I began to look around frantically for her, my mind racing and heart pumping in fear. I looked back in front of me; the angels all around me wore understanding smiles. Most of them nodded their heads before jumping up and flying away. They flew high in the sky to the trees, talking with each other. Only two stayed behind: a tall male with soft blonde hair and bright green eyes and a female with a short, thick stature and her hair was light brown and in a long braid.
They both wore the same type of clothing—well, the colors were very similar—yellow and white with a bit of brown and red accents. The boy had a robe that dropped from his shoulder and a ribbon tied around his waist in a bow. The woman had a dress-like thing tied around her waist, with a bit of a dip in her curves, while her neck and shoulders showed tan brown skin. Her shoulders held long white ribbons that flew behind her as she moved.
"The goddess likes you," the boy said, coming closer to my trembling form. I just shook my head at him, confused by what he was saying.
The girl giggled, a small smile on her face. "You were asking who that was?" She came next to the boy, tilting her head in wait for my answer.
"I… The woman..." I slowly mouthed out. Again, I looked behind me to see if she was there; she wasn't. "Who was... she?"
The boy covered his mouth with the white sleeves that covered his hand. His soft giggle innocently left his lips; I looked down in embarrassment. The girl with braids looked excited as her smaller white wings flew back in a happy flutter.
"The Gate Goddess," was her answer.
I couldn't help but give her a raised eyebrow. The boy, again- couldn't help but giggle. His ears were flattened, and a flourishing red blush formed; the girl also giggled lightly. "She doesn't have a... name… She goes by that here." The girl answered, trying to help me understand.
I still couldn't understand what she was talking about.
"It's her title." The boy finally caught his breath, he crossed his arms, and gave me an understanding look. "All the Goddesses go by titles here. No one knows their name; it's forbidden for them."
"I-I'm still very confused…" I responded, holding my head in frustration.
The two angels in front of me looked at each other. The girl stepped forward, gently putting her hand on my shoulder. I looked up at her, "It's all new. You will understand soon enough, so don't overthink this."
"But I want to know more about her! The.. Gate Goddess…"
The boy came forward as well, his expression carefree. "I could understand why you want to know more about her. She is so mysterious; all of us here have met her before."
"What?" I questioned.
"She helps everyone; she helps us walk the path of acceptance before leaving us to learn independently." The girl further explained, but it still confused me a lot.
"Will… Will I see her again?" I asked, hopeful for a clear answer.
The girl was about to answer, but the tall boy answered. "Of course! She watches over everyone; trust me, you will often run into her." He winked at the end, making me shift back a little.
He gave an innocent giggle and waved his sleeved hand in front of me. The girl shoved him lightly, a warning crossing her face: " Sorry about him. He doesn't seem to understand the meaning of slow and steady."
I gave a soft laugh at the two angelic beings. I wanted to ask more questions; they seemed to be able to answer me and not mind my curiosity. But I felt like I should ask about them; I didn't want to be rude.
"Uhm, who are you guys? Well, what do you guys go by?" I decided to ask.
The two looked at me, both mirroring each other's expressions. "You mean, what are our names?" The girl asked, looking like she was about to laugh.
I looked down, feeling more embarrassed, before nodding my head.
"Well, I'm Bridget." The girl said, flapping her wings happily.
The boy closed his eyes proudly before answering, "And I'm Seth!"
The answers from the two relieved me a bit. I sighed and felt my whole body relax. I got a few answers, which made the angels in front of me more comfortable.
"You seem to be less tense now." Seth came over to my side, his hands behind his head as he looked down at me. The two laughed; Bridget came to my other side as they started to walk over to me.
"He means that you were very tense before." She explained, and I nodded with a slow understanding. Bridget then looked forward, a bright look in her hazel eyes. "Why don't we show you around here?"
I looked back at her. "What is.. 'here'?"
Bridget looked at Seth; he chuckled lightly. "Here is whatever you want it to be. Call it what you want, Vienna."
"Huh?" I felt confused once again.
Bridget shook her head at the cheerful angel. "If it helps, others here call it Home, Heaven, Paradise, Afterlife, The Beyond." She looked back at me with a small, mischievous look. "But we call it Wonderland."
My lips turned into a small smile, and I couldn't help but giggle at the word. The two beside me laughed, making me feel more at ease.
My mind was half off track to the oncoming thoughts of what Bridget told me this place was called. The one that struck me the most was Heaven. Other words like the afterlife? Something wasn't adding up. I felt like I was missing something, like it was stolen from me. It was confusing; it was paining my brain to try and understand it.
It may be best to forget it. To not think about all the strange things happening, because there was a lot of questions.
I felt eyes on me, drifting me out of my thoughts. I noticed the two look at me with concern. Seth looked at Bridget; she responded with an awkward smile. "H-How about we show you where you will probably be staying the most?" I couldn't answer that. I wanted to agree, but at the same time, I wanted to ask more. "This is all new and big for you, Vienna. Please don't overthink things. We will show you important places first so you could rest."
"Right…" I decided to agree, because maybe I could ask about these strange new things later. Everything was just so jumbled up in my mind, eveything at once was making it hard to focus.
Looking forward, my eyes focused on something that seemed to appear before me. A tall and huge oak tree with long branches, a few circled holes on the immense log dotted up and down the brown bark that gave way to openings. I saw small figures, probably other angels, flying in and out of the holes.
I looked up in awe, seeing all the flying creatures in the bright blue sky. The two angels who led me explained what the beauty that was in front of me was.
"That is what we call Angels Cove," Seth said aloud, and I turned to him. "It's where we stay most of the time."
The further he explained, the more confused I got. Bridget shook her head. "We are what the Goddess calls Angels."
"Are there other things.. like this.. but different?"
