3/III. Newfound Friend (Remastered)

“Father, what do you mean? Then, will he go unpunished, is that it?” Raguel continuously protested in the throne room, with the twenty-four Throne Elders situated at the right hand of the Almighty as if working as a jury in this trial.

Even if he is the Captain, he should be held responsible in taking such rash action, especially against me, the Angel of Justice. Michael can hear Raguel’s mind as he stood in silence in the midst of the throne room.

The throne radiated the light across everything in the Silver City.

Though the angels cannot fathom with their eyes the grand illumination, the warmth of the light reaches their hearts.

“MICHAEL… WHAT YOU DID…” The Creator frivolously gave time for Michael to think about what to say next and to have a reasonable explanation, but-

“It was taking matters into mine own hands, Father.” Michael quickly retorted.

“The Great Rebellion had been one that we did not see and expected, hence, I grew more careful this time for any secrets, any propagandas, or insurrection that may be a fruit of secret meetings.” He continued.

His fierce, piercing gaze went beyond and the old fledglings knew immediately what he was talking about.

Through the power of “Oracle”, the Principalities and the young fledglings were able to telepathically report to Azrael, Jophiel, and Michael the secret meetings that the older fledglings always do.

[Fledgling: newly created angels]

With these profound and subtle keywords, the Captain instilled more fear to the older ones. Visibly trembling, they looked at each other in panic.

Accused of going through Raguel’s memories forcibly, Michael faced his second-in-command and his assigned captains of the smaller companies of the army.

Is this all for naught? What am I even here for? Michael looked down and was lost in his thoughts.

“Michael did the right thing.” Jophiel defended Michael in the midst of the barrage of accusations.

As everyone got involved vocally, Michael stayed eerily silent the whole discussion.

The Ophanims, the Seraphims, the Principalities and the Powers firmly stood with Michael in regards his swift action, and the new fledglings, while the Virtue, and the Dominion, and the old fledglings declared their stance against the injustice that happened to the Archangel Raguel.

The Cherubims or the Guardians stayed neutral and silent beside the Creator.

Michael shut his mouth and remembered the battle just a while ago, whereas the angels who were his right hand, the commanders of the battalions, the companies, now opposing him due to their irrational fear.

They have kept a secret from me, Father, Jophiel, and Raguel, and now, they’re imposing the guilt on me, I’m losing my mind, and this is what I get from the family that I defended, ridiculous. Michael was driven by anger in his thoughts.

He bit his lip in frustration, bowed his head more, hoping that no one would see his teary eyes.

Managing what was left of his demeanour, he tried to regain his calm composure.

I have gotten a bit of control now, in regards with Eon, he comes out when I feel intense emotion, following the events of Samael’s Rebellion, he only came out once and for a short period of time. Michael wished he be left alone, but not right now.

He does not yet realize the dread to following in feeling numb, the accolade to depression and apathetic spirit was stopping your emotions, hiding them, and pushing them back inwards.

The emotions that he easily can feel were frustration, sadness, and wrath. He wanted to avoid those feelings as hard as he can, so he shoved them back down like a bottle.

All these bickering inside the throne room is making me more irritated, come on, Michael, calm down, breathe in, breathe out. He tried to calm himself.

“MICHAEL!” God’s deep and grumbling voice startled the accused. His tears, unseen to the others, fell out as he shook surprised.

“Yes, my LORD?” Michael thought of nothing but his punishment. What will Father do to me? He’s driven to a corner but his face shows no emotion.

“DO YOU HAVE ANYTHING TO SAY TO RAGUEL.” His thoughts jumbled up in disbelief. What?

“I apologize for how I acted rashly. I hope you can forgive me.” Without hesitation, he quickly responded with an apology, stunned to his core, his tone came out cold and insincere.

“That’s… that’s how you apologize, from the shallowness of your heart?” Raguel’s face bubbled with more anger, frustrated in his brother.

He retorted in a sardonic way showing his impatience by that insult of an apology, never realizing Michael’s truest intentions.

“I- ” Michael stopped in his tracks, he seemed to be lost in thoughts as he did not hear what Raguel uttered.

“I just want your sincerest apology.” Raguel repeated himself in disappointment.

This time, Michael heard it, and he clenched his fist in his chest, feeling the heat of anger boil inside him for the second time for Raguel.

