A World Like That

Chapter I

-Ariel-

The scent of flowers hung in the air, heavy and sweet, and Ariel breathed in deeply. His favorite part of each day was coming down to Earth. It was so different from Heaven, but just as beautiful. He loved the sound of water trickling through the forest and the sight of bright purple flowers that popped against the lush ferns.

He and the other angels walked through the trees, gently pushing aside leaves in search of fruit. Yesterday they'd gathered mangoes, but today Ariel was in search of his favorite fruit - pears. Something told him he wouldn't find pears here. This section of Earth was mostly tropical and the fruit in his basket so far was grapefruit and papaya. His friend Jael had insisted they come here, and Ariel suspected Jael's motivation was more about going for a swim in the pools below the waterfalls, and not about finding food.

Ariel was nearing the edge of the forest when he heard it. The sound of discordant strings filled the air, creating a feeling of dread. The hair on the back of his neck stood up with the screech of violins, and his heart began to pound in his chest in response to the clash of cymbals. No matter how many times it happened, it was always terrifying when the demons arrived. He had been told that all kinds of music could be heard whenever a specific demon was nearby. This music was the cue for the angels to hide or flee to Heaven.

He looked for his friends Jael and Raguel, wanting to make sure they had heard and would be safe. He didn't dare call out lest the demons heard him. Frantically, he ran back the way he had come, hoping to find his friends, but in his panic he went the wrong way. Instead, he stumbled out of the forest onto desert land. The ground beneath his feet was deeply cracked and the color brown dominated the landscape. To his horror, a few demons swooped down, their dark wings beating the air with loud whumps.

He turned and tried to flee, but he wasn't fast enough. He felt a pull on one of his wings and was yanked towards the ground, the fruit spilling out of his basket in the process.

-Dantalion-

A grin spread across Dante's face as he pulled on the angel's wing. This had been easier than he expected given that he'd never done it before. Whenever he and his friends went up to Earth, he preferred to explore and eat as much food as he could find rather than chase after angels. But today he was bored and had given in easily when Shax, Beleth, and Azazel pressured him into hunting angels.

He looked down at the blond angel whose wing he had grabbed. The angel was struggling, trying his best to get free, but Dante had a strong grip on the wing and had no intention of letting go. He pulled the angel to the ground and pinned him, pushing the side of his face into the hard soil. The angel cowered and spread his free wing over the rest of his body, trying in vain to protect himself.

Dante grasped a large white feather in his hand and yanked, and the angel flinched. "Good luck flying back to Heaven when I'm through with you," he snickered, tossing the feather onto the ground. He reached for another one and yanked again, and this time the angel yelped in pain. He continued to rip out feather after feather until the angel's wings appeared tattered.

The angel was frozen in fear. He had quit struggling after Dante had torn the first few feathers out of his wings. When Dante glanced down at him, he saw the angel's chest heaving and tears flooding his eyes. Instead of feeling proud for hurting the angel, he felt conflicted. He realized he didn't know why he was doing this.

He released the angel and backed away. At first the angel didn't move, so he backed even further away. The angel seemed to be waiting until he felt Dante was a safe distance away. After a moment, the angel got to his feet and launched off the ground. He almost fell right back down, and Dante assumed it was only because of pure terror that the angel was managing to fly at all with his damaged wings.

-Ariel-

With tears in his eyes, he fought to fly upwards. His wings burned and stung, but he couldn't think about that right now. He didn't know if the demon was going to come after him again and he had to get to safety.

At last he popped through the clouds and into the golden light that filled Heaven. The first thing he saw was Jael and Raguel rushing towards him.

"Ariel!" Jael called, his voice filled with panic. "What happened? I thought you were right behind us!" He stopped short at the sight of him. "Oh my...your wings."

Raguel offered Ariel his arm and supported him as they walked to a tuft of clouds. Ariel sank down onto it, laying on his front so that he didn't put any pressure on his wings. Jael and Raguel sat next to him, and he felt the air shift as someone else sat on the cloud.

"Did a demon do this?" a soft voice asked. Ariel knew that voice without turning around. It belonged to his best friend, Charmeine.

"Yes," he replied, his voice trembling.

He felt a warm hand on his back. "I'm sorry this happened to you. I wish I would have been there to help."

"No, I'm glad you didn't come down with us today. I wouldn't want you getting hurt too," he replied. "Luckily no one else was caught."

"Thank God you got away!" Jael said, his voice still tense.

"Language," Raguel warned.

"Calm down, I'm not using it as an expression," Jael argued. "I'm literally going to thank God as soon as I see her."

He heard Charmeine chuckle, and her warm hand began to rub Ariel's back, making comforting circles. He was grateful to be back in a safe place out of the demon's reach. His wings were beginning to throb with pain, but he knew his friends would take care of him.

-Dantalion-

He entered the maw in Earth's crust that led down to Hell and flew deeper and deeper, rushing past the souls floating in purgatory, their ghastly wails reverberating in his ears. "Yeah, yeah, shut it," he muttered.

The rocky tunnel suddenly opened up into a massive chamber lit by fire. Molten lava dripped from the ceiling and ran down the walls, glowing red and slowly hardening into formations. Rivers of black, sticky tar flowed through the chamber and piles of coal and bones littered the ground. The heat was sweltering and it seemed like he never got used to it.

Earth was much cooler, even the desert areas the demons preferred to inhabit. Although he liked the deserts and rocky canyons, he wished he could explore the green forests. But the forests were angel territory, and even though the demons could invade them and push the angels out, most demons weren't interested in doing so. As usual, he seemed to be the only one who wanted something different.

Continuing on, he passed a few demons he knew, ignoring them when they called out for him to join them. He flew straight to his chamber. It wasn't big, but it was his own. He didn't have to share like some of the other demons. It was times like these when he felt lucky that Lucifer was his father. Other times, being the son of Satan himself was a pain in the ass. He never seemed to torment enough souls to impress his father.

He wedged himself into a worn spot between a group of stalagmites and folded his wings in around him, but sleep didn't come quickly. Oddly, he felt guilty about what he'd done today. He had no reason to torment that angel. Just because that's what his friends did and was what was expected of him didn't mean it was right. As he was yanking feathers out of the angel's wings, he had noticed a gold liquid seeping out of the holes he created whenever he removed a feather. That must be the angel's version of bleeding, and it had to have hurt.

He sighed, knowing he shouldn't be feeling bad about this. He should feel satisfied, but for some reason he wasn't.