Surprise, Exorcise, Vanish - Chapter 4

“Something has happened.”

It had been Michael to interrupt the proceedings in the council chamber. The other four in the chambers had been locked in discussion, a discussion he had interrupted.

It was a welcome interruption. Sera had been disinterested with the quite frankly boring minutiae. While Oscar could be enthusiastic about any given subject or task, his gusto regarding the bureaucracy he managed was, at times, a little too much to handle.

In fact, his nigh-infinite enthusiasm for it was why she gave him the job in the first place, and the seraphim wings to go along with it. He was the only one willing and able to manage the sprawl of bureaucracy that had grown past her abilities to tend to.

Leo and Galan glanced at Michael. As did Oscar, who stopped mid-sentence. “Mikey?”

Michael fiddled with his phone. “Sorry Oz, it’s a priority message.”

“Oh? About what?”

“It’s from Peter, at the Gates.”

“Oh. Ooh.” A second passed in silence as the realization set in for those present.

“So, who is it?” Galan mused. “Not… her again, I hope.”

Michael didn’t reply. He was still reading the rest of the message on his phone. “Huh.”

“What does ‘huh’ mean, Michael?” Leo asked.

“He says it was one of us.”

“Us?”

Michael looked up at Leo. “One of us,” he repeated. “According to Peter, a seraphim arrived at the Gates.”

The confusion was evident in all of the others’ faces. “Which of the others?” Galan broke the silence.

“That’s just the thing, it is someone new. According to Peter at least.”

That got everyone’s attention, including hers. Especially hers. “When?”

“Several hours ago.”

“And he’s just telling you now?” Leo said incredulously.

Michael shrugged. “Peter’s married to his job, he takes his work more seriously than Oscar does. Things have been pretty hectic for him and Emily, or so she told me last we spoke. He most likely just waited for a lull in the traffic.”

“But a new seraphim, and at the Gates?”

“And not at the Throne, I know.” Eyes turned to her. “High Seraphim?”

“Michael?”

“Would you allow me to step away to investigate this?”

She spent a moment deliberating. “You don’t have to go Michael,” she said, rising from her seat at the head of the table. “I will see to this myself.” She needed the break, they had been at this for hours already.

“Allow me to accompany you? This is not like the last time where it was just a pair of sinners,” Michael insisted. “If something were to go amiss-”

“A wayward angel and the daughter of-” She caught herself before she said his name. Galan and Oscar both flinched at the silence where that name would have been. Michael and Leo were more stoic, but their expressions flashed sour for the briefest of moments.

On second thought… “You’ve made your point,” Sera acquiesced. “Come with me.”

“Thank you, Lady Sera.”

“Leo, you come as well. I may have need of your medical expertise.”

“Of course.” The two of them rose, moving to join her.

“And Oscar, apologies, but the rest of the brief will have to wait. This matter takes precedence.”

Oscar bowed. “I don’t quite understand, but I yield to your wisdom, milady.”

“When seraphim are ‘born,’ they form whole before the Throne,” she briefly explained. “They don’t arrive as mortals do at the Gates.” It was a little bit more complicated than that, but it was the abridged version of events.

“Ah, I understand.” Sera recalled how Emily had first appeared at the Throne’s foot as the mortal equivalent of an infant, swathed in linen and crying. She had appeared there, sent by Him when Heaven had been in need.

Emily had set herself toward the same task that… that he had set himself toward, long ago. Her appearance had been one of the few ways He had communicated with his choir, through brief recollections and the briefer experience of being alongside Him.

And now, there may be another.

“It’s certainly unprecedented,” Galan rumbled, his myriad rings spinning in thought.

“Perhaps Peter was wrong? What if we’re wasting our time?” Leo ventured.

The venerable ophanim shrugged. “I trust that man’s judgment over wishful thinking. If he thinks it’s so, it’s so. Pete’s still sharp as a tack, even after all these years.”

“Perhaps.”

“That settles it then.” Leo turned to Sera, “When do we leave?”

“Now. Oscar, Galan, send a message to the others. Inform them that they are needed at the Palace as soon as possible.”

“Already done, milady!” Oscar said cheerfully, his own phone in hand. “Gabe’s gonna be upset though.”

“Gabriel’s on vacation, and on our lady’s orders no less.”

