The Guardian
The land shook, snow falling from the peaks. From the center of the mountain a being shook and awoke. As it left, silently and invisibly the towering peak crumbled and fell.
"Dean, look at this," Sam said, elbowing his brother, whose eyes were slowly tracking a waitress with long blonde hair and breasts larger than her brain.
"Yeah, what is it?" Dean asked, pulling himself up out of his lustful stupor.
"This article, a mountaintop just crumbled, like there was some huge cavern that just collapsed," Sam said, pointing to a picture in the newspaper.
"So, stuff like this happens," Dean said, eyes darting around the restaurant, looking for the girl. Sam leant over and elbowed Dean again.
"But it really doesn't. See, mountains like these don't even have little holes in the sides. The idea that there was some kind of cavern in there is nuts," Sam explained.
"Ok, but that just means something else happened, like a mining incident, or earthquake."
"Article says there is no history of mining, the entire range has little to no valuable ores even. Also says there was no subterranean activity. It's gotta be something living in there."
"Alright, let's go then," Dean said, hopping out of the chair, and walking to the door. As the door closed, Dean twisted the key in the Impala's ignition, revved the car and drove off.
The air was misty and cold. The air was illuminated by the Impala's headlights hitting a thick layer of fog. The car stopped, and the headlights flicked off. Dean pulled out the key and dropped it in his pocket. He opened the door and got out. Sam followed.
Dean popped open the trunk, and lifted up the compartment lid. He grabbed a shotgun with rock salt shells and a knife. Sam followed suit.
Dean and Sam climbed up through the rubble of the short, crippled mountain. The rubble was wet and hard to stand on. They slipped and slid, often losing sight of one another in the fog. The clouds were short, and soon, after climbing in pitch black and mist, they made it above the low cloud.
Dean looked back, taking a moment to pause and look down. He took out a small flashlight and shined it down. The light abruptly stopped as it hit the cloud. Dean leant down and lashed his hand through the fog. He turned off the light and smiled at the wondrous schism of thick, heavy clouds and perfect, navy, starlit sky.
When they made it to the top, they only saw a dip into the mountain filled with rubble and plants. They looked up, to see the bright white moon, shining pure light down across the caldera. The moon was a huge, large white circle. Then the light was dampened. On the other side of the indentation, two huge wings filled the moon, a human body in the center.
"Cas? That you?" Dean yelled across the crater, hoping his voice would travel the distance.
A few seconds passed before a voice other than Castiel's came to Dean's ear. "No, I'm someone else."
"Who are you then?"
"I am the Seer of The Lord, I am Gadriel."
"Can we come over, or vice versa? My voice is starting to hurt," Dean yelled across.
"Suck it up," Gadriel yelled across. He then removed a curved blade from his side.
"Is that a sickle?" Dean asked.
"Yes it is, why?"
"You the angel of communism, Gadriel?"
"No. Like I said before, I am the Seer of The Lord, you over-patriotic idiot. Might as well come over to the other side, slit your throat."
"You seem overly violent for an angel."
"You bet your sweet ass I am," Gadriel whispered in Dean's ear, as he appeared right next to him. Dean jumped, and began to slide down into the hollow.
"Dean!" Sam yelled, sprinting down the decline, until, like Dean, he fell and began sliding down the rubble.
Over the sound of yells and rocks, they heard a loud whoosh of air, and a huge amount of rocks rising. Then they hit a wall made of the loose rubble, that didn't even move when they hit it.
Dean and Sam stood, brushing themselves off, wiping up blood. Then, in unison they flipped around, and stared perplexed at the wall, before it crumbled revealing a familiar angel, one wearing a tan trench coat and a blue tie.
"Cas," Dean said. rubbing his shoulder.
"Hello Dean, Hello Sam. Gadriel, what are you doing?" Cas yelled, his voice straining in its gruff presence.
"Protecting them," Gadriel yelled, his voice smooth and menacing.
"From what?" Castiel yelled back.
"Jahoel,"
"A Seraph?"
"Yes, a Seraph,"
"Coming down, to Earth?"
"Yep,"
"Why?"
"He's a Seraph, Jahoel does whatever the fuck he wants."
Cas looked down, and frowned. He flicked his wrist and made a staircase up to the ring of the hole. Sam, Dean and finally Cas stood by Gadriel.
Gadriel raised his arm, and touched his forehead, a glowing white eye appeared on his forehead.
"What's he doing?" Dean whispered in Castiel's ear.
"Seeing," Cas responded.
Gadriel put his hand down, and frowned. He then flicked his wrist and created a stairway, and cleared the mist. Sam and Dean walked down the staircase, leaving behind Castiel and Gadriel.
"What did he say?" Cas asked.
