She felt so isolated, the only company the over whelming anguish that consumed her body. She lay alone in the sweat filled four-post bed, her wings wrapped around and the two tiny baby boys that lived within her. To her, Heaven had lost its splendor. Now she only knew it as the location that she would take her final breath. The place that would part her from the ones she cherished most in this world.
In all honesty, she wasn't afraid of dying, but terrified of becoming a faded reminiscence in the minds of her loved ones. Silent tears flowed down her beautiful face for her children and their father. She had no choice but to leave them abandoned in such an unsympathetic world.
She let out an almost silent moan as she felt the movement of the unborn children deep inside her womb. They would never come to know who she was. Never truly know how much she truly loved them; never hear her say it, except in their first moments of life. They would never remember that moment anyways.
She closed her sapphire eyes tight and breathed in deeply, waited a few seconds, and let it out slowly. She opened her eyes and turned to look at the man standing next to her. Even now, in her darkest minute,
she couldn't help but smile as she stared into his complex hazel eyes.
"Gabriel," she whispered, just loud enough for him to hear her.
"Yeah?" he mouthed back, as he stepped forward and moved her sweat filled blonde hair away from her eyes.
"I love you, more than you'll ever know. Thank you for all the astonishing memories over the countless years you've held my hand. You've been everything I could have wanted or needed. Tender yet stable. Compassionate. My lover and my best friend." she softly spoke.
"You've played the same role for me, my dear. There is no need to thank me. I've only tried to give you everything I believe you truly deserve. The world."
He bent down and kissed her forehead. He pulled away abruptly though as her face winced up.
"I'm sorry," he muttered as he began to step back.
She immediately reached out and took his arm, drawing him back towards her. "It's not you my darling.
Just a slight contraction." She pulled him into a deep embrace.
"The time is approaching for the conclusion to be set in motion. Their advent is coming. You and I play a huge position in the end of this war game, the universe has taken part in for far too long. We have brought the catalysts into the world to finish off what we could not. Soon they will take their first breaths in a world that I feel will never come to comprehend who they truly are." Amitiel said as she pulled away.
"I can feel it too. It's like a weight being lifted off our shoulders. The time is forthcoming that we have prayed for since Lucifer's treachery and the commencement of the torment that has been our life.
Before long there will be no more butchery. Never again will I have to eliminate an existence. Harmony, Am. Doesn't the concept alone sound glorious?" Gabriel said.
"Yes it does," she replied, moving her hand away from his and placing it on her bulging abdomen. "But at what cost does this rapture occur?"
She seized his hand and placed it next to hers on her stomach. "Both of them are our flesh and blood. And I can't help but feel that we are betraying them by bringing them into a world that will eat them alive. It has been our role to bring them to life, only for them to be pawns, in a game they will never understand. They will have to pay for all the sins of every living thing. Feel the consequences of the mistakes we have made. Sacrifice themselves for a world that feels so unjust."
"We've always known that this day would come. From the time you first went to Destiny to learn what your purpose was in this struggle. Simply bring them into life. Isn't that precisely what she told you?" Gabriel asked her.
She hesitated a second before answering, "Yes," is all she could bring herself to say.
She knew that the truth would devastate him. The fact of the matter was that with the arrival of the redeemers of the new era, her downfall would soon follow. She could still recall the day she was told that she was going to die, like it was yesterday.
She inhaled and turned to look out the window that sat next to the bed and gazed out into the cold winter night. Up until now, winter had always been her favorite time of the year. How peaceful the world appeared when encased in pure white. It always reminded her of how it was before the war arose.
"Gabe, do you remember what life was like before the fall of the fourth?" she inquired as she shifted to glance at him.
"Briefly," he whispered.
"I remember," she muttered. "It was perfect. No tears, no fear. No death, only life. There was no such thing as hatred. The rivers and oceans of Heaven flowed clear, and not red with the blood of those who have fallen victim to the blades of warfare. But most of all I remember that shimmer in your eyes that has seemed to vanish more and more as the years pass. Once upon a time you were so full of life, but now you seem almost on the brink of becoming hollow. The shine is almost gone, in those stunning eyes of yours." Amitiel said softly.
"You're the only thing that keeps my soul in tact. If I lost you, for any reason. I would linger as only a shell, Am."