Sera sighed. “He’ll understand.”

Michael and Leo had done this before and knew what to do. They both stepped close, each extending a hand to the High Seraphim. She took their outstretched hands and, in a flash of golden light, they were away and gone.

They arrived just as a newcomer was just leaving. Or perhaps arriving, rather. Sera glimpsed a slip of a girl, looking over her shoulder and wings in surprise as the Gates closed. She spared them no further mind, turning to the long time Keeper that had summoned them.

“Saint Peter,” she addressed him, "What of your message?”

“Milady!” the angel bowed. “Apologies for meeting again under such circumstances.”

“No apology is needed, we came as soon as I was informed. What of this mystery seraphim you spoke to Michael of?”

“Well, to start, it’s definitely not like last time. At least I hope not.”

“It is not, no.”

“Right.” Peter sighed, continuing. “In brief, a new arrival appeared here, and in the usual manner. Except it wasn’t one? Not in the normal sense.”

“Who was it then?” Michael asked.

“Not who, what. A seraphim,” Peter said. “I’m sure of it. Six wings, the seraphic presence. I am sure he was one, as sure as I am of all three of you are.”

“Well now,” Leo muttered.

“Did they have a name?” Sera asked. It wouldn’t even be the most absurd thing to happen lately, if they’d also managed to skip the induction process. The mechanisms that governed entrance or refusal to Heaven remained as inscrutable as ever, and a particular recent arrival was proof enough of that. His name had somehow even been added to Peter’s book. She had scarcely believed it, even after personally checking herself.

“Well…” the Saint trailed off. He thumbed through the pages to a certain point in the guest book upon his podium. “Look, see for yourself.”

Sera did, as did her companions. One column of names on the page was misaligned, as if the page had been misprinted. The outermost names even brushed against the margins of the page’s border.

“It happened when he arrived,” Peter explained. “The page glowed, and his name appeared right there on the page! I’ve never seen anything like it.” His finger landed on a name, smack dab in the middle of the column. “That’s it, that’s his name.”

“Ontos.” Sera said the name out loud, rolled it around in her mind. The name definitely wasn’t familiar to her. Had the seraphim been given that name by Him, perhaps? Come to think of it, Emily had chosen her own name too. “What else can you tell me about this Ontos?”

“He came off as being well read,” Saint Peter shrugged. “He knew about my past life on Earth. It caught me completely by surprise.”

“Interesting.”

“What did he look like, his description?” Michael asked.

“Oh, well about him…” Saint Peter shrugged, and gestured at Sera. “He looked like, well, you.”

Sera blinked in surprise. “Me?”

“And Emily too. A dark complexion, blue eyes, pale blond hair,” he gestured to Sera. “I remember thinking how he looked like he could be you and Emily’s brother, how you looked so alike.”

Definitely the hand of the Creator then, she reasoned. But why at the Gates?

“Was there anything else you noted?” Michael asked.

Saint Peter shook his head. “Unfortunately not. I found his name, the Gates allowed him in. I, well, had others to tend to at the time.”

“I see. If that is all, we will leave you to do your duties then.”

The human angel bowed. “Of course, milady.”

Another teleportation, and the three of them moved onward. In a flash of golden light they appeared on the Boulevard proper, amidst the surprise of a few nearby angels. Teleportation was an exhausting affair, but Sera had the stamina to spare to perform it in such a rapid fire manner.

“Ontos, looks like Emily and myself,” she said to no one.

“So what’s the plan for finding him?” Leo asked the others. “Besides his name and appearance, we have nothing else to go on.”

“Well he’s a seraphim, so he’ll, well, stick out,” Michael explained. “After all, how many seraphim are there in Heaven?”

“Keep our eyes open, is that your plan? Really?”

Sera sighed as the two bickered. “Michael, inform your Dominions what we have learned and have them begin to search for him. And if they find him, observe from a distance and inform us immediately. As for you Leo, perhaps-”

“There he is,” Leo cut her off.

“Leo?” “What?” The other two asked almost in unison.

Leo pointed toward a nearby cafe. “Slice of Life, he’s ordering at the counter.”

Sera followed his gaze toward said cafe. Sure enough, a seraphim with six wings could be glimpsed through the window.

Well, that was convenient.

