Empathy

Heartlings/General Lore

Heartlings

And so, like a kiss from a mother to her child, an angel is sent, in it's purest possible form, inhabiting it's chosen human, blessing it with emotions and empathy, the ability to think and feel. We shall call these particular angels 'Heartlings.' 

They cannot die, simply coming back to Heaven when their vessel dies. It is vital that an angel gets to it's vessel, otherwise the human would be completely emotionless. On the rare occasion that the Heartling fails to do it's job, it is cursed with black, ashy wings, a permanent brand to mark their failure.

Some types of angels do not have wings, however, Heartlings are one of the types that do. They can come in any colours and the span is usually somewhere between 3 feet to 6 feet. Although this may be true, there has only been one recorded case of a Heartling to have a wingspan of 6 feet.

Most Heartlings are created by Heaven artificially, so they can keep up with humanity's ever-increasing population. Despite this, Heartlings still can be born; any two angels could possibly procreate and give birth to a Heartling, however, it's an extremely rare happenstance. Even if two Heartlings were to procreate, the female getting pregnant AND giving birth, the successful birthrate and pregnancy chance is incredibly low, and even if the birth is successful, the child might not be a Heartling.

'True-born Heartlings,' as they're called, have proven to be far more powerful than other angels, the reason for their power is greatly unknown, the source being theorised to be a blessing from God themselves, working in mysterious ways. This theory, unfortunately, cannot be proved, as only the archangels get audience with God, and they haven't even really met Them, only hearing Their voice during times of great need. 

True-borns are also said to be lucky, more specifically their wings. Many angels have ruthlessly tried to cut off the wings of True-borns, sometimes even in groups of angels, holding the victim down and trying to tear them off out of shear desperation for power. Because of this, many True-borns try to keep their heritage a secret, not wanting to get attacked or worse. It is unknown what happens when an angel is stripped of their wings, but the results cannot be good. Past True-born victims have said that a blinding white light emits from their eyes and their wings, a light so intense that it knocks the attackers unconscious. If anybody were to succeed in stripping a True-born of it's wings, it's possible that Heaven could shatter. 

In dire situations, a Heartling can come out of the vessel's mind and manifest into a physical form. This can only be when something happens that shouldn't. For example, if the human encounters a fallen angel, who, for some reason, wants to attack the vessel, the Heartling can manifest, keeping some amount of grip on the vessel's mind; enough to keep the vessel's emotions in place, but also enough to be a physical being.

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Halos

Any angel could be halo'ed. The only known, practical use for halos is that they burn red in the presence of Fallens, and nobody is sure why some angels have it and others don't. The halos themselves can be resized at will, and the owner can put them anywhere, even detaching it from themselves and treating it like an ordinary object. The halo, however, will appear over the owner's head again if they stray too far from it. Again, nobody is sure why. The halos are always gold, and are always circular, only changing in size when manipulated.

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[A/N- I decided to have more info under Heartlings because I felt I had a lot more to say. With it 1) Being something that I made up completely and thus needing to set up more information on it and 2) Being the main focus of the story, therefore requiring more information as the angels talk about some of this stuff later on and it's expected that the reader knows it.]