Resonance could be a tricky thing, especially when it came to mortals. They were such an inconsistent race of people, prone to flights of whimsy and shifting emotions. One could just as easily be filled with rage and hate one moment, only to calm at a sudden shift in their environment. It wasn’t that angels weren’t prone to passions; they possessed a spirit all their own that spurred them on to their own deeds. Humans, however, seemed to be built upon emotion and their decisions made while in the throes of strong feelings created problematic facets of life. It definitely made reading a resonance a tricky matter at the best of times.
A residence could be a delicate place to read a resonance, as so many things could happen in a home. Add in the fact that others had lived here, and that Gabriel had to learn some of Azrael’s own aura in order to differentiate between the humans, and it was a slow process. Emotions tended to inhabit private homes for far longer than they did public dwellings, especially for those areas that had suffered in the face of a great tragedy, or places of joy or relaxation, where emotions ran high.
Once he had heard the process of reading a resonance described as tuning one’s ears to the sound of a few notes in an entire song. The problem, however, was that you didn’t quite get the notes in order, even in the essence that you read. The trick was to hear the notes, and slowly begin to piece it all together until you heard the song in its entirety. One mistake would create a discordant mess that required you to start all over again.
The notes of Azrael’s being were foreign to Gabriel, which was more troubling than he wanted to admit aloud. It had taken him longer than he anticipated to decipher and assess that some of what he was detecting was from their errant brother. How much of those changes were due to his time away from Heaven? How much of it was due simply to having been forced into becoming a human and dealing with human matters?
What troubled him more, was that even with all of that, he should have been able to piece together the song that would have lead him straight to Tobias. Yet, the more that he listened and followed the path of the notes, the more he became convinced something was wrong. It wasn’t surprising that Azrael’s presence had muddled things, but what bothered him was that the pieces of each resonance he found seemed…lacking.
Raphael had frowned when he had told him, saying nothing and simply lingering in the far corner out of Gabriel’s way. The angel looked pensive as Gabriel had worked his way around the cabin, carefully combing through each and every piece that he could find. They had been here for longer than they had expected. The days it had taken to make progress had made Gabriel’s battle with his frustration increasingly difficult. It was beginning to affect the Messenger’s behavior, making him noticeably irritable and anxious. It was a side of Gabriel that Raphael had not seen for himself before.
“Do you suspect sabotage?”
Gabriel looked up, startled by the sound of Raphael’s voice for the first time in days. “From Azrael?”
“Would he be capable of such an act?”
“I do not doubt his willingness, brother.”
Raphael shook his head. “It is not his willingness that I question. It is obvious that he means to continue on this path, no matter the consequences.”
“Then what? He has hardly forgotten all of the mysteries of Creation.”
“I believe he has forgotten far more than he thought he would. The human mind is not equipped to deal with the breadth and scope of what we know. But even if he were to remember, it works differently for mortals than it does for us. Would he, as a mortal, be capable of muddying up the resonance of this place so thoroughly?”
“Humans can perform much with the right knowledge, Raphael.” Although, that should have been obvious. Human ability to manipulate the foundations of Creation could be as potent as an angel’s, yet with less restrictions since God Himself did not lay direct edicts upon them. That knowledge was exceptionally hard to discover, however, and no mortal had ever managed to acquire the depth of knowledge that angels possessed. They could, with the right time and mastery, perform some of the same single miracles that angels could, but they had never displayed such abilities at any one time.
“True, but the means with which they perform those acts is vastly different to how we perform them. Azrael has spent only a handful of weeks here, still adjusting to the limits and new reality of being a mortal. Could he possibly have learned how to translate what he previously knew into a new ability that would actually be feasible in his current form, and perform it so thoroughly that he could make it this difficult for you?”
When he put it like that, no, Gabriel did not think that he could have done so. To tamper with the resonance of a place would require great effort and concentration. While it was possible that Azrael had been mulling over the mysteries of Creation during his time in this cabin, Gabriel did not believe he had. Azrael had seemed too surprised by their visitation to have been planning anything beforehand. They had fled so quickly afterward that there would have been no time for Azrael to have perfected anything this potent.
“If not him, then who or what? What could possibly have the knowledge and strength to have muddied the waters so thoroughly? Only an angel would have been able to do this thorough of a job, or a very knowledgeable human and what are the chances of one of those being nearby and also willing to do this for them?”
Raphael shrugged in a very human gesture. “I would not cast doubt upon our brethren at home. Yet, a Fallen is an angel still, with all our knowledge and abilities.”
