Prologue
Waking up to an unfamiliar bedroom was something he never expected to experience in his lifetime. Gone was the small, but comfortable, bed he slept on every night as he laid atop a large four poster bed in the middle of an equally unfamiliar room wearing nothing but a long white toga; though they were admittedly comfortable so he did not mind them overmuch. The room lit up as the light of dawn filtered in through the ornately decorated window on the left of the room. He had no idea where he was right now.
He looked around the room to look for clues on where he was and what happened last night, finding himself in a large room that would fit better in the Edwardian era rather than the modern time with all the exquisitely carved wooden furniture made of ebony along with the noticeable lack of anything vaguely electrical. There was neither a socket nor light bulb in this room. In fact, there was only a silver candlestick sitting atop the white bed stand beside his bed.
He wanted to get up and investigate but he was far too comfortable to do so. He felt like he was sleeping atop a cloud as he practically sunk into the bed he found himself in. The equally fluffy pillow where his head rested upon wasn’t helping either. He decided that he wasn’t going to waste this chance to sleep in as he tucked himself in and closed his eyes.
The next time his eyes opened, the room that greeted him was the very same room that he found himself in earlier. “So, that wasn’t just some fever dream …” He said out loudly only to blink as he found his voice higher than normal. He sat up and looked around, wondering if there was someone else but there was no one but him.
“What the hell?” He asked once more only for his voice to remain this young boyish tone. Confusion soon gave way to shock as he bolted off the fluffiest bed he’d ever had the privilege of sleeping in to look for a mirror. He looked around, wondering where the bathroom was and found two sets of doors. One was a large double door while the other was a door by the side of his room.
He took the door by the side. Thankfully, despite the lack of electrical lighting, the room was well lit… from somewhere. He shook off that thought as he grabbed the edge of the mirror and looked. Long silken blond hair and bright blue eyes stared back at him. He would have had difficulty trying to figure out if he was a boy or a girl if not for the adam's apple bobbing up and down his throat. Still, despite waking up looking like a completely different person, it wasn’t that which caught his attention. No, what caught his attention was the large golden halo atop his head.
He shakily reached up for the floating halo and grabbed it, yanking on it only to find that the thing was attached to his head through some unknown means as he pulled his own head along with it. “Note to self, do not yank the halo.” He breathed out shakily as he pressed his forehead against the mirror. Thankfully, the halo seemed to phase through solid matter, but not his hands.
Did he die in his sleep? Was he an angel? What in heaven's name happened to him? He shove those thoughts to the back of his head for now as he decided to just do his morning routine and act as if this was normal. Eventually, he’d get over this… hopefully. He washed his face and started cleaning himself.
After doing his business, he exited the bathroom and muttered about his current situation, “I really wish there was someone that I could talk to right now so I can figure out my current situation. There isn’t even a St. Peter to welcome me at the pearly gates. It’s just boom, you're now in a strange room with a halo atop your head. Didn’t even get to have a cool pair of wings or anything.”
He was looking at his hands so he did not notice the person he bumped into before they were in his face while he walked back to the bed he’d found himself in. Blinking as he backed off pretty quickly and pulled himself free of the cloud of feathers he’d face planted into. There, in front of him, stood a woman with six pairs of large feathered wings upon her back and a golden halo atop her head, though the halo wasn't as ornate as the one he had on his head. The golden haired woman wore a functional maid outfit with a long skirt and equally long apron and looked too be busy fluffing up the pillow he used earlier.
“Oh, sorry about that. Let me just fold this blanket.” the woman replied as she was too engrossed in fixing the bed that he messed up. “I swear, someone just had to sleep on this particular bed. They could have used any other bed but no, they had to use this one.”
He winced as he chuckled nervously at that. “Sorry about that miss, the person who slept there would be me, but never mind that; I need your help. I think I might have died?” He replied as he scratched the back of his head, he really wasn’t sure anymore.
“Well, you're not dead but you’ll soon wish you were when my brother hears about this! You have a lot of explaining to do, mister! I don’t care that you’re just assigned here for the first time but sleeping on God’s… bed.” The woman replied as she finished fixing the bed and turned towards him with a righteously pissed expression in her face before trailing off as her eyes landed on him. He would have been left speechless with how beautiful the woman was if not for the fact that she froze in front of him. He became increasingly concerned by the fact that she looked like she was holding her breath and that angry look faded away, now looking like she saw a ghost
“Ummm, miss. Are you ok?” he asked as he waved his hand in front of her after she just froze. He snapped his fingers but there was no response and she still hasn’t moved worried. Slowly, he poked her cheeks to try and get her to snap out of it.