She could feel the tears well up in her eyes at his last words. In her mind she began to scream to who ever would hear her pleas. Why did it have to be this way? He was going to shatter, when they required him the most. His fate was far from being satisfied.
"Promise me that you'll try to carry on for me, if I should pass away into the enigmatic."
"I can't make that oath, for the reality that I know nothing is going to take you away from me," he replied, kissing her hand.
She pulled away and stared him deep in the eyes. "Just swear to me, Gabriel. I need this. You word that you will not give up, ever," she said, her voice becoming somber.
He breathed out deeply. "I promise."
"Thank you," she smiled up at him.
In that split second she realized that everything was going to be all right. As she studied those eyes, they told her as much as he didn't want to, he would maintain the pledge he had made. Because of that she truthfully no longer dreaded her destiny. Fatality was now just another element of her existence.
A contraction struck her womb and made her back arch violently. She could feel her entire face twist from the agony. Swiftly the bed became flooded as her water burst.
"It's time," she said bleakly.
The next contraction triggered her to let out shrill screech. She had never thought for a moment that such a pain existed. It felt as if she was being torn from the inside, out. All of a sudden she was begging in her head that death would come and usher her away from the suffering she was now enduring.
Her screams filled the night skies. She clutched Gabriel's hand and began to crush as rigorously as she could. Through the tears she could scarcely make out the image of Gabriel's face distorting from the pain she was causing to his hand. Usually she would feel sympathy for what she was doing, but now she genuinely didn't care. In some merciless way, it satisfied her vaguely to see someone else endure just a portion of what she was currently going through.
It felt like a thousand life times, of sheer agony. Just then from the corner of her eye, she watched, as the sky appeared to become a sea of blue tinted fire. It burned like that for several moments, until she let out one final cry. The sky outside appeared to subside into itself, leaving a newborn star shining vibrantly in the sky, blazing as blue as the entire sky had been only seconds before.
That's when the cries of her first born son crashed into her ears.
Gabriel calmly strolled to the end of the bed, and tenderly picked up the blood-covered infant. He concentrated and beckoned a blade to his uninhibited hand. In one swift motion, he separated the boy from the umbilical cord that was still attaching him to his mother.
The father sauntered across the room, little one still in his arms, and picked up a moist rag, that dangled from the corner of a warm water pale. As soon as he was done wiping the blood from the boy's body, he offered him to Amitiel, a colossal grin spread across his face as he did.
"He's stunning," Gabriel muttered.
"I know," she whispered, still barely capable of speaking.
She brought him in close to her and beamed. "Hello, my sweetest Kain. You have no idea how long I've waited to meet you," she said softly in his ear. His miniature hazel eyes lit up with delight as he looked intently at his mother. A small cooing noise left his throat, as he captured her pinky finger in his pint-sized fist.
Unexpectedly he released his grasp and began to shriek.
"What's wrong with him?" Gabriel inquired, as he hurried forward.
"Nothing, the remainder of him is still approaching." she replied, as she brushed down the little spot of black hair that stood up on his head.
Kain let out one final ear-shattering wail, as a minuscule pair of black-feathered wings extended their way from his shoulder blades. He fell silent and glimpsed around at his mother and father.
"Silly question, but shouldn't those be white?" Gabriel solicited promptly. "I know that one of them will go into battle for our side, while Hell will take the other. But I've truly never set eyes on wings that were black, at least not at birth that is."
Amitiel let out a snigger. "Don't worry, he's sincerely not the one we have to be alarmed about. Call it a mother's sixth sense, but I can see that much by peering into his eyes, the man he will grow to be. He has your eyes Gabe."
She cradled Kain in close to her shoulder. In an almost soundless undertone she bestowed the ultimate message she knew deep within her heart, she would ever be able to tell him.
"I love you, please if you remember anything, remember this," she began. "But please also understand that as much as I wish it weren't true, I will not be present to help direct you through the turmoil filled life you have just been brought into. The world is not a pretty place, it can be absolutely heartless. And regrettably your existence will prove to be more traumatic then most. You see, you and your brother are the sacrificial lambs of a new age. Pinned against each other in a perpetual mêlée that has been happening since long before you obtained your first lungful of air in this world. I know you don't know what I am saying, or even who I am. But I still believe that you must know these things before I take my last breath. I wish I could be there to shield you from those who are going to hurt you, both physically and emotionally.
