"Angelis" by Rita Martins R. Silva

I was born from the light, under the close and protective stare of my Father's eyes, to a world of perfection. A world with no evil, no wrongs, no pain. This are the things that we try to keep away from our home. I am known, to my companions, as one of Heaven's Warriors, one of those who fight when needed, fight to rid the world from the demons. There are many out there, in the world we call Denyan, known as Earth, and in the other realm, down there, in the Land of Fire. Those we watch call it Hell. It is a good name to give although names can not describe the evil, the decadence, and the horror of it. I am one of God's children, on of his daughters, one of his Angels, one of his Warriors. My name is Angelis.

I do not know my age, not as seen or counted by the Humans. Time has no meaning in Heaven. No one feels the need to have time when living in a world such as the one I live. Or used to. Because I had to leave. I had a mission in my life and it was to protect those we watched in their world. It had been a mission I had accepted voluntarily, one that had been offered to me because I was one of the best Warriors. Angel's do fight, for those who do not know. We may abominate violence and evil but when confronting demons, it is the only language they know. So, we fight. At least those who have the Talent to be a Warrior. I am one of those.

The first time I was aware of my Talent was so sudden I still have difficulties in understanding it. Our home, the land of Paradise, the place Humans call Heaven, was attacked by hordes of demons. They had been planning it for ages and they finally decided to attack, a full battle between two opposite forces. They miscalculated, though, the Power of Light. We were able to defeat them. It had been there that, for the first time, a heavenly sword had been placed in my hands. I fought without knowing how and, in the end, I noticed how many I had defeated. Battles between Good and Evil did not happen often but they were not rare either. This one had ended with us as winners yet a new one could be near and we could not leave victorious from it. I knew then that I would wait for the next, my sword in my hand, and the blessing of my Father, a blessing that would make me one of Heaven's Warriors.

Since that day, if we could call it a day, I became one with my sword, and my life changed completely. No longer I had the time to walk through Paradise's green gardens, to fly between clouds, undetected by Humans, to play in the light with other Angels. I became a warrior and I had to learn what that word meant in my world. We may be different, very different from Humans, but we do have some things in common. Unfortunately for them, most of them, they can not experience the beauty of my world, of the world Father gave to us. Humans can only experience it when they are called to Father's presence, leaving their earthly body behind and reaching an higher state of being, where the soul is mightier than everything else. Though, only a few are worthy enough to be called, and those became great additions to our world, watching with us the life on their former world. They do not become Angels, as many may think, yet, they do live in harmony with us, in our Paradise.

The battles against the demons were rare at the beginning but then, as my experience increased, thus also my fame, I started to be challenged by many more demons than those I had expected. Yet, I outlived them all. I send them back to whatever Hell they had came from where they would stay forever. One thing I had been taught was that, despite the demons did not die (most of them were already dead), they were prohibited, by whatever forces sustained them, of ever leaving their place after being defeated by a Warrior. That would do good to my side if more demons were not born at every moment. Unfortunately, they were. And, of course, there were those who lived on Earth itself, excommunicated from Heaven to the earthly world. Those were dangerous, because they were former Angels who had turned to a darker side. I despised them. Most of us, in Heaven, did, including our beloved Father although he did not show it, even because he could not hate them. Father only gave love. We were the ones who had to show if we were worthy of it.

When I was told I was needed on Earth, the first thought that crossed my mind was that I had not pleased my Father enough and that I was being punished. Yet, I could not remember any wrong in my actions, any thing that could justify my sending to the other world. Then I was told, by Father himself, that I was to be send there, not because he was displeased with me, but because he was very proud of my actions, with my talent as a Warrior of the Light. That was why he was sending me down to Earth. To protect the innocent Humans of the demons who had fallen from Father’s grace. Former brothers and sisters of mine that were terrorizing innocent lives with their evil and that needed to be stopped.

On Earth, as it was told to me, I would have a Human body, capable of feeling all the necessities of one of them, capable of feeling hunger, thirst, coldness... pain. Yet, I would be stronger, faster and more agile than any of them. And I would be under my Father’s protection. That meant a lot to me, that my Father was up there, looking out for me. Although scared I went to Earth, I assumed a bodily form, and I wandered through the unknown streets of the city where I had arrived.

