"Neal, what do your parents do?" Eyna asked bored while playing with the needle which normally was placed on the top right corner of her desk.
She had arrived at the academy in the middle of the afternoon just to see that there really wasn't much to do. So she was just languidly laying back in her comfortable chair behind her desk. Most of the documents had already been signed by another person working under her and she needed only to look… touch over the most important but pointless papers.
Therefore, to kill time Eyna talked with the incompetent newcomer who now frequently traveled to her office to hand over the documents.
"Ummm… My father is the head of a foundry which specializes in luxury products," Neal elaborated faltering.
"So how did you get to be a lowly worker in the academy?" Eyna queried with one eyebrow raised, not really interested in the topic anymore. Her subordinate suddenly began narrating his whole biography, jumping randomly through any useless moments in his boring life.
Eyna had already regretted her decision of asking and could only nod her head to show good manners. However, she long didn't really listen to his never-ending monologue anymore.
Instead, she tried balancing the needle on her index finger. While she threw some random words into the conversation the metallic object stood motionlessly upright on her hand without signs of toppling over. Suddenly, the needle wobbled and fell onto the wooden table. A faint clanking could be heard when it hit the hard surface.
"Neal, I reckon you should still have work to do, right?" Eyna suddenly interrupted her subordinate's endless monologue.
"I understand…" Neal said clearly sorrowful of having been pulled out of his one-sided conversation. However, her tone didn't seem to allow a negative answer.
He soon took the stack of paper which he should have brought away long ago and exited the room. Eyna was left alone in her now silent office. She waited a few seconds to make sure her subordinate wouldn't be coming back and then cleared her throat.
"You are aware that a window isn't seen as an entrance in the mortal realm?" Eyna's voice sounded out loud in the silent and empty office. She waited patiently until suddenly a female voice answered her comment.
"We've been found out so quickly. I must say this surprises even me."
Eyna recognized the voice to be the disguised demon she met the previous evening. She could now hear footsteps nearing from the back of the office. The demon didn't seem to have come alone and brought two other intruders with her.
"Do not bore me with this child's play," Eyna said confidently.
However, inside her mind, she was currently still confused that someone really was hidden in her office and nearly fell out of her chair due to the unexpected shock. She had just found the sudden toppling of the needle on her finger a little bit too unnatural and had this presentment.
On the previous day, the window was left open as the intruder was injured and didn't perceive a person inside the room. However, as a member of the divine race, it was a child's play to break into Eyna's office without anyone noticing. The only indication had been the light needle which was the only object that was perceivably affected by the else undetectable gust of wind.
Because Eyna already wanted this torment of Neal's monologue to end she just listened to this inkling and sent him away.
If her intuition had been wrong then she would have been the only person who would have ever known of this embarrassing misstep. Additionally, she was able to silence her subordinate. Therefore, this test brought her only advantages.
"However, you really didn't have to return to give me your eternal gratitude for saving you," Eyna added in an ironic tone.
"Ok, we're leaving," the female demon said cursing, while being irritated, and turned to exit through the window again. Her temper didn't seem to allow any type of sarcastic jokes.
Before she could jump out, one of the two other intruders immediately stopped her and conversed shortly with her in a low voice which made it impossible for Eyna to hear its content.
The other two intruders, who Eyna recognized being male, didn't seem to be of lower standing than the female demon as they had talked with her on seemingly even ground. Therefore, Eyna already concluded that they belonged to the divine race too.
The female demon, who had been persuaded, cursed and turned back around to face Eyna.
"My name is Leraye. The name of the other two you don't need to know," the disguised woman said reluctantly.
"Eyna Van Proles" Eyna's answer was short.
"Not a surname I have ever heard of. For the fact that you almost swim in money one would think you came from a famous and rich background," Leraye voiced out, clearly showing her doubts.
Eyna raised one of her brows. The trio had already made their investigations about her life and backing.
"You probably wonder why we would need your help," Leraye said, completely ignoring Eyna's quizzical expression.
"Because I'm very intelligent?" Eyna asked in a serious tone, as she couldn't come up with another good reason.
"..."
"..."
"... No?" The three intruders appeared to be dumbfounded by Eyna's confident statement and only the female demon could answer after a few moments of speechlessness.
"We are actually asking for your help because you are blind and you appear stupid enough to stand up against these feathery birds," she elaborated.
"Now I'm intrigued," Eyna voiced out her curiosity, not paying the underlying insult of the demon any notice.
"A few days ago, we stole a specific important artifact from these feathery birds," Leraye began.
The feathery birds she was talking of were clearly a condescending expression for angels. The day before Leraye had used the term 'angel' as she spoke with an unknowing petty human. Now, Eyna seemed to have received a little bit higher evaluation to hear the angel's nickname.