The woman’s eyes rolled up their sockets before she promptly collapsed and passed out from shock. He cursed as he quickly knelt down to check on her. “Miss? Miss! Come on, don’t pass out on me now!” He shouted in panic. Thankfully, he didn’t see her hit her head. He shook his head as he decided to lift her up to the bed and get her comfortable there so he could go search for help.
He hooked his arms beneath her and found that she was uncomfortably light. Either his new body was stronger than it looked or she needed a sandwich or three. Just as he was about to set her down on the bed, the large double door opened as a maid with five pairs of wings peeked out and asked, “Miss Gabriel, we finished cleaning the throne…room”. The bespectacled woman trailed off as she saw the woman he was currently holding
“Call a doctor or something! She just collapsed and-” His request was cut off as the woman screamed and ran off. Fear gripped his own heart now as the sound of people outside did not seem friendly. He quickly set her down and started pacing around and started thinking of what he could do now.
He could barricade himself inside the bathroom but that would only delay the inevitable. He could barricade the room but that would only make things worse. He could stay but he wasn’t sure if the angels, and he was pretty sure they were angels, were as friendly as they were depicted so the only choice of action he knew where he wouldn’t die was to flee. He turned towards the window and nodded; he had a way out.
He walked up to the window and threw it open. He expected to see heaven and he was really expecting it to be beautiful but he really wasn’t ready to actually see the heavenly kingdom above the sky. Large pillars of cumulonimbus clouds rose high up while white washed temples and buildings dotted the surface. Between the valleys of these mountain sized clouds were the highways where angels flew by without a care in the world. He blinked as a large castle floated close by, sitting atop a sizable cumulus cloud. It was so close that he could see children playing on the grounds around the castle. With the uniform the angelic children were wearing, it looked like it was a school. It didn’t take long for one of the children to notice him and wave at him excitedly. He waved back weakly as he looked around dumbstruck at everything.
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“Wow.” He breathed out a whisper of surprise as he saw everything. It wasn’t just the sight that amazed him but the cold crisp air blowing against his face. The smell of flowers filled the air while the sound of singing could be heard in the background. He was… at peace at the sight.
His sight seeing was disturbed, however, as new found instincts flared and screamed at him to turn around. His halo flared brightly as he spun around and reached out for the shaft of the spear aimed at his back. His heart thundered in his chest as he stared down the tip of a very sharp and dangerous spear made of light wielded by an equally pissed angel with six pairs of wings and he didn’t come alone as two other angels came with him, armed with a sword and an actual shepherd's staff respectively.
His eyes shifted to the spear wielder who’s look of anger quickly faded to a litany of other emotions. First came bewilderment as his eyes widened. Then came denial creeping into the beautiful man's face as his jaw hung open and his grip slackened on his spear. Finally, it morphed into that of immense sadness and relief as he let go of the spear and fell down on his knees. Tears flowed down the angel's face and before the reincarnation could even think of what to say, the angel threw himself at him and cried his eyes out.
“It’s… ok? I forgive you?” He said in a bewildered tone but that only made the man cry all the harder as the two angels dropped their weapons as well before they threw themselves at him. He called out for help as he found himself buried under three angels only for the woman from earlier to wake up.
“Father!” She cried out as the reincarnated man felt her weight adding on top of the three. He panicked as he tried getting them off but they held onto him like he was going to disappear if they let go. Thankfully they let go before he passed out from the lack of breath, a very uncomfortable discovery he made when the edge of his vision darkened for a brief second beneath all four of them.
“Let’s give father some space everyone. He must be confused right now.” The angel who thrusted his spear spoke with a shaky yet authoritative tone as he pulled away from him reluctantly and wiped the tears of his eyes. Yes, he was very confused right now alright.
“It’s just… father’s back!” Cried out the woman as she sobbed openly, only confusing him further. Father? Did he lose his memory as well? That didn’t make any sense as he clearly remembered his life before this. He even remembered the meal he made yesterday. Still, for a brief second, he wanted to reach out and pat the woman's head but he held back as that would be highly inappropriate since he didn’t even know her name.
“Father? You must be confusing me with someone else. I just woke up not knowing how I got here.” He replied honestly. He must look like someone these angels knew because he’d remember fathering four angels though something niggled at the back of his head that they were familiar, that he knew them.
“Oh no, it happened again.” The sword wielder replied with a worried tone. ‘What happened again?’ The reincarnated man asked himself as he stood there frozen in fear and disorientation at the situation he found himself in. With those words uttered, the four angels burst into action as the reincarnated man found himself lifted up above the head of the spear wielder.
