28

Azaliah tapped her foot lightly on the golden floors in anxiousness. A part of her lips were in between her teeth and her fingers were twirling around each other behind her back. She often shook her head sideways whenever her hair decided to make its way close to her mouth. Despite all these efforts to calm herself, Azaliah felt even more stressed under the intense gaze of her guardian and more so under the gaze of every other angel in the hall. All eyes were on her, and it baffled the angel that for something as small as sneaking away and putting her life in danger, they took it way too seriously.

Or perhaps maybe it isn't m small.

After a long moment of intense gazes and heavy breaths, Nahamani sighed and adjusted her self on her throne before speaking.

"I don't know what to say". She said. Some angels stared at her in shock, even Azaliah. Surely, she did not keep them quiet all this time just to say that.

"I thought that after all the times I told you about the dangers of you wielding any weapons or training, you'll refrain from running to do what can harm you". She continued.

Azaliah finger wiggling stopped and she moved her hands to her sides.

"I am sorry that I caused you any distress, it was not my intention to hurt you".

"Of course it wasn't".

"But…"

"Ah here we go". Nahamani said before crossing her seats.

"Why did the other warriors not perish even after rigorous training. They are out there now, preparing for the tournament and they have never complained of even a small fatigue, why is mine different?"

"Because Azaliah, they were created to do just that. You were not".

"Then what am I created for then?"

The question took Nahamani by surprise. Her eyes widened and her fists clenched, Beth stared at her from the corner of her eyes and smirked. Azaliah did not miss this small reaction and it even perked her interest the more. The truth was Nahamani had not told Azaliah about the promise made to her long before she arrived in the heavens Even though all the angels both old and new knew about the story of Lucifer, there were certain parts that were omitted for Azaliah not to know, at least not yet.

But it had been over a million years, and nothing had been heard of Lucifer at least not in heaven. He had made a new world his home Earth, a world created for special beings called humans. It was on earth that Lucifer wrecked havoc and it wasn't even in the magnitude that Nahamani expected so she didn't even plan to tell Azaliah at all and she was slowly regretting it.

"Azaliah, you were… created for something special". She said. Beth laughed lightly but she pretended as though she sneezed. Nahamani glared at her.

Azaliah was disappointed with the answer but she was expecting it. Sometimes she felt she knew everything, sometimes she didn't and this was one of those times. The subtle look that Beth and Nahamani gave each other whenever she spoke about her supposed 'future' confused her. She wasn't different from the other angels, she was supposed to have a rank. A meaning for her existence, she didn't like that all she did was sing and play in the gardens. For some reason, she knew she was created for more and her guardian knew that. It hurt her that she didn't want to tell her about it.

"Azaliah?"

The angel looked up at Nahamani and smiled lightly.

"I am sorry once again for the inconvenience I have caused you, it won't happen again". She said. "I promise".

Nahamani's mouth opened slightly. She could see the visible hurt expression on Azaliah's face as she said those words. A promise was not something you could break, she suddenly felt bad that she made her go through such extreme to please her.

"Anything else?" Azaliah asked. Nahamani shook her head slowly.

"No". She whispered.

Azaliah bowed slightly before exiting the hall. She decided to walk instead of soar on the air as she loved to do. Angels that passed her would wave and smile at her and she forcefully did the same, if they had noticed then they refused to speak on it.

Azaliah walked until she got to the very hall she wanted to visit. With a sigh she strode in, her long gown sweeping the floor lightly. Her eyes wandered around the walls of the hall, the main spectacle. Azaliah had heard stories, everyone had heard the stories of the rebellious cherub and how he turned almost all of God's angels against him then almost destroyed heaven.

The story could bring chills to whoever listened but it would have just been stories if the walls of the halls were not proof enough of the battle that occurred a long time ago. The golden specks of the angels that fell on that day were on the wall. As a sign of honor, the maker had placed their dusts on the walls in a special room. An added perk was that the dusts could form the image of the events that took place before now, giving new angels an insight of what they had missed. Very few wanted to see the tragic battle play out in front of them but Azaliah was the very opposite. She had watched the battles too many times to count and every time she was drawn to the powerful cherub that roared in anger and pride, the very angel that was the center of the whole story.

She had stared at him way too much, he was etched in her mind. She knew he was very dominant, she could feel it and he also instilled fear and that's why no angel went to see him on the walls. Azaliah enjoyed watching it, not because she was an admirer of Lucifer but because she felt the heavens were real at that time, more than now. She felt everyone was pretending to be fine, hiding something and living as shadows. Even if that heaven was in peril, it was real.

Azaliah stared at the walls for a while before she heard a large clang on the floor that echoed throughout the hall. She covered her ears and glared at the direction of the noise but her eyes quickly softened when she saw the culprit.

"It didn't break, it didn't break". The angel said, his eyes wide open.

Azaliah smiled at the tall angel before shaking her head.

"That sounded like you were convincing yourself and not me". She replied. The angel came forward and his green eyes sparkled.

"Still it didn't break, I just hope that no one heard that sound". Azaliah raised her eye brow at him and he nodded.

"I forgot for a slight second that all angels have divine gift of immense hearing sorry…but you're still going to defend me right?"

"As always". Azaliah laughed. "But one day Aleph, you'll have to take your responsibility on your own".

"Ah, doubt that".

Aleph shifted his attention to the walls and Azaliah used the time to study him. He was a guardian angel, the second lowest ranking so angels didn't really pay much attention to him. He ran a lot of errands for a long time before he was assigned to Azaliah. Even though, he had no form of training whatsoever like the others, Azaliah knew she was safe with him but it was hard to keep up with him sometimes because he was very clumsy.

His dark hair was scattered in all the odd places but yet it still looked good and sat tight. He had a faint glow to his skin and he wore a mid- length gown with a girdle to hold it at the waist. He was barefooted only because he loved to feel the cold floors. Azaliah smiled. She was given the best guardian as far as she was concerned.

"So, you were watching it again?" Aleph asked with a smirk on his face. Azaliah rolled her eyes but before she could answer, a voice called out.

"Azaliah I want to talk to you". Beth called, her eyes shifted to Aleph and the jar he was holding too carefully. "If that jar breaks, I will replace it with you".