The unity beyond the grave

You might think when you die, all these extreme emotions: hate, love, friendships, enemies, and whatnot, cease to exist, but rather they live on in the souls found in heaven and hell. These creatures, enemies residing on opposite ends of the earth, hadn’t had contact with each other for many centuries. Now, with an exceptional angel and his devil, all that was about to change.

Darius raced down the clouds, flapping his feathery white wings and brushing his fluffy brown hair out of his sparkling green eyes. His feathery clothes caught around his feet as he dived down into a cloud, and towards the majestic building above him, feeling like screaming in delight but restraining himself. Angels not working there were only allowed in Welkenmire if they were about to be sent on a quest!…or about to vanish. But Darius was sticking to the positive side and assuming the best. After all, he had waited his whole death for this, and now it was finally happening!

He had only been in heaven for 13 years (likely longer, but when you died after reincarnation, you lost your age and memories), yet he was already getting a quest and a chance to be reincarnated. It was nearly impossible! Angels waited for centuries before getting this chance, while he got it in a little more than a decade! He was nervous to say the very least, but he was an angel, and therefore a model for all, above or below ground. He would complete his quest in no time!

This is gonna be great

He took a deep breath and prepared to step through the imposing gates, castle-like turrets, and huge circular gates. You would think, considering it was made of clouds alone, it would seem flimsy and unreliable. Yet somehow the expertly woven threads of the clouds looked sturdier than any bricks, and the rainbow of colours provided a stunning, yet powerful effect. Who knew rainbows and fluffy clouds could be so terrifying?

He darted through one of the many oval openings, oblivious to the fact he would soon have the shock of his life. For how could he know he would be paired with the worst thing he could think of? A devil. 

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Maryla darted through the tunnels that surrounded her home, as the musty breeze sent her straight black hair flying around her face and hitting her sunkissed, dark skin. It was easy to see from a first glance, that she was trouble. Her hazel brown eyes seemed to shoot sparks of fire at anyone who stood in her way, and through her dirty, shredded clothes, her body was skinny but strong. Paired with her fiery attitude, it was easy to see why she was in the grimy, sweltering, unwanted…Hell.

She didn’t know how she’d ended up here, and she didn’t care. She was simply trying to make the eternity she’d spend here a little more bearable, though in the fiery underground prison she called home, the task was nearly impossible.

She typically avoided going this close underground, seeing as she didn’t fancy getting her head ripped off by a restless soul cursing the existence of angels and the“cursed homes of cursed angels of cursed heaven!”. Don’t get her wrong, she had her fiery flames of hate for those goody two shoes, but she was more practical about how she used her temper.

That was exactly why when she got “summoned” to Mirethorne, she was careful not to get carried away by the thought that she might get to leave this hellhole. She was tempted to brag, but she knew better. If it turned out to be a trick, she would be humiliated and quite frankly…she didn’t have anyone to tell. She hadn’t entered heaven with her parents, and no one in hell was exactly friendly. Devils learned pretty quickly that they would have to fend for themselves, and if they didn’t… Well, then they’d meet a fate worse than hell. 

And that was why as she crept silently towards the towering black gates, she kept her guard up. It might also be because she kept tripping over the overgrown vines, but she chose to ignore that part and focus on seeming calm and unbothered by her meeting with the leader of the villains, and the man who could single-handedly make her live her worst nightmare. Easy! Right?

**************************

Darius fought to prevent himself from gasping or gawking, but in a room the size of half the village and soon to be filled with so many important angels, it was proving to be nearly impossible. He couldn’t help but stare at the elaborate details on the many arches and the many gold-gilded paintings of the many angels who had served in Welkenmire as he sat on a soft chair in a cacophony of colours, its beauty rivalled only by the 3 magnificent throne-like chairs each in tier own ombre of colours. He hoped one day to serve here and be displayed on these magnificent walls with the other smiling angels. But for the time being, he simply waited inside the spectacular room in which he would be meeting the council- a group of angel representatives from the creator themself- and his fate.

After a minute or so, a group of regal angels entered the room and settled on the thrones. They wore feathery garments made of the most exquisite feathers, and their wings had a glowing golden tint to them. They were all probably old, but they looked radiant and beautiful. Darius was in awe as he hastily bowed to them and grinned stupidly awaiting the message they had wanted to deliver in person. The council nods, then takes their respective seats, corresponding to the colours of their clothing.

A stern angel seated in a green and blue ombre frowns at him, clearly annoyed to be there. Darius has a brief memory of a stern woman in green he used to know but brushes it off as an angel in pink and lavender turns to him. 

“Hello, Darius I presume?”

