Ch. 3
MACHIDIEL
So...what now?
I am bit unsure of where exactly we are. I had simply wanted to find somewhere we could talk in privacy, and this was the closest place. I think humans called it a...store? It is unoccupied, and it looks like it had been that way for a while. No one would come in here any time soon.
Now, the next few minutes could go two ways. One, I explain the situation to my chosen, who listens carefully and helps me carry out the rest of my plan without any problems. Or two, I explain the situation and my chosen reacts negatively. Every teacher I had ever had during training had warned the same thing: Humans may not know of our existence on Earth. So this...what I am about to do and say...
"Wh...where am I?"
My gaze shifts over to my chosen. She is standing now, her back to me. Angels have powerful senses that humans don't, so they can be easily frightened. I better make my presence known. Our first greeting in her bedroom had been less than satisfactory, so this one needed to be better.
"Hello, Amber," I say.
She turns quickly, wide-eyed. "You."
"Yes, me. I hope I did not scare you too much." Pleasant. That is what I need to be right now. I had spent the last two months reading up on human greetings to prepare for this interaction. It needed to be perfect. "I wanted to-"
She spins around and starts to run. Perhaps I said something wrong, though I had not said much yet. I close my eyes and release a wave of my powers in her direction. Instantly she appears in front of me. This time, she screams.
"Jesus Christ!" she growls. "What the hell kind of dream is this?!"
"Oh, no, I am not him," I assure her. "Although, I suppose I can understand your confusion."
She places her hands against my chest and shoves. I look down at her, and she blinks in surprise. Was she expecting that to affect me? Slowly, she drops her hands and takes a step back from me. A strange look comes over her face.
"Okay," she says. "I don't know why I'm dreaming about you but stay back. What are you, a freaking demon or something?"
"Demon?" I feel a surge of power rumble in me at the remark, and I have to will it down. "You insult me. I am an angel of the Lord."
She goes still. "You're what?"
Good. This was good. "My name is Machidiel," I said, bowing at the waist, "and I am an angel of the Lord. I am here because I have to discuss something with you, Amber Rawling."
Silence. I straighten. Her mouth is wide open. I think this is what humans called shock. It is interesting to witness in person. Slowly, her mouth closes and she whispers, "You're insane. Let me go."
Okay, not good. "If you would-"
"Let me go!"
I had not wanted to resort to this, but I think I might have to. Why were humans so close-minded? "Alright," I say. "Then I will show you."
"Show me what?"
I lift my hand, and she flinches. I pause and ask, "May I?"
She does not respond, and I step forward. She squeezes her eyes shut tight as I place two fingers on her forehead. Then, I close my eyes and dive down deep into myself. Into a pit at the core of my essence, a place I have only ever touched a few times before. It always seemed deeper down than I expected. I grip the power there tightly, and I pull it to the surface with all my strength. Warmth erupts through me, and I will it to flow past me into the human standing before me. She lets out a sound, but she does not move back from my touch.
I slow the magic and say, "I, Machidiel, grant my chosen, Amber Rawling, to see me as I wish."
I step back and open my eyes, my chosen doing the same. Hers widen as she takes in the new sight. "You might feel a mild strain in your eyes from adjusting," I say.
I had always been told in training that our true selves were never to be shown to humans, not even when they arrived in Heaven. That the mere sight of us in our true form would set their eyes ablaze and their hearts would freeze on the spot. But humans also are not as trusting as angels; Amber would not have believed me had I not had some sort of proof. So, I had prepared a dulled down version of my true self. I flex the muscles in my shoulders, stretching the silver wings I'd been keeping hidden. It feels good to have them out.
Her mouth is open again. "You've got wings. And your eyes, they're..."
Now that, I had not counted on. It had taken forever to find a scripture on how to conceal and bring out an angel's true form. In Heaven we walk as our true selves, so there is never a need to contain oneself. Even at times when angels would come down to Earth to see their chosens, they were invisible to human eyes so there was no need to hide. The scripture I finally found dated back to centuries before I was born, when angels walked the Earth alongside humans. Then, it had taken a full month for me to learn to fully conceal myself and appear human. Dimming my aura, constraining my wings. Figuring out just how much of myself I could reveal without harming her was even harder. The wings would have been good enough, but I suppose I had gone too far just now if my eyes were also revealed now.
An angel's eyes are a gateway to the power hidden deep inside. They are constantly swirling and churning with colors given by our rank in Heaven. Though I had never personally seen mine, I was told by Sablo that they are a brilliant gold. Shutting my eyes, I push the power back down, down, down. I can feel my wings constricting, the power in my head residing. I had decided on a typical human male's appearance, and I will my body to return to that state.
When I open my eyes, Amber is sitting on the ground staring at her feet. I watch as she rubs her eyes and sighs. "This is crazy," she mumbles.
I wait.
"Okay, okay." She drops her hands and looks up at me. "I'm listening."
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***
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“So that is everything, I believe," I finish.
Amber blinks at me. While I had been talking, she had stood and begun pacing in front of me. Now, she sits back down on the floor and drops her face into her hands again.
"Alright, back up, back up," she says. "Let me get this straight. So, you're an angel, and you're supposed to help me find my soulmate, because apparently that's what angels do nowadays. But for some reason, you can't find my soulmate like the other angels can with their humans. So, you decided that for your last chance, you needed something major to make sure things worked out for both of us." She lifted her head and looked at me. "So here you are now, in front of me."
