[trustyside-kick]

OOC: Previously...

Spoiler!!! Click to Read!:

Allow Raphael to Assist You

"That's it, Father. That's the...thing that's practically branded to my back."

Father Damian takes a good look at the book before him, and then gets up from his desk, and walks around behind me. He looks past the what he calls 'angel-fire' wings and takes a good look at my burn.

"Um yes...I see, Michael. Faith."

He walks back around his desk, and takes down his seat and starts to read something from his book. I stand there dumfounded, and cross my arms.

"Faith?"

"Yes. That is what is upon your back, Michael. The symbol of Faith. It's an Angelic Symbol. There are many, some would say an alphabet, but there are few believers."

"So why the heck is it being branded to my back? Some reminder by the Almighty or something? Frankly? One of his messenger angels would've been just fine."

"Michael, there is something you must understand. What I know about all of this...is so limited. But tell me...have you been having any visions, perhaps?"

I raise my eyebrow at Father Damian because ironically, I have. How he would predict such a thing, I guess I am about to find out. Course, I do not have to really ask him, cause I'm betting it can be found in that Gospel he told me about. You remember that part of the Bible that technically doesn't exist? It's a whole Gospel dedicated to God's Angels.

The odd thing about this whole situation, Father Damian is like one of those Coaches. You know, when back in high school you always loved having cause they were so easy, but even they had to check the books every once and a while? Which is even more confusing for me because Bath Kol said Father Damian was part of God's plan to guide me or something down the right path.

"Well, it's sort of why I came to see you on Monday. Course, then everything got redirected cause of this whole angel thing."

"Archangel, Michael."

"Yea, that. Uh...you got any scrap paper and a pencil? I...I cannot exactly describe the vision I saw. I...I need to draw it out."

He digs through his drawers of his desk, and pulls out a wrinkled up sheet of paper. No problem, I just need one side of it. I grab his feathered pen--man these things are so cool--and dip it into the ink. Then, I work my magic. I do a rough 'sketch'--not exactly sure if you can call it a sketch using a feathered ink pen--and I hand it over to Father Damian. His reaction, is not at all what I expected.

"What is this...madness?"

He gets up from his desk, and practically jumps back, as if he just saw Death itself. He starts to breathe excessively fast, and I walk over to his side. I try to get him to calm down, but all he keeps telling me is to dispose of the picture. So, I do. I rip it to shreds and dump it into his trash can. After he calms down, he actually walks to the edge of his desk, and says some prayer blessing his trash can or something.

"...How did you stumble upon this vision?"

"What? I--I don't know. It just...came to me. In a dream. Not exactly something I have control over, Father."

"So...you...you do not know, Michael? The significance...the...angel in the picture. You...you do not know?"

So, it was an angel. I was right. Just like I told Grace. Although, with Father Damian's response, this is apparently not at all what I thought it could ever be.

Allow Raphael to Assist You

I nod a 'no' to Father Damian's question but he seems to cut me some slack after the shock wears off. He clears his throat, and opens up the Gospel about God's Angels and while he is flipping through the pages trying to find the correct page, he speaks to me.

"There have been many versions to the story, but it all ends the same. You have seen them and heard them numerous times as a child. And with all of those televisions shows and movies that take elements from this very story, what I am not about to tell you should surprise you..."

He stops flipping through the book; he must've found his page. I lean in closely from my seat and rest my arms on his desk just waiting to hear something apparently 'earthshattering'.

"...it is about Lucifer. The story I am to tell you is how his story is depicted in the Gospel of the Angels. Were this all not happening at once, I too may have second guessed believing it, for in the other books of the Bible there are slight changes. But I trust, Michael...that this is indeed the correct version."

Lucifer? What the heck could he have to do with this whole thing? Yea, I know...big important angel, turned from God, blah blah blah...how does this tie-in to me? It seems Father Damian has read this version of the story oh so often because he slides over the book to me. If I were to make a joke, I'd say it was because he knows I love picture books...but clearly this is no laughing matter.

"Lucifer was one of God's Archangels, Michael. He was so great he 'shined the brightest of them all', thus he was named Lucifer. There were other Archangels as well: Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, Zadkiel, Ariel, Uriel, and Metatron to name a few..."

I flip to a page and I'm blown away. It's...my vision. The picture it's...this is the picture!

"...However, as you know, Lucifer turned against God. I do not think I need to get into the details, yes?"

"No, Father. You don't."

"Well, what you may not know was that aside from mere punishment, Lucifer was to be made an example. You can read along if you'd like, it's on the page of the picture of you vision you now hold before you. Lucifer's punishment of damnation in Hell was to be the consequence to any of the other Archangels, or any Angels for that matter; no choir was superior to the other in this case."

"And so he stripped him of his wings, and Lucifer fell down from Heaven...the first of the Fallen..."

"Correct. Now, why you would be receiving such visions is beyond my comprehension, Michael. You are no Fallen Angel, nor are you even anymore more than a human boy. However..."

Father Damian signals for me to slide over the book, and I easily listen. This stuff is sure getting interesting.

"...you will find that in the beginning of this Gospel, it talks about how Angels are God's creatures. Unlike us Humans, they do not have a choice to obey or defy God; they simply must. Human beings we...choose to steer away from God, and we choose to embrace his kindness. But an Angel has no choice; he is God's ultimate servant."

"But how does this apply to me?"

"I think it concerns your Mother. There was no doubt that she was an 'angel' in the parish community. And to the honest truth we never truly knew her or where she was from. Whenever I or the other priests would be in here mere presence...it was heavenly. An angel spoke do you, did he not?"

"Yes. Bath Kol: The Angel of Prophecy."

"I see. Well, I can find no logical link in the matter, my son. I'd suggest you have a chat with Bath Kol because what is going on with you is simply nothing less than celestial and beyond my grasp; and I'd suggest you ask him about your Mother. I just have this gut feeling it has to do with the Fate of Lucifer. But fear not, my son. Fear not."

I get up from my seat, and give Father Damian a handshake. He wishes me good luck, and then I walk over to his window, and open it. The question is, how do I find Bath Kol? Each time he's come...unexpected.