“THAT is my sincerest apology. What…” He replied gnashing his teeth, his flushed-red face began to be visible in the midst of the crowd.

“What more do you want to hear from me?” Michael continued, he was emotionless before, but now that Raguel’s pushing his anger and frustration, his teary-eye can be seen visually.

No one knows my struggles, after Eon came. I had to strain myself from any emotions, from feeling anything, even sincerity is hard to express when you have a nuclear power inside you that can explode in just one touch of the heart. Michael dove into his thoughts, imagining there were no one in his front right now.

He tried to close his eyes in an attempt to drown out the chaos in the room.

“I don’t – ” The Angel of Justice was not satisfied, an eye for an eye, he always had that kind of philosophy.

“RAGUEL!”

“Yes, Father!” The two seemed to forget that they were in the throne room. They immediately stopped bickering and focused on the Almighty.

“MICHAEL ALREADY APOLOGIZED.”

“I - I accept his apology, Father.” He clenched his teeth in defiance to his words.

“EVERYONE IS DISMISSED.”

“Yes, Father.”

“The Heavens declare God’s glory for ever and ever!” Gabriel ended the gathering.

The angels shuddered at God’s voice. His deep voice expressed something wrathful, and they can feel it in their cores, they quickly descended from the throne room.

As soon as the angels were out of the ‘hearing’ range, Raguel tightly grabbed Michael’s white robe atop of his golden armour and voiced out his concern.

“What is wrong with you? Do you not have a heart? You monster!”

‘Monster’?… funny. You caused me to be one, and now you are asking why? He looked at his second in command, He realized whatever he’s going to say will only agitate the angel of justice more.

He didn’t answer Raguel’s question, but heavily sighed as if saying, ‘I’m tired of this crap.’ Who wouldn’t, everyone at Heaven treats him like he is a monster.

Michael brushed him off, and removed Raguel’s hands from his robe and went on to his room.

He was not banned from training the new, young fledglings, but since he saw that they flinch at his every movement, he passed the training to Jophiel as fear was not a conducive part of learning.

He was not barred from leading the Praise and Worship, but the older fledglings shake and tremble as he holds the choir’s baton, with that, he passed the directorship to Raphael.

That’s right, emotions? Who needs them? I am just a soldier, there’s no need for feelings, you just need to obey the orders. He was always lost in his thoughts.

The new normal for Michael was going around doing God’s will, setting up the Praise and Worship and visiting Earth on one of his favourite spots, on the Tigris River, which was where he terra-formed the Euphrates River due to him fighting with Raguel.

The Euphrates split into two and he named the other flowing body of water, “Tigris” meaning “Tiger”, the second most deadly land animal, in commemoration of losing his second-in-command, Raguel.

“Is there any mission for me to do?” Michael approached Gabriel near the throne room.

“No, there isn’t, but I was ordered to deliver a message to you.” Gabriel reached from his robe and pulled out a golden scroll.

“What is it?” Michael begrudgingly snatched the scroll from Gabriel’s hands.

In bold letters, he read, “STAND DOWN”. He sighed in disbelief, and simply rolled his eyes.

“Affirmative.” Then he burned the scroll to ashes.

As Michael accepted his mission for the day, ‘Stand down’ or something similar to what that means, he took off to see the Tigris River on Earth.

-------------------- // --------------------

[SFX: Flap, flap, flap] Michael’s wings created a wind vortex that dissipated as he landed near the shore of the Tigris River.

The four white wings that fluttered as he flew down from Heaven to Earth shone gleefully and the light reflected at the River wish such high-definition clarity.

“This is wonderful. The greens began to flourish here.” The algae near the shore occupied the space as there were no animals trying to claim the territory.

Due to the angels’ scuffle the other day, the land animals were afraid to even approach the Tigris River, but the sky animals were happy with the new field of hunting area.

The fishes that ran through the fast currents of the Euphrates River were trapped in the slow pacing Tigris River and the carnivorous birds were happy with the bustling sight of food.

“Hellooooo!” A human from across the river waved hello to the armoured angel.

Adam? I think it’s Adam. Michael spotted the human on the other side.

Strong winds, enough for a tornado, enveloped the shining winged-creature, and he quickly vanished from the other side of the river and the tornado appeared at the other side where the human was.

