I am very excited about this one.
Excerpt, Unedited.
Prologue: Title TBD
Gadreel raised his sword of cerulean fire high above his head. He tightened his hands around the hilt as he prepared to strike the final blow. Time passed as he held still above his injured brother as the fighting around them roared to deafening heights.
“Strike down the Fallen,” roared Michael from somewhere nearby.
Gadreel looked up. All around him was death.
Simi, he thought as his gaze fell on Gabriel who just took Simi’s head with his own sword of fire.
“Erase them from the Heavens,” Gabriel cried out as he walked past the rolling head of their brethren with no regard.
Gadreel hands loosened around the hilt of his sword but when Gabriel met his gaze, he tightened his fingers again as he turned to look back down at Dantanian. The fallen angel was weak and wounded at Gadreel’s feet.
With one quick swing, Dantanian’s head would be separated from his body. Dantanian would be no more.
Why didn’t he escape to the desolate place with Lucifer and the others? Did he think his disobedience would be forgiven? Do he and the others not understand that our Father’s forgiveness is solely designed for his favored, the humans.
“Finish it, Gadreel,” Dantanian said as he coughed. Low light shined through the deep wounds in his chest and side.
Gadreel furrowed his brows as he flared his fingers out then regripped his sword. He’d bested his brother but searching inside himself, he could not find the desire to kill Dantanian. He knew the Fallen were wrong to question their Lord. They were not fit for the heavens. Yet, Gadreel didn’t think death was a suitable response.
Isn’t my questioning and hesitancy to carry out the orders given to me by my superiors just as unlawful? Is the penalty death?
Gadreel looked around. Headless bodies strewed the once pristine replica of the Garden of Eden landscape. It was once a place of peace and reflection. Now it will forever be marred by death and fratricide.
I can’t…
When his weary eyes met Gabriel’s, Gadreel saw the questions mounting in his commander’s eyes. He saw when Gabriel’s gaze hardened with resolve. He actually felt fear ripple through him when Gabriel’s lips thinned as he started toward them.
With a hint of a thought, the flame that encompassed Gadreel’s sword rescinded. A flick of his hand and the sword disappeared into the ether only to return when he needed it.
Moving as fast as he could, Gadreel whipped his robe out of the way, bent and lifted Dantanian over his shoulder, and made for the Pool of Province.
He risked his very existence as he ran with Dantanian in tow. Gadreel heard the calls to halt his progress. He dodged the expertly aimed daggers and arrows of his brethren who tried to stop him. To his surprise, some of the judged, the Fallen, stepped in front of some of the blows aimed at him and Dantanian.
As Gadreel jumped over the bodies of Fallen and Devoted, he knew that he would never again step foot in the Heavens. That once he jumped into the Pool of Province, a reflective gateway that allowed Angels to observe humans and crossover to the earth, without permission that the ability to cross back over or to any plain from this moment forth will be forever revoked.
“Noooo,” Dantanian cried out.
“It is the only way to save you,” Gadreel said as he ran up the stairs to the great pool. Something hit his back, causing him to stumble forward. Dantanian’s body fell forward, hitting the tepid pool first. Gadreel followed, sighing as the water that wasn’t wet covered him from head to toe.
Gadreel didn’t have to call out for his wings to expand. His large white feathered wings flared out instinctively to slow his descent from the heavens.
Scanning the sky, Gadreel searched for his brother but what he saw wasn’t an Angel soaring through the darkening skies. What he saw was a smoking body tumble rolling toward the earth. Gadreel positioned his wings back to dive but suddenly felt an intense debilitating pain with the movement.
Gadreel cried out as he pumped his smoking wings long enough to see that they were ablaze. There was only one thing to do. He dived toward Dantanian, tucking his wings back. When he slammed into his unconscious brother, Gadreel shook off the pain and extended his burning wings to slow them before slamming into the ocean.
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