Thou shall both ends of the broken string find each other. As the seed of the purest of all angels breathed air, Heaven wept and Hell rejoiced. The gates that divided the three kingdoms shall be broken, the blood moon shall weep across the land and the hunt for the pure blood has begun.
It started as an average mundane day.
Caleb woke up with his raven hair sticking out everywhere. He stood up from bed, the silk sheets slid down to his lower body as he struggled to escape the alluring lullaby of his bed with much intended effort. Another minute spent drowning under the comfort of his forever lover takes closer to an hour of non-stop lecture about being a responsible member of the adult society by his manager if he's late for work.
After the heavy dragging of his feet all the way to the bathroom with rough scratching noises from the wooden floor that irritated his ear, he stared at his puffy face and half naked body reflected on the bathroom mirror, half of his faced covered by his slick raven hair. His hands rested on both sides of the marble sink as every drop of water from the faucet echoed, in sync with his every grasp for breath.
His nightmares came hunting him at every grim of the night and deep beneath those chocolate brown eyes cages a forbidden fate locked by the heavens.
In a flash of lightning, his heavy breaths were accompanied by someone's as a soft hand touched his cheeks. Caleb's eyes slowly opened to see himself inside their van.
Everything was vague and dark with only the headlights giving light to the road they were traversing, telling him that it was already night time. His heart beat rapidly as if it was a premonition to what was about to happen. It was both a mixed feeling of anticipation and fear.
Caleb's eyes moved around to see his manager, Nate, and their long-time family driver, Albert, chatting gleefully about something at the front row. Their voices were inaudible. His eyes then scanned to his side to see an unknown but mystifyingly beautiful woman beside him, her little hands tried to reach for him. She glowed like the sun, long silky white gown with gold fixtures covering her slim figure fell all the way to her ankles, her long wavy light brown hair sprawled against her shoulders and her misty green eyes looked at him like she had always longed for him. She looked like she was about to cry.
But what Caleb saw next made him jump from his seat. A set of enormous white wings were attached behind her.
"Who are you?!" Caleb slid farther from the woman and he could see the hint of pain from those glassy set of green eyes peeking behind her thick lashes. If not for the unearthly wings, he would've completely fell for her spell.
"You can see me?!" The woman croaked in disbelief.
"It is time." Another voice from an unknown man behind him said.
"Look out!!!"
Caleb would've looked behind to see who the person was but Nate's screaming voice took his attention and he snapped to turn his head to him.
Everything became brighter like the sun getting closer as a loud honk from a truck deafened his ears. But it didn't prevent him from hearing how the woman pleaded to someone unseen by the naked mundane eye, "Please, not now."
The woman jumped in front of him and hugged him in the neck. He could feel her deep breaths against his ear and their chest beat harmoniously against each other. He couldn't make of what's happening and just stood there frozen before those enormous wings wrap around them like a protective shell.
A loud crash rang against Caleb's ear, glasses breaking and their van rolled over twice but the woman held him even tighter. The last thing he remembered was a soft grunt from her, blood trickled from her forehead to his shoulder before she smiled and whispered, "I kept my promise."
Then everything became pitch black.
ϔϔϔ
When Stellar reached the Angel Court, all of the Angel Council were seated in one line of an elevated platform with the Holy Seraphim at the middle as the main judge. Other angels were seated on both sides of the pristine white court, clouded by soft mist. Stellar caught a glimpse of her good friend Imhan at the left side with her eyes brimming with tears along with the Angels that she had been very close with. Even Gino, her mentor, was at one corner, looking furious as two Archangels held him at both arms.
"Stellar," the Holy Seraphim called her attention, his light brown hair swayed as the wind blew against it, "I think you know why your presence is highly needed here." his voice was stern, overflowing with authority.
"Yes, I do, Holy Seraphim." Stellar responded with a straight face despite her heart racing like it has never been before. All those judging eyes on her made her feel suffocated.
"Stellar," one of the Principals continued, "You have been tempted and followed your own selfishness. And thus, you have protected the human from his fated death and disobeyed what you've been asked to do."
Stellar remained silent, without any idea on what would be the right words to say. She knew she was at fault and she doesn't have right to question any of it.
