Chapter Six: The Sadden Trail

[Act 1: The Orders of Retreat]

Ariel gathers water from a nearby trail where an endless stream of freezing, cold water passes down the mountains. It starts its journey there, running its course through the valley’s heart and into the plateaued landscapes. In various landscapes, including places in heaven where the grass always remains green whether it's been weathered or not. The grass appears meticulously groomed here, as if cut by a barber with a straight-edge razor one blade at a time. And yonder, the grass was like beautiful hairs cascading in the air.

"Freshness and cleanliness" are the words used to describe the grass. Not only that, but the air and all of heaven. In fact, those are the words Jehovah fed into the Grander Complex System when he created everything years ago, and it was so. His wish functioned beautifully—better than he ever remembered.

The water finally met the girl at an embankment rushing fiercely at her. It had never been this high before; blockage upstream had caused a buildup, forcing the waters to rise.

Ariel walked cautiously along an embankment and leaned over with a bucket, carefully scooping from the river. As she did, liquids splashed up on the archipelago of rocks that peeked out from the surface, creating ramps for portions of the water to eject off the top. Tiny droplets, only centimeters in diameter, launch off the lips of the protruding rocks, acting as projectiles. Water then shoots up, getting into her eye, causing her to wince not once but three times.

Her hands, holding the bucket firmly below the rapids turned red and clammy from the wet and cold. They soon went numb. Despite this, she lifted the considerably heavier bucket of wood with a sense of concern out of the river.

Having obtained what she came for, she left, reaching up the embankment to put the bucket on the ground. Her efforts to keep dry were futile as her sandals and the skirt of her linen white dress were drenched from the shore. A sacrifice for having kept the bucket stable.

On a trail, half an hour before, she had set up a tarp. On top were her clothes and other equipment, including a spare tub with bundles of her clothes already inside, a basin, as well as a washboard and brush for the laundry. Next to the tub and washboard, she positioned a little ole oak stool on the makeshift carpet made out of tarp, where she sat and washed her clothes.

She chose to do this in the forest rather than with the other angels by the well, preferring the solitude and openness of the outdoors. Here, she could be by herself, away from the ones she let down not too long ago. She hadn’t seen Jehovah since Doctor Ellis did his last checkup. Ariel hears he’s doing well. Maybe Jehovah had forgotten the deal they made on that fountain under the two moons only a week prior. He wasn’t in the right state of mind then; surely, he had let it slip.

Her mind wandered, thinking about what God had to say about the fallen one. She imagined what he might look like: tall, with ginger hair, maybe a freckle somewhere on his face. She caught herself in thought, stopping before it went any further. After all, she was an angel. What was she doing?

She grabbed a wooden block with hard bristles sticking out from the other end she held onto. Setting it on her lap, she reached out again. She got a dirty pair of pants from the tub and put them in the bucket of cold river water. She didn’t mind the cold feeling; her body adjusted, and she was used to the occasional red nose and sniffle by now.

She wrung her pants and put the liquids back into the bucket for reuse. Grabbing the washboard leaning on the tub, she used the brush she had sitting on her lap to clean the stains on her garments.

She prepped all her clothes in the tub, throwing the damp ones back into their hamper. Then, she got up and added water from the bucket to the basin, grabbing a clear bottle containing green detergent. Ariel put the soap in the bucket, ensuring that there was clean water in the basin. There was the perfect amount to get the job done.

Her garments are resubmerged in the soapy water, drowned in the bottom where the soap hasn’t sunk too far. Ariel then pulls each piece of clothing out of the bucket and scrubs vigorously against the washboard with the brush on her lap. The bubbles foam and rise like fast-acting yeast. She dips the garments back into the bucket one final time before moving to the basin to rinse off the rest of the residual soaps.

Ariel remembered her mother speaking about the devil. She was a child. It was a private discussion between her mother, Teresa, and her late brother, Azrael. She whispers to him in a hallway. Ariel lay prone under her bed; she didn't know why she was there, nor did she know her age. All she knows are the few sprinkles of words she is familiar with, and then she hears words that she does not know.

Teresa told Azreal that Lucifer was "vindictive." She said, “He was forced not to be reckoned with. And that Teressa herself was a part of the coalition of demons and the Northern Regime, a division called the Observers, aiders in Lucifer's rebellion against God. Teresa was shunned for being a lead observer, and Ariel hadn’t seen her since. She hadn’t seen her brother either; Azrael died going to war.

