One week after the attempt of Gabriel's life, all seven of the Archangels had gathered in the center hall of the Divine Tower, a palace only accessible by those with a divinity equivalent to that of a high angel. Gabriel, much to everyone's relief, had quickly made a full recovery. At the end of the day, he was still one of the most powerful of the seven, and even the poison running through his veins was quickly taken care of by his spiritual energy.
However, this was no time to be relieved.
"The persecutor still runs rampant through Heaven!" Michael yelled, slamming his fist down on the round table at which they all sat. Zerachiel jumped at the noise, squealing in surprise as her wine glass teetered side to side.
"This is indeed a problem," Uriel said, twiddling his thumbs on the table as he stared at his hands.
"To Hell with that!" Michael roared once more, causing Gabriel to put his hand up to calm him.
"Brother Michael," he said. His voice was so calm that it was almost frightening, considering that he was the victim of the assault.
"Please, calm down. Yelling now will do nothing to help us solve the issue at hand."
Michael grumbled under his breath as he leaned back into his seat, taking a sip of his wine.
"As we've discussed before, I personally have no idea who stabbed me. Not only did it come from behind, but I was alone, and I went unconscious from the effects of the poison long before I could get a good look at my assailant. However, as we have also discussed before, no one aside from us seven Archangels should have the spiritual strength to get within my vicinity."
"So, at the end of the day the fault still falls with one of us," Remiel sighed deeply.
"As I'm sure you're all aware, this is a betrayal of the highest degree. An attempt on the life of your sibling... nay, an attempt to disrupt the very essence of Heaven is an offense that may be given the most severe punishment."
Remiel paused before continuing.
"Whoever was responsible for this will be banished from Heaven. Plain and simple. If any of us seven are corrupted by the powers of evil, all of the kingdoms that we rule over are in imminent danger, and the afterlife as we know it could erupt in war."
Uriel continued to rub his thumbs, his hands clasped together in a single big fist. It was true. If any of the seven Archangels decided to betray Heaven, billions of innocent lives would be lost, and the seven kingdoms would all go to war against the single enemy. However, the strength of just a single Archangel would be more than enough to bring several of the kingdoms to their knees, causing irreversible damage in the afterlife and affecting Heaven's ability to continue to take in the pure souls that were dying in the mortal realm.
"We have absolutely no evidence of any of the Archangels being tainted by evil," Uriel said, gritting his teeth. What he said sounded incriminating, but it was true. He didn't want to see the seven Archangels at each other's throats over this, and with no evidence to support any of the claims that would possibly be thrown out, any remotely suspicious activity would be reason enough to be thrown out of the afterlife.
"We all know that, Brother Uriel," said Gabriel.
"But the point still stands. Somebody has to be banished. The people of the kingdoms have already caught wind of the attack on Gabriel, and the citizens of our kingdoms will live in fear until we can effectively root out the source," said Raguel, his expression as cold as ever.
"But you can't do that!" Uriel interrupted, jumping to his feet abruptly. The six other angels looked at him in a mixture of shock and disbelief.
"Why not?" Raguel questioned.
Uriel sensed that he needed to choose his next words carefully. He had already raised a little bit of suspicion, and at this point he was treading on glass. Raguel was cunning, and Uriel knew that he would jump at any opportunity to incriminate him.
What Raguel wanted wasn't to find the perpetrator. He wanted to exile one of the seven, no matter who it was, to restore peace to the kingdom, even temporarily. Uriel obviously knew that he wasn't the culprit, but all it would take was the slightest slip of his tongue to make him look like he had been caught red-handed.
The other five angels looked on at the confrontation, wondering what would happen next.
Uriel sat back down and cleared his throat before speaking.
"Because on the off-chance that you're wrong, you've thrown away one of your biggest advantages against the perpetrator," Uriel spoke slowly and with purpose.
"And so what?" Raguel retorted, "We lose one of the six other Archangels. We still have five more against the single one that was actually the criminal. The numbers still favor us, no?"
He narrowed his eyes, like a snake ready to strike. "Or maybe, Uriel, it was YOU-"
"ENOUGH!" shouted Raphael, making everyone flinch. Raphael wasn't one to raise his voice, but his tone carried more than enough strength to silence the room in an instant.
"We'll continue this tomorrow at noon. Keep your eyes out for any suspicious activity." Raphael looked pointedly at Uriel and Raguel.
"Be smart. Keep your guard up for now. We will settle this at tomorrow's meeting, without a doubt."
"I second this motion," said Michael, getting up from his seat and walking away. "In the name of the first Archangel, this conference is adjourned." He paused for a second, turning back and casting his gaze upon the gathered angels.
"Somebody WILL be exiled tomorrow. Be ready."
And with that, the first conference was over.