Even with my weird wording, Bridget seemed to understand what I was trying to say. "Yes, we are Angels," she then pointed to something jumping back and forth from one of the tree's long branches. "That is what Goddesses call a Heaven Pup. They normally travel here with an angel owner but don't stay for long. You will mostly see them in Pup's Cove."
The thing was a big, bright puppy with huge paws. Its wings were almost as big as it's body was, paired with a bright, glowing halo that was similar to the angels halos. Overall, the creature was very cute; it had a very approachable aura. I had a temptation to pet the soft, glowing fur.
Turning back to Bridget, the two continued walking until we got closer to the tree's base. Seth motioned for me to look at one of the entrances on the ground. There, I saw three bright pink colored beings. Their wings were much smaller than the others; their clothing was also different. "Those are what Goddesses call Cupids." Seth explained, "They mostly hang out with us angels so you will see many of them here at the cove. Or, they will be at Cupids Cove."
"They're beautiful…" I mouthed out, looking at the two girls on either side of the boy who stood in between them. What caught me the most was the sparkling star-like things that surround them. I looked at it like I was falling in love, it was just so enticing.
"They sure are," Seth replied, his eyes stared lovingly in the same direction.
"Yeah…" Bridget smiled shyly, "they are also lovely and good at giving any type of advice."
I don't need to go to them then. I wonder if love here even exists? I still don't know enough to think about those things, I needed to focus on more important things.
Bridget made a sound. I looked back at her and away from the Cupids. She seemed to be looking for something before turning to look back at Seth.
Seth understood what she was silently saying. "I don't think they are here right now. They are probably helping the Goddess."
I turned to look in between the two, "what?"
"The Cherubs," Bridget explained, seeing the look on my face. "I guess they are busy with the Goddesses, so we can't exactly show you them- but all you have to know is that they are tiny."
"Small?" I repeated.
Seth laughed out loud, giving Bridget a small-eyed look. "Great description."
The teasing caused Bridget to grow a bit red. Her face was a light pink, and a smile formed on her lips. "Well… It's hard to explain something if you don't see them yourself."
"You will," Seth decided to cut in; I turned to listen to him. "They are almost everywhere since they don't have their cove. And trust me, you'll see a lot more than them."
I could only believe what he was talking about. I had no idea what a Cherub was. And hearing Bridget explain them, I'm guessing they don't have a 'cove.' I was tempted to ask more, but I felt too uncomfortable and uncertain to ask something like that.
"Since that's all you need to know for now, how about we set you in your own space?" Seth decided to ask.
I turned, about to ask something, but Bridget had already answered. "Where you will rest and keep personal stuff. All Angels, Cupids, and Cherubs have one. The heaven pups don't have a personal one; they stay together."
"Alright, enough explaining. Let's show her!" Seth said in an excited tone. The shift they were taking confused me. Why are they so happy about this?
With that, the two held onto my arms before speeding up their pace to the entrance. Their wings flew behind them in evident excitement. I almost thought they would lift me into the sky, but they let go when we entered, one high jump up from the steps.
When I got to look around me, I lifted my head in awe again. The inside was massive. It had the same greenery that was outside on the inside. The bright bark from the trunk came to close the whole interior. Holes of all sizes were on the sides of the walls, and a colorful and unique interior was inside each of them.
Angels and heaven pups came at different speeds, jumping and flying in and out of the holes, some staying in while the light inside went off.
I was intrigued. Everyone's part was different, with different colors, shapes, and sizes. I wanted to see more of this.
"Let's show you yours!" Bridget said from beside me, I felt a hard pull and I was dragged further inside. We waved through a few groups of angelic beings, going a bit deeper into the huge what they call cove. I was shocked at how the brightness from the entrance stretched further into the inside of the cove. It's like the light from the outside was always on the inside.
It was so unrealistic. Yet again, everything I have seen so far is.
The two angels led me to an opening when I was out of my thoughts. They stopped just in front of the circle opening. I looked at them both when they stepped behind me. "What... is this?"
"Whatever you want it to be," Seth responded, crossing his arms with a smirk on his face.
I could only stare at him with confusion. Bridget shook her head, "You can do what you want there. It's a safe place to make into anything you desire."
The explanation made me even more confused. I couldn't believe such a ridiculous thing. They stopped explaining after that. Seth even shooed me inside, pushing his hands towards me. I took the hint, turning around with a light scowl, and entered.
I don't know what I was expecting, but when I entered, nothing was there. It was a small but livable space with brown bark walls. I turned to the angels behind me. They giggled, and Seth turned around to hide his much bigger laugh.
Bridget took my look and gave me a meaningful look: "Think about what makes you comfortable. What you want to see every day."
It was like she read my mind. I turned to the once-empty space. Closing my eyes, I focused my mind on thinking.
To think. Think about what I like.
I was trying to remember something that I liked. I pushed harder but couldn't remember what I wanted. I don't even know what makes me feel comfortable. Just then, my thoughts went to the Gate Goddess. Thinking about her calmed my entire stiff body. I let my shoulders fall, drifting my head to a welcoming daydream.
My eyes felt drowsy, and my mind felt weak and tired. A soft, welcoming embrace took my breath away, and my body felt like it was lifted from the ground's surface. My eyes shot open in shock. The feeling of falling enclosed my mind and body, and I was indeed tumbling into a dark abyss. It was dark, cold, stuffy, wet, rough, everything.
I felt everything at once. I was too hot; then I was too cold. I shouted out in fear; my mind felt like a scorching fire was lit within. My body tried to curl into itself, trying hard to evade the pain.
I didn't know what to do.
I wanted the feelings to end. The crowding of my mind jumped back and forth.
I didn't care about trying to think anymore! I just wanted it to end!