Sera remembered that Emily had mentioned a cafe with that name a while ago, something about sugar glaze and snacks. In different circumstances she would have gotten the girl something along those lines. She was moving at once, beelining toward the door. With a thought it yielded for her, the threshold expanding at her presence.

Up close, unobstructed, the mystery seraphim’s nature as such was unmistakable. Six wings, a soft, authoritative aura eerily similar to her own. Said nature was drawn inward, concealing much of his radiance and presence. On a closer observation, a strange notion of concealment crossed her mind.

He was trying to hide? Why?

There were others in the cafe. Two customers, one of which was scrambling to recover a phone she dropped in shock at the High Seraphim’s entrance. A human angel was in the cafe’s kitchen. Another, an ophanim, was by the counter. She got the impression she had been conversing with the mysterious seraphim prior to her arrival.

Leo and Michael filed in after her, taking position to her left and right. They too looked at the other seraphim. And for a brief moment, nothing else happened as a moment of silence settled in the cafe.

And then the seraphim turned around, and she got her first look at Ontos.

Peter had been right. In human terms, he could have been a close sibling. He definitely looked the part. She herself had been made for a specific purpose, as had Emily. As had all the other full seraphim that He made.

As had Ontos, though that purpose strangely eluded her perception.

“I found you,” she spoke.

--==--

He inhaled. He didn’t realize he had stopped breathing.

I found you, the giant woman had spoken to him. It was a statement of fact. But he hadn’t been hiding, more keeping a low profile. Though given the chance and a few days’ time? He could have made the act of finding him much, much harder, goliath six-winged angel or not.

“I wasn’t hiding,” he replied. The bird lady had recovered her phone, and had even returned to recording the events unfolding. Cyra and Bart behind the counter remained motionless, perhaps unsure of what to do. Them being hesitant concerned Ontos in more ways than one.

“Regardless, it’s a good thing I found you so quickly.”

Ontos said nothing. He forced himself to look away from Sera, to focus on those that accompanied her. They were both shorter, perhaps about as tall as he was in his present form. Both were obviously angels, judging from the halos and wings. Both had three pairs, indicating they were seraphim like himself and Sera.

There was also an odd similarity to the two, as well as a… perception of seniority to them. To Sera as well. No, it was even stronger when he perceived her, as if her authority exceeded their own in some intangible way. Their superior, then.

In terms of features, the two couldn’t be more different if they tried. The former was taller than the other, with golden blond hair styled short and neat, fair features, and eyes a shade of piercing blue. At a second glance, Ontos noted an honest-to-God sword on his hip, some manner of longsword. It emphasized an undercurrent of danger to him, beneath that seniority of his.

The other was a little shorter than the first was. In contrast, they had long auburn hair, hazel eyes, and a softer and all around warmer expression on their face as they looked at them. When Ontos perceived him like the former, he almost got the impression of a doctor, the sort of medical professional that made home visits in old black and white movies to childrens’ bedsides.

There were two other commonalities in their appearances. The first was how androgynous they looked. They could have been tomboyish women or feminine men. The second was their choice of dress, fancy suits with gold trim cut in a style foreign to his sensibilities. The latter also wasn’t armed, unlike the former.

That could probably change in a moment, if he knew how to do what Cyra could and pull a weapon from thin air instead of a vegetable. He really needed to learn how to do that. It would have come in handy for a situation like this.

“So, what now then?” He asked.

“I would like for you to accompany me back to the Palace. Unfortunately, I must insist that you do so.”

Ontos nodded. The Palace it was. He’d wanted to go there on his terms. Eventually, and after he learned the lay of the land.

Now? Now, he was flying blind.

Fly. That was a notion. Could he fly, like all the people and other things he’d seen flying above earlier? He felt his wings, a sort of nervous anticipation there. The sort of feeling one might feel before going out for a jog. He wanted to try, but not here. Not right now. Not unless he absolutely had to.

He’d probably crash into a building anyway.

“Of course. I was planning to go there eventually. But first, there’s something I need to do.”

“And what is that?”

Ontos gestured to the shawarma wrap in its basket on the counter. “Lunch, of course.”

A flash of confusion crossed the giant woman’s face, but it passed just as quickly. Her confused expression was instead replaced by a small smile. “Of course. It was us that interrupted you.”

He plucked the wrap from its basket. It was fortunate that it was wrapped in wax paper and a complimentary napkin, as he didn’t have a choice in it being to-go.

“Thank you,” he told Bart as he picked up the meal. “I had more questions, but unfortunately I fear I have to leave early.”

“Eh, that’s fine,” the man shrugged.

“And Cyra, apologies as well.”

“Oh, it’s perfectly okay!” The strange angel wagged a hand. “I hope you return.”

“I plan to.” Ontos took a moment to take a bite. He spent a moment chewing, savoring the flavor before swallowing.

“It’s delicious,” he said.

“Well that’s a relief,” the man chuckled. “And hey, if you see her, tell the tyke we say hello.”

“Tyke?”

“Emily,” Cyra chuckled. “Just a nickname for her.”

“Get going, we wouldn’t want to hold you all up.”

“Thank you. And farewell, you two.” Ontos nodded, turning to leave.

A moment later they were back outside. The threshold of Slice of Life’s front door had somehow warped open to allow Sera’s entrance. On her departure, it had snapped back down to its previous size and shape, like it had never been warped in the first place. Maybe that was why the proprietor wasn’t concerned about the blatant violation of spacetime on his front door?

Ontos chose not to focus on that spatial warping too closely, for fear of getting a headache from trying to understand what he perceived. It would have been akin to trying to make sense of the space around a black hole, how it bent and twisted and warped spacetime in ways that were impossible to understand without a physics doctorate.

Sera looked between Ontos and her two companions. The taller one with the sword eyed him warily. He didn’t understand why though. He was unarmed, save for the wrap in his hands that was. Maybe it was polite to share?

Ontos took another bite, savoring it. The marinade used on the chicken, the sauce, the spices. Heavenly, pun intended.

The man continued to eye him. Too bad, he could march back in and get his own if he wanted one.

“Don’t be alarmed,” his fellow, the auburn-haired one, said. “We’re going to teleport to the council chambers.” Auburn Hair extended a hand, and Ontos took it with his free one. Sera’s hands rested on her companions, and for a brief instant Ontos’ sight was filled with light.

One moment, he had been standing out in front of the cafe. The next…

The chamber they had teleported into vaguely reminded him of a corporate conference room crossed with the Amber Room from the Catherine Palace. The furnishings were appropriate, a long conference table with ample comfortable seats. The chair at the head of the table stood out quite literally, no doubt used by the giant woman that came looking for him.

The similarities to a corporate mainstay ended there, as practically every surface was some flavor of gold, silver or flawless white marble. Only the table seemed to be made of something else, some sort of dark polished hardwood. Vast corinthian-style pillars ringed the room, holding up the domed ceiling. And in the center of the space, a gilded crystal chandelier hung from above, illuminating the chamber below.

The room was also larger than it probably had any right to be, easily four or five times the size of a certain oval office he’d stepped inside of more than once. They could have held a tennis match in it if they wanted to, with room for spectators.

Ontos took a final bite and finished off the wrap. Swallowed, as he took in the decor. He carefully wiped his face with the napkin just in case there weren’t any stray crumbs, tucking it and the wrapper into one of his sleeves in lieu of a trash can.

Or he would have, had Auburn Hair not stopped him.

“Allow me,” he spoke, holding out a hand.

Ontos hesitated for a brief moment, before handing him the wad of paper. The seraphim took it, holding it aloft. The wad of paper glowed for a moment, before disappearing in motes of golden light.

Oh, well that was very useful. He added it to the list of things he wanted to learn how to do. “Nice party trick.”

“I suppose that’s one way to put it,” Auburn Hair smiled. Blond Hair merely continued to watch him, hand resting on the pommel of his sword.

Sera turned to face him fully. “Well, now that we are back, I would like to be the first to properly welcome you to Heaven.” She bowed. “I am Sera, High Seraphim of Heaven. It is a pleasure to meet you, Ontos.”

The others accompanying her also gave short bows, out of respect. As did the two others who had risen from their seats at their arrival.

“Thank you for welcoming me,” Ontos returned the bow. He took note of the plethora of empty seats. “Are we expecting others?”

Sera smiled, nodded. “We are.”

“I see.”

He really, really wanted to go back to the cafe.