Just from these words Eyna already knew that this conversation would become a major headache.
"However, these winged pea-sized brains somehow managed to respond in a timely manner before we could escape the city," Leraye continued her story.
"So, since then you were trapped in the city," Eyna concluded loudly. The demon probably nodded.
Apparently, they were constantly trying to escape the angels' grasp in the past week and Leraye's sudden injured appearance the day before was an obvious consequence of their flight.
"If the artifact was truly that important to the …feathery birds, why haven't they long closed all the gates leading out of the city?" Eyna asked while using the peculiar vocabulary of her opposite.
She had already noticed that the density of angels hovering above the streets had significantly increased but no further countermeasures had been taken.
"The feathery bird's main flaw is their arrogance. They deem themselves certain that they will be able to catch us and only wait at the open gates for our arrival. They are certain that they will catch us without making a bigger fuss," Leraye elaborated.
"Well, for being arrogant and having pea-sized brains they are doing a pretty good job in pursuing you," Eyna said lightly, thinking back on the gaping wound on the demon's stomach. She could immediately feel a fuming gaze layn on her coming from the direction of Leraye.
However, the demon quickly subdued her anger and continued the main conversation.
"The problem lies with the thrones stationed at each gate."
Eyna could immediately see the cause of the problem, originating from the thrones.
The heavenly forces didn't just consist of angels but were actually subdivided into three different spheres following a strict hierarchy. In each of these spheres, one could further differentiate between three unique races of angels.
The stereotypical angel and the a tiny bit higher positioned archangel were placed in the lowest third sphere, at the ground bottom of the hierarchy.
However, as the stereotypical angels were pretty much the only divine beings low enough to converse with the even lower mortal humans, the name was commonly used as an umbrella term to sum up all the heavenly forces.
Thrones on the other hand were part of the highest first sphere. Their appearance had none with humanoid creatures in common, as they were in the form similar to a carriage wheel flying with six wings. Twelve eyes were evenly distributed along the rim always watching the surrounding lacking any sense of weariness.
Eyna knew all too well the abilities of this heavenly faction. They were selected by God to bring judgment and to maintain the cosmic harmony of all universal laws.
To fulfill this task they were given a special skill called the
If there were truly one throne at each gate leading out of the city, Eyna couldn't see any person being able to escape undetected while holding onto the artifact, even if they were part of a divine race.
The sins, which thrones would pursue, were defined in the ancient holy scripture personally written by God himself, and the book was now stored in the city of light above the clouds. The prohibition of theft was the seventh of the ten commandments and would therefore be pursued and accordingly punished.
Eyna already knew the reason why these demons had paid her a visit. However, she ought it to be better to feign ignorance.
"What I don't understand is what this would have to do with me?" She asked.
"As you are probably aware, thrones are able to see all the sins a living person has made throughout his life. However, you may know the proverb
"The eyes of any living being constantly project one's soul to the outside and the thrones are able to record this emission. Unless a person would conveniently be blind nobody could escape their grasps."
"I think I get the gist of it. However, couldn't you just blind yourselves? I mean, you can regenerate anyway within a matter of seconds," Eyna retorted.
She could feel the evaluating gazes on her grew more acknowledging. Not any person was able to compile this question out of this little information in such a short time.
"Well… Actually… As we are perfect and flawless beings our automatic regeneration is too fast and efficient. So, we need to actively fight against the desire of healing to remain in an imperfect state. This action would easily be detected by other divine creatures," Leraye answered stiffly.
Eyna suddenly felt the urge to laugh out loud. She had never thought to hear a flawless being admitting its flaws.
"I understand. Then, can't you just hide the stolen artifact on a random bypasser who is in the act of leaving the city?" Eyna queried further with her lips still curled up. In her assessment, if the person wouldn't know that he was carrying a stolen object he wouldn't be prosecuted for a sin.
This time, Leraye let out a depreciating laugh.
"You flatter the god you always had prayed to too much. I mean, during the time he was still present, he allowed only people who had believed and prayed to him into heaven, totally ignoring the population who had lived in an isolated area throughout their lives and have never heard of his existence. They never even had the slightest chance to receive salvation." the demon nagged. She then continued.
"As he had created the universe and all the laws, do you really think that he would let one escape a crime even if the person himself hadn't known about it?" Leraye argued. Eyna understood the demon's reasoning. However, this rule probably wasn't as stiff as the demon had let it seem to be. With all people socially connected to each other, there would always be an endless cascade of sinners if even one person committed a crime.
After giving a few moments to let Eyna process the information the demon then asked.
"So what do you say about a short joint operation?"