Book of the Mother - 11

As I heard the human’s last scream I was pulled into darkness, falling to the cool earth in Raziel’s garden seconds later. “Ambriel, Please forgive me… I didn’t want you to find out like this.” Raziel’s normally calm demeanor was shattered as he sat on the bench nearby.
“Find out what!? That my entire life is a lie?” I screamed at him, louder than I had wanted, he didn’t deserve it, but the stress of the night had eaten too much of me away to control myself as I cried on the ground. ” I’m FINISHED not having the answers! Tell me, Raziel…please…”
The magi sighed, running his hands through his hair.  “Ok… I’ll tell you, but please, please don’t hate me. I… did everything I could to keep you safe… every end I saw to your future involved you being found and-“
“You can see the future?! Why didn’t you tell me this! Why didn’t you come to me sooner!?”  I knew it was hurting him, but I couldn’t stop myself.  I was hurt and angry, tired of being a ignorant puppet.
“Because, Ambriel… Everything that happens… Must happen the way it happens.  It’s the natural order of all existence.” I felt my rage cool as he looked at me with soaked blue eyes. “I couldn’t stop what was going to happen, even If I wanted to…”
“What about mother…?”
“I had to learn… to accept that some things can’t change, no matter how powerful I am… I spent years in bloodshed to learn that, and I can never forgive the things I’ve done nothing will ever make up for what I’ve done… All I can do is save what I can; I…was ready to die before I found you. I was ready to take my revenge and kill them all, Kill until they killed me. “ I stared at him, silenced in shock as he continued.
“They took everything from me... the ones I loved, stripped me of my authority and threw me aside. I wanted someone to pay. All I wanted in those hours before I came into my daughter’s house and found you… was to rip this city right out of the sky and listen to the screams as it crashed into the earth below in flames….”
I couldn’t remember at what point I did it, but I was suddenly nuzzled into Raziel’s robes, His huge black wings were wrapped around us both. “My only reason for living after that was to save you… to protect you from the executioners, the inquisition and the council… Every day of my life was spent watching you and doing every little thing I could for you, even if I could never let you know the truth.”
“What truth Raziel?”
“Ambriel, you’re an Arknangel.” Just like me, and Raphael, Uriel and Azrael. I was praying you could live your life never having to take this responsibility. I never wanted to have to tell you this, because it means that there will only be trials ahead of you.”
“Raziel, I’m nothing like you, I can’t fight, I can’t do anything…” I tried to plead with him, but a ghost of a smile appeared in his face.
“You will understand, I want you to promise me something, Ambriel…”
“What is it?”
“Promise me, no matter what, you will never give up who you are.”
“Raziel, I don’t understand.”
“Ambriel, you have to leave the city. Permanently.”
I looked up at his face, he looked worried. This was hurting him on deep levels, both of us were. We were exhausted, both physically and mentally.
“If what I suspect is true, you have to leave. Zophiel is likely trying to have you criminalized for anything he can come up with as we speak. He will be after you, and it will be tonight.”
“W-what do I do?” I asked as he let me go, flapping his wings in the cool air to relieve the stiffness.
“Go to the others, I know Uriel wants to speak with you. Go see Raphael, he would want to see you. When you’re done; Come to the temple we met at, the one where you fought Ellpagg.”
I nodded as I reluctantly stepped away, heading into the castle.

Uriel was sitting in the lightly candle lit dining room. He was silently picking at a plate of food with his fork as I entered.  He wore his beautiful white and gold formal armor and had a translucent shimmering gold cape that seemed to glitter in the candlelight.
“I’m sorry, Ambriel…” He sighed, not taking his eyes off the table.
“What do you mean?” I stepped in and sat beside him. He poured me a goblet of wine and I took it gratefully, too drained to say anything to the contrary.
“Long ago...  There were three ruling sections of the city. The Military, Diplomatic and The Magi. These three, using their own unique knowledge, created a sort of… balance. Well… the lower classes began to cry out that they were oppressed and had no say in the workings of the city. While the relationship with the Dekn and the truce was stable, we couldn’t risk some hot headed kid coming in and saying how we should just go kill the Dekn.  I nodded to him, shivering from the cold air in my dress, the wine helped with the cold, but with the hearth not lit, the massive dining hall had a cloying chill.
“The high council created the lower cabinet. So the lower ranking Arkn could send representatives to speak to the high council, using this plan the lower ranking Arkn began to have their own hierarchy, and soon one of them managed to marry up into the nobility, once that happened… others followed and soon, the council was mixed.”
“Raziel told me some of this, but not a lot.” I told him as he refilled his cup, pouring a small amount of elixir from his flask into the cup.
“There’s far more than that I’m afraid. It all started with my father, Gilgamesh. He was the king at the time and was the leader of Paradisium’s military. He called his squad of privately trained warriors the Seraphim… These were the greatest warriors the Aethierium had ever seen, every single one of them were impenetrable, unstoppable, deadly to any enemy, even alone. Each one was given crushing training routines, sometimes going days without rest to prove themselves the best among their peers. Trained by Gilgamesh himself, they were brother and sisters in the war, selflessly devoted to each other.”
“What happened? It sounds like they were unbeatable…” I asked, placing my hand gently on an opalescent pauldron.
“Thing is, I don’t know… They were sent out on a mission to take out a Dekn lord and his followers, that’s all. Something… went wrong; the Intel said there were one lord and 8 followers guarding him, not a bad job for the Order, but the battle they arrived to... It was nothing short of chaos. There had to be at least 40 Dekn there and only 20 of them not counting my father.  I don’t really know what happened, no one did really it’s only because of Phobos that I know this story at all. She was right by his side during the entire fight. They only won because Gilgamesh used a power he had never used before, it was a battle cry that caused an explosion, and it blew most of the Dekn to pieces. I know this power, it was a word of the Hethe, a single word in the language of the gods, and the Seraphim cut down the last few Dekn that were retreating.
“After that, how could anyone have stopped them?” I asked, letting Uriel pour me another cup of wine, lacing mine with a small dose of the elixir.
“It wasn’t until a few days later that they had realized it was a trap. The Order was at the banquet table, unarmed and celebrating out victory with drink and music, everything was fine until the doors burst open and the room filled with the golden guard. They claimed... that they had committed treason by killing a Dekn diplomatic party enroute to have fucking peace talks with the board! One by one they read the names of the Seraphim, taking them out of the room in chains...
“What about Gilgamesh?” I asked, getting a sick feeling about the direction the story was going.
“He was enraged, he wanted to know who issued the orders and tried commanding the guard to stand down, but they responded with a decree that stripped him of his authority and placed him under house arrest, and used the Seraphim, his own sons and daughters as leverage! Then... not even a week later, put them on trial and sentenced them to execution!”
I stared, not able to move. I suppose I hadn’t realized how much I wasn’t responding because Uriel said my name and brought be back.
“I promised myself I wasn’t going to get drunk tonight... you need to go see Raphael... I need to go to bed and I can’t keep you here any longer. “He said weakly, he was shaking and his eyes looked dim and clouded from the drink.  I could only stand and bow before walking to the door.