"Stellar," the Holy Seraphim once again said, "Don't you want to express your thoughts and protect your side?" his statement was as if secretly telling her to make an excuse to avoid the punishment that would befall her but that would be wrong. She must suffer the consequences of her actions.
"No, Holy Seraphim." she remained determined, "I would be lying if I'll insist I'm not at fault."
"Very well." the Holy Seraphim continued, "Then I assume that you have already accepted the punishment that we have decided to bestow upon you."
"Yes, sir." she tightly closed her hands into a fist, "But Caleb Hendricks has nothing to do with this. Please save him."
"That's absurd!" Sylvius, one of the council, scoffed, "He is now an Immortui, a being with unknown background, because he was saved from his fated death. We won't know if he's a friend or foe!"
"This could be a chance for us to discover more about Immortuis and what they can do. We could also protect him on the process." the Holy Seraphim suggested, "What do the elders say about it?"
The elders nodded in unison saying, "We all agree with the Holy Seraphim."
"Are you contented with that, Stellar?" the Holy Seraphim turned back towards her.
"Yes, sir." she nodded.
This is it, she'll become a fallen one.
She tried to control the tears that started to brim in her eyes and her heart pounded heavily that all she could hear was the Holy Seraphim's voice and her throbbing chest.
At least, he will be safe.
The Holy Seraphim uneasily sighed before he continued, "I understand." he then stated with an authoritative voice, "Under the declaration of the law, Angelicus Act of 1000 B.C., and as to what we have all agreed, you have been proven guilty and is hereby sentenced to an exile to earth."
Stellar looked at the Holy Seraphim, dumbfounded.
"As you, who is a Nephilim, you will live as a human full of sins and temptations." he added.
What is he talking about? Nephilims?
Nephilims are seeds of a human and an angel. She doesn't understand anything. Nephilims are not allowed to enter Angelicus as long as their human side is alive. Murmurs then filled the whole court.
However, indifferent to the sudden turn of events that had everyone confused, the Holy Seraphim continued, "You will live like them. Work all the days of your life to live and when the Fountain of Bodement prophesized that you will die, that will be the time that your exile will be dismissed and you will come back as a pure angel." he then closed his verdict by smacking the gavel.
Stellar was confounded by what she heard. Everything was a bombshell that she wasn't prepared of. Yes, she wasn't castigated to be a fallen angel and she was happy about it. But to be informed that she was a half-human, that's a lie, isn't it?
Her entire life Stellar thought she was a pure angel. She came to Angelicus as a baby and she was told the reason that her body matured unlike the others was because she was unbaptised and the humanly impurities inside her body remained. She hasn't met anyone like her before so she has neither proven that to be true nor doubted it.
The Holy Seraphim stood up from his seat. He then went towards her when she failed to even move a step due to shock.
"I'll send you off myself." he said, almost whispering. Stellar could not fathom what he was thinking. He was always the apathetic one and would turn his back away from her. One might even say that he hates her and she had always thought it was because of her impurity. She would then be the one always looking at his huge back, admiring and highly respected the archon of Angelicus from afar.
"What..." Stellar wanted to ask the very question that filled her mind but she was paralyzed by those mere words.
"I'm sorry." the Holy Seraphim leaned down to her and hung a golden necklace unto her neck. "Your Mother will be able to find you through this. She will recognize you through this necklace."
The tears that she tried to restrain fell down one by one. Everything finally came into light. "Are you−" she tried to speak out the words piercing her throat, "Are you my Father?"
The Holy Seraphim looked at her. For the first time in her entire existence, she saw a faint reflection of loneliness from those set of ocean blue eyes. It was only for a split second that she thought she could've probably just imagined it.
All this time, she never knew who she was and the key to everything was right in front of her. However, the most painful part was, the Holy Seraphim, the archon that she respected all these years was the one who has sinned and created a Nephilim like her. But he had always avoided her as if she didn't exist and let her suffer alone to receive all the punishment, including his. She was but a sacrifice for his sins.
The Holy Seraphim kissed her forehead, a kiss of betrayal from her own bloodーher own Father. He took Eli away from her years ago and he was about to take something precious from her once again. Then her eyes slowly closed, her consciousness fading away.
"Don't let the fallen ones find you."
That was the last thing that Stellar heard and fell into a deep slumber, not knowing what would happen next.