Added to his powers, he also has Teleportation.

“Wow! That’s awesome! You can do that?” The human encroached closer and poked Michael’s armour and white robe – something new to his eyes.

“Yes.” The angel stood ten-feet tall in compared to Adam’s five feet tall composure - too tall for someone to talk with.

He managed to manipulate his height to the same height as Adam and remove his illuminating figure and armour.

Another power of Michael is the power of Manipulation/Disguise using his own body.

He stood unmoving with his white robe covering his being as Adam pokes around his physical human body.

“Cool! You can do that, too?” Adam jumped in joy and gladness, his expression and glimmering desire to know more about the stranger resulted to Michael’s heart skipping a beat. The human’s curiosity got him enthralled as well.

He simply grinned and the two walked together back to the Garden of Eden.

“What were you doing in the river?” Adam noticeably had child-like habits, touching everything in his path while walking.

Is he bored out of his mind here? The angel got concerned of the lonely human.

“What about you?” Michael returned the question, he wanted to evade the questioning for the rest of the day his appearance in the throne room earlier still annoyed him out of his mind.

“Oh! I was naming the birds that were drinking water in the river.” Holding one and striking its head and neck, the dodo in Adam’s hands appeared calm and relaxed.

“Birds?”

Michael squinted his eyes, he seemed careful with the animals around him, Adam thought it was funny seeing a giant flinch in his every move around the animals.

Michael has affinity with the animal kingdom, especially, the land animals. Beasts, tame yet ferocious, with their wide and sharp front tooth that can tear away any flesh – those were the ones that Michael likes the most.

Before the Great Rebellion, the animals in the Earth were tame, all of them, even in the presence of the angels, some can withstand the pressure of the aura, especially from the Seraphims, some flee in fear and trembling, but everything changed after the Great Rebellion, as sin entered the world through Samael, the animals, became more unwelcoming, unbecoming, the fierceness that can only be seen when hunting became more apparent as time pass by.

“Would you like to touch him?” He both reached out his hands with the bird and offered to Michael. The bird visibly shook in fear as it came near to Michael.

“Ah, no.” Michael tried to reach out his hands but ended up denying the offer of petting the bird since he felt the bird’s distress.

His fast response were quick to startle Adam, the animals were never wild to him, they’re tame even the lion and the tiger, why wouldn’t he touch them?

“Are you a bird as well?” He brought back the bird to his bosom and began striking its head and neck again.

Humans are so… gullible. Michael thought.

“No.” He stopped in his tracks as he grinned and smirked at Adam’s question.

Adam was quite puzzled but joined in the laugh. It only had gone off a minute or two, and the silence ensuing after became too awkward to escape. Yet –

Michael took the first step back to their tracks to the Garden, Adam followed his footsteps.

“Then, what should I call you?” Adam sadly smiled.

He surveyed this man’s eyes, face, and features.

His complexion is light and fluffy, but his eyes say a different story. Heavy, blackened, looked like he has not rested for many days.

“Call?” Michael’s deep and disgruntled voice showed the same signs of loneliness.

“Yeah, I mean your name.”

The long walk calmed Michael down, and he was definitely soothed by the fact that the human was not afraid of him.

I never imagined I can talk with you like this, nonchalantly. Humans were the primary reason that Samael rebelled. If I wanted to, I could have killed you myself, before Samael rebelled, but your eyes are too pure and innocent. Besides that, Father instructed us not to kill any humans. His concerns grew wild.

“My name…” He stopped, comprehending everything that had happened in Heaven, flashbacks of the fledglings shaking in fear, the little ones trembling as if he was a monster ready to gobble them up if they screw up. “I certainly don’t want that.”

“.שמי מיכאיל” He spoke in the Celestial language. He wanted the human to be able to say his name properly, without fear, without malice.

[Translation: . שמי מיכאיל = My name is Mikhail]

I want more days like this, I feel like myself when I am talking to you, Adam. There’s no pretense, no need to hide anything since you are not out to get me. He can only smiled sadly.

Is this what Father feels like when He comes down here? He could not say it out loud.

“Mik- Mik- Mikha-il? Quite tough to say, but beautiful, my name is Adam. The Light created me and gave me the name.” Adam smiled gleefully, with his pure eyes, he filled Michael’s heart with warmth and for a moment, his resentments washed away.

