Little did I know then that this small, quaint tavern Mikha'el brought me to would be a staple in my long life. We were the only patrons, and I couldn't help wondering if that was by Mikha'el's design. 

"Good morning Mikha'el," an angel greeted, appearing suddenly. She turned to me and smiled. "And who might you be?" 

"Ulcinin," I replied, letting my new name roll off my tongue. I expected it to be weird. It wasn't weird. It was natural, and I immediately settled into it. 

"Welcome, Ulcinin. It's a pleasure to meet you." 

"Likewise," I said, ghosting the first smile on my lips in hours. 

"What might I service you with?" she asked, turning her attention back to Mikha'el. 

"Wine, please. For both of us. And some grapes and bread for my friend here." 

She waved her hand, two golden goblets appearing on the small table at our feet. Bowing her head, she then disappeared in a flutter of wings. 

"Drink," Mikha'el urged, crossing one leg over his knee. "You are no longer my pupil for the day. Please, let us talk. Ask me anything." 

The warmth radiating from him brought me peace. Suddenly he slipped back into someone I adored instead of feared. So, taking the invite at face value, I picked up my goblet and drank. It was, of course, the best wine to have ever passed through my lips. 

"Tell me about guardian angels," I said. When Mikha'el raised an eyebrow, I curtly added, "Please." 

"What would you like to know?" Mikha'el asked, picking up his own wine and leaning back in his chair, getting comfortable. 

"Anything. Everything." 

A pause, and then, "I love your inquisitive mind." 

The fondness of his voice made my wings twitch. 

"I understand why God chose you." 

That got a flutter. Mikha'el chuckled into his goblet at my wings flitting. 

"When an angel is gifted a ward," he explained to me smoothly with fondness leaking from his words, causing my wings to twitch more, "an immediate bond is formed. It's not just on the angel's end; our wards know it, too. Not on any level they can comprehend, but it's there." 

Mikha'el put down his cup and leaned to me, elbows on his knees, fingertips splayed against each other. He cocked his head to the side. 

"Have you ever had the overwhelming feeling of homesickness, but the catch is, you are already home?" 

I thought. Thinking about my mortal life was like trying to swim through molasses. Mikha'el waited patiently as I muddled through my thoughts. Finally I found what I was looking for, tugging it out of the muck of my mind. 

"Yes, actually."

Mikha'el nodded once. "That was me. Unintentional, and I apologize, I know how strange and downright upsetting that feeling can be."

"It certainly created an abundance of disquiet in me," I admitted slowly, and then firmly stuck that memory down deep into the molasses. 

"Yes, and I know the yearning made you sad." 

I nodded, least I open my mouth and become emotional. 

"Once again, apologies all around. It was your human coil trying to make sense of my presence. It's partially the reason guardian angels remain behind the veil, so to speak, with their human counterparts." 

Mikha'el looked sad then. I would do anything to make sure he never, ever looked like that, a pain haunting his beautiful eyes. 

"It's difficult for us too, though," he admitted in a whisper. "From time to time the pull is too much, and we have to check in on our wards." 

To my horror, Mikha'el began to weep softly. He looked at me, desperately now. 

"I did love you, Ulcinin, and I do. I know you feel the same, and I truly hope the feelings of love and devotion towards me isn't unsettling—overwhelming." 

"It is," I admitted just as softly, allowing my eyes to drop away. 

When I glanced at him, more clear tears traced down his face. I couldn't stand it, looking away once more. 

"It's our bond. When a angel is gifted a ward, they become soulmates." 

Now I was rightly bewildered. "Soulmates?" I sputtered out. 

And suddenly Mikha'el was laughing and wiping his tears away. "Not like that, silly. It's not like I want to marry you or call you my husband." 

"That makes two of us," I told him dryly and seriously. 

"But," he continued delicately, "the love and devotion is indeed there." 

I found myself nodding. Knowing what I was feeling was a two-way street helped ease some of the discomfort I had felt all day. "I've…never felt that strongly towards anyone. Or anything, for that matter." 

"Agreed." He tilted his head to the side. "Why do you think that is?"

I was floored. 

"Me?" I pressed a hand to my chest. I twisted in my seat, looking all around the empty room before turning back to him. "You're asking me?" 

He laughed. "Yes! Just because I am Archangel Primus doesn't mean that I know everything." With a profoundly fond expression once more, Mikha'el leaned his cheek against his fist. "I would love to hear your thoughts on the matter." 

"Well…" I said carefully, eyes drifting to the side in thought. "I mean, I just found out about this, so I feel ill-equipped to give any sort of meaningful opinion." 

"Humor me," he replied flatly, and narrowed his eyes a little. 

Thinking back on how he threatened me in the library, I plunged forward, not caring if it made any sort of sense. I was grasping at straws, totally out of my league, totally out of my comfort zone. 

"A guardian is a protector," I thought out loud. "So, in order to do your job as effectively as possible, you would need a utter devotion. You would go to utter extremes to ensure your ward was happy and whole." 

