Gabriel…
A decade had passed since the angel descended to the earth and had seen Aakifah and Rakan, leaving them with a name for their child, their beautiful daughter Reyna.
Since then, he had not visited them in person over the threat of what his father might do if he was caught, or what Azrael might think if she knew what he was doing. Even though he knew that he wasn’t supposed to go down to earth, every now and then he would focus his presence to watch over that family who he had blessed.
However, today was Reyna’s tenth birthday and from watching the humans, he had learned that their birthdays were times of great celebration for them. Many goats, lambs, and sheep would be prepared ahead of time for a feast that would take place.
For Reyna’s tenth birthday, he wanted to greet her in person and celebrate alongside them. This meant that he would need to sneak out and hopefully come up with an excuse in case he ran into someone.
But just as he was about to vanish from his father’s eyes and leave his city, Cassiel appeared before him.
“Hello brother. You seem in a bit of a hurry don’t you?” he asked.
“Cassiel! It has...been a long since I’ve seen you!” Gabriel replied with mild surprise in his voice.
Truly, it has been many years since Cassiel had last shown himself. Not since their brother Lucifer lost his grace and fell upon the earth. All the angels had voiced their worry about Cassiel to the extent that even Father had ordered for the angels to search for him.
Yet, when Gabriel looked upon his brother’s face, he noticed not a change in the man’s appearance or demeanor. He still had the same stoic and cool expression on his face.
“Yes…it has been some time. Although, a few years passing should feel like a blink of an eye to us angels, shouldn’t it?”
“A few years…?! Cassiel, it has been centuries since anyone has last seen you! Where have you been?”
“With your power, surely you could have found me quite easily. Why didn’t you?” he asked.
“I tried! You had disappeared even beyond my eyes! Even within my presence, you had gone far from my reach. Far beyond the hundreds of thousands of galaxies that my soul can reach. Again I ask you, where have you been?”
Cassiel smiled faintly as he looked up and away towards the stars in the sky as he said, “I’ve been visiting the far reaches of this universe, exploring and experimenting with newfound power.”
He then returned his attention to Gabriel and asked, “I wonder though...where do plan on going today?”
He asked that question with an unusual expression on his face, almost as if he already knew the answer to that question.
With Cassiel here, it would make sneaking out almost impossible. His all seeing eyes given to him by their Father would spot him the very moment he left.
Gabriel, frozen by his brother’s questioning, failed to muster up a response.
“I’m curious as to what you are up to brother… I wonder what Azrael would say if the very one she dotes on so much were to find you sneaking about,” he said with the hint of a teasing tone in his voice.
Unexpectedly, his expression changed as he let out a small chuckle.
“I jest… Speaking truthfully, I do not care enough about where you wish to go or what you might intend to do. I doubt that our Father cares that much either so long as we don’t go out of our way to make our actions noticeable or interfere with whatever he is doing. Do what you like. I will not say anything,” he said as he walked past Gabriel and was on his way to leave.
Shaken by Cassiel’s sudden appearance and his unusual words, Gabriel could not bring himself to move from where he stood. With Cassiel returned at the worst possible timing, he could not help but feel that he had done this on purpose.
“You will...say nothing to father?” Gabriel asked, turned around to look his brother in the eyes and Cassiel stopped in place.
A moment of silence passed between them as his brother turned to meet his eyes.
Cassiel responded, “Of course. I swear I will speak nothing of the sort to our father or to Azrael. You have my word. Do as you please.”
Breathing a sigh of relief, Gabriel said, “I thank you.”
“Think nothing of it,” he said and left the room.
With his brother’s words of approval, Gabriel’s presence vanished from Father’s city and reappeared on Terra.
He covered himself in the same cloth that he had worn when he had last visited Aakifah and Rakan before reaching their village.
The very moment he stepped foot inside he could hear the sounds of singing and music as the villagers would beat their drums and dance around a large fire.
From a distance, Gabriel could see Rakan carrying Reyna on his shoulders as they danced to the music. Aakifah was sitting down with a tired expression on her face while clapping to the music and watching them dance.
Reyna herself laughed and had an incredible smile on her face as they celebrated for her.
Great amounts of food and animal skins were set aside for the feast and the giving of gifts for her.
Smiling at their happiness, he approached them as they danced and Aakifah was first to notice him as her eyes widened and she quickly stood to greet him.
To keep the other villagers from suspecting who he was he decided to completely remove any trace of Father’s light from his body and wore what the other villagers were wearing. However, none of that kept Aakifah from immediately recognizing who he was.
She walked towards him while Rakan, Reyna, and the other villagers continued on without a care. Some of the other villagers noticed him walking towards them but thought nothing of it and continued celebrating.
“My Lord, Gabriel. What...what brings you here today?” she asked him.
“I wish to celebrate Reyna’s birthday along with all of you if you would have me?” he answered and she looked ecstatic.
“Oh! Oh, of course. Please, come! Sit with us!” she said a she led him to a seat next to her.
He sat down next to her and continued to watch and enjoy the moment with them as they danced and sang throughout the night.
However, the moment that Rakan spotted him, he had a look of mild confusion for a moment before his eyes widened in realization.
Gabriel smiled and nodded to him.
Reyna however, was oblivious to all of this and asked, “Why did you stop dad?”
