Crael sat as he usually did, observing the creatures of this realm. Since he and his band of "fallen" angels have been assigned to protect the beings, they have spent a lot of time here. They have learned how resilient the beings of this realm are, especially the young ones. They never give up no matter what is thrown their way. He had learned so much from the one that seemed to be his heavenly mate's mother. She calls herself his mother-in-law and will not hear of any other name for it.
Ma, as she instructed all of them to call her when asked her name, seemed much happier after the short visit with her dead daughter. Well dead in the since she cannot stay forever in this world as her old self. She may take short visits here as her new self. Ma was humming to herself right now as she kneeled next to Crael working on her garden. Once in a while, she would ask him a question about angels and such. She also answered any questions he had about their kind. He heard her asking another question which called his attention back to her.
"So, you say it is very rare for an angel to be made from a being's soul on this realm? How rare?" Crael smiled at the question. The woman was delighted her daughter somehow was special enough for Zeus to notice and make an angel. When he didn't answer quickly enough, she smacked his leg with her shovel and said, "Crael, pay attention!"
Scowling he said, "Okay, sorry, I was trying to remember if I knew of any others that had been of this world and made angels."
She stood now with her hands on her hips and tapping the toe of her left foot, "Well?" Stop dragging the answer out. Angel or not I will put you over my knee."
Trying not to let her see his humor at her threat, he gave up the information she wanted, "I can think of only one. It was someone Zeus indirectly caused the death of and could not live with the sorrow of it in his heart."
"Oh, that must been horrible for him. Did he apologize to the soul? I mean Mr. Zeus seems like an admirable god." She lectured.
He didn't know what was funnier the fact that Ma took the habit her daughter had of calling the mightiest god on Mt. Olympus Mr. Zeus of the fact she thought he was admirable and was lecturing him on it. He chuckled when he answered her, "Yes, he did apologize to the soul and made the soul a promise that when the time was right he would make right what was taken from the soul."
Ma nodded her head and added, "See, admirable."
She went back to trying to dig out some weed that would not budge. He had offered to take care of it for her but she refused, saying it was good for the soul. Whatever that meant, he thought. Since Ma was quiet and fighting with her weed for a while again, Crael sat and thought of the last few weeks. When he was sent on this mission he was angry about it although he did not feel like some of the other angels that severely disliked the creatures of this realm, he did not love them either. To him, they were a hindrance to the gods, and had to babysit them. What he discovered though was unlike the gods, not all of them wanted power. Some were content to just live their lives in peace and happiness. Each of them was different from the others. The variations of each of the species were too many to count. The one thing that did amaze him though was their intelligence and creativity. They were not just dumb animals or people, they put thought and trial and error into solving their problems. Some of their ideas were hilarious to watch the outcomes but they persevered and kept trying. It did make him and some of the other angels want to learn more about this realm and if the gods were able to mate with these creatures, could they also?
Glancing at Ma, he smiled at her humming and mumbling as she tugged on the weed. Every once in a while an explanative would bust from her lips and she would glance sideways to see if he heard. Crael laughed to himself because when the woman was mad she cursed worse than her mate did when he thinks she was in danger of her own making. However, he was thankful for her. She was such a good soul and a sweet woman. Zeus could not stand to hear her cries every day like he had for so long. The sorrow in her pleas had cut through the levels of Mt. Olympus and found its way right to Zeus' ears. He waited for the mourning to quiet but it would only get worse as time went on. Finally, Zeus called Crael and ordered him to find the new soul, from the wolf species, named Lorna, and bring her forth.
Barely an hour later, Crael had located her. She was wandering around lost and crying. She was confused and had no idea what was going on. She was looking for her mate and could not find him. Somehow she had bypassed the processing room when she arrived. No one realized she was lost. When he approached her she informed him through tears, "I don't know where I am or what happened. I cannot find the man who is supposed to be my mate. He was just here and now I can't find him or anyone I know."
Feeling a pull to her at the sound of her voice shocked me and all I could do was motion for her to follow me. She did slowly sniffling the whole way. Once in front of Zeus he nodded for me to stay in the background and started asking Lorna questions. Once he figured out that her mate had killed her and who her mate was, his face turned purple with rage. Noticing the shake of my head, he calmed himself before explaining to the young woman that she was dead at the hands of her mate. Her reaction was not what either of us expected after all the weeping she had been doing. She had thrown her hands in the air and shouted, "Perfect, the mangy mutt wins again. Not only did he hurt me time after time to get off but now I am dead and he gets to live on. I hope some she-wolf rips him apart someday."
Zeus swallowed his laughter and told her, " I think there was more at work here to make you mate the mangy mutt that he was." then he cleared his throat and added, " As you referred to him."
That set her off, and throwing her hands on her hips she stood there letting Zeus have it, "Mangy mutt does not even begin to describe him. He is a no good, raping, abusive, sick, son of a.." She was cut off in the middle of her tirade when Zeus put his hand in the air and said, "I get the picture."
"Lorna because your death was before its time, I have decided to make you an angel of this realm," Zeus told her. Watching the expression on her face and seeing that she was beaming at this announcement, he continues "You will taught the ropes by Crael."
All she could do was stammer, "Thank you, thank you." and was bowing while taking backward steps. Then she stopped and asked, "Mister. Who is Crael?"
Zeus gestured toward me standing against the wall and she walked my way. Zeus spoke once more, "Crael, take good care of her. She deserved so much more than life gave her. When she is ready she has my permission for visitations."
Crael did not know the meaning of Zeus' words until after he brought her for her first visit to help her mother. That was when he realized what the pull to her was. He accepted it without a fight because he was already teetering on the brink of the fence for this stupid war to wipe this realm.
The yelling and shouting of the other angels heading toward him brought his mind back to the current stance of things. Aziel huffed, "We have received word. Uranus is making the gods, titans, mystics, and demis fight each other. He will fight and defeat the winner of them all. Then this realm is to be wiped clean of the living. We have been given orders to be in place and stand at the ready to accomplish our mission."
Crael, nodded and stated, "Understood. Bring everyone into the big building they call the packhouse. I want no one outside when the time comes. That includes our army too, Aziel."
The other angel nodded and went to gather everyone to usher them inside. Crael spun around and said, "Ma, we have to go now. I will ensure your weed is taken care of. Let us hurry before those men of yours have to come looking for you. I do not want to deal with their tempers right now."
She patted his face and when she wasn't looking he hit that stupid weed with a small lightning bolt and it was burned from its home. Her nose wrinkled at the smell while she continued to pat his face and say, "You are such a good boy. My daughter is so lucky." then she whispered, "Thank you." and winked to let him know she knew what he did.
Looking across the fields at the beauty of this realm, for the first time Crael worried that maybe they could not save it from Uranus.