Divinity

Chapter 29

Jasmine was the first to return, and for that I was glad. I didn't feel like making small talk with the other angels who I didn't really know whilst we waited for everyone to arrive. It had been difficult to put the sword down, to truly say goodbye to Travis. Knowing that I might never see him again. Still, with his words of reassurance, I had managed it.

In a way I wanted it to be over with, for the sword to be destroyed, to put all of this behind us and begin a new chapter, so to speak. I wondered what might come next. The sword had been my entire life for months now, it was strange to think that it might all be over soon. 

More so than I wanted it done, I wished that someone would come forward with a better idea, one that meant saving the souls that were good, and pure. Though it was never going to happen, no one else even knew that there were angels trapped inside. Only me - it felt like a heavy burden to carry. I would be glad to be rid of it, though the price was far higher than I could cope with. 

"They're all on their way." Jasmine told me, coming to stand by my side. "We'll get rid of this awful sword, once and for all."

"I hope it works." For Travis' sake, I wanted to add. Though I couldn't be too sincere, I wanted him alive more than I wanted it to work.

"You must be glad to see it go." Jasmine suggested. "The thing that stole so much from you."

I couldn't respond. How could I be glad, when Travis would go along with it? Still... she didn't know that. What reason would she have to believe I was anything but glad? It was difficult to continue to withhold things from her, it felt like a betrayal. It was a nice idea that perhaps soon I would be able to tell her the truth, and never lie to her again. 

Thankfully, I was saved from replying by the sudden flow of angels, slowly filtering into the room. They walked elegantly, as though their feet didn't even touch the ground. I wondered briefly if I did the same, and hadn't noticed.

A Searcher whose name I didn't know went out to retrieve the sword, bringing it back in, still on its pedestal, placing it down carefully in the centre of the expansive room. 

I could hardly believe that the entirety of the angel population could fit in just one room, though in truth they couldn't quite. Hardly any of them even had a view of the sword - I wasn't sure how they were going to aim towards it without knocking another angel out of the way with their blast. 

I felt something brush past me, and turned to watch as Claire pushed her way through the hoards of angels, making her way to the centre, where she stood beside the sword.

"Angels of God." She spoke loudly, though she didn't need to. She could have whispered the words, and all of us would have heard her. "We gather today to rid a relic of evil from this world. Ever since the Morning Star poisoned God with his foul ideas, our world has been plagued with the threat of the sword."

I glanced at Jasmine - she seemed unsurprised by the words Claire uttered, though they made me feel deeply confused. The Morning Star... I hadn't heard such a name before, was she speaking of Lucifer? What did he have to do with the sword, was he involved in its creation somehow? It seemed I was the only one who didn't understand what she was talking about... perhaps not all of Heaven's secrets had been unveiled to me yet. 

"We will remove Lucifer's right to destroy the life of an innocent!" Claire continued fiercely, I could read the passion on her face as though it were a book. "As well as anyone else's! From now on, matters of angelic death shall be decided only by God!"

The angels cheered to her words, and they each began to outwardly glow, until the whole room was lit brightly in silvery light. 

"Rise, angels!" Claire shouted.

If I thought the room had been crowded before, it was nothing compared to what happened next. Each of the angels spread out their expansive wings, until it was almost impossible to move about in the room. Still, I managed. Quickly pushing my way through the thick walls of angelic wings until I had reached the tall white walls. I certainly didn't want to be in the way of any projected light - who knows what it might do to me. 

The room began to feel a little bigger as a fraction of the angels ascended into the air - it became a little easier to breathe, although as they formed an impenetrable dome around the sword, I could no longer see it. 

I watched anxiously as the room lit up with the luminosity of the sun, until I had to force my eyes closed because it was so unbearably bright. Everything was silent - the great light consuming all of my senses with its accompanying harmonious ring.

All of a sudden, there was a sound. Like metal being ripped apart by the atoms. Was this it? Was the sword breaking? I held my breath anxiously... was it all over? Regardless, nothing could have prepared me for the sudden force that expelled outwards from where the sword was, knocking me right over.

I gasped for breath as my eyes forced themselves open. The room was dull once more - or at least, it seemed that way compared to what it had been just moments before. The angels all lay, collapsed, on the ground. Heaped on-top of one another, a huge pile of them. 

Scrambling to my feet I rushed to the nearest angel, a boy I recognised, but couldn't name... though I recalled him to be a reader. I could feel my heart racing, had the sword backfired somehow? Instead of destroying the sword, had it destroyed them?

I shook the boy, though his eyes were closed and he had stopped moving. No! This couldn't be... 

I breathed a deep sigh of relief when he began to twitch, though groaning as though he were in pain. I looked up to see the other angels in similar states, moving ever so slightly. 

And there it was, still at the centre of the room. The sword - perfectly fine, like nothing had happened. 

Quickly, I made my way to the pedestal, unleashing my wings to carry me forwards, rather than having to step on all the injured angels to get there. 

Knowing I probably didn't have a lot of time before the angels would recover, I grabbed the hilt of the sword and held it before me. A part of me prayed that no one would respond, that somehow, what the angels had done had killed the angels trapped inside, even if it meant the sword itself was still active.

A different, more selfish part of me hoped that Travis would appear, as he always did. 

It seemed I wasn't quite ready to let him go.

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