“Because someone very important to us has arrived to see you,” he answered and put Reyna down before ushering her over to him. Despite Rakan and Reyna both stepping away, everyone continued to sing and dance as normal.
“You came to celebrate as well?” Rakan asked.
“I did. I thought that today would be the best time. Reyna is surely of a ripe enough age in her childhood where she might best remember me. I also intend to give her a gift of my own when the time arises,” he said.
Reyna, who was unaware of what was going on, began to ask, “Who are you? Why are you so important?”
Rakan frowned at her but did nothing while Aakifah struggled to answer, “He is…”
Gabriel then held out his hand to Reyna and said, “My name is Gabriel. I came to your mother and father in their time of need and gave you your name Reyna. Would you sit with me?”
Uncertainty showed on her face as she hid behind her father’s legs. However Rakan knelt down next to her and assured her that it was alright.
“Do not be afraid of me child. I will not harm you or cause you worry,” Gabriel said and she walked towards him before sitting down next to him.
“Would you like me to tell you why I named you ‘Reyna’?” he asked her.
She nodded slowly and he smiled once again.
“I gave you that name because when you were born I could feel great strength within you. Such strength that I knew, if you were to travel to the farthest reaches of this world and to claim it as your own, surely you would achieve that. All that you seek in this world, with your own strength, you would gain it. The love you gain, and will continue to gain from your mother and father, will make you into an amazing woman, I am sure. Should you aim for it, you may even reach the skies and the stars,” he said to her.
Hearing his words, a look of wonder shone in her eyes.
“All of this world...will be mine?” she asked him.
“If you seek it, yes. All of the beasts that roam the lands, all the precious stones that rest in the ground, all the lands and all the valleys, all the rivers and lakes. All that you see in this world, if you willed it, you could gain all of it in this world. You could go seeking after all of it and gain it through those eyes,” he said to her.
Reyna then looked around at the entire village, then looked at the trees and the grass and the mountains in the distance. She then looked up into the sky, staring at the stars and asked, “If I can gain all of what you say I can, how would I be able to hold it all in my hands?”
Hearing this unexpected question, he then answered, “Well, you would need to go out into the world to search for it. Though to do that, you would need great strength. The strength to fight off the most ferocious beasts that prowl these lands so that they may not hinder you from any goal you set your mind to. Now, although you cannot hope to physically hold the entirety of this world in your own hands, you may commit every beautiful thing in this world to your memory if you wished. That is what I mean when I say that you may gain all that is in this world.”
Rakan then interjected as he said, “But of course, you cannot leave this village until I have trained you and until I can come with you on this journey. I too, would like to see the rest of this world that you may claim to your memory.”
Aakifah then said, with a joking tone and a smile, “You had best not leave your dear mother behind either. I must join you as well to see all these wonders that would be yours.”
Gabriel then pulled asked for a length of thread and picked a rock off the ground. He held it in his hand and using the power of Father’s light, crushed it in his hand and formed a stone charm. When he unfolded his fingers, fragments of the stone spilled out and what was left was a flat, circular stone charm in the shape of six wings folded on top of one another with a single eye set in the middle. He then put the thread through the hole at the top and hung it for Reyna to see.
“I gift this totem to you, Reyna. When you make your way on your journey and you encounter dangerous creatures that you cannot hope to match, pray to God or to any of his angels and the light of God will flow through it and ward away all that wish to harm you. Likewise, if you meet an angel on your journey, their very presence will cause it to shine ever so brightly. Also, if you are ever to lose this, it will always return to you.”
He then held it by both ends and asked, “May I hang it around your neck?”
Reyna stared at him for a moment before finally nodding.
When he finished tying it, before pulling away, he touched the face of the totem and it began to glow.
“Huh, what? Its glowing right now! Why…?” she stammered until she finally understood. She looked at Gabriel and was at a complete loss for words. She looked like she was about to cry over what he had given her but instead reached out and hugged him.
Her parents, surprised by this, looked like they would have jumped out of their skin but Gabriel did not recoil from her and simply hugged her back.
“I thank you for such kindness Reyna,” he said as he held her.
As she was about to pull away he was suddenly met with an uncomfortably chilly feeling.
Gabriel then looked around and noticed that everyone had stopped moving. They went still as statues. Even the flames themselves have gone still.
What is happening…?
In the next moment, everything around him began to turn into black smoke. The light began to fade, and everything began to swirl into a chaotic vortex.
Gabriel then looked down at himself and realized that he was not the same person but rather the man who’s mind that the dream was taking place within.
Marcus stood up and looked around him at the swirling black smoking mass and wondered why his dream had been interrupted like this.
This had never happened in any of his dreams before.
He wasn’t sure if he could use magic in a dream like this but decided to try as he materialized his sword and swept it through the smoke only for it to pass through it without affecting it.
“What is going on…?” he murmured to himself.
“I would like to know the answer to that too,” a voice said from within the smoke.
Marcus focused in on the voice and spotted a very tall, insanely muscular man. He had black scales on his neck, arms, legs, and around his eyes. Black claws extended out from his hands and feet and his elbows had large spines on them.
He walked towards Marcus and began looking around at his surroundings before he scoffed and said, “I never would have figured that any man would be foolish enough to devour my soul, but perhaps it is only fitting that it would be the man who killed me.”
It was then that he realized, that the man who stood before him was none other than Malthael, The Archdragon of the Abyss.