Chapter 3: Prologue(3)
[Do you wish to live?]
'What?'
[Do you wish to live?]
Scarily, I had no idea where I was. I saw nothing, not even darkness. I had no physical sense of feeling, my body itself nonexistent, and the only noise I heard was the blinking of this weird message.
But whether what I saw was an illusion of Hell, or if it was real, it didn't matter.
'Yes. I wish to live.'
Slowly, I felt my body begin to materialize, from a tingling feeling on my toes, as it went up to my eyes. Once I could see, I blinked multiple times and looked around myself, checking for where I was.
The space was small, but it vastly resembled Heaven. It's ground a soft, cloudy haze, blended with the vast expanse of the sky.
Directing my gaze downward, I came to the realization that I wore nothing, and in the midst of this tangible existence, my body was crystal clear, like a ghost.
The air resonated with an old voice that queried, "are you curious?" In response, I turned swiftly to face a man whose appearance mirrored that of a middle-aged human, his face adorned with stubble, and his jet-black hair fashioned into a ponytail, with strands gracefully framing his features. "You want to know why you're here, don't you?"
Quickly I tried to touch my chest, just for it to go through, "you needn't worry. Aeonis and Mirage's mask are a part of your soul, they go wherever you go."
"What is this place…And who are you?"
Casually, the man walked past me and, with a snap of his fingers, transformed the ground beneath us into a window unveiling one of the mortal worlds. Suspended just a few hundred feet above a clock tower, my enhanced vision enabled me to observe every intricacy of the humans below. Ornate skyscrapers sprawled in the distance, and the streets echoed with the distinctive cadence of what humans referred to as jazz music emanating from their automobiles. Magically produced lights adorned the streets, with specific storefronts changing colors to correspond with their businesses.
"What do you think of humans, Uriel?"
"How do you kno-"
"Do you think they are envious creatures? Are they the ones to be envious of? You see, many humans wish they weren't human, but instead an angel of Heaven. Whereas only a small number of angels wish to be human."
"Human or not, why would I want to be mortal?"
The man held a fist over his mouth, "Hahaha!" He laughed out loud, pointing his finger at me, "then what are you? You're dead, are you not? You even live in the only plane of existence where one's soul can be erased. Is that not more dangerous than the middle plane?"
I furthermore glanced down upon the humans, one in particular who laid in an alleyway. His suit was tattered, and he sat there silently crying, "they've nothing to offer me."
"Sure, they do. Most of your lifetime has been under an archangel. Have you never sought out the freedom humans might have?" He stroked his chin, and soon the vision below us transformed to a house. A man outside playing baseball with his son as his wife cheered for their son.
"No, I haven't. If anything, humans are the species that lack the most freedom. The gaps in power there are too large, and families like this one get torn apart every day. Something you don't have to worry about in Heaven."
"Ah yes," He started, the kid below us hitting a ball out into another front yard, his parents cheering him on. "The feeling of loss is what you're referring to. While you may not think this, humans and angels are much alike in that aspect. And no matter how much you try to act as if it isn't, you just need to remember why you went under that last archangel of yours, Michael."
"Enough chatting," My face contorted in a puzzled expression, eyebrows furrowed, and a quizzical tilt to my head as I looked at the human family. The father held the kid up, as if he were a champion, and the wife tickled him mid-air, all three of them laughing.
"Why did you bring me here?"
"The system already asked you, but I'll ask too. Uriel," he started, everything quickly turned into an orb of darkness, much like what I did to Michael, "Do you WANT to live."
'So that's what this is,' I briefly laughed, 'Guess I'll just climb my way back up.'
My ghostly body began to disappear, and I once more became one with my true body.
"Yeah, I want to live."
"Very well then." He placed his right hand in a snapping position, saying one last thing with a smile on his face. "I wish you the best."
As the darkness began to dissipate, Heaven started to reappear. My mind, like a dormant fog, began to disperse. A sharp inhalation abruptly pierced the stillness, echoing in the ears like the first gasp of a newborn. My lungs greedily seized air, each breath a desperate plea for oxygen, as if surfacing from the depths of a submerged reality. My chest heaved, muscles contracting in an instinctive dance of survival, while my throat, parched and raw, rasped with the laborious effort of drawing in life-sustaining breaths.
Attempting to bring out my left wing, it had to break through my skin, a blood-curdling scream bellowing in the air, "AGH!" I yelled out, my wing bone slowly deteriorating from that odd substance Michael used. My wings quickly fell, like leaves off a tree, and my bone followed as it melted away.
The sky below me cracked, as if a field of ice was breaking apart, and soon a large echo reached right below me.
"Fuck."
The celestial bonds shattered, casting me into the void between realms. The wind tore at my being as I violently spun through the atmosphere, flames licking my form, painting a fiery tapestry of impending doom.
Hurtling past a towering skyscraper, I steeled myself for the inevitable collision. The moment my body met the unforgiving pavement of a nameless street, a colossal explosion ensued, it's devastating shockwaves echoing for miles in every direction, claiming the lives of all in its embrace.
Unaware of the passing days, I lay in the crater, my life force ebbing away. Below my knees, both legs severed; my chest, a concave testament to the brutality endured, and several fingers lost, whether it was from the falling or the impact.
"L-Look!" I heard a voice, painfully twisting my neck to see who, but my vision had blurred too much. "H-He's breathing!"
"Idiot, he's as good as dead. Wait a minute, what's that on his back?"
The two kept talking, but I soon found myself unable to process their words, I reluctantly closed my eyes, the pain still insurmountable.
[All conditions met.]
[Commencing stage one: Soul Gathering.]
[22%]
[46%]
[84%]
[Complete.]
[Commencing stage two: A Host.]
[8%]
[34%]
[65%]
[99%]
[Complete.]
[Commencing final stage: Reincarnation.]
[2%]
[23%]
[61%]
[77%]
[94%]
[All stages have been completed.]
[Let us meet again in your new life, Uriel.]
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone