Epilogue

  One Hundred Years Later

  In some ways, one hundred years seems like a long time. Like, a really long time. It’s longer than most humans will live, and in that time the political, social, and technological landscape of Earth can change to the point of being unrecognizable from what it had been. In eternal terms though, a hundred years is barely a blink of an eye. That’s not to say that I remained idol in that time, though. No. Not in the slightest. But before I get to those details I feel like some explanations are in order.

  First, the Abyss. It doesn’t exist. After I faded I found myself in Heaven – for real this time, and they explained some stuff to me. In the Soul Divide, most of the residents have no more idea about what lies in the other realms than humans on Earth do, so they came up with the concept of the Abyss to explain where souls go after they fade. Archdemons know the truth though, so Heaven and Hell entered into their mythos as well. Ultimately there’s only three spiritual realms: Heaven, Hell, and the Soul Divide.

  The Soul Divide is a kind of in-between place where souls go if they happen to leave their bodies before they’re fully dead. Like when you go into a coma or other such things. It turned out that I wasn’t actually dead during my time there, but in a medically induced coma while the doctors frantically worked to keep me alive. It wasn’t until Nergal pierced my heart that my connection to the living world was fully severed, which is why I faded. On Earth, I simply and inexplicably flatlined. If people manage to wake from their near-death experiences they rarely remember their time in the Divide. And if they do, it’s only vague recollections.

  The third, and most important bit, in my opinion, is how Nicole became an angel and why she’s stuck in the Divide. It seems that sacrificing yourself for the sake of another is a pretty big deal here in Heaven and is enough to earn you some wings. When Nicole saved me and tried to save Mom, those in charge took notice. She found herself in the Soul Divide when she passed out from lack of oxygen, having already been granted the honor of becoming an angel. Before her body died and she faded, Aamon found her and jumped at the opportunity to snag himself his own personal angel. It was rotten luck for her, she was grief-stricken and very, very confused at the time – easy prey for someone like him. The terms of the contract she signed bind her to him in perpetuity, keeping her from fading and coming to Heaven where she belongs. Needless to say, I had a few choice words to say about management’s handling of the situation, which they took rather well, considering my lumberjack language at the time. Unfortunately, because of political dealings and the way the war between Heaven and Hell has played out over the centuries, the Soul Divide is pretty much the exclusive domain of the demons at the moment, off-limits from Heaven’s meddling. The only mercy is that most humans never remember what happens to their souls while they’re there.

  Remember what I said about sacrificing yourself and earning some wings? Yeah. I got my own now. It took a long time to get used to these things, let me tell you. They’re big and get in the way all the time. Getting dressed was a real pain at first, fortunately, angels don’t get dirty and sweaty under normal circumstances, so changing clothes doesn’t happen all that often. Flying wasn’t as easy as Nicole made it look, either, but with training and practice, I eventually got to the point where it’s second nature to me now. I was also given a new name, Raphael, the Angel of Healing. I’m not sure how I feel about it. I mean, I’ve had a hundred years to get used to it at this point, but it still makes me feel like a Ninja Turtle sometimes.

  I spend a lot of time on Earth, visiting people who need help. I guess my past, growing up as an orphan and all that, really made me well-suited to helping the down-and-out. My contributions are never spectacular or big and miraculous, but I think they’re the kind that matter; such as that kid who found me on the night of the crash. His name is David, by the way, and I check in with him from time to time. He’s a mean chess player. Anyway, he stayed with me, keeping me warm until emergency responders arrived. I don’t even remember it, but he does, and it made a difference in both our lives. Those are my favorite missions, by the way – the ones that help kids.

  Mom and Dad are here too, and we regularly petition management for permission to go the Soul Divide and bring Nicole back, but it’s always denied. The political situation’s too volatile, they say. It’s crap (pardon my language. I still slip up sometimes), but there’s not much we can do about it but try again later, hoping things will have changed. Other than that, there’s nothing to really complain about, unless boredom counts. When all your needs are met and you’re always warm and comfortable, you find yourself looking for some hobbies real fast, or you’ll go nuts. It’s why I’m glad I have my missions. Dad likes to fish (yes, there’s rivers in Heaven. It’s not that different than Earth, really, except you don’t need a fishing license and there’s no limits). Mom’s a fantastic artist and I’m pretty good with archery, though I have a bit of an unfair advantage there, being an angel and all. So that’s where things stand. Life’s good. The only thing that would make it better was if Nicole could be here to enjoy it with us.

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  “Got a mission for you,” Archangel Micheal said during my weekly check-in at the Big House in the Golden City. I had flown in that morning and found a notice next to my name on the board. When I knocked on Michael’s door he ushered me in and shut it behind me a little quicker than he normally would have for a run-of-the-mill confidence boost for a kid having trouble at school. “I won’t lie, Raphael,” he said as he sat down and shuffled some files about, “it’s not an easy one this time.”

  “It’s not a kid with stage-four leukemia, is it?” I asked, taking my seat across the desk from him. I hated those. Only the Boss could heal something that serious, and we never knew if He would or not.

  “No. Nothing like that. This one’s different. How’s your archery, been keeping up on it?”

  “Yeah. Gabriel can still whip me. But come on, he’s Gabriel, the freaking Golden Child.”

  Micheal nodded absently, only half-listening, as he pulled a file from the pile on his desk and opened it. “Uh-huh, and your sword, still sharp?”

  I summoned my sword and showed it to him. “I don’t think these things can get dull, you know.” I dismissed the sword and leaned forward in my seat, trying to get a look at the file in his hand. “What’s going on? You giving me a combat mission? I’m the Angel of Healing, remember. I don’t fight.” Even in Heaven, PTSD was real. I helped a LOT of veterans work through some nasty stuff and still had occasional dreams about iron rods bursting out of people’s chests. Fighting was not something I was interested in. Not even against demons.

  “I think you’ll want to this time, Raph,” he said, placing the file down on his desk so I could see it. I grabbed it and held it up, Nicole’s face met my eyes. “Your sister’s been busy this last century, it seems,” Michael continued. “The Divide’s a real mess. Ever since that day she rescued you the whole place has been in an uproar. Demon lords fighting each other openly, territories changing hands faster than a puck in a hockey game, and outright anarchy in some territories. We’ve found some refugees on Earth, minor demons who slipped through trying to get away from the fighting. We’ve gotten some intel from a few, in exchange for letting them stay on Earth as long as they don’t cause trouble. Seems like Aamon, the lord who holds your sister’s contract, is coming out on top. He’s got well over half the territories under his control now. The most troubling part of all this though, is that his army is growing much faster than it should by simply assimilating new troops from the territories he’s conquering. We think it has to do with that thing you told us about, how humans can become imps given the right conditions. We had hoped that the foul practice died when Nergal did, but it seems that isn’t the case. We crunched some numbers and they support the hypothesis. The number of souls waking up and returning to normal life versus those who pass on doesn’t add up. There’s a large discrepancy that can be accounted for if we assume there’s a third option for where they wind up. Besides the obvious aversion to this, we must consider another point.” He leaned forward and looked me in the eye. I stopped leafing through the file and met his gaze. “Remember how hard that imp was for you to kill?” I nodded. How could I forget? “Think of a whole army of those things running free in the Divide. Now, imagine what would happen if they found a way to Earth.”

  “You think they can?” I asked, already knowing the answer.

  Micheal nodded. “Remember those demon informants I mentioned? Not all of them hitched rides with archdemons. A few mentioned finding their own way, though we couldn’t get them to tell us how.”

  I gulped. Only archdemons could travel between the Divide and Earth, much like only angels could get there from Heaven. If regular demons could travel to Earth by themselves, then that would be a real problem indeed. “I’m glad you’re telling me this,” I said after a few moments. “But I still don’t see what this has to do with me and Nicole.”

  “Management feels that this newest intel changes things. We can no longer ignore what’s happening in the Divide. We need you to go there and see what you can find. If you can determine how the demons are getting to Earth, that would be the best outcome, but any first-hand intel you can gather will be invaluable. Your second objective, and the one most relevant to you, I think, is to locate and extract Nicole. It’s grievous, what has happened to her, and it’s time to rectify the situation.”

  “You mean it?” I asked, nearly jumping out of my seat.

  Micheal nodded again, a smile playing on his lips. “I do, son. It’s time she came home.”

  The End