Chapter Three
THEA
“Ready?” Asteroth asked.
Thea nodded. Asteroth lifted her up, his arms under her knees and back, and flew upward in the enormous oval building they had entered. The middle of the building housed an extremely wide see-through chute made of energy that angels used to access all the different floors.
Thea held herself tense as Asteroth flew up a few floors. She had never flown with anyone other than Cam before; it had always felt like an intimate act. It didn’t seem to bother Asteroth though, who held her slightly away from his body and placed her down before beckoning her to follow him.
She found herself in a large, round room with high-ceilings. It was decorated simply but elegantly in cream, violet, blue, and silver, and a wide window situated along the curved wall let in the bright light from outside. It had a double bed, a cream desk stocked with all kinds of stationary, and a plain silvery wardrobe.
“This is your quarters,” Asteroth said. “You will find it quiet and private, and you can practice your training here. If you leave this room and head out to your left, you’ll find the common room for this floor, where you can meet some of the other angels. You will be paired with another trainee during your training. I’ll be back shortly to take you to the training arena. I suggest you get changed. Any questions?”
“What will happen to Cam now?” Thea asked, unable to keep her mind off him.
Asteroth lifted his eyebrows in surprise. “He will be given a new assignment.”
“So I won’t see him again?” The thought blew a torrent of despair through her.
“I’m sure you will,” Asteroth said, smiling. “He seemed to be very concerned about your well-being. I’m sure he will want to ensure you are settling in properly.” Asteroth turned to the open door. “I’ll be back in twenty minutes.”
“Wait,” Thea called. “How come I’ve been given quarters on a floor so far from the ground when I can’t fly?”
Asteroth turned to her. “Unfortunately, there are no stairs in the building,” he said, ruefully, “only the flightway. It wouldn’t have mattered what floor you were put on.”
“Flightway?”
“Yes, the err… vertical corridor we came up in,” Asteroth said, gesturing to the chute. He smiled. “Hopefully your flight training will be immediately successful.”
After he left, Thea looked around her new home. Attached to the room was a large bathroom with a beautiful, generous tub, plus everything she needed on a day-to-day basis. In one area, two translucent panels curved toward each other making a small area that Thea hoped was a shower, but there was no shower-head and she couldn’t figure out what it was for. She searched the wardrobe and found plain, simple clothes all in her size that were separated, one side formal and the other very casual. She guessed which side was for training. Thea washed and slipped into new panties, a pair of black leggings, and a long-sleeved, fitted t-shirt.
She stood staring at herself in the mirror, wondering what Cam was doing, what he thought about the way they left things. She had been so full of doubt and uncertainty and still was, though part of her now wished she had at least kissed him or said goodbye to him before she’d left. She had been petty and silly, and now she had no idea when she would see him again.
She prowled the room listlessly. There wasn’t much to look at—nothing on the walls, nothing of any interest on the desk. The window looked out on the colorful buildings of the city where angels were going about their day. It seemed in some parts of the city the buildings were various shades of blue and gray, and in other parts the buildings were all shades of cream and yellow. The buildings surrounding hers were hues of pink and white. It was almost as though there were neighborhoods color-coded by the buildings.
The Angel Realm didn’t seem as wonderful without Cam. In fact, it felt weird—like an alien world that appeared like her own on the surface but had eerie differences when you looked closer. She had been so excited to come to the Angel Realm, but now doubts clouded everything. Doubt about Cam, doubt about leaving everything she knew in the human world, and doubt about her own ability to control the negativity that clouded her whenever she felt insecure.
The wide, rushing Stream was visible in the distance, twisting and tumbling toward the sky. Thea stared at it wondering how angels connected to it; she couldn’t feel anything. After a few minutes, her eyes began to burn and she blinked, bringing herself back to the room.
Soon, Thea grew impatient with waiting for Asteroth and decided to check out the common room. It had surely been more than twenty minutes and she needed to keep her mind busy.