"Nothing, Jahoel said nothing," Gadriel answered.
"Then we have a problem," Cas said, before walking down the staircase, stepping into the foggy oblivion of Earth. Gadriel spread his wings and glared, before flying off to Heaven.
The door to the Hotel room closed. The room was nice, and well lit. The boys put down their stuff, and were then thrown against the wall by an unseeable force.
"Demon?" Sam asked, opening his hand.
"Yeah, I think so," Dean said. Sam raised his hand a tiny bit and opened his mouth to chant an exorcism prayer, but then a body appeared out of thin air.
"Stop it, put your hand down Samuel," he said, glaring.
"Who are you?" Dean asked.
"I am Sohanar, A Virtue of The Lord." Sohanar answered.
"A Virtue?" Sam asked.
"Yes, as in one rank above pitiful Archangels," Sohanar answered, again.
"Sohan! STAND DOWN!" Gadriel yelled, walking in, invisible wings still flapping.
"That's Sohanar to you, angel scum," Sohanar screamed back. He walked forwards and punched Gadriel in the cheekbone. He flew through the wall into the neighboring room. Gadriel got back up, and raised his hand. Flames formed around the open hand, forming into a sickle, with a curved, sharp blade, and a golden and sapphire hilt.
"Don't make me hurt you," Gadriel said quietly, glaring at the Virtue.
"STOP! STOP THE FIGHTING!" Castiel shouted from the doorway. He stepped forwards. He looked back and forth, from the Seer with the bloody nose, and the Virtue with red knuckles. Cas sighed and stepped in between the two angels. "Drop the boys, Sohan," Cas said with a gruffer than normal voice.
"Sohanar, you weakling," Sohan spat back.
"Drop them," Cas said, walking forwards. He looked threateningly at the tall, lanky Virtue. The Winchester boys fell, hitting the carpeted ground.
"I had to save them, the mountain fell because of him." Sohan said, pleadingly looking at Castiel. "Because of Jahoel…"
"I do not understand," Cas said, looking to Gadriel.
"I was only trying to purify them, save them from Damnation," Sohan said.
"Jahoel would not take them, I am Dean's protector, I am Sam's Protector. He would not lay a hand on them."
"Very well, then I shall be gone." Sohan said.
"Wait, Sohan…" Cas tried to say, but before he could finish the question, Sohan had spread his wings.
"I must go, I must receive revelation," Castiel said, and then the room was empty, leaving the Winchester brothers to sit in a destroyed hotel room, listening to the peaceful sounds of wings flapping.
Sam flipped open his laptop, and sat, staring at the silver wave on the background. He opened the internet web browser, and typed in one name, Jahoel. He scrolled through all the articles, bible passages and stories until his eyes burned.
"Dean," Sam called, closing his computer.
"Yo, what's up?" Dean asked, sitting on the corner of the bed.
"So I looked up that guy Cas and Sohan were talking about," Sam said, beginning a long exposition of christian theory.
"And," Dean pushed.
"Well in Christianity, there are three spheres of Angels. The third is the most familiar. You have Angels, organized into garrisons. Each individual garrison is ruled by a single Archangel. The Archangels are then further divided into many small groups, watched over by Rulers. The second sphere has total power over the third, but normally lets them do their own thing. The second sphere has no specific hierarchy, but has three groups: Powers, Virtues, and Dominions. The third sphere guards prophecy and the throne of the lord, and goes in this order: Orphanim, Cherubim, and Seraphim.
"So, Jahoel is a Seraph, the highest rank in heaven besides God. He is also in charge of purity, and killing and cursing sinners. That's all I could find." Sam said, finishing the explanation.
"Not totally true," Castiel said, walking into the room.
"I thought you were receiving revelation," Sam said, looking confused.
"I was. Jahoel is more powerful than he is purported to be. He can take one by the soul and show them the righteous path. He went insane. The Lord put him in that mountain, in the angelic version of a devil's trap.—"
"How would one make that? 'Cause I swear if I get my hands on Gadriel—" Dean blurted out, before getting interrupted by Castiel.
"One would need the hand of God, and the voice of an angel to cast such a trap. Anyway, He escaped, and we don't know how. He had an accomplice, and that accomplice is what scares me more than the actual escape of Jahoel." Cas finished.
"So how do we find it?" Dean asked.
"We don't know how." Cas said, looking down in shame.
"Well shit," Dean said. He fell back onto the bed, and heard the whoosh of wings. But Cas had not left.
"Hello boys," Gadriel said, smiling his crooked smile.
"Gadriel? Why are you here?" Cas said, staring at Gadriel.
"I am your ticket to finding who the hell broke the Angelic Seal, that's why I'm here," Gadriel said. He turned around, ready to leave, and find whoever broke the seal, but then Sam made a sound halfway between an eagle's call and a bloodcurdlingly disturbing scream.
