Sigillum ex Fatum [UNDER EDITING]

Chapter 11

I was led out and away from the minotaurs. Instead of going back the way we came we hooked a right. It wasn't long before I was led to a meadow, a wondrous field filled with wildflowers of cornflower blue, yellows, and whites, sprinkled with baby's breath. Butterflies lazily swooped around in the late afternoon light. The field gave way to an orchard, practically choked out by weeping willows. The breeze here was nice, and the drooping limbs and their leaves seemed to sing a song in the wind.

"You will remember this tree," Mikha'el told me, stopping before what seemed like a random tree in the middle of the grove. I hadn't the faintest clue how I would remember this specific one, but as soon as he said it, I knew it to be true. I would know this tree from the rest.

Without explanation Mikha'el gingerly and lovingly moved aside the boughs. The archangels walked past him and under, disappearing until it was only Mikha'el and me. I was confused and I leaned forward. My senses were dumbfounded when instead of seeing beneath the tree, there was some sort of doorway that led to a strange area filled with mist and twilight. Vaguely, as I looked at Mikha'el questioningly, I wondered when things like this would stop surprising me.

Mikha'el smiled and held out his hand, urging me to enter the mist. Trusting him explicitly I took a deep breath and stepped forward. He followed immediately behind me, and as soon as the leaves rustled behind us, the verdant grove disappeared and we were completely within the twilight.

"Where are we?" I muttered, and was equally mystified and embarrassed when my voice echoed far away from us.

"A very important, very sacred realm," Auriel said seriously, his voice equally reverberating throughout the vastness.

"There are more protectors," Gabriel told me as we walked off in a seemingly random direction, our shoes tapping against a hard floor hidden beneath the swirling lavender mist. "As before, we will ensure they don't rip you limb from limb."

"Gee, thanks," I muttered, but the words easily traveled. It earned a laugh from Gabriel and a chuckle from Auriel. Mikha'el looked deeply amused.

It didn't take long before we came upon a massive set of double-doors. They were silver and richly ornate, carved with flowers and swooping, stylized decorative lines. In the distance they had looked like a mountain, but their true form appeared out of the blurry surroundings. As I had been warned, two minotaurs stood guard, bearing two massive polearms. And, just like earlier, they lowered their weapons at me as we approached. Once things were smoothed over, they let out an ear-splitting guttural cry, and the doors slid open. I was not to come here often. In fact, my introduction to this place was one of the few times I would ever find myself here in all of my years as an angel.

Spreading before me was the strangest thing I had ever laid eyes on. Rows upon rows of what looked like paintings were floating mid-air. Television hadn't been invented yet, but once they were I would come to realize they were more akin to TVs than paintings, with their slight glow and flickering replay of a seconds worth of time. Instead of being led into the maze of bobbing images that went on for as far as the eye could see, we stopped just a few feet into it, the massive doors shutting behind us.

"What is all this?" I breathed, and had it not been so quiet my words probably would not have been heard.

"This is the most sacred realm of them all."

Raphael had said that. What he said was unbelievable, and I turned to him. The incredulity in my voice went unchecked.

"Even over Heaven?"

"Yes," Raguel answered for his brother, and when I looked at him his icy eyes were narrowed. "Even before Heaven itself."

"Welcome to the Time Realm."