"Correct." More or less. She does not need all of the details right now.
She leans her head back and stares at the ceiling. "And how long...how long have you been doing this?"
I think for a second. "From the moment we are made, all angels are put through training for 400 years to learn how to use our powers. Then after that, Sablo personally trained me for another 250 years, and then you were assigned to me. So, I have been with you for...10 years or so."
"Ten years?!" she gapes at me. I nod, and she completely falls back and lays out on the ground. "You've been...watching me from Heaven for ten years?"
"Correct."
Silence again. I wait. This is a lot to take in for her small human mind. I watch as she sits up straight. "Alright," she says after a moment, "Hold on. So, you're telling me that every boyfriend I've ever had-"
"That was me." I still remember the day she had been assigned to me. She had been so small then. And now, she is a full-grown woman. It is marveling, if I am being honest. Getting to watch her grow. Humans live such short lives. No time had passed for me, but to see the 19-year-old before me and speak to her face-to-face...it feels like something past my wildest imaginations.
She is glaring at me now, though, which I find unsettling. "Please, explain everything to me again. I'll really listen this time."
This is starting to get tedious, but I needed her full cooperation in order for this to work. She looks angry, which is an emotion I had read about multiple times. Angry humans are less likely to listen, so I suppose I can mention the important parts again.
"Alright," I say. "So, all angels are given a human on Earth as their chosen to look after. You are mine. We use our powers to guide you through life and down the right paths, eventually leading to a happy life filled with peace, love, and prosperity. We are invisible to the human eye in times when we physically come down to Earth, but most angels simply carry out their plans from Heaven through the bonds. An angel is bonded with their chosen from the moment they are given to them."
"Explain what being bonded means again."
"Alright, think of it as...a sort of bridge between our minds, connecting us. It allows me to see you and feel you from Heaven. I just..." I pause. She raises her eyebrows, and I say, "I am unable to explain it. But it is...difficult for me to use my powers through our bond. Whenever I try, it goes wrong."
"Hence the 80-bajillion break ups I've had. So basically, what I'm hearing is that you don't know how to find my soulmate," she says, and now I cancannot tell what she is feeling.
Human expressions are so difficult to understand. One of the books I had read said that sometimes humans will have a certain expression on their face but be feeling something completely different. That just made everything harder for me. I wish the bond was just a little bit easier to use.
"Alright, so I'm curious," she continues. "What does this mean for you and me, then?"
Now this is what I was waiting for. "Well, staying in Heaven and trying to get the bond to work was getting me nowhere. This is a huge risk, but with your help, I believe I can figure out my powers and find your true soulmate. Perhaps my issue was simply proximity."
She sighs, pushing strands of her hair out of her face. I take the moment of silence to study her up close. Amber has curly dark brown hair that stops halfway down her back, with brown eyes and skin to match. She wraps her arms around her legs and hugs her knees tight to her chest, exposing toned and muscular legs. Amber had been an athletic child growing up; her parents always had her in at least two sports each year.
I feel strange then as the realization creeps in. Knowing that if I reach out, I can touch her. She is real. This is real.
I had only ever seen her through visions in my mind, courtesy of the bond. Over the centuries, angels slowly stopped going down to Earth to visit their chosens as our powers evolved over time. So, to truly be standing before her now...it is extraordinary.
She leans forward and places her forehead down on the top of her knees. Her back rises slowly with her breathing, her hair falling around her. I guess she is thinking everything over. So, I simply stand there, nothing but silence between us. I feel a sort of comfort being so close to, though.
Then, I am walking towards her before I know it.
I kneel in front of her, reaching out to touch her hair. Her head jerks up, and I hear her breathing hitch as she stares at me.
"You're...really close," she mumbles. "They not teach you about personal space in angel school?"
My eyes search her face. I feel like I can still see the younger version of herself in her eyes. Slowly, I drag my hand through her hair and down her face, stopping on her cheek. She shutters at my touch, and something strange shoots through me. I had not felt so at ease in...a long time. It feels so natural, to be here with her like this. Is it like this for all angels when we meet our chosens? It makes me wonder why it is forbidden to interact with them.
Amber leans into my touch. "Your hands are so cold. But it...feels good. My head feels like it's on fire."
Her face does feel warm. I want to reach my other hand out to touch her. This feeling...what is it? The strange sensation I got simply by being so close to her is like nothing I had ever experienced. Slowly, I lean back until I am sitting like her.
She watches me, a strange look on her face. I am now at eye level with her, a position I had been told never to subject myself to in front of a human. And yet, it feels only natural to be on the same footing as my chosen. Strangely, I find myself believing that I do not want her to see me as superior. I do not want her help because she is simply afraid of me. The thought of that...does not feel good.
No, I realize as she leans forward and presses her forehead lightly to mine. I want her to help me because she wants to. I want it to be her choice.
This plan needs to work. I need her to understand and help me. I need to prove myself. Because if this last chance doesn't work...
I am going to be beyond anyone's help.
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TO BE CONTINUED...
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A look into our gorgeous angel's head every few chapters or so seems like it could be interesting, yeah?
-Zuffy <3
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