Sam! Sam, what do you see? Samuel Winchester, what do you see? Castiel's voice pierced the film of this odd dream. The air was clear, crisp. It was all bright white, and everything seemed to be changing shape, position. Sam, when you exit…if you exit, tell us what you see.
Sam started walking forwards, breathing heavily. He then saw Dean, appear out of nothing in front of him. He spoke, worried yells and frowns.
"Sam! Sammy! Wake up!" Dean yelled, before his body glitched and warped. It flashed into white, replaced by the tall, lanky body of Gadriel.
He shook his head, frowning. He adjusted his denim jacket over his olive t-shirt. Then he too flickered and flashed away. Castiel replaced him. His voice now clear and heard well.
"Whatever they say, don't listen. Don't look at his face. They will try to hurt you mentally, don't fight back." Cas said. He disappeared like the others.
The whole world warped, shifted to a palace with greco-roman columns and marble floors. It was quiet. The only sound was the wind. Slowly details began to fill in. Blue cloudless sky filled in the empty space outside. Olive trees sprouted around. The earth turned brown and wet. The ocean could be seen in the distance. The crashing of waves joined the sound of the light, cool breeze. The palace grew golden trim. Sam turned around, and stared at the ocean.
"Hello Samuel," A voice said. Sam spun around, surprised. The voice was soft, and smooth. In front of Sam stood a being. It had six wings. Two wrapped around the legs, two long ones extending from the back. Two wrapped around it's face. It wore a toga held by golden brooches. The bottom two wings were short and bronze colored. The two extending from the back were silver and long. The two covering the face were shorter, but golden. Light shined out of the golden feathers from what Sam presumed to be the face. Two arms were extended, one holding a golden staff, the other extended outwards to Sam. It's skin was a deep olive color.
"Jahoel, I presume," Sam said, eyes darting around.
"Yes, it is I. Jahoel, The Guardian." It said.
"What freed you?"
"I do not know. I was awoken by the chains falling off of my body. The markings were torn and broken. I escaped by destroying the mountain. I had to."
"But what broke you out, how did it escape?"
"I presume it stayed in the cavern, invisible. When I left, it did too."
Sam grunted, and attempted to leave the palace, but when he stepped out of the palace, he felt the cold kiss of life on his skin. His eyes opened wide and he sat up immediately. He took a deep breath. He looked around, Castiel and Gadriel were talking in the corner, Dean asleep on the bed next to Sam.
"I'm back, Cas," Sam said, running his fingers through his hair.
"What did you see?" Cas said, staring at Sam.
"A gold and white marble greek palace on the coast. And then I talked to Jahoel. He said whatever broke him out, he didn't see." Sam said, eyes wide open.
"Drive to the mountain, we'll meet you there." Gadriel demanded. Sam and Dean did as they were told.
The air was wet and misty again. They climbed up the mountain, tripping over rubble again. They made it above the fog, and then continued climbing through the thin, cold air. They stood on the rim of the crater. Cas and Gadriel appeared by them. Gadriel summoned his sickle again. They stared into the dip. Soon they heard something, wings. And then Sohanar appeared in the epicenter of the dip.
"You freed Jahoel." Castiel stated, glaring at Sohan.
"But he's better. He did his time, he was cured. He deserves to be in heaven." Sohan said pleadingly.
"Maybe so, but it was against God's wish." Castiel said in rebuttal.
Sohan ran up the rubble, his hands flaming. Castiel flicked his fingers and made a wall of rubble, that Sohan ran right into. He fell back down. Cas raised his hands and brought them down, creating a wave of stone, landing atop Sohanar. Sohan raised his body from the rubble, and lit his hands of fire again.
Gadriel leaped onto Sohan, and thrust the blade of his sickle up, into Sohan's jaw. Red blood trickled out. Gadriel lifted Sohan, and flew away, invisible.
Castiel flicked his hands again, making a bridge and a pathway down. Sam, Dean and Cas ran across. Cas cleared the fog.
Gadriel flew quickly across the earth, down to Mexico. He entered a cave, and followed the path to a dead end. He destroyed the wall to reveal an angel trap. He threw Sohan onto the metal star, and chained him. He wrote the finishing symbol on the wall, and spoke a short prayer. The chains tightened and locked. Gadreil left, rebuilding the wall on his way out.
Castiel nodded, and took off, leaving behind Sam and Dean. The boys entered the car and drove off, into the darkness. They both wondered what had happened, and Jahoel's true crimes. But not all things were for that time. Many of the questions would never be answered. Dean frowned and put in a cassette tape of Aerosmith's Get a Grip.