Mikha'el was nodding. "Yes yes, that much is a given. I'm curious about why you feel the same towards me?" 

I paused, giving it some thought. When I came up empty, I looked back at Mikha'el. "Tell me about God." 

Mikha'el tilted his head. "What do you mean?" 

"God created everything, correct?" Mikha'el nodded my confirmation. "Which means He would have created the rule set for this…pairing, correct?" 

"Oh yes, but it's not just a pairing. A guardian angel can have many wards over the years." 

I waved my hand dismissively. "Figure of speech." 

Mikha'el frowned. I heard Auriel's voice in my head—teach him to mind his elders. 

"Er, thank you for that clarification." 

Mikha'el gave me a scrunched-nose smile, and I saw his wings shudder. 

Hm, I thought to myself. He enjoys thanks. I decided to keep that information for later. 

"So, please, tell me about God. What drives Him? What are His motives?" 

"First and foremost He wants everyone to be happy." 

I couldn't help it. I have a derisive snort. Mikha'el looked confused. 

"What?" 

"God is all-powerful, correct?" 

My ward nodded. 

"He wants mortals to be happy?" 

Another nod. 

I chuckled. "Mortals aren't particularly happy." 

"You're not?" 

"No!" I said with a laugh. "There's pain, and strife. Wars; people we love die—" 

"Oh that. Yes, that's all part of His Plan." 

My right eyebrow shot up. "Plan?" 

"Yes," Mikha'el said enthusiastically, clasping his hands in barely contained excitement, "His plan is to make everyone love Him and be devoted to Him." 

I was genuinely confused. "Wait—if He created everything and everyone, why don't we just…Love Him?" 

"Oh," Mikha'el said, understanding sweeping over his face. "We have free will." 

My eyebrow shot up once more. "Huh?" 

"It was His gift. He didn't want just blind devotion. That would be too easy."

I was surprised when a flicker of pained sadness swept over his face. It was like I had seen earlier in the day, but this time he didn't try to conceal it. Even so, he couldn't look at me, eyebrows raised, casting his eyes to the floor. 

"It is… A little more complicated than that, though." 

"Oh?" 

"God's first creation, well…he wasn't, er, very good." 

I waited patiently. For reasons I didn't understand yet, this was clearly painful for Mikha'el to talk about.

"The first being that God ever created was an angel He named Lucifer, and He dubbed him The Morningstar. He was the embodiment of light. His hair, long and silver, his eyes bright and matched his hair. He was to bring joy, happiness, and light to the world, serving besides God and making everything Lucifer touched beautiful. "

"What happened?" 

"Their relationship, erm, faltered." 

A pause wherein I offered him time to collect himself. 

"You see," Mikha'el said, his voice strained under the pressure of trying to not let it tremble, "Lucifer began to question." 

"Question?" 

"Everything." 

"Oh." 

I could see the shift in Mikha'el, and he started to become angry. "'Why is the grass green?' he asked. 'Why did You make the sky blue?' 'Why did You make trees?' 'Why didn't You make the world in a way that it didn't need trees?" 

"It sounds like he was just curious." 

And then suddenly Mikha'el was upon me. In the blink of an eye he had one hand clasped over my mouth, another pressed to my chest. For some tense moments his eyes swept all around the room, as though expecting something to happen. When nothing did, he looked back at me, wide-eyed and fearful. 

"Do not side with Lucifer. Never side with Lucifer." 

"But I was just asking—" I protested, words muffled by his hand. 

"It is fine to ask questions, but never give Lucifer credibility. Never make it sound as though he was ever justified in his actions. God is always listening, always present, and you should never speak in blasphemy least He hear you. Lucifer was wrong, and he was punished, and God will do the same to you and I cannot and will not let that happen!" 

This reaction of absolute paranoid fear was more telling than any explanation Mikha'el had given me thus far. After a few more tense moments, Mikha'el slowly removed his hand from my mouth. He was trembling, pupils slightly dilated. 

"Alright," I said, my voice quivering. Then I said the word more assuredly. "So, we are not to question God then?" 

"You can…You can have your doubts. You can waiver. But in your heart of hearts you must understand that He is the end all be all. He has our best interests at heart. He gave everyone except pure angels freedom of choice, freedom of free will. It is up to the individual if they chose to be a sheep that followers their herder or not."

What an odd analogy. I chewed over my next words carefully. "You said everyone except pure angels have free will. What is a true angel?" 

"Angels created by God directly. Myself, Auriel. Raphael, Gabriel. There are more." 

"And what am I?" 

"You are a mortal angel. You lived, you died." 

"Does everyone become an angel?" 

Mikha'el shook his head. "We are currently in the business district of Heaven, specifically Darsar a angels apila—that is, 'how the angels live'. It's the section of Heaven where angels reside—that's what we call it. When most people die, they become spirits. Granted some chose to become celestial entities, mixing back in through the cosmos to be, erm, reused."