It did not took long until I found some of the fallen Angels. I knew one of them. He had been a Warrior before me and he had fought some battles at my side. Until he had been seduced by Evil. It hurt me but I did what needed to be done. I rid the world of them. For a moment there I thought I would die too, whatever was the meaning of such word. Never before I had feared it. Now, I abominated the very thought of the word. It was also in this first earthly battle that I discovered the meaning of pain. I cannot describe it because it has no description. Only those who have experienced it can understand the true meaning of pain. I did. The wounds that were inflicted to me healed rather fast, compared to the average healing process of the average Human, yet seeing, for the first time, the sight of my own blood, feeling pain for the very first time...

It changed me. It changed my vision of this world and the way I saw Humans. Because they had to live every day of their lives with this feelings of pain, cold, hunger, even feelings more abstract like sadness, hopelessness and... fear. In my world nothing like this ever existed, not once. But down here it existed in every corner, in every person, in every soul. For the first time I did not despise my fallen brothers. I felt pity for them. Because now I understood why they had chosen to fall under the power of what they had hated the most. Yet, even with my pity, I could not forgive them for having given up on my Father. Humans lived every day with those feelings and they had not been able to adapt to them too, to this world that, even as bad as it was, had a certain sparkle of innocence in it. A sparkle that could be extinguished if the demons won the battle for control. That was their plan. They could not take Heaven for them so they took the world of those we watched. Then they could become strong enough to defeat us and expel us from our home, forever. No, I would not permit it to happen. I was Angelis, a Warrior of the Light, a Child of Heaven, a Protector of Souls. No harm would be inflicted to those people if I could avoid it.

But it was not that easy, nor simple. There were many fallen Angels already inhabiting the Earth and Evil was irremediably inlaid on it. Yet, I could still prevent the doors of Hell from ever opening, thus preventing the higher entities of Evil from crawling from under whatever place they came from. And I could kill some demons on Earth, diminishing the forces of Darkness on this world. It could help but it would not stop the constant rising of Evil. For that she would need help from her Father and her heavenly brothers. And, if it ever happened, the inevitable battle between Good and Evil would take place, and Earth would be its ground, which could mean the end of whatever forms of life existed in there. That was the reason why such battle should be prevented from happening. That was why I needed to stop the Evil from completely crawling from its origins.

But I was alone and I was afraid. Afraid I wasn’t strong enough to stop such event, afraid I would fail, thus letting my Father down, my brothers and every living being on Earth. Then, I met the ones who would help me defeat the Evil. And, suddenly, I was no longer alone.

They were two children, a girl and a boy, twins, and, according to Humans way of counting time, they were about seven years old. When I first saw them I noticed a light emanating from them that I had never seen in any other Human. They were not Angels like me but they had something of heavenly in them. I knew immediately they were the key to help me defeat the approaching Evil. An Evil, as I found out after, had a representative on Earth, ready to take control. One that had been watching for a long time, observing the world around him. The two children were the first to open my eyes to that horrific truth. I was not only expected to stop the Evil but I first needed to defeat their link to this world. But that happened much later although all seemed to occur at a vertiginous speed. I had also changed my views about Time.

My first encounter with the twins was uneventful as I did not recognize their importance in this. Only later, after receiving a message of my Father, by the hands of a Messenger, I realized that I needed them. I searched for the two and, although I did not know the city well, I found them easily. They were in a Church, an earthly haven for me, one of my Father’s many homes in this world. A Sacred Place. They were there, with their family, and when I stepped into the beautiful Church, they turned to see me. Whoever they were, they knew that I was more than I appeared with my Human body. With an innocence only found in children in this world, they asked me who I was.

"To you, I am what you call and Angel." I said, the words coming out of my mouth a little uneasily. In my home we do not speak with words. We do not need vocal cords, only found in a Human body, to communicate since we do not use words to do it. We use our minds, speaking to each other by thought. Telepathy is what Humans call to this ability of ours. There are a few Humans with this ability, surprisingly, although I never asked my Father, after I returned home, why he had given this Talent to some of them.

"An Angel?" They asked, their lips in a wide smile, an innocent and sweet smile. "From Heaven?"

"Yes."

"So, where are your wings?"

"My wings?" I had to laugh at that. "I left my wings with my Father. We, Angels, cannot have wings here on Earth. We can only use them up there." I pointed to the sky, seeing their eyes following my hand. We were outside the Church and their parents had stayed inside to speak with the Priest, thus giving us the privacy we needed to discuss this subject. Speaking of Priests, they were the only Humans I had ever truly admired before ever setting foot in this world, at least some of them. There were those who were corrupt and that were only interested in money (one of the things I abominated because I thought it was a futile possession), yet there were those who represented my Father with all the pureness and goodness of a children, bringing hope to the people in the name of God.