She felt conflicted with her feelings, torn between her conviction and his vindictiveness. Yes, she knew what her mother meant. She never understood then, but she does now. To seek revenge on those who have wronged you is to succumb to evil, practicing the very sin we have inherited since birth: retaliation for retribution.

He attempted to cut away, to sever the binds of honesty and all the ties that lie. He would later suffer the consequences, but vindication is alive. In all of us. It was in Ariel, deep within, a lonely emptiness in search of her brother. But her dear brother was gone, and her brother's killer, Rel, remained. Ariel thought that wasn’t fair. Why is it that Rel gets to live forever while her brother cannot? She paused, catching herself in a deep thought about Lucifer again. She even used his very words. Ariel shook her head, shaking out the vile thoughts.

She was there for about an hour; she finished the laundry, but she wasn’t done yet. She gathered a few bunches of her things at the same time and put them in her backyard, near the little hut where she lived, and hung the clothes with pins to clotheslines, where they would sit and bask in the wind to dry.

Her home had the fresh and clean cut I was talking about, with palm trees arching over it and all the surrounding area perfectly symmetrical. She lived directly outside of the kingdom and could fly to and from the within five minutes; it wasn’t that hard, like the laundry.

She locked up the shed and walked along a pathway made of stone. Hopping from stone to stone like a game of hopscotch, she sometimes had to adjust her stride as the path changed width.

Her home, a log cabin, appeared in the distance, nestled in the jungle's Combine. Constructed from weathered timber, the cabin stood large and sturdy, with logs of uniform height, giving the homestead the impression of a tree cut in half and repurposed as the foundation for its design.

She stepped onto her porch and approached a single rocking chair, gently swaying in the breeze. She paused in her steps; she scrutinized the chair; she had the lurking suspicion that someone had recently been seated there. Standing in front of her door, she noticed it was slightly ajar. She slowly reached and made the most deliberate movements, ever so lightly grabbing the doorknob and pushing. The hinges' newly attached latches allowed for the door to seamlessly be pushed smoothly open.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Steeping inside, tiptoeing, she went directly into her open living room. She heard a crunching noise from the other end of her home in the kitchen. Someone was definitely there. She stepped up, raising her heels, and then, knee-high, landed on the ball of her foot. She got to the corner of the kitchen. Her heart raced again; it could be Capacious or Rel; they broke out of their prison cells and are after her. She put her knuckles together and was ready to summon her angelic gift, Karasuma, at any given time. She wasn’t going to look like a fool again. Instead of calling for backup like she should have, she turned the corner with her eyes closed.

“I’ll kill you. Stay where you are!” She yelled. She peeked quickly, and her eyes fluttered open until they were wide.

It was Jehovah. He was eating a green apple, leaning on the kitchen counter.

He was in the middle of taking a bite, he said, muffled by his position, “Woah! Chill homeslice, it's just an apple. This is my apple for confirmation. If you think I took yours’, you’re mistaken. I only eat the green ones," he said, completing his bite and chewing.

A weight lifted from Ariel, “It’s only you, sire,” she said bewilderedly. “How are you? Why are you?"

“How am I doing and why am I here?” Jehovah replied with his mouth full, "Because we had a deal. Remember?” Ariel nodded her head up and down. Jehovah swolled and said, “Great! I almost thought you’d forgotten.”

Ariel rubbed the side of her face; she was amazed, surprised, and shocked all at the same time. “I thought you forgot.”

“I don’t forget. Remember that!”

“Duly noted.”

They settled in the living room, where a cobblestone chimney and fireplace cast a warm glow. Jehovah, with a flick of his hand, ignited the stacks of wood, sending flames dancing within the hearth. Taking a seat on the other end of Ariel’s sofa, he exhaled contentedly. The cozy ambiance enveloped them.

“Do you want anything to drink?” God asked, almost insisting.

“This is my house?” Ariel said, “Shouldn’t I be asking that?”

God let out a small laugh and said, “I suppose you should. I was looking in all your cabinets."

Ariel cut him off. “Wait? You were rummaging around my kitchen."

“Yeah, I’ve been hungry ever since Doctor Ellis and my wife started making me take pills. They don't affect me in any way, only hunger."

