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Auriel plummeted through the layers of ether. Dark colors spiraled behind her. It was the only evidence of her having passed through the thin atmosphere. This atmosphere was not made of air, however. It was of a spiritual substance. The ether was also her home.

Looking to her south she noticed Michael struggling to catch his fall. His wings he depended on to keep him aloft in the ether had disappeared, much like hers. Streamers of red and green billowed out behind him.

To the east she noticed Raphael blazing a purple and gold trail through the ether. The sword he was wont to carry had been left behind at their headquarters on a table made of silken wings. Angel wings were not made of bird feathers as the ridiculous humans thought, but of the astral substance that was left behind in the ether from the death of a silkworm.

Gabriel, to her west, had used her voluminous blue and orange robes to stall her descent much like a parachute. She was falling slower than Auriel, Michael, and Raphael. Distance was appearing between them.

Each angel's equipment had been left behind at headquarters as they had been cleaning their chattel at the time heavens floors had opened and they had begun a hasty descent towards Earth. Under normal circumstances when a Qabalistic magician asked for their presence, a ritual would take place and the angels would have plenty of time to adorn themselves.

Auriel would carry an inscribed pantacle decorated in the colors of a lush, verdant, fertile forest. Raphael, as mentioned, would carry a shining sword which lightning flashed out of. Michael used a sturdy lance, sometimes as a weapon, sometimes as a pointing instrument. Gabriel held a beautiful, humble, potter's cup within which the glowing light spilled out, representing the Holy Spirit.

This time there was no warning. One of the many Qabalistic magicians who knew their names and calls had summoned them without ritual. It was one of the many they knew and had formed close attachments with. It was the only possible explanation for the magician's ability to summon them with such ease and rapidity.

Darkness leaped from beneath the descending angels. It was a forced deceleration. It was heavy, sticky, membranous. As Auriel sank further into the goo, she lost sight of her fellow angels. A panicked thought floated from her mind. As a rule, angels don't panic. The emotion of panic was strange, unfamiliar to her.

A thought of agreement greeted her from Michael's particular mental voice.

Good, thought Auriel. At least they could still communicate through this gloom.

A resounding thud from above informed Auriel, Raphael, and Michael that Gabriel had finally joined them in the mess.

It felt like an eternity to God's favorite four archangels as they struggled against the goop. Wingless, weaponless, and out of their natural substance of heavenly ether, it was of no use. The more they struggled, the denser their environment became. Soon they were released they were not exactly alone.

A thought next to Auriel shocked her into stopping her struggles. A tiny mind-voice began to ask questions, not through the words a human would use but through vibrations. It had been a long time since Auriel had communicated with a human thus. Of human origin, it was. It came through in the energy. But of what age, impossible to tell. Then Auriel realized why the human was communicating as it was. It was a baby. In fact, it was a fetus. An unborn baby.

The other 3 Angels had also found themselves partnered with questioning little minds communicating in frequency only. In synchronicity, the mental shout went up from the four that they realized they were in a womb occupied by quadruplets.

That was when they understood the danger. The angels had descended from eternity into the flesh. There was no way back. At least, not the way they came.

A squeezing shudder, a clamping sensation gripped the tiny bodies. The fetus's cried in agony as one. A frightening thought came from the mother. It was one of the angel's most loyal magicians whom they served. A prayer came from her. 'Please Auriel, Michael, Raphael, Gabriel, save the souls of my babies'.

The humming frequency of the minds of the babies began to diminish. Something was happening to the mother's body that was putting it through trauma bad enough to have made her reach out for the angels and summon them to her womb. Now that the angels were there, they could not leave nor assist her in any way.

A tiny light beneath the fetus and angels had cracked open.

Auriel said, “She is about to give very premature birth.”

“Those souls won't live. They aren't developed enough.” Gabriel pointed out.

The buzz of the fetus's mind decreased. One of them had winked out of existence. Michael noticed the soul leaving the body. With a few deft mental moves, he passed the soul onto heaven.

Raphael nudged Gabriel, “Take it. Take the body. It's the only way. Remember, she prayed for this pregnancy. We were with her when she cast the spell. Taking the bodies, living a life, and dieing may be our only way home.”

The 3 remaining fetuses mourned the loss of their sibling. Another contraction racked the mother's body, and the dead fetus was blocking the light. Gabriel zoomed into the body. It shuddered. Within moments, the lungs, brains, intestines, and heart, everything necessary for the baby to live had been developed to perfection. Gabriel disappeared down the tube.

The shock of losing a sibling stopped the heart of another fetus. Gabriel gave a little giggle, “Mikey, do your thing. I'll take this one.” Again, the dead fetus began to live again. Again, it developed within moments enough of its internal organs so that it might live when it was given birth to. That fetus, too, disappeared down the canal.

The last 2 fetuses sent a frequency as one to the 2 remaining archangels. “If you would be so kind archangel Michael, we would love to join our siblings in heaven. We had promised each other that we would always stay together when the call came for these fetuses to be inhabited. We had made plans to spend our entire life on Earth together. It was an eternity we waited for a suitable time to be born. Please send us up to our siblings.”

Michael acquiesced. Auriel and Michael inhabited the fetus's developing them so that they might live when they exited the womb. Michael went first. Auriel took a last look at the womb, lamenting the fact it may well be 100 years before her or her siblings would assist another magician in their spell-work.

Never mind, she thought. She wasn't the only archangel of rank Auriel, specialist work. There were many other Auriels, Michaels, Gabriels, and Raphaels, each with their weapons, and duties.

The first thing Auriel noticed after sliding down the birth canal was the weight. Auriel had gone from light to solid. With a half-hearted effort, she lifted her hand to try and touch her face. She had no energy to fight the gravity. She opened her mouth and her lungs expanded, sucking in air. It was sharp, heavy. It hurt. She screamed. Halfway through her scream, she realized that her siblings were screaming too.

These were the first breaths they had ever taken in their entire existence. They would be followed by many more.

NEVER THE END