He worked through that twist at the middle, like gurgling water in your throat, through the k sound and the h sound.

“The Light?” Adam nodded and pointed at the tree in the midst of the garden – the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

They finally entered the Garden through the western gate after some walking.

There were four sets of guards in the Garden, eight Seraphim assigned to guard the north, south, west, and east entrance of the Garden.

Standing ten-foot tall, the human form of the Seraphs wearing silver armour with two sets of greyish wings resting at their back, stood still at the gates of the Garden.

The two guards appointed in the west gate greeted the Captain and bowed their head in reverence as the two entered Eden.

Adam clearly saw the difference between the Seraphs and Michael.

As he studied the angel before waving hello, Michael was wearing a golden armor, lavished and wrapped with a white robe fluttering as the snow-like two pairs of white wings flapped at his back.

God anointed Michael of the title, “Prince of the Seraphs”.

“He always walks with me in the Garden when I am feeling lonely.” He smiled the widest when he was talking about the walks he would take with “The Light”.

Michael felt sincere joy from Adam as he told him stories about their long walks and talks.

“Right now, are you- are you lonely?” Adam felt Michael’s dread closing in. Michael seemed like a child looking for approval of his parents to play.

“Nah, you’re here with me, right?” Adam grinned as he bowed in front of the guards.

“Then, I’m glad.” Michael smiled back, but there is something that was bothering Adam.

His smile looks so sad. What happened, Mik-ha-il? He doesn’t want to pry, but was curious enough to ask.

“What about you? Are you lonely?” Michael was so dumbfounded he couldn’t answer Adam’s question.

No one asked him about this, except Adam, especially, after the Great Rebellion.

Raguel and Raphael was only there due to the reason that Raphael is the Angel of Healing, and Raguel was worried Michael would rebel as well as Samael did.

The silence both hit them with awkwardness and Adam then let go of the dodo that he had been holding for a while, as soon as he did, the bird ran as fast as he can away from the two of them.

Adam, alarmed as the bird runs off with all his might, tried to change the subject to relieve them of the awkwardness of the situation. “What was that?!”

The memories from Heaven washed away his calm demeanour as he observed that the animals were also afraid of him. “Probably because of me.”

I shouldn’t be here, yet I am drawn to him, to Adam, why? He started to question his conduct in front of the human.

“You?”

Adam doesn’t know how to comfort Mik-hail, especially when he was in the same predicament.

He has the animals to play with every day, and “The Light” talking and walking with him in the Garden, but he always longed for someone the same as him that will be his companion together in the Garden.

Adam knows that Mik-hail was like the Light, that he needs to be away for many times.

“I easily scare them away.” No, it wasn’t the same, he realized Mik-hail was not alone, rather, his companions were afraid of him. That’s not the same. No one is afraid of Adam.

“But you haven’t done anything with them, why would they get scared?” The two stopped at the centre of the Garden, beneath the shades of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

“I don’t know, too.” Michael bowed in frustration, but as God fashioned Adam the same compassion as He has, Adam felt Michael’s heart and decided to comfort him.

It all started with Eon. Somehow, he… Michael didn’t want to think about it anymore.

“I’m not scared of you.” Adam faced Michael and grabbed his hands and laid them on his chest.

Puzzled by the fact that Adam can gradually just held his hands, Michael broke out of frustration and curiosity flooded his thoughts.

“Re - really?” Michael pressed his hands on Adam’s chest and felt serenity.

The heart beat normal, calm, not slow like resting, not fast like afraid, but just the normal rate.

There’s no malice in his thoughts, just pure concern.

“Yeah, I mean, I enjoy your company. You and I are almost the same, right? You look like me, except, you have wings like the birds.” The birds, he said, not fully understanding the autonomy of an angel.

“This is my human form. I’m not-” Michael knew not how to lie, he knew what lie was as Samael frequented in doing so upon the Rebellion, but he chose not to lie.

“Doesn’t matter, right? Come on!” Adam happily hauled Michael to the eastern part of the Garden to see the other creatures he has already named.

Michael tagged along, this was the first time he felt peace again. He walked with him, not because he felt obliged, but because he enjoyed his time with Adam.

I wish I can take more walks with you Adam here… He yearned for that peace.