“Wait! Put me down!” He protested and flailed around but the spear wielders had him firmly in his grip as he carried him out of the room. He did not like being carried around like a sack of potatoes but he was far too shocked to pry himself off the man.
“Uriel! Grab Father’s Diary!” The spear wielder commanded and the sword wielder saluted as he ran off to the foot of the bed where a chest was and started rifling through its contents trying to find this diary that they spoke of.
“Where the hell are you taking me!” He shouted, trying to get their attention but they ignored him as he found himself carried off to God knows where. The long hallway outside was just as richly decorated as the room he found himself in.
Exquisitely carved statues lined the hall while masterfully painted scenes of various dragons, monsters and the sexiest devils he’d ever seen being vanquished by a heavenly host. What was more shocking was the all too familiar face in all these paintings. It was the same face he saw in the mirror. “Is that me?!” He shouted in confusion.
“It's worse than I thought.” The staff wielder muttered as he stomped ahead as he cleared the way. Uniformed angels of various wings numbers jumped out of the way as the look of awe and worship dawned on their faces. All the reincarnated man could do was look around in bewilderment.
“Gabriel, cancel everything! Father’s having one of his episodes again. He needs our help remembering things. I’m sure the church will understand once Father’s back to his old self.” The spear wielder pointed at the woman who saluted.
“I’ll call everyone as well Michael! Metatron will be extremely happy!” The woman replied happily with a salute before she barked, commanding the various maids and servants back to their task as she flew off to a branching corridor.
“Don’t worry father, we’ll get this all sorted out. We won’t fail you again. Raphael, call the kitchen. Tell them to prepare Father’s favorite meal.” The now identified Michael said as the staff wielder nodded before flying off. At this point, the reincarnated man gave up and just allowed himself to be taken.
“Can you at least tell me why you’re calling me father?” He asked as he sagged on Michaels shoulder while they ascended a flight of stairs. As to why they weren’t flying, he did not know but he noticed the other angels walking up the stairs as if they were carrying a great work.
“You’re our Father of course. You are the Most High. You are Adonia. You are YHWH.” Michael replied as they finally got to the top. It was a large circular room filled with various angels attending to all sorts of tasks. It wouldn't be out of place of a busy government office except for the large pearly gates in the back.
All the angels stood in attention as they entered. “I am who now?!” He shouted as the angels around him stared at him in awe.
“Oh father, you always had a fun sense of humor.” Michael laughed out as he marched straight to the door and opened it. A cold blast of air escaped from the room behind the door as he beheld a relatively spartan room. Unlike the rest of the building, it was just a simple throne atop a monolithic stepped platform made of marble and surrounding it was a tiered ring of seats along with various carved columns where torches could be placed. The room was ornate yes, but there hung an air of disrepair and disuse. Cracks spread from the throne while some of the columns were broken. Cauldrons sat atop platforms, unlit and unused from millenia. It was also painfully empty, without a living soul in sight.
Michaels steps echoed inside the empty room as he marched atop stairs. For some reason, The reincarnated man could feel a sense of familiarity as he stared at the chair. It beckoned to him, like an old friend just waiting all this time. He remained silent as he was carried up the steps and there at the top of it, the very top of heaven as he would soon find out as the starry sky stretched across the sky while the city atop the clouds stretched as far as the sky could, he was promptly deposited into the empty seat.
At first, he was confused as he sat on the deceptively comfortable seat, not knowing why he was placed there... until it hit. A flood of memories filled his head, instincts flooding him as an all mighty headache formed inside his skull. The room was drowned out by a loud hum as well as a veritable flood of golden light as his halo started to sing with power. For the very first time in his life, he felt his eyes open and there he beheld eternity and it stared back with a tired smile.
”It’s your turn now. Good luck” A voice whispered into his ears as the presence in the throne faded to nothingness. He was left panting and breathless as his fingers gripped the side of his throne. Michael was knelt before him while a heavenly host of angels assembled around his throne. Cracks no longer marred the beauty of the room as golden veins spread from his seat. Pillars miraculously repaired themselves as phantasmal light flickered and burned in the cauldrons surrounding his throne.
“I… am God?” he whispered as he stared ahead sightlessly, yet he was peering into the world below with the unlimited sensations of omniscience.
The Archangel smiled as a lone tear flowed down his cheek. “It’s good to have you back, father.” He replied as the host cheered and praised him.
There atop the world, he exuded power yet he felt nothing but dread inside. ‘I’m now responsible for the literal fate of billions. God help me now.’ He thought to himself before the prayer echoed in his ears as if to mock him. He not so gently knocked his fist against the back of his throne at that.