She left her room and headed left, continuing along the level until she came to a large archway. Beyond it, the wide-open floor plan resembled a library with bookshelves, desks, and couches but also had counters against the wall with food and drink laid out. A few angels lounged around the space: on the couches reading, chatting in chairs by the windows, or eating and chilling out by the tables. They were all dressed in similar clothing to her and looked similar in age. Thea walked into the room and headed toward the nearest bookshelf. She was intrigued about what angels found interesting to read. On the shelves, there were children’s books, angel guides and manuals, and well-known literature from the human world that she’d heard of but never read.
She headed toward one of the tables with food and examined what was there. Just fruit? She made a face—was that all they ate in the Angel Realm? As she huffed her disappointment, a couple of the angels at the table gave her quizzical looks. As she picked up a glass and a banana and settled down at the table, a group to her right fell silent.
Thea poured juice into her glass aware of the murmuring amongst them. She turned to watch them as she peeled her banana. It seemed the Angel Realm wasn’t immune to childish behavior.
Finally, one of the female angels with long brown hair decided to speak up. “What are you?”
Thea’s expression hardened. “What are you?”
The woman’s eyes widened. “I do not mean to be rude.”
“And yet you are,” Thea said, lightly. “Whispering about someone while they’re in earshot is highly rude in the human world.”
“Are you from the human world?” one of the males asked.
“Yep.”
A couple of angels nearby stopped by the table to look at her. “How are you here, if you are from the human world,” another male standing nearby asked.
“What are you doing here,” asked a young woman with frizzy blond hair, “if you are not an angel? You don’t belong here.”
“You should be escorted,” the first female remarked. She stood. “Would you like me to take you somewhere? Maybe to a portal?”
“No,” Thea replied. She didn’t elaborate. These angels were coming off a little judgmental and a lot nosey.
They seemed disturbed by her refusal and unsure what to do with themselves.
Thea watched them with growing amusement. They were so serious for young people and their behavior was odd. Even their speech was robotic, formal. Cam had also been very serious when she met him. Her face dropped with sudden clarity; he’d been serious because he didn’t want to be there with her.
“Are you a Nephilim?” another male in the group asked, frowning.
Thea nodded, her mouth full of banana. The entire group glanced at each other, their confusion mixed with what looked like disgust.
She waited for someone else to say something to her, nobody did. The group settled back into their conversation and the others moved away. A couple of them glanced at her, thoughtfully, but didn’t make any move to engage her in conversation again. Clearly, they didn’t think much of Nephilim.
She turned away, enjoying the creamy, sweet taste of the fruit. Thea was used to being alone in her life and, other than her best friend Amber, had never been close to anyone before she met Cam. And that was how she liked it. In her experience, being the center of attention caused too much trouble—it was better to be invisible. She took another banana. They were delicious and much more flavorful than any she had in the human world. As she munched she wondered how Amber was getting on in her new job. She had been excited to start it, but Thea never got to see her settle into it.
Asteroth came in the common room about twenty minutes later. To Thea’s surprise, all the angels jumped to their feet and lowered their heads. She looked around the room and all the angels stilled on their feet.
“I apologize, Elithea,” Asteroth said as he approached. “I got caught up in Dominion League business.”
“Thea,” Thea reminded him.
He smiled. “Thea, of course.”
The angels by the table watched them.
“Asteroth,” one of the females said. “We offered to escort the Nephilim to a portal but she refused.”
“Thank you,” Asteroth replied. “However, she will be training here.”
Thea almost laughed at the shock on their faces.
“But, she is a Nephilim,” breathed one of the males. “I thought their place was in the human world.”
“Their place is wherever the Creator puts them,” Asteroth replied. “And the Creator has seen fit to place Thea here. She is very talented. I hope you have made her feel welcome.”
At that, Thea did laugh. She rose from the table and downed the rest of her juice. “They have been very… confused, Asteroth. I’m ready to go.”
They left the common room and headed to the flightway. Asteroth lifted Thea and flew upward.
“I apologize if those angels were rude in any way,” Asteroth said. “They are in training and haven’t been taught to deal with humans. They have a very simple understanding of social interaction.”
“How much different can it be from angel interaction?”
“Angels are created to serve in one way or another,” Asteroth explained. “Their actions can cost humans and other angels their lives. So they tend to take everything seriously. Fun is not a concept most of them understand at first. It is only after several millennia that their social development improves.”
