Know Me By Name

When Kaylee was gone, I paused. All these angels falling was truly beginning to bother me. There had to be an explanation for it. There was no way this many angels could disappear at the same time. There was no way this many disobeyed His will. I could understand a few here and there, but upwards of ten or fifteen within days of each other was troubling. What was even more disturbing was that none of the newly fallen appeared on my list. The current names burned into my skin had fallen long ago, and I just had to find those ones.

So why were more of us falling? And why weren't those names on my ever growing list? Maybe someone was making us fall, but the Council would never allow that. Maybe the Council didn't know? That was an even more troubling thought because the Council was second in omnipotence to God. They saw nearly everything. It would be extremely odd if they were not aware of this Falling situation. I would soon need to talk to Michael about all this.

As these thoughts plagued my mind, another group of young angels came to watch Lucifer's Fall. Then it hit me, perhaps my mother's cronies had something to do with the angels falling. No, again, the Council would know about that.

I sighed and left the learning area. At this point, I might as well find Obadiah. It was always better to get the more painful ones out of the way before seeking out the less evil names on my body.

I cleared my mind and focused solely on his name. A green forest flashed into my head and in an instant, I was there. Dark shades of green entered my eyesight. Leaves crunched under my bare feet as I walked, listening for any sounds that didn't belong there. The green darkened to black as I walked further into the trees. A small breeze swayed the leaves, playing with my dark wings as well.

My forearm prickled as the sword God granted me rushed to my hand. He was close. The sounds changed, growing quieter the further I went. The soft animal noises disappeared, and I knew he was near.

My bare feet touched a sticky puddle. Squatting, I touched a hand to it. My fingers came away red with blood. He must have killed recently. Only one type of murder was justified: mine.

I kept moving forward, hoping to spot the Fallen one. It wasn't long before his body was in my sight. His white wings dripped bright red from the tips as he gnawed on the arm of a young woman. She was still alive, somehow. Her brown hair fell across her eyes as she tried to scream. He glanced up and covered her mouth with one of his grisly, blood-covered hands. Her brown eyes swam with tears as the sounds of flesh tearing echoed around us. I had seen enough.

"Obadiah!" My voice was filled with rage. There was only so much death and destruction even I could bear.

His feast ended as his eyes connected with my own. Terror filled his quickly darkening eyes. "No!" He dropped the girl. "Please!"

Flashing to the Fallen, I forced him to kneel. His blood-soaked hands curled into fists. He bared his red teeth at me.

"Obadiah, you have disobeyed your Father's will. For that you must pay the ultimate price." The words were always the same, only the names changed.

I raised the sword to my shoulder, the weight perfectly balanced. He turned his head to look up at me, and I struck down. Obadiah burst into a pile of white feathers, and his name faded to black on my left wrist. Another name down.

The young woman glanced at me, terror in her eyes. My broad sword shifted back to my right forearm, flashing a bright white before it too faded to black. Approaching the girl, she jumped back into the blood, terror in her eyes.

"What are you?" Her eyes bore into my bare chest which was covered in black, white, and red names. Her brown eyes then followed my body to my black wings and an involuntary shiver rushed down her back.

I sighed. "I am the angel of death."

Notes

Yo, though, this shit is hard. There is so much world-building I have to do! BLEGH.