“Ambriel... be careful, please. You don’t know how much you mean to everyone.”
I nodded, closing the door behind me as I left.
I followed the scent to Raphael. It was the strong scent of elixir that wafted down the halls I found him quickly, pouring a bag of fragrant herbs into a hatch on a huge metal tank in the back of the room. Glass cylinders lined the walls, each one being filled with a green liquid from the tank. It was a alchemy lab by the looks of it and for once, Raphael wasn’t in his armor but a set of green and black robes that shimmered like the pale green elixir he was making.
“I knew you would be here soon, Uriel kept you a little longer then he should have.” Raphael said, closing the hatch and locking it down before pulling a lever and I heard the sound of water come from the tank as it began to fill.

“He was telling me about The Seraphim...”
“Ah, well I’m not going to keep you for long. I’m to get you ready to go to Earth and I really don’t want to waste time, come here.” He opened a set of heavy wooden doors and I followed him into what looked like his private storage room. “Phobos made you something.” He opened a wardrobe and began going through it pulling out a simple brown jacket and a pair of pants. “Put this on.” He ordered calmly, directing me to a dressing screen. After I had escaped from the dress and got the clothes on I found Raphael waiting with an ornate wooden box, which revealed to contain a suit of elaborate leather armor. “This is the armor of the Seraphim. I think Uriel meant for you to have this. It doesn’t look glorious, but Helios made this armor himself before his exile.”
He strapped everything on over my jacket and looked at me. “You can’t go out like this, sit in that chair over there.” I sat and Raphael stepped behind me, taking my long black hair in his hand. “If you leave looking the way you do now, you’ll be recognized too easily.”

“Do it..”
“Are you sure? You can’t go back after this... “
“Do it, Raphael.”
He exhaled loudly, wrapping my hair around his hand and pulling it above my head and with a single slice from his knife it was cut off close and my remaining hair fell just above my eyes.
“If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were a powerful Arkn warrior.” He tried a smile but I was too far gone to reach. Gone in a land of upheaval and the fragments of my broken life; one I likely didn’t have to begin with thanks to Zophiel, thanks to the greedy pigs that destroyed my life before I had even taken my first breath. Made sure that I would grow up with a death sentence...
“Ambriel, stop.” I snapped to attention and realized the area under my feet was sprouting vines and grass right through the stone floor.
“I’m sorry... I don’t know what’s going on.. I just.....” I started crying but felt a hand on my shoulder.
“It’s normal, your power has been released, you will learn in time to use it. I’m sorry, but you have to go. If they come for you, there is nothing we can do but fight, and it won’t be a winning battle. We will all die.” I nodded, standing as he held out a small glass to me. “Drink, You need it.” I took the glass and downed the green elixir, instantly feeling it fill my weak body with strength.
“I guess this is it, I have to go see Raziel...” I said, walking out and into the hall.

The stars were fading slightly as I walked down the quiet, empty road to the citadel. Everything weighed on me like lead. As light as I felt, the weight of everything I was told was almost too heavy for me. The bag Raphael gave me clinked with the potions and traveling wine inside. I was so distracted by my thoughts I didn’t see Ellpagg step in front of me.
“Leaving so soon?” He asked, leaning on an ornate cane. I jumped and looked up at him. “You won’t live long if you don’t fucking pay attention to shit around you, I could have killed you easily. Maybe you should just hand yourself in now, save yourself the trouble of running.”
“I... I’m leaving Ellpagg.” I said not shrinking back this time.
“Not until I have my rematch.” He grabbed his canes handle, drawing a sword from it and tossing the rest aside. “The only reason you won last time was because I didn’t expect you to have any strength. I’m not making the same mistake now!” With a shout he rushed me, his blade meeting thick vines as they sprouted from the ground around me as I glowed.
“So... this is the legendary power of creation, I’m disappointed. I honestly expected something greater than flowers.” His cocky grin was replaced as the vines wrapped around his blade and would have gone down his arms if he hadn’t reacted fast, cutting himself loose, suddenly somewhere below a horn sounded, reverberating up through the rings causing us both to stop in our tracks.

“Ambriel!” Raziel shouted running straight for me from an alley. “Zophiel has convinced the council of your guilt, I don’t know how, but I have to get you out of here now!” I didn’t question him as he pulled me into darkness...