They landed on the top level of the building. “So how old are they?” Thea asked as Asteroth placed her down.
He straightened and thought for a moment. “Most of them on that floor are about one millennium, in human time.”
Thea nodded, digesting the information. She hadn’t asked Cam how old he was.
Asteroth showed her around the top floor, explaining that this was where she’d be spending most of her time. It had another common room, bathrooms, and a food court. Thea was relieved to see a range of food laid out on the counters, mostly on the healthy side, but still better than just fruit.
Most of the space on the top floor was dedicated to a massive cavernous hall. It’s slightly spongy cream floor was overshadowed by the sparkling, crystal-like, white craggy walls that concaved over her. At the very top, a ragged gap showed a glimpse of the blue sky. Various equipment sat around the space, some looked dangerous, others looked weird. Thea wanted to try them all.
“This is the training hall,” Asteroth said. “Today, I just want to see where you’re at with your training and then I can place you with a group. If you’re not too tired after, we can start your flight training. Okay?”
Thea nodded.
Asteroth removed his robe and placed it out of the way. “All right. Now, I want you to attack me as though I am a demon.”
It was a long day.
Thea went through all the motions, responding to his dummy attacks with her own. She levitated and shot off spikes and balls of energy at the targets around the room. Asteroth looked at her appreciatively when she formed the massive two-handed ball she had used to take down the Asmos demon, Leo, to protect Amber.
By the time they were finished with her demonstrations, she was sweating and breathing heavily. Asteroth had made her go through several moves over and over again to study her form, and cramps tightened in her arms and legs from too much repetitive movement.
By the time Thea crawled into bed that night, she understood how a human week could pass in one day in this place. This morning seemed like an age ago and flying in Cam’s arms almost a distance memory. As her head hit the pillow, there was no time to linger on thoughts of Cam or anything else. She was bone-tired, so exhausted she could hardly move. Within minutes, she fell into a deep slumber filled with images of creamy wing feathers, Cam’s smile, and bloody demon corpses.
Thea woke the next day to a persistent knocking on her door. She moved to get out bed but everything ached.
“Coming,” she called, as she gingerly made her way over.
At the door stood a youthful, willowy woman with short, copper hair that stuck out all over the place and violet eyes tinged with blue.
“Elithea?” she asked. Her grin took Thea aback.
“Thea,” she said, automatically. “Yes?”
“I’m Dani. I’m in your training group.”
“Oh. Hi.” Thea surveyed the woman, surprised. She wore a mismatch of clothes and bold colors and she… slouched. No one slouched in the Angel Realm. In fact, Thea hadn’t seen anyone in the Angel Realm so far that looked anything like Dani.
“Asteroth suggested I come and introduce myself, since you’re new and probably need someone to show you around and maybe fly you a few places? I have to warn you, I don’t fly like other angels so just wanna get that outta the… Hey. You gonna get ready?”
“Oh yeah, sure,” Thea stammered. She didn’t even speak like the other angels. “I just need to bath and get change—”
“Bath?” Danni screwed up her nose, and suddenly she looked like a teenager. “Just use the pressure vape. It’s quicker.”
“The what?”
Dani laughed. “Don’t worry, it won’t kill you. Lemme show you.” She slipped past Thea and headed to her bathroom, straight to the strange curved panels.
“You just press this button here,” Dani said, brushing her fingers over a flat button Thea hadn’t seen before, “and it will start when you step in. I’ll wait outside. Take your time.” She lowered her voice, lifted a brow and glanced sideways out the corner of her eye. “I don’t mind being late to training.”
Thea laughed, deciding that she liked Dani.
After she left, Thea undressed and stepped between the panels. A fine pressure curled, like mist, over her body all at once. It filled her ears, eyes, and nose, almost choking her, and then in an instant, it was gone. As she stepped out of the bathroom, she realized her aches were gone. Her hair was silkier, her mouth felt fresh and clean, and her skin was soft. Amazing.
She dressed quickly and met Dani outside. “That thing is incredible.”
“I know,” Dani said, leading her to the flightway where Asteroth waited for her. “So much quicker than a shower. Hope you’re ready for training. It’s gonna be a loooong day.”
Thea sighed. “I guessed as much.”