Latest Update: COMPLETE
Summary: You are Shealtiel, once a two winged foot soldier of Heaven. Of course, you Fell. But as you simmer in the consequences of your own actions, you can at least retrace the steps that took you there.
Link: https://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/threads/why-the-stars-fall.86052/reader/
Word count:9k
Chapters:10
Chapter 1: The Fall
How does it feel to fall?
The first thing you notice is the absence. The absence of light as the sun turns away from you. The absence of sound as the choirs of your brothers and sisters grow silent. The absence of surety as the ground beneath you crumbles.
You flail your hands in the air, attempting to will your wings to move. Instead, you soon stiffen as they do as you hear a voice. You plummet, trembling, as you recognize Him.
For the second time in your existence, God addresses you and you alone. And He says He does not know you.
That somehow manages to hurt more than everything else.
You fall for a while. Heaven is so high, and the Earth so far, you almost feel as if you could fall forever. Then you crash into the ocean with the violent hiss of steam. Your eyes sting with salt, and you continue to sink beneath the water, and you do nothing. Instead, you simply allow the push and pulls of the current to take you wherever it will. It's not as if you have anywhere to go anymore, after all.
Right now, you have everything you need. It is cold, dark, and far from God. The ocean presses in all around you, and yet you finally feel like you can breath. And if there are tears, no one will ever see them.
But what brought you here? You were no scion of Heaven, true. You were no archangel whose light spanned the horizon. But one does not behold a star falling from the skies and remark, "Well, that was not the most important of stars." It is surely a momentous occasion. So why? When did this begin?
You remember Genesis.
Others may imagine it as something beautiful, something elegant, Mortals gush on about wings woven from starlight and flesh from the divine essence of the Creator. It might even be true, but if it is then you were in no state to think about it. There is nothingness, first. Then there is the Word. And the Word says simply:
Arise, Shealtiel.
It commands you into being. A jumble of letters is given meaning and becomes a name, and Light entangles itself between the syllables. Luminescence stretches into a body, into arms and legs, into tanned skin and dark hair that trails down your back. Two white wings stretch out and green eyes solemnly regard the emptiness below. You are unworthy to look upon the face of God. The first action you ever take is to bow. The first words that pass from your mouth are prayer. It is only once that light ascends that you stand, taking in the emptiness around you.
Filling the darkness are your siblings. Some burn like small candles in the void, but others flare like furious suns. For a moment you consider your own strength. Yes, for just a moment you wonder why.
Even if you were unworthy, surely it was within His power to make you worthy. Yet here you are. You, Shealtiel, are a mere ember in the dark.
And a seed of resentment is planted.
Link: https://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/threads/why-the-stars-fall.86052/reader/