The Wayward Son

“We needed you back,” Gabriel replied quickly.

He was as stunned as Ariel. Both of them just stood there, dazed by Remiel. His body was emanating pure power. Clouds of shadow coiled like snakes around his body while spots of light danced across his skin. The force of a million angels was inside him and he was acting calm about it. It was amazing.

Remy stepped away from the building. “That was apparent,” Remy commented and looked around as the ash spread across the streets. He didn’t think about a minute ago, but then he asked, “How many fell?”

Ariel hesitated, but eventually answered, “Eight.”

That stopped Remiel in his tracks. There was an army here. “Why was there not more? What did Uriel..”

“Uriel didn’t see this as a priority,” Gabriel said, cutting Remiel off. “Your book. They wanted your book.”

“I know.” Remy kept looking at his hands. The darkness still forming around them. The power had yet to diminish. “Whose idea was it to put that much power into my book?”

“We don’t know.”

“What?”

Gabriel looked towards Ariel, but didn’t get any back up. “When Amesha gave us your book, we saw the Holy Spirit or what we thought was the Spirit. It told us to endow your book with power enough to return you to your angelic form.”

“And you listened? Are you stupid? That could’ve been anybody. It could have been Lucifer,” Remy scolded. Lucifer may have been missing, but that didn’t mean he was gone.

“Why would Lucifer want that?” Gabriel asked.

“Oh I don’t know. The power of all the angels in one substance. Yeah. I don’t know why anyone would want that,” Remy started getting sarcastic, but he had rights to. “Michael wouldn’t have listened.”

“I am not Michael.”

“I know and I won‘t forget that,” Remy replied coldly and turned away. “I’ll be back.”

Before anyone could say something about Remy’s scolding of Gabriel, he stepped away and focused. The hierarchy’s power needed to be released, but couldn’t be done here. In a flash, Remiel’s white wings were at his back. Each wing stretched out far, enjoying the fresh air. Remy furled his wings around him and stroked his fingers through the feathers. He had missed the sight. For months, he hadn’t even known they had ever been, but now that they were here, he was ashamed of himself for forgetting.

Taking in a deep breath, Remiel dropped his wings and lifted himself from the ground. As he rose, Remiel flapped his wings a few more times and kept ascending into a higher elevation, black smoke and golden stars falling behind him.

After another few beats of his massive wings, Remiel reached the peak of the clouds and steadied himself. Remy stretched out his hands and took a few long breaths. He had a good idea of how this would feel and he wasn’t going to like it.

Testing it out, Remiel shot out a blast of light from his hand. Nothing changed. Stretching out his other hand, Remy let the dark cloud flow out away from his fingers. Again, nothing. Now he was getting annoyed. This time, Remiel ended it. Clapping his hands together, he let the darkness and the light clash. The shadows bit at the light, which responded in kind with little explosions of light. A battlefield erupted around his hands and was growing. The shadow stretched out to his left and the light to his right.

The two forces covered the whole of the sky in their chaos. The light launched cannonballs of gold energy at the darkness, while the shadows countered by moving on to the other side slowly. It was hectic and Remiel had lost all control of it. It was its own.

Gabriel and Ariel saw it all from below. The darkness clashing with the light. It was something only Remiel could understand. He was born of light, but has had darkness inside of him all his life. Two forces of ultimate power fighting each other inside of him. A curse only Remiel knew and now it was overwhelming him. There was millions of angels adding onto is already indomitable power. It should’ve killed him.

“I’m leaving,” Gabriel said, turning away from the sight of Remy. “I will tell Uriel that Remiel is alive.”

Ariel stopped him for a second, “Tell him that Remy will want to talk to him.”

Gabriel nodded and walked off. A few steps away from Ariel, Gabriel looked up the sky that was clear from Remiel’s power. A white light broke through the night and crashed down in front of him. Smiling, Gabriel walked into the light and disappeared.

Ariel watched Gabriel return home and when he was gone, turned back to Remiel. Remiel’s position hadn’t changed any. The light and dark still collided into each other, but was gradually getting weaker. The blasts of light had slowed and the shadow was beginning to recede. It was almost over.

Remy didn’t feel that way though. His wings had actually stopped beating. They weren’t keeping him airborne. Not anymore. The power had held him there. Kept him immobile. His hands and feet were bound by an invisible force. He was simply releasing now. Everything he had gained from the book and probably more.

Then it stopped. All of it ceased. Silence. Remy remained shackled to the air, his mind and body bound to that one place.

He saw why. He saw who it was that wanted him. A dove was flying at him. Pure white feathers made the bird glow. Its wings flapped gently against the wind. It said nothing. Remiel expected that. It was a bird. Not a normal bird, but a bird none the less. The force that embodied it was a different matter. That being got its point across just by revealing itself. Remiel’s trials were not done and he was being watched.

Remiel nodded, “I understand.” The bird looked to him one last time and then vanished, leaving Remiel to try and remember how to fly.

He didn’t.

Remy dropped. His wings curled into his back as he fell. His body was too weak to do anything, so he fell. The fall seemed to take forever and had given him time to think. It wasn’t something he usually would’ve done, but he could do nothing else.

Remy’s mind faltered back to not long ago. When he got his nature back. When he once again, became an angel. The book burned bright and blinded him for a minute. The power of the hierarchy tore at his muscles, filling him once again. It hurt, but subsided quick.

When everything died down, Remiel looked to his book. Each word was glowing slightly, but began to die down. Remy waited. Waiting for the light to fade away from the books. As it did, he closed it. He’d always been curious about the book. He heard that each angel had one. A book that told of their life. Told everything. He could know all he wanted in those pages. Anything he wanted to know about himself.

Thinking about it, Remiel closed the book and handed it to Taylor, who had been stunned the whole time. Remy looked at her. He remembered everything now and nothing had changed. He still loved her. He wished he could’ve stayed. He wished.

Before he could speak, Remy’s senses kicked in. Something was at the door. Smirking, Remy stood up and said, “I’ll get it.”

That was the last thing Remiel said to Taylor. Why was it all? He should’ve said something more. Something. Anything. Remy opened his eyes. The ground was closing in on him. It would’ve been so simple just to ignore it. Let himself crash. Die. Ignore what everyone expected of him.

He kept watching the ground close in on him. Then he caught a glance of something else. Taylor was watching him fall from their apartment. He couldn’t die just yet. Remiel turned in the air and unfurled his wings. Waiting for the last possible second, he pushed them downward, moving a blast of shadowy clouds with it.

The push stopped him and let him land gracefully on the street. Remy waited for a second and then rose, looking to Ariel as he did. His face as solid as stone, Remy said, “It’s time I go home.”