I took a drink, eyebrow raised, spurring him on. 

"If someone chooses to not attend the afterlife, their spirits are remade into something else. It might be something as simple as grass, or something as complex as a galaxy." 

Perhaps it was the wine, or perhaps I was just feeling overwhelmed, but a headache started to form at the base of my skull. 

"When you die, you get to choose where you go?" 

"Yes, with some exceptions." 

"Of course," I grumbled, glaring off to the side, completely unimpressed. 

"Some people are so bewildered at their death they do not want to move on. Those become ghosts, roaming either Purgatory or the Surface for the rest of their days—the Surface is what we refer to as Earth." 

"Ah." 

"But, if someone wants their soul intact, they are processed through Purgatory. They are led to Death, where he writes down their lives, making sure they belong there and nothing is out of order, and then sends them on their way, either where they want to go or where they belong."

I pinched the bridge of my nose. "One moment—Death?" 

"Oh yes. You can meet him, if you wish. In fact, given my status, I can get you into anywhere within any realm you so desire to attend." 

My eyes widened. I wasn't sure what all that entailed, but having access to everything, everywhere? It was beyond enticing. For the first time, I felt the tug towards power-thirst. I knew that I had a long way to go, if I even could ever become as powerful as Mikha'el to just have free reign everywhere. But the prospect of knowing everything, well…It made my wings twitch. 

I was getting ahead of myself. There was just so, so much I wanted to know, needed to know. However, Mikha'el had asked me a very straightforward question, and I knew that I must eventually end up there. I still needed a little bit of help to gather a stance on what to answer his question with. 

"So…you said that the pantheon exists?" 

He nodded. 

"In tandem with—with—" 

"Christianity. Yes. Christianity is named such after God's mortal son, The Christ. His given name was Jesus, son of Mary and Joseph."

My eyes widened. "How many children does God have?" 

"Just one biologically. He entered Joseph and gifted Mary his sperm." 

I caught myself from making a face as to how that was put. 

"But God has many children. The angels He has made are His children. I am His child, and He is my Father. He is Father to All." 

I paused. "Including Zeus?" 

"They live in tandem, yes."

"But that is not what I asked," I said, narrowing my eyes. 

A small smile spread on his lips. I could tell he wanted to be angry at me for how I had spoken to him, but couldn't be. "God did not create Zeus, as much as He did not create Ra, nor any other God or Goddess. And those that follow other religions and other Gods are dolled out to their respective afterlives by Death." 

I hummed and drummed my fingers against the arm of the chair, thinking. Mikha'el's outward fear of God had worried me. I had a theory, but I knew I would have to phrase this delicately. 

"So… God is not the ruler of all?" 

Mikha'el looked angry. "He is!" 

I cringed, but forced myself to remain outwardly calm. "But He rules alongside other Gods and Goddesses, correct?" 

Some hesitation. "Yes." 

How do you call a God power hungry, who wants as many followers to stroke His ego, without…well, saying that? I didn't want to be smote, after all. 

"I think I can answer your question," I said, still speaking tactically. 

"Yes?" 

"If the ward of a guardian angel feels the same devotion that the angel feels for them, wouldn't they then, by proxy, have an infinity for whomever created their guardian? I know that I need you in my life now, as much as you need me." This next part I felt with startling sincerity, stumbling upon my truth without even really knowing it was there. "I am so grateful to God for placing you in my life, Mikha'el. That in it of itself makes me devoted to Him."

And suddenly Mikha'el's eyes filled with tears. He clasped both my hands. "Oh." 

I paused, trying to not come off as sounding cocky. "Have you really never reached that conclusion?" 

Mikha'el wiped his eye somewhat furtively. "We…are not allowed to think in such ways." 

"You're not?" 

Mikha'el shook his head. "After Lucifer Fell—" 

"What does that mean?" 

"He was Expelled from Heaven, never allowed to return again." 

The harshness of the punishment surprised me. Then again, what I had told Mikha'el was true. I felt a newfound devotion to God; I assumed He was justified in casting Lucifer out. 

"After Lucifer was expelled," Mikha'el continued softly, with such sadness it moved me, "God striped all natural angels from free will." 

I paused. Once again, I felt this was extreme. However, before I passed any judgements I knew I had a plethora of more information to gather and sort through. This undertaking suddenly felt daunting, the headache now raging in my head. 

"Come, let us get you to bed," Mikha'el said then, noticing my fatigue and putting down my cup for me. 

As we moved to leave, Mikha'el astounded me by pulling me into a hug. I froze, unsure what to do. When the Archangel didn't release me, I tentatively gave me a hug back. The nervousness left my body as soon as I had my arms wrapped around him, and I leaned into it. 

"I am so grateful you're here now," Mikha'el told me, closing his eyes. He gave a happy smile. "I am going to learn as much from you as you from I." 

I smiled. I could only hope that were true.