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     "Is it done?" The voice rang out through the glass room, making the Angels glance around at each other in trepidation. None willing to speak up first yet not one wanting to be the last to answer their Lord.

Their voices all broke out the moment somebody let out a breath, creating a dissonant jumble of voices. God's unwavering patience snapped at that moment. They all had one job and that job was to bring Syn SinClaire to the Upperworld. Instead, they had set up a clandestine meeting in one of Heaven's holy temples and nobody seemed to remember why they were there.

"Enough!" Xyla McAlistar's voice struck out in the chaos. Everyone's attention snapped in her direction, shock, and surprise marring each of their features. To this day they still couldn't fathom how or why she had risen to such power and status. She had taken over the throne in Eden after her parents' untimely deaths, but even they; devout as they were, weren't ever guests at such meetings. "Does anyone have anything of substance to tell us?"

"Us?" A voice sounded at the glass door entrance. The Archangel Michael strode in, tucking a pocket watch into his blazer as he slithered through the crowd to the front. He stopped a few steps short of the steps leading up to the throne, but he didn't dare look at the being occupying it. That in itself was an act of blasphemy.

Nobody had dared to look at the face of God— Lucifer had been the only one that had ever had the nerve to and everyone in attendance knew where that got him.

Banished.

Castaway.

Stripped of his angelic privileges. Michael was not interested in sharing that same fate. He kept his eyes on the woman who dared to categorize herself with His Holiness instead.

Us.

"You dare imply that you're an equal to our Lord?"

She shook her head, her eyes shifting to the throne before narrowing into slits at Michael. Good, Michael thought to himself. That would've been a grave mistake on her part. On he didn't doubt anyone in here would mind if it were her, but a grave mistake indeed.

"I would never imply such a thing." Xyla crossed her arms, annoyance scratching its way up her throat. Countless profanities and intrusive thoughts manifested from her irritation, but she quickly coated them with scripture and testaments.

Being this close to God...the last thing she wanted was to be struck down for simple thinking. Not that he would, she was sure. They had come to share the same wants and interests when it came to matters of the Underworld, more specifically; Queen and Syn SinClaire. She was sure she'd be spared no matter how impure her thoughts were.

"Good." Michael nodded. "Because I have news."

"Go on," God told him.

"The mark has surfaced sooner than I expected," he told him. "In three days' time, Syn SinClaire will appear before us." Michael took a look around the Angels, every one of them surprised at the news. He knew that he could've elaborated sooner, but he did not want to make a spectacle based on what-ifs. Now that the contract had grown to fruition, it was time to involve his comrades.

"We need to prepare for his arrival. We will put him on the stand. Gone are the days when he is judged by his kind— by monsters just like him. He and his family are not innocent. They are stains on this universe and very soon, they will all be gone. This will be the first step in creating a new world. A better world. One without sin."

The Angels cheered.

"A world without sin?" God spoke up, teasing the archangel's mind. Here he spoke of change and purification, but little did he know, that evil wasn't an easy enemy to cast away. Everyone outside of Heaven...some in Heaven too, had a bit of it. That was all one needed. Just a seed of evil and darkness could fester- grow and branch out into a forest of sin.

Whether it was Syn SinClaire or another being, there would always be someone. Although he did not share that with any of them, God knew. There was no saving this world. In all his divinity, that was a fact that he knew. He created this world in his image with his all-knowing power- and this wasn't a surprise. He set down the bare bones- created a first draft perhaps. But the moment He cast Lucifer away, He was no longer the only writer.

It was only supposed to be Humans, angels, and Satan- that was God's plan from the start. He simply hadn't factored in every creature's need for companionship. Lucifer's need for it.

It was an honest oversight in his mind, never a mistake as He could never make one. However, Lucifer was supposed to be perfect. Which he was for a long while. Perfect, in His eyes.

"Well, yes." Michael nodded, the answer seemingly obvious to him. "This purification begins with him, but this is just a start. The Underworld must perish- every cursed being in its borders along with it."

"The Angels that reside there as well?" God probed curiously.

"No, of course not," Michael replied. "Not-"

"Then what of the half creatures down there with Angel blood coursing their veins?" He asked.

"Them as well. We can't risk-"

God sighed. "You disappoint me, Michael."

"My Lord-"

"You sound like a few men I've observed down on Earth. They had the same...scruples as you do about purifying the world. But err on the side of caution, Michael. As you know very well, Hitler..." Gasps rang around the room at the mention of him. The man's life was a horror show for Heaven. "...he did not end up in Heaven, now did he?"

Michael fell silent at the Lord's comparison and bowed his head in shame. He did get a bit more expressive than he wished to. "I apologize."

"I understand all your anger, but I hold everyone here to a very high standard. You are all angels, not heathens. Judgement is mine and mine alone. Anyone who disagrees with that is more than welcome to jump down."

Jump made it sound as if the fall were simply a willful free fall instead of plunging like a meteorite into Earth's core.

"No one here should be interested in a war where the Anti-Christ is a factor. All I ask of you is to bring Syn here to be judged- nothing more, nothing less." God let the words fall into the crowd, yet he knew things were going to be more complicated than he requested. Angels also had free will after all and there were a few, even within this glass room with fury and a passion for vengeance that could rival those in Hell.

So God spoke. And those who listened, would. Those who didn't would eventually learn on their own. Many, even Lucifer and his son had asked Him why. If he knew what was going to happen, why didn't He try to intervene? There was no simple answer to the question. Ultimately, He just did not wish to. Humans, and all creatures alike had tainted, taken over, and created this new version of the story that He began.

They were going to see it through whether they liked it or not.

And all that chaos was eventually going to find its way up here. He'd already seen the violence headed this way. That impending doom didn't start or end with Syn SinClaire though. It started the second another pure thing became impure. Whose fault it was no one knew, but that fickle and meager embodiment of feeling was the start and end of everything good and evil in this world.

Whether one had none of it at all or too much; sin in its purest state, was a byproduct of love.

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Syn With Me

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Author's Note

Oh. My. God. Y'all have no idea how good it feels to be back🥹 I missed y'all❤️ But I'm back hehehe🤭. I hope y'all enjoy this book as much as I'm enjoying writing it.

Buckle up, my sweets. And keep tissues on deck.