Some will strive to exploit you as a pawn, my beloved. But you will be so much more, I assure you that.
Please never let them ever overwhelm you. Hold onto those who adore you. Those who will come to prove their merit to you. They are rare, trust me they are. But when you come across them, don't let them go. For you will require them as much as they will come to need you."
She had to stop as another contraction hit her. "I have to make this brief. My demise comes with haste. Commit to memory what I've said, if you can. I know I will be only a faded recollection locked someplace hidden inside your head one day. Never lose yourself in this dog eat dog world. For the individual that follows you, is going to beget you the most distress. And in the game you will come to play with him, it will all come down to 'kill or be killed. And you greatly can't afford to fail, my dear."
The contractions were approaching more rapidly in sync. She kissed Kain on his forehead, before passing him to Gabriel.
"Gabriel, I love you. But I'm not long for this world." she whispered.
"Don't utter such words. You'll be perfectly fine."
"Oh, how I yearn for your denial to be the truth. But the reality of the matter remains that I will not survive the second one's delivery. Abel will be my executioner," she said somberly, as she looked intently up at Gabriel and the now slumbering Kain.
"No, you can't breathe your last breath!" Gabriel shouted. "I can't lose you. How can you desert me here alone to take this burden as my own? It's not fair."
"We both know there is no other way. My destiny came with two responsibilities to fulfill. As does yours. I was fated to help bring them both into this confrontation. But I must also be claimed as his original victim of the many he will come to take in his lifetime. You must carry out your role and keep that little one safe so that he can become the destroyer of everything evil. Take into account that you are not the one to take Abel's life, only Kain has that right." Amitiel informed her lover.
"But…" Gabriel began.
"Please Gabe, just accept it. You promised me. Are you going to break your word to me now?"
"No…"
"Thank you. And as my last pledge to you, I will not scream or cast a tear. I will not satisfy the monster that is on his way. No matter what, my sweet, I will forever love you, and will always be with you both."
"I love you too," is all Gabriel could bring himself to say.
Amitiel fell silent, as her breathing accelerated. Gabriel merely stood there; while wordless tears ran down his face. If he could he would trade places with her in that instant.
How could God permit something so elegant to be confiscated from the world? Up until the day he died, he would never come to terms with the reasons.
His eyes moved towards the windowpane once again. This time the sky was radiating the deepest hue of ruby. Then as before, it imploded on itself, leaving a star of the harmonizing color behind.
He watched as Amitiel seized her final breath, and went limp. Just then a nauseating sensation consumed every ounce of his being, as his ears were filled by the cries of the newborn Abel.
He situated Kain down next to the now lifeless Amitiel, and slowly strolled to the end of the bed.
Squirming there in his mother's blood, Abel gave the impression of being almost innocent. But Gabriel knew better. Beyond the sapphire eyes, golden tinted locks, and white wings, he could sense something that eclipsed any evil he had ever felt.
The archangel simply lingered there and stared at the baby. How effortless it would be to just crush its throat and bring to an end to it all. But Amitiel's words echoed in his head. It was not his privilege to slaughter the fiend that lie before him. But it would be so effortless. He bent down and picked Abel up.
He held him out away from him.
Both father and son glared into the other's eyes. Abel's eyes moved in the direction of were Amitiel lay dead. As soon as his gaze met her motionless body, he let out an infuriating snicker.
Gabriel immediately urged his steel to his hand once again. He brought his arm up above his head, prepared to strike down the baby he held.
He swung the blade down as swiftly as he could. The umbilical cord sliced in half, untying child from mother.
"That will be the only compassion I will ever display to you, you bastard." Gabriel mumbled as he situated Abel on the floor by his feet.
He glanced over at Kain and Amitiel. The feelings were overwhelming.
He ambled his way towards the bed and took a hold of the sleeping Kain. The baby stirred slightly, but didn't wake. Gabriel then bent down and kissed Amitiel's lips one last time.
He then turned and began towards the exit on the opposite side of the room.
"Let's get some fresh air, little man," he sighed as he opened the door and stepped out into the darkness of the winter night.