Ariel was so confused that this was how Jehovah acted all the time. She couldn’t quite understand her majesty in this facet.

“I can make us something to eat, if you want."

“No, it's okay. Thank you for the offer. I feel right at home already!"

She met Jehovah’s gaze and smiled. She then switched to puckered lips, biting the inside of the check hesitantly as always.

“Go on, say it.”

“I’m sorry.” She said it absolutely apologetically.

“For what?” he replied confusedly.

“Capricious and Rel. I was too slow, and I didn’t know what to do. Now you’re dying... because of me.”

“Stop, Ariel,” he said. “It wasn’t because of you. It was my mistakes from the past that put you in danger.” His right hand propped up and performed sign language. Jehovah used his left hand to point at his right and said, “He’s right! Don’t blame yourself when it’s our fault."

The hand turned at Jehovah like it had been offended, looking over and up at Jehovah. The hand signed a few more signs.

Jehovah: “What? I read it wrong. Is it my fault? Oh my… sure…” God reverberated to Ariel: “Apparently it's all my fault,” he said, batting his head and rolling his eyes.

The hand did more hand gestures, communicating with his sidekick.

“That’s totally not fair to say,” he replied, listening to the hand. “Uh, yeah, uh, no. I was in Costa Mesa half the time."

The hand said no.

“If I was there, you 100% had to have been.”

They were about to start an argument right there in Ariel's living quarters.

She stopped the impending dispute between them. “Hey, stop!” She stopped looking for words to say to them and said, "You two?”

Jehovah took his left hand and quickly covered his right with it. He leaned closer to Ariel and whispered, “Don’t use the 'us' or 'it' words around; you know who. He's been hung up on that for like, years; he just got over it.” He shook his head and lifted his left hand from his right.

The hand: “What was that for?”

Jehovah used his left hand to do sign language; he replied, "Nothing. Ariel wanted to tell me something.”

The hand signed back, "Oh, wonder what she said... Wait, then why are you signing?”

“So!” Jehovah abruptly said, speaking with Ariel now, “How are you?”

She fiddles with her hands, saying, “Good. It has definitely been better since you forgave me. And you? Everyone has been worried.”

"I’ve talked and settled everything with everyone before coming here. I feel fine, and since we're talking about it. No one, but Mary knows I'm here. Everyone knows I'm fine, not where I am." Jehovah did his usual chortle, "Shall we start?”

She nodded and asked, “I do have one small question before we do.”

“What is it?”

She said, “Why me? Why not Michael, Gabriel, or your wife? Why talk about such a personal thing like this with me? I'm nobody."

Jehovah played with the question in his head, and after deliberation, he said, “I don't know. I feel like you’ll listen when I talk. And I thought we had a deal, remember?” He added some emphasis to it, “Why shouldn’t it be you?”

She brushed the side of her hair around her ear and said back, "Because..." The furthest thing from an answer was going to be said; instead, she remained silent.

“That’s what I thought!” Jehovah tapped on his chin with his hand, thinking. “Where to start... Not the beginning. That would be boring. Let’s start...” His face lit up like a light bulb was above his head, and he got the idea. “I got it!”

Resting his elbow on his knees, hunching over them, he continued, “We were on the frontlines. Protecting a small town, Ellenstein, from a demonic invasion. Lucifer and I, along with two other Archangels, Delilah, my personal protector at the time, an Archangel herself, and Michael,” he quickly itched the top of his nose. “We were given the orders for retreat. The higher-ups in heaven at the time wanted us to abandon the town of Ellenstein and its people. The decision was essentially up to us to protect the town." God stopped, biting his lip in frustration.

Ariel, with a single eyebrow raised, said, “We’re going right into it, aren’t we?"

“I’ve been thinking about this day specifically a lot. I can't get over the fact." He stopped again and pondered, his eyes dashing side to side.

“What were you exactly protecting the town from? Demons, I presume? An army of them, I'd imagine.”

Jehovah shook his head. “No,” he said. “Three devils were there.”

“Wait, only three of them? They fought the four of you."

“They were against more than us. The entire town of Ellenstein and small troops from the neighboring villages fought alongside us. We fought for two whole days before the wax-sealed letter came. My father even told us to retreat, but Lucifer convinced the majority to stay and fight. Otherwise, we would have left that town to burn. We risked all of our lives that day."