“Yes ma’am” 

“My name is Aurelia, and this is Catis and Pranil” 

She gestures towards the lady who had been frowning and an elderly man that Darius hadn’t paid much attention to. He looked slightly older than the others, seeing as even though he was radiant, his hair was more of a dull salt-and-pepper colour compared to the rich blonde and dark hair of his other two companions. While looks wise he was more plain, his throne and clothes were vibrant shades of red, orange, and yellow.

“We have brought you here today for a bit of a…unique quest,” Pranil says in a surprisingly clear voice. “You will be helping a young girl in the living world, who has been going through a tough time. She is struggling at home, and school. It’s gotten to the point where she’s starving herself and is starting to think about ending her own life. While she is certainly not a bad person, we fear that if she ends her life, she will end up in hell…like another devil I used to know…” Pranil trails off a little, seeming to be remembering something.

“This is why we brought you here today. This is a bit of a different quest because you are not being fully reincarnated and will return here as soon as you have finished helping the girl. When dealing with something as delicate as this, we try to be as careful and detached as possible. Staying in her life afterwards can be troublesome, so you will have your memories while helping her and will return to heaven at the same age as before. You will also have a partner helping you to do this quest. Typically these things are solo, but all 3 of you are the same age, and seeing how inexperienced you are, we thought it would be best to have backup from 2…different angles.” Catis interrupts, glaring at him as if daring him to object.

“Wow, this is so exciting!” Seeing the council’s somber expressions, he quickly elaborates. “I’m so glad I can help someone else and get to meet a new angel to help me! What are they like? Do I know them? Do they know me?” Darius asks excitedly.

The council shares a look, and Aurelia says,” You shall see your partner shortly. We would like you to begin immediately, and you have everything you need. Simply choose one of our transportation clouds, and let it do the rest.” 

Darius nods eagerly, wondering who the other angel is and whether they’ll like each other. He was still completely oblivious to the truth. He would be working with the worst thing he could think of. A devil.

***********************

Maryla felt like screaming, but she knew better than to show weakness when she was still visible and therefore vulnerable. She had absolutely zero interest in going up to the living world which had first gotten her here, or helping a random girl who’d probably only be scared of her if she ever found out that she was. Besides, she was a devil, and compassion or empathy wasn’t in her dictionary. She knew the only reason precious Heaven had agreed to have an angel and devil work together was because they suspected they’d fail and wanted someone on hand to be able to take the poor girl to hell. So now she had to talk to an angel because she knew that the council would be merciless if she refused, seeing as they were devils.

So, she stepped into the tunnel they had shown her, and began to climb up to where she would be meeting this infuriating angel she would have to work with.

*******************************

An hour later, she had finally reached the surface and the spot where she would be meeting her new partner. 

Surprise surprise! Mr. Goody two shoes had already arrived

“Hey, I’m Darius! I didn’t see you on the way down, but what neighbourhood are you from? I’ve never seen an angel dressed like that before. I found out that you lose your wings when you come here! All my clothes are this strange material! I didn’t know angels could have clothes in other colours! You must have got a faulty cloud and got a little messed up on your landing!”

“Listen up sunshine. I’m no angel, I’m an evil, rotten angel through and through. Clearly the other angels thought they’d spare you poor little angel, forced to work with a little baddie devil.” Maryla kept her voice sickly sweet yet menacing, focusing on her words rather than the dizzying feeling in the pit of her stomach. Her memories of hell were fully intact, but other memories were starting to push through to the surface as well. Ones that she would have rather forgotten.

“You’re a…Devil b-but that can’t be true! T-they would never make us work together. Right?”

“Trust me I don’t want to work with someone like you anyway. I’m doing this for the girl and the girl only.”

“Fine. Be that way. Will you at least tell me your name, or is that too much to ask form a devil like you.” Darius said, gritting his teeth.

“Say something like that again, and I’ll do things worse than death to you. ANd the name’s Maryla”

Then she turned instead to the matter of finding the girl. After a lot of directions and misdirections, bickering, running after vehicles, and more arguing, they finally found the girl. She was in an alley, slightly reminiscent of the grimy tunnels in Maryla’s beloved home. She was Asian and pretty enough, with straight black hair covering her face, a narrow nose, and a skinny figure. She sat crouched in a corner, sobbing and, as the two dead spirits realized, bleeding. Maryla had an uncomfortable feeling of deja vu, staring at the girl looking so put out and deflated, when she looked up, Maryla saw that her eyes already looked dead and hopeless. She looked vulnerable and weak, in a way that Maryla didn’t want to admit she could understand. And suddenly, it all became too much for Maryla, as her head swam with memories of a tan-skinned girl with dark hair sobbing similarly as her world fell apart. Remembered feeling so alone she just wanted it to… end. The last thing Maryla remembered was a boy’s voice calling her name, and her responding

 “Don’t let it happen to her too Darius”

Before it faded to black yet again.