“Weapons,” I murmured. I’d expected some sort of spell or incantation rather than a physical weapon.
“Yes.”
“What kind of weapons? Sunday used a sword on War. Do we need that again?” Kingston asked.
“No. These are items hidden across the world. Each one holds significance as pertains to their mantle.”
“Great. I don’t suppose there’s a helpful list already laid out for us of what they are and where to find them,” Asher grumbled.
“Not quite,” Lucifer said, “but there are clues, so we aren’t entirely empty-handed.”
Asher sat up straighter. “Well, that’s surprisingly useful.”
The three angels moved closer, Evander pointing at the page Lucifer referred to as he said, “The weapons shall be determined by the most significant step made by the mantle bearer, power imbued upon the item once anointed in the wake of their destruction.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, back up. What the fuck is a mantle?” Kingston asked.
Sin laughed. “They mean our titles. We bear their mantles. War. Death. Pestilence. Famine.” He pointed to each of the horsemen in turn. “Not all of us were born this way.”
“Oh, right. I knew that.”
“What does ‘significant step’ mean, though?” Asher asked. “Are we talking, like, historically speaking, the biggest war of all time? And how do we quantify that? Is it by the number of people involved in the actual fighting? Or the number of countries involved in the conflict? Or if we look at, say, death,are we talking the most deaths in one fell swoop? But what if the most deaths are the result of a plague? Would that be Pestilence or Death? And assuming we figure out that much, how can we possibly determine one specific item?”
Roslyn moved to Asher’s side, gently wrapping her arm around him to rub his back. “Take a breath, baby.”
He did as she bade, looking embarrassed as he murmured, “Sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry,” I said. “They were valid questions. There are a lot of unknowns we are working with.”
“Items of significance have their way of making themselves known,” Caleb offered.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Look at the Knights Templar. There were items they tried to protect throughout history. Surely objects as significant as this would be treated the same.”
Michael shook his head. “Not necessarily, Caleb. God tasked many beings with hiding items of importance, and He ensured their protection by making them the sole recipients of that knowledge.”
“He wouldn’t risk them getting lost or in the wrong hands,” Gabriel added.
“So how are we supposed to find them, then? The book doesn’t give us all that much to go on. What if we choose the wrong thing? The world could end before we ever find one of the items that we need,” Asher said. “And that doesn’t even get into the attunement portion or whatever.”
“Or actually using the weapons,” Alek added grimly.
“Exactly,” Asher said, silence descending on the room as the enormity of the task before us became clear.
Lucifer waited several beats before clearing his throat and stepping forward. “I hate to interrupt your little pity party, but it just so happens that I am one such person.”
The angels rounded on him.
“You?” Michael scoffed.
“Why do you sound so surprised, brother? It’s common knowledge that I was our father’s favorite.”
“Was being the operative word,” Evander muttered.
“Be that as it may, I know where we can find the first item, since I was the one tasked with keeping it safe.”
“What is it?” Meredith asked.
