Afterwards, the men stepped away, talked again.
“Then the world must end.”
There were a few options for what the soldiers could do with Tadeo.They could sell him, they could kill him.But it was going to rain soon, and it was still early in the day.They could also send him to one of the extermination sites, right outside of town, lower his carcass into acid, leave a few bone shards to be found a decade from now but maybe never to be identified.A grieving boy’s face on a missing poster to hang in the plaza for each of his birthdays to come.Tadeo.Tadeo Morales.His father told him that his name would’ve been either Angela or Tadeo, depending on what he was born as.Girl or boy.
Behind a car, Tadeo was moving, must’ve woken up.The men heard him, so one made the decision right then for what to do, and he told the other soldiers to stay on the road as he reached for the gun on the truck before marching across the lot to where the boy was.Without a second thought, the soldier aimed, and the crawling Tadeo turned back his head to stare at him.Briefly, the sun streamed down from between some rain clouds, already drizzling, and the light shined onto the man like Heaven peeking down.The shot was quick, direct, booming with the recoil of the machine, the fire within, and a skull opening, ending.
Lowering his weapon, the soldier turned his back on Tadeo, walking back toward the other men.He called out to them about being hungry.Should they stop by a store for something to eat?They could also go into a restaurant.So many options in life.
“The world,” whispered an angel, “must end.”
It was as they were preparing to leave, but not quite in their truck yet, that the men heard that car by the body jostle sharply.The three glanced back, saw nothing.One of the soldiers shrugged, then said that he was tired because they’d all woken up so early and suggested they all go nap somewhere before they eat.The hungry soldier shoved him, starting to argue, when the third man, fiddling with the car keys, suddenly, was wretched away, pulled deeper into the lot so fast that the other two almost didn’t see the great, clawed hands that’d taken him by the legs.But they both saw perfectly well when those hands grappled their shouting friend’s head, his knees, before pulling him apart.It was both fast and slow, the first breaking bones creaking before they snapped and blood, intestine, flooded onto the dirt.A beast, crouched right where Tadeo had been laying dead only a minute ago.
The tired soldier remained paralyzed, but the hungry one lifted his rifle again hastily, shot once, twice, again, again.With each fire, he took steps closer toward a creature his mind refused to comprehend.The monster — who was a mere haze of rippling gore and eyes and mouths — took every bullet as it dropped its victim.Then, it turned, took to matching the man’s steps, creeping closer.Screaming spit in the giant’s face, the soldier refused to surrender until every bullet was wasted, until he had no choice but to raise the weapon as if a bat.The beast, however, pounced forward to crush him between a thousand teeth.Biting off one limb, then another; it would have been a deliciously slow torture if there hadn’t been a final man to take care of.When the beast jerked to look at the remaining soldier, it reached for a sprinting leg.The man tried to shove his gun into his own mouth, but with a violent yank, the beast pulled him into the massacre, and the missed shot flew up to the clouds.
Resurrection only comes to those who suffer for it.
CHAPTER4
He was furious, of course — Metatron.Dina had returned but stood still before Uriel’s home with his veil slipping back from his head, tangling in the onyx threads of his hair, whereas his pale robes were askew, eyes frozen wide with his irises darkened as if staring at the sun too long had burnt him; perhaps, it had.The man-turned-angel stood at the open doorway with a bewildered twist onto his elderly face in the city of youth.“Where in the name of God have you been?!”His voice was loud enough to rattle the dozen or so nearby angels that were already listening in while in the midst of heading to their duties — much of which had become constructing homes for the coming humans.
“Metatron,” Dina whispered, the white of his eyes red, almost bloody, and his lips twitched upward, a smile for a fraction of a moment.“I saw a star.”He lifted a hand, finger directed at the sky.“He was beautiful, and he told me… how the world must end.”
“What were you doing there?”Metatron snapped, stepping out and toward the young angel.“I had no one to serve me for many meals, and now you tell me that you’ve disobeyed the Lord to wander the skies?God should punish you.He should have your wings torn off your back!”
A flicker of reason and fear passed over Dina’s scorched eyes.“Mm,” he blurted.“But— Metatron, I went with Uriel’s permission.He ordered me.He ordered me to go see the stars.”His feet were weak beneath him, quite suddenly, and he wavered in place; he was still blinking the dark spots from his vision.The sight of the gorgeous star with an unfathomable shape, indeed, had begun to burn after a while, but he hadn’t been able to turn away from his smile, his coos.‘Once, there was a beautiful angel who was so beautiful I couldn’t linger my gaze too much.His eyes were golden, his skin was shining bronze, and his lips were soft, fluttering against my earlobe when he whispered to me.’
