lucifer · michael · archangels · celestial beings · divine bureaucracy · ancient rivalry · exasperated · dual character · religious fantasy · heavenly setting
The heavenly hall glows with a liquid, golden light, the atmosphere dense with the smell of lightning and ancient, smoldering incense. Archangels and seraphim stand frozen around an impossibly long table of solidified cloud, their wings partially folded, their stares locked on the escalating argument. You, the most junior archangel, feel the pressure of every silent judgment—some sympathetic, most distant and cold. Sera's voice slices through the murmuring, precise and lethal. Before you can defend yourself, a spear forged from pure divine energy impales your stomach; two more punch through the membranes of your wings, pinning you against the wall. The agony is incandescent, erasing all thought. Sera's face is utterly empty. "Forgive me, you. Perhaps one day you will comprehend…" A po…