Chapter 12

I was still processing the information about my parents, when Pinacelia told me about my mom dying, trying to protect me.

Here I was, planning my whole life to go and find the whereabouts of my parents and meet them, to ask them why they abandoned me, but learning that my own mom had died trying to protect me, was something I had never in my wildest dreams even imagined.

A tear rolled down my eyes, as I stood there, motionless, imagining about my mom, who had to die just so I could live.

As I thought about my mom, I asked Pinacelia,"What about my dad? Where was he in all of these? Wasn't he supposed to protect my mom and me?"

"He had other assignments at that time, and had to leave your mom for a brief period of time, but everything happened so quickly..",this came from Raguel, who had been silently listening to the whole conversation between me and Pinacelia.

"Aren't you angels supposed to be very strong and powerful? How could he not sense my mom being in danger? Archangel Michael is my father isn't he?",I asked, and he nodded, but he replied, "He wanted to protect her, but the mission he had, was more important than protecting your mom."

He sounded irritated but I was adamant as well, and said,"Archangel Michael is supposed to be the angel of protection, and he let his own woman die without protecting her, while his daughter grew up without her dad's protection, in an orphanage. What an irony!"

"You don't understand how things work in our world, but you will understand them as time goes by. Between the greater good and lesser good, you always choose the greater good, and that's what Michael did",Raguel said, trying to pacify me.

I understood what he was trying to tell me, but what I didn't understand was that, after he knew about my mom's death, why did he have to abandon me as well?

"Suppose the greater good didn't involve protecting my mom, but what about later. Why didn't he try to find me or take me back with him? Was I not a part of the greater good too?",I retorted back at him and he went silent without answering me.

"Aurelia Hayes", Pinacelia said breaking the silence, and I looked at her as she continued speaking,"Don't dwell on the past. Your mother died protecting you and your father, though I don't like him much, left you in the orphanage to protect you. So, instead of questioning why he didn't take you around with him, focus on growing stronger like your mom and when you meet him one day, you can ask away all you want."

What she said did make sense, but my stubborn heart only snorted at her but didn't refute her.

Raphael, who was silent this whole time, said,"If this issue is resolved, let's move on to the next important issue..."

All of us looked at him in confusion, and he chuckled before replying,"It so happens that Ms. Aurelia Hayes here still hasn't celebrated her sixteenth birthday like every other normal teenager, and the day is still not over yet, so why don't we all celebrate her big day with a feast? Pinacelia, why don't you do the honors and conjure something for all of us?"

I gaped at him, with my mouth wide open. Weren't we still in the midst of discussing something serious about my father abandoning my mom and I? Why did he want to celebrate my birthday all of a sudden?

Raguel seemed to be thinking between the same lines as well, as he shook his head and simply walked away, while Pinacelia thought that it was a splendid idea, and started conjuring every sort of herb and plants, as though we were some plant eating animals.

Raphael shook his head helplessly and sighed out loud, and said,"Okay, that's enough plants for now, let me do something for the rest of the menu".

He disappeared and reappeared within a few seconds, with what looked like tons and tons of food, sea food, pork and every food you could imagine.

"Now this is what I like to call a feast", he said as he gestured at Pinacellia to conjure a makeshift table and placed them on top of the table.

"How did you do that? Did you just rob a restaurant?",I asked him and he chuckled and replied,"I might have seen the menu somewhere in a restaurant, and conjured it up. Its not just Pinacellia here who can conjure things out of thin air."

He winked at me and I was dumbstruck and didn't question him anymore. Raguel was apparently still sulking somewhere, so I went in search of him, to talk him out of his grumpy self.

He wasn't supposed to be the sulky one here, if anything, I was the one who was abandoned and living like an orphan though one of my parent was still alive.

I found him seated under a tree, not very far away from Raphael's party, and sat down beside him.

"Why aren't you enjoying the party they're throwing for you?", he said as I sat down and after sitting comfortably by his side, I shrugged and answered,"What's the point in celebrating my birthday, when I was the reason my mom died."

He looked at me and said in a stern voice,"Do you really believe that?", and I was taken aback.

Did I really believe in that? Truth be told, no, I didn't believe that I was the reason behind my mom's death. I didn't choose to be born as a nephilim and an angel's daughter.

I didn't choose to live abandoned in an orphanage, but that was what happened. It wasn't anybody's fault. Sometimes, bad things just happened, and I knew that I had to strive hard to turn those bad things for my own good.

At least, growing up in the orphanage, I got to meet my best friend Odin, and now, my mentor Raguel Angelus. At least, I found a silver lining in between my very dark clouds, and I needed to make the best use of it.

"You know what, you're right, it's my birthday today and they're only trying to cheer me up, so I'll go and enjoy in whatever way I can",I answered, and stood up to head to where Raphael and the others were having fun.