The Prophecy

Freedom

I was too late. I stepped through the portal an saw Thymiel charging at me, then Tessie stepping in front of her. But it was too late. The sword pierced her body as the portal closed. Tessie might have saved the world there, but it didn't matter to me now.

I was devastated. I screamed and cried. I lifted my hand in vain a dozen times, but the portal wouldn't open. Not from this side, not like this. I glanced at the Pillar of Heaven in the far distance. I touched my lower abdomen gently with my hand. For you, Tessie. For you. I didn't know what I was anymore, not an Angel, not a Demon.

But neither was Tessie. That was my only hope now. When I saw her take the sword, her wings sprouted out from her back. But they were not her cute leathery dark wings, but shine and white feathers, like those of the Angels. I could only hope that our essences had mingled enough that... No, I could not concentrate on that now.

I turned to face the pillar. My eyebrows scrunched together and my lips drew into a thin line. I grabbed the sword — which I still wasn't sure where it came from — tighter and took a couple of steps toward it.

Then I remembered I wasn't exactly presentable and looked at myself. I was astonished to see I was clad in a thing brilliant white gown with silver highlights, close to resembling the ceremonial robes of the High Orders. There was just a couple of tiny slight differences. For one, my gown had a hole from which my tail snaked out. I highly doubted any of the High Order had one.

And then there was the question of decorations. Their's were adorned with the names of the Highest of the Orders and scriptures from the Holy Scrolls. Mine wasn't. Though I was unable to read it just a day ago, I could now perfectly make out what it said in Ancient Hellish in the grotesque runes that circled my hem. It was not pretty, 'Destroyer' and 'Abolisher' were probably among the nicest words written there.

But on my chest glowed an emblem that I was very happy about. The left part of the emblem consisted of the runes in Ancient Divine that made out my name, Aniel. The right side of it spelled out in Ancient Hellish. Ther'ezen. And in the middle of it, in plain English, in the alphabet that the Humans called 'latin," it said 'HOPE'.

I grinned widely and looked at the Pillar of Heavens. It looked like it was impossibly far. But somehow... I flexed my wings. My heels lifted a fraction of an inch for a moment. My grin widened and I squinted my eyes slightly. I grasped the sword in my right hand, held the emblem with my right. I spread out my wings as wide as I could, beat them down as fast as I could and jumped into the air.

Impossibly far took about two minutes.

Angels and others belonging to the Heavenly Host scurried in all directions. Others screamed other hid, others prepared for a battle. I landed at the courtyard in front of the Pillar superstructure. Everyone scattered away, almost in panic.

I walked towards the entrance and heard commotion behind me. Someone was assembling the host. A part of me really hoped it was Thymiel. Spoilers: it wasn't and they scattered like ants when the first shards of the Pillar began to fall from the sky.

I looked around at the beautiful and serene landscape of Heaven. Goodbye, my place of birth. Home you are no longer. I looked at the flickering light and stepped into it as it died. Sulphur and brimstone invaded my nose and eyes, intense heat attacked me form all sides.

So, this was Hell. And in the plain in front of me, the plain that separated me from the Endless Staircase, was a bright, white speck of light. Thymiel. I fixed my eyes on the Staircase and jumped into the air. Even Thymiel could not stop me now, I was too fast.

No one expects an Angel to set the world on fire. That's what I thought when I brought the sword down and destroyed the pillar of light that linked the Earth with Heaven. My wings flared out and my body was on fire. I felt so good, so powerful. It was horrifying. I was afraid I could not let go of it.

But I was not afraid of this. I was born to do this. I turned my attention to the Endless Staircase that connected Earth with Hell. The Demons were running left and right, up and down. There was screaming, there was panic. Before anyone got high enough to reach the top, I brought the sword down on the staircase.

My eyes flared with blinding fire and my wings encompassed the sky. The Endless Staircase crumbled and fell down towards the surface of Hell. Earth was now free. There was only one obstacle for humanity's complete freedom.

I turned to look Thymiel into their eyes. They smiled coldly and drew their sword. I looked at them without any emotion in my eyes. My wingtips turned towards them, like a dozen spears.

"God forgives," I said and started flying towards them as fast as I could with my sword drawn. "I don't."