I found out that this two children were blessed from their births by my Father to this day. He had foreseen it. He had foreseen it all. My change to a Warrior, my success in it, my Talent, my descent to Earth to help defeating Evil and them... these two innocent children who held the key. Their Presence and their Power in the Light. It was fantastic how much power they possessed. They knew why they had been born, they knew what they needed to do, something that surprised me. They were so young and they had the souls of the ancients of their Earth, too old for their age. It was better this way because they knew who I was, they believed that I was an Angel from Heaven and their trust in me was absolute. For the first time since I had arrived at this world I felt I was not alone and all the fear left me like it had only been a passing cloud in my mind. With them at my side I would win. Good would win.

And I did. It cost them their lives but it was to be this way. They deserved a better life, away from the decadent world that, although rid of Evil was still impregnated with it, a product of the Human’s themselves, at least some of them. The twins died in glory, surrounded by light, at the hands of the Demon, the Messenger of Evil on Earth, but after it, when he (or it) was still looking to the two fallen bodies of the children I had learnt to love more than I could ever imagine, I embedded my sacred sword in his heart, the only way a Demon as powerful as this one could die. It almost cost me my life too and I did not know what would happen if I perished under my earthly body. I did not know if I would return to my Father’s home. Fortunately, although gravely wounded, I survived.

Explaining everything that happened before I reached the Demon would take more time than is imaginable but I can abridge it. He’s name, to us and them, was Hal’nen, a name known to me, as he had been one of Heaven’s best Warriors, before falling to the Darkness. He was surrounded by other demons and it took me all my strength to defeat them all. All my strength and all my wits and intelligence since mere force was not enough at that moment. The twins were right behind me, covered by a protective field of Light of the most pure, a present from my Father. To the demons they might have seemed to be insignificant, without any use or of any importance. How they were wrong.

It took me a long time to reach Hal’nen but, when I finally did, he was waiting for me. He could have defeated me. He was indeed the better warrior. But he lacked of something. He did not have two pure souls as his allies. As it was supposed to be, they gave me their strength, their power. As I felt the Gift entering me, taking control of every part of me, my body, my mind, my soul, I knew I could defeat the Demon. I could stop the Evil from invading Earth. And I did. We fought, the most difficult fight of all my life, and I was already tired, too tired. Yet, the power of my two friends was giving me the strength to go on. We fought fiercely, him with anger and hate, I with love and perfect calm. The fear was no longer with me, the pain meant nothing to my body. I was winning.

But Hal’nen had a surprise for me. A surprise that almost cost me my life. He was stronger than he had showed me and his power came from Hell itself. The Portal I had fought so hard to stop from opening was doing it anyway. The power of my two friends was not enough to defeat him. I started loosing the battle and I ended up being thrown against one of the stone walls of the dark cavern he had chosen to be his lair. Then his attention turned to the twins, who had suddenly lost their shield of Light. As the Demon approached them I could only pray to my Father to save them. And I did it with all the strength my body hadn’t but my soul had. Suddenly, the light that had started fading, the light that surrounded them, was upon myself. It was too late for them but it was not for me. The Demon was still trying to cope with the new event, and he was still looking to the two children at his feet, when I jumped from the ground, with a new found strength and killed him. As my sword reached his heart, the cavern started to fall down and the Portal closed with a show of dark light. I left the cavern as fast as I could, never looking back, not even to the twins. I knew they were fine. They were with my Father. I just hoped I could join them soon.

With the Portal closed and with Hal’nen trapped inside Hell forever, the remaining demons flee away, their destination unknown to me but probably very far away from that city. And I waited. I waited for my Father to call me. It took days and I was starting to despair when the call came. I obeyed to it with my heart screaming with happiness. Soon I was home. And soon after I was before my Father.

This from him was worth more than anything out there. More than money was worth to Humans, more than power was worth for the demons. His approval meant everything to me. It meant everything to all of us Angels. Fame or prestige meant nothing to me, although I had many, brought by my Talent as a Warrior and by the success of this mission my Father had sent me to. Only the love of my Father meant anything. And that I had. Knowing that I could spent an entire eternity on Earth, away from Heaven, surviving to everything, just because I knew my Father loved me. But now I just wanted peace, the peace that could only be found in Paradise.

I found the twins under a tree in Paradise and I stayed with them for a long time. I returned to visit them everyday, or at least, whenever I could, whenever my Warrior duties allowed me to. Until I was sent again to Earth, on yet another mission to save the Humans from being controlled by the Evil. But that is another story, one not to be told now. Maybe one day...