“Them?”
Gabriel paused, ending his protest against the idea before it even began, as the thought sunk in. If anything, he was amazed that he had not considered the idea before now. Raphael was watching his face as realization sunk in and the idea took root in his thoughts. There was a question there too, one that Raphael was leaving unspoken. There were few in the Host that knew of the true nature behind what had lead to The Fall, save that it had been an act of open rebellion against the Almighty. Gabriel was one of them, and only now did he realize that Raphael was presenting the idea so he could gauge his reaction, knowing that Gabriel would know just what could motivate one of their Fallen brothers.
“Could it be them? Or him?”
Gabriel’s wings fluffed out in irritation, sensing the old question under the words. “It could. It would be just like them to aid in this matter.”
“To what end?”
Gabriel’s eyes narrowed in warning. “Because they have learned nothing from their failed rebellion, and perhaps they see another of their own in Azrael’s actions.”
Both jerked as the reality about them shifted and warped with the presence of another angel between them. The angel stood tall, wide and strong-looking. His blond hair was short now, rather than the long locks that Gabriel had seen before. The almost black eyes were a sharp contrast to the light hair, standing out all the more against pale skin. Crimson wings were spread out almost menacingly, as the angel turned to look at each of them with a long searching gaze, before finally settling them against his back.
“Uriel?” Gabriel questioned, unnerved by the unexpected visit.
Uriel’s voice rumbled out as he inclined his head in way of greeting. “Gabriel. You are well, I hope?”
“Well enough. What brings you here?”
“I thought it prudent to visit you both before I visited the Host with this news.”
Raphael shifted forward so that he could see both angels more clearly. “You bear news for us?”
Uriel nodded, looking graver than usual. “I have noticed an increase in various…events. Peculiar shifts in Creation are not unusual, nor are periods where they happen more frequently of any particular note. Yet, they are happening more than ever before, and they are not localized.”
“What sort of events?” Gabriel could feel dread beginning to sink slowly into his chest, hoping that this was not connected to them.
“Many of the normal sorts of events. To mortals, it would appear to be such things as Déjà vu, ghostly sightings, even what they refer to as UFOs. They are usually bumps in Creation that open up to things beyond the mortal realm just enough to allow mortals these little glimpses. They are usually of little consequence, or they are otherwise dealt with. However, these are not events I have noticed in small doses, as I have before. They are happening more and more, all around the globe. Human mystics and those sensitive to such things are reporting bizarre feelings, and shifting energies. Some are even calling it the End of Days.”
“Humans,” Gabriel snorted derisively, “are quite fond of believing they know the day and time of the end of Creation. They know not, so I hardly think that that is evidence of anything.”
Uriel’s dark gaze settled uncomfortably on Gabriel. “I have witnessed these events for myself, Gabriel. These are not merely stories passed along by crazed humans. I, myself, have witnessed the shifting of reality, and have nearly been caught within them myself. It is as if the barriers between the worlds we travel and the mortal world, are not as strong as they once were.”
It was Raphael who had the courage to ask, “When did this begin?”
Uriel raised a brow. “It would have begun in earnest a few moon’s ago. I did not wish to say anything before I was sure that this was not simply another natural occurrence in the world. But they are becoming more frequent, and more potent. I witnessed a woman having tea with her grandmother, who had passed 20 years before. This woman has no sensitivity to the other worlds whatsoever, but there it was. Something is weakening the barriers of Creation, brothers.”
Gabriel knew the answer, but he found his words framing the question all the same, “What could so easily break down the work of the Almighty?”
“I would hardly say ‘easily,’ for His will is not so easily flouted. Somewhere, the very Laws that He put forth are being denied or broken. I have not seen this great a weakening since the time of the Nephilim. Something is amiss, and as you are ordered here, I thought you should be aware. Take care, my brothers.”
There was another shift and Uriel was gone, leaving Gabriel with Raphael, who had a look of understanding that Gabriel disliked. His brother had not missed the comment about the Nephilim, and if he were connecting it with what was happening with Azrael? It was a shame that Gabriel had never spoken of their eldest brother’s failing and subsequent rebellion. Even now, the thought brought pain to him, and he turned away from the demand of an answer that burned from Raphael’s face.
“He suspects,” Raphael said instead, and Gabriel could hear the moment that Raphael’s question answered itself.
“Yes, but if we can solve this before it becomes a further problem, then we need never worry about it.”
“Then work quickly, my brother, and I hope that it is enough.”