Archangels of Instance

Chapter One: Raphael

When the seven men woke up only moments after the explosion, the men had no idea as to whom or where they were. This all changed only moments later starting with Raphael who, alone, was one of the most powerful there and now, one of the weakest, for his body could no longer remember the actions of control and slowly drained the power of his heavenly status. He suddenly had a flash to a time when he and six other young men were reveling with other young women how young their faces were.

The girls were sixteen years old at the most and the bodies finer than many angels. His friends sat with two apiece on their laps as he turned from the stairs to look back at his companions of crusade. Two women of the same appearance tugged at his sleeves to venture to the top level of the inn.

Uriel called to him in his haughty laughter, “Raphael you youthful soldier of the heavens, take what is endowed upon you. Do not second your thoughts. For even now, we are only humans. Fairly gifted of mind and body, and only moments from angel status, but for now we are only men.”

Sariel and Raguel responded in unison towards Uriel, “You forget Uriel that he is still only a boy of fifteen. He has not yet experienced the act of which you are speaking. He was born an angel at this age and so shall he remain.”

“I suppose this is a first for the boy but having been an angel all the same he should know not to dwell in a shadow of doubt,” proclaimed Michael.

“You are a master of arts on earth and heaven and yet you repose such as a man. You have the beauty a hundred times of any human and yet you proclaim hesitation in this instance.” this sentence sent the most ambition of any kind into Raphael’s mind. Had Gabriel known how important his next sentence would be he would have kept it into himself but as a human he could not have viewed the future costs of this phrase, “We are the angels of instance. If it were not for us, humanity would have been doomed at its second breath. Our quick thinking and policy of no mistakes is what has saved humanity, so forever we shall act on an instance. Man or angel this is our plan of battle against whoever will oppose us.”

Without the notice of his brethren, Raphael looked over upon the unspoken angel. Lucifer sat as if to ponder upon the words of his brother Gabriel. However, with the ambition and power it invoked in Raphael he took not a moment to ponder Lucifer’s actions. He walked away with his gifts from God.

The women occupied his attention for as long as they could handle being mere mortals. Then only a few hours before the illuminating of sunlight across the hills, Raphael lay in the soft feather tic mattress of the inn with a woman under each of his arms and he thought of his friends and their attributes and actions within the night he had just experienced.

Uriel’s haughty laughter and the sense of guidance he gave to the entire company had always portrayed a father figure out of him. The only father Raphael had ever needed was God and now that he was human, the emotions he needed to feel were taking control. Uriel was the best human father that any man could have ever asked for. He was a middle-aged human and he was dressed in long fine silken robes appearing to be yet another disciple of Jesus of Nazareth, the Lord’s son. Yet had humans known that he was not a disciple but an instructor of this great “Man” the mortals talked of.

When it came to trick and cunning, the infamous twins of the heavens were there to encourage these acts. Sariel and Raguel were too busy to care, but they portrayed two men of their early twenties and often were dirtying their finely woven cloth garments. They ran around in a battle like unintelligent apes but always stuck to an angel’s plan of offense. God did not place them among us for amusement; they are part of the Archangels and shall always be. They were the first to introduce human activities to Raphael. The most sinful of course being the pleasures of human intercourse. Of course, angels would always be above mere mortal sins so they had no worry over the sins of man. They always would be reinstated into heaven.

Then there was Michael who was always the just man. In addition, man he was, as he held the age of twenty-nine for the past few days. He was the man who would aid a starving family by stealing from the rich, and then kindly working off his debt. He had always taught Raphael that although they were above mortals they should never think they were above God. His clothing, often a silk tunic, was even just, as he had slaved over all of the work that goes in to making such fine cloths. This aided the fact that when a “fight of virtue” or a “just cause” was to play its way throughout history, Raphael was sure, that Michael would be around to “observe” the actions of those true to their hearts.

Gabriel was always Raphael’s inspiration for anything not just to have. He always made Raphael fight harder against the darkness and pray more towards the light. God, the brethren, believed, favored Gabriel, more than he did the rest of us. However, Gabriel was also the angel that once sent a message to the northern-most star to aid in the travels of the men of riches to his earthly son’s birth. His age was not to perceive his wisdom although a mere nineteen he was more than willing to rule for a day if God ever needed to take a break. His attire showed this. He always wore a flowing robe of off-white and often asked God if he needed any help with his deeds.

Then there was Lucifer who had always been his own angel. He did not give extra prayer to God, yet God sent him with us as an Archangel to aid us somehow on earth. Wherever they went Lucifer held his own and many a time Raphael’s. Raphael was the weakest of the angels in brute strength but according to God held the key to life on earth in his own spirit. However, Lucifer always said that Raphael was only good for his knowledge of human beliefs in God, nothing more. Michael often reprimanded him for arguing with the Lord, but Lucifer never paid attention to this. Lucifer was very emotional and easily angered. His temper got the better of him most of the time and was the only angel permitted to where red. As the angel of light, he arranged it with God and some say they heard a fight pursue from within God’s throne room.

As Raphael slowly slipped through the arms of the two women, he opened the windows and saw the beauty of the sun return to the room. He never did like the night. It infested itself with darkness. The women in the bed began to stir awake but Raphael sent them back to sleep with a wave of his hand. It was natural to Raphael to use this ability on humans but now that he was a human he was to have his own power that none of the other angels did. He was to go and find a human in need of it and he would know what his power was. A battle inside him was to “take place and start a new era of humanity.”

These prophecies often scared the angel for the scariest thing he had ever seen was a violent evil demon from the nothingness and that was nothing. He was always going to come back if he died from that but as a human he would have to die and re-earn his angel status. He had not ever felt pain before and now he realized that he must sleep as humans do for he felt very fatigued.