catch my hand. Their expression is surprised but then slowly turns to one of anger.

"THEY CAN SEE ME?!" I ask  Andrew, who is just floating on a small cloud drinking lemonade.

"What did you expect? You're not wearing my cloak and even if you were, it wouldn't work for you," he smirks.

"WHAT!!!" Andrew just smiles. The person's grip hardens and they lift me up and throw me into the spring. I scowl and get up, flying above their head, and try to stab them from behind.

"Now you're using your head. Hahahaha..."

"You're not funny." The person has a silver piece of metal that shoots small round objects out of it.

"That's a gun, and since your part human, it could kill you. So please try to stay clear of the bullets."

I knock the gun out of their hands with a rock and then slash at their throat. 

"No, no, no... No slashing. I told you not to slash," Andrew sighs disappointedly.

"Sorry..." I mutter. The person started to scream at the top of their lungs.  "I thought you said they weren't real."

"They're not, but it has to be real as possible," he says, the person disappearing.

I walk to the next person, another down arrow. I expect the same reaction so I back up and walk around them, stabbing their back.

"YOU DIDN'T SAY THE COMMAND!" Andrew shouts, annoyed.

"Oops. What would happen to their soul if they where real?"

"They would escape their fate and go in the wrong current! It's very dangerous. You don't want an evil person in Heaven, do you?"

"Nnooo..." I say slowly, thinking of my dad.

"You are really bad at this. 'Oh, look at me, I'm a Nephilim and I can't even hold a scythe.' You know, you would be a great torturer for the underworld. BHAHAHA..." The day continues on and I continue making mistakes except for two kills. Andrew was proud of me, but he says that once on Earth, I can't afford to make mistakes.