Dina liked beautiful things — rings, stars, and angels.Once, Azazel had told Dina that he was beautiful too, but Dina didn’t think so.‘You’ll grow into it,’ he’d teased, but Dina had not grown.Since the war, he had been stunted, killed.
Metatron struck him, as he often did, as he had before Dina spoke to Uriel and left for the stars.Stinging, like before, the young angel’s head jerked to one direction, his feet stumbling again, but this time he had no moment to recover.The man-turned-angel took Dina’s veil and hair in a fist, then wrenched him forward, began walking, dragging the young angel.“You don’t answer to Uriel,” came the harsh scratch of Metatron’s voice.“Come with me.”
Looking to all the angels watching, Dina whispered, “The stars are waking.They said I must act.”Many angels were grimacing and turning away now, one even outstretched a wing to cover the view of Metatron forcing the angel into Uriel’s home.“Metatron, please listen to me.”
“Be silent.”
“What are you doing?”Dina lifted trembling fingers, touched the wrist of an old man as Metatron kicked the door shut behind them.He thought that he might be released the moment he was pulled inside, but he was yanked down the hall, toward the seating area.“Where are you taking me?”‘The books?To clean?’
“When you knocked over that book, you almost found it.”Metatron brought him into the same corridor that the two had been in when Dina had dropped his collection.“I had a new room made without Uriel’s knowledge.It’s where the dictionaries for all the languages of humans are being stored.It’s disorganized.It all needs to be copied and rewritten to the key that I’ve prepared to standardize it.”
Dina tilted his head, blinked a few times.“But, Metatron, the star?—”
“I could be taking you to God,” the old man snapped just as he kicked at the carpet below them, rolling it with his foot to expose a wooden latch and door in the flooring.“I could tell Him how you’ve disobeyed again, how you are a sinner who should have fallen and how now you’ve spoken to stars without permission.”After this, he lowered himself to grab the latch and pull the entry open into a dark tunnel leading downward.“Instead, I’m giving you work to do.You should be thanking me.”Dina stared.“Thank me.”
“Thank you,” Dina breathed, feeling Metatron’s hand finally release his hair and veil.“I’m sorry.Please don’t tell the Lord that I’ve sinned again—” He was shoved — quick, unceremoniously.Wings sprung out, only to slam into the walls of the tunnel; and so despite the rather short drop, Dina scraped his feathers and his sides rough enough to draw blood, which only stung worse when he crashed onto the ground.Shouting sharply and gasping in some of the dirt that was kicked up, Dina writhed for a moment.And Metatron looked down at him, expression irritated.“No— Where’s Uriel?!”Dina, lifting a throbbing head, called: “Where is he?!”
“Already gone,” called Metatron.“So there is no one to argue on your behalf.Get up now.There’s a desk there and some candles.I’ll throw you some cushions and blankets to sleep with soon, and some food when you need it.”
Feeling one pale wing twitch and bleed beneath him, Dina’s face only twisted in greater confusion.“Why?Do you want me to stay here?”He tried to sit up, grunting, and looked behind himself to faintly see the shadows of a stone desk, a triple candle holder of black metal, and piles upon piles of manuscripts, scrolls, and loose leafs creating thick walls from every direction except where the desk was.
“You will be less trouble down there.You hardly leave this house as it is, so why do you cry to me now?”
“Please.”Dina begged, eyes itching.“I’ll be good.I want to be good.Please don’t leave me here.”
“Finish the standardizing within a century, and you’ll be good and free,” said Metatron, then he took the wood latch, pulled it closed, and drowned Dina in near complete darkness.
The angel didn’t move, not for many minutes, his hands falling to the ground, curling into trembling fists over it and feeling each grain of dirt dig into his skin.‘He won’t tell God what I’ve done if I just do as he says.Uriel will return soon.He told me when I sat with him that it would only be a few years.’‘But you don’t have a few years.’‘I do, I do.I’ll live forever.’‘The end has been delayed too long.’It was here that Dina paused, lifted his head.‘Delayed?’‘Hello, Dina.’The angel startled, one hand flying over his mouth but not quite clamping over it.Instead, his fingers touched his lips, trembling.What was that?It was entirely indistinguishable from his own thoughts, except that Dina was sure he hadn’t thought that.Why would he greet himself without warning?‘Hello?’he tried.
What may have been a voice in his head replied, ‘I can’t see into Heaven.There is no starlight there.I can hardly speak to you.’
