Act II – The Second Twins, or The Misfortune of Antigone

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"Really, Uriel!" laughed the golden haired Angel. "I do not know how you can stand that dreary place—so dull, and damp and dark."

"It is…not so bad," I replied. "It can be quite beautiful…the waters, the forests…it is much different from Heaven, that is certain. Much less crowded and overflowing with bodies. Enra-Ou can be pleasant to talk with."

Anael laughed heartedly. "Oh, I knew you would say that! It's just like you—oh!" The mountain she carried in her arms tumbled over to the floor, crashing and bursting open. Amused with her clumsiness, Anael lifted her hand to her ear, smiling and shaking her head. The pile of books lay scattered, a pile of wreckage. "Oh! Will you look at this! Ophniel tells me over and over not to carry so many books…" She laughs. "Maybe I should get a cart!"

I smile. "Why is all that for?"

"Oh…just things, just things…" she muttered as she picked them up carefully from the floor, tumbling them between her arms. "Reading material, the likes…philosophy, studies, and medicine." She turned and looked up at me as we continued with our walk. "I borrowed a few from Belial—bits of Anthology, and some on science."

"Well aren't you the hardworking scientist…" I teased.

She beamed, her golden locks gliding in Heaven's summer wind. Then suddenly, a rather placid gaze fell over her lovely features. Anael was abruptly quiet—and that was not like her at all. When we were Angel children, Anael was always bright and brilliant; she was the most wonderful and curious student, beloved by everyone, and befriended to everyone. How dear she and Gabriel were, those brilliant pair. And I can still remember how she and Zaphikiel would argue about one thing or another, and Gabriel often had to break off the fights. She was always outspoken, a great mind—this silence was not a feature she took on greatly.

"Uriel…" she spoke. "I did not ask for you to travel from Hades to Heaven simply for old friends to chat." She smiled mournfully. "Though, it is quite nice…I do, I do have something on my mind that I wished to speak with you about."

"You're asking my advice?" I asked curiously.

She shook her head, laughing foolishly. "No, no, not truly…just…your opinion. Much has happened since your last visit, and…it's not best I speak with Gabriel—she'd simply think I was crazy, or go on and about rambling and ranting." She turned to me so suddenly—stopping in her tracks—that mountain almost falling from her arms again. "To be honest, Gabriel has been acting quite odd lately. She spends most of her time alone, rambling sometimes about nonsense. She's not as reserved and quiet as she was; she still is, just not as much. Oh Uriel! She's so heated, and so full of zeal! She constantly reads, and studies, even more than I do!" She pauses quickly; almost unsure of what she should say. "Uriel…I've seen her teach the children. She reminds me of Teacher. She reminds me of her. She does!" She laughs tiredly and sakes her head and we walk on through the corridor, other Angels passing us swiftly and silently. "Oh, you must think me silly. Foolish, troublesome Anael…always over thinking everything." A troubled gaze transpires over her visage. "But I!—oh I! I'm so frightened that she'd—!"

"It's all right…I know what you speak. Gabriel was always the better of all of us—curious, inquiring, philosophical. Undisputed the most intelligent Angel of our days. I have seen it too, this odd behaviour of her's." I smirked unwillingly. "She watches the humans constantly. She visits me in Hades often, watches Ygdrassil, wanders around in Limbo for a day or two before she returns to my manor. She's becoming more and more of a puzzle. Her personality has become quite queer, and it's almost as if she's knocking on forbidden doors." I take a deep breath, rubbing the metallic Scythe under my thumb. The metal is cool and slick, feeling like velvet skin. "But she does…remind me of the former Regent. So troubled she was too before her Death." I sighed deeply. "Gabriel—she spends countless days on Assiah—watching the mortals, sometimes even communicating with them in different forms…it's truly a puzzle, her behaviour. I have no idea what is going on inside her head."

"She's gone to Eden for Alexiel."

I stop and stare at her petrified silence. "Pardon?"

Anael looks down at her books. "Zaphie told me…Zaphikiel told me that she requested a visit with the Zodiac. Whatever she did to convince them to allow her to see Alexiel is beyond any knowledge, but she did. Gabriel…she spent a long time in Eden. I know that Rosiel was furious with her, argued with her for hours over it, but she didn't say anything of it—not to me, not to Raphael, or you, or even Lucifiel." The two of us stopped by a garden near the Hall of Synopsis, amongst the flowers and water fountain. We sat down, and watched the Angels carefully; Anael seemed unsure of how to continue.

"You know…Father requested her for a special assignment on Assiah…"

"Oh? What was it?"

She fidgeted with her books. "She's supposed to be responsible for something called the Annunciation." She turns to be with her bright hazel eyes. "Uriel…the Father has been watching the humans too, and he's planning something. No one in Heaven knows what yet, but it's something…and I feel so anxious about it. I'm so worried about Gabriel, and the way she has slowly spiraled out of control after Teacher's death." She sighs deeply. "Gabriel says that the Father is planning a grand experiment…that is the only thing she told me." She gazed at me painfully. "Am I being so silly to be worried about her?"

"No, you're not."

I looked across the sparkling water of the fountain to the small Angel children playing amongst the flowers. A sudden rush of nostalgia flowed into me—it reminded me of the times we all spent as children, listening to Teacher tell the words of God, playing amongst the flowers and the grass. It was such a time of great happiness and freedom for all of us. We did not question anything of what we were taught—to us, Heaven was perfect, and nothing could be changed about it.

But ultimately, things do change, whether or not any of us realized it, or even asked for it. Perhaps the catalyst for this chain of events was Teacher's death—when she died, she left us with something terribly troubling, something we as students could not understand, and did not bother to understand. It would be years later, when I laid upon the eyes of the beautiful blonde daughter of two former Angels that I would truly realize what Teacher had been speaking of. You laugh, my love, but it is true…so very true. Teacher's death left us with something precious and important, and at that time none of us understood it for its true gravity—none of us except for perhaps a certain Cherub and a certain Prince.

"The truth is, Gabriel has been acting this way because of the death of Teacher…" I paused. "Since her Last Words, Gabriel has been acting strangely. She was always the most ingenious Angel out of all of us, so it would be apparent that she would have taken the Teacher's words so close to heart." I smile bitterly. "The two of them are so alike in many ways, yet so different."

Anael looked to me nervously. "…then what do we do for her?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing?"

I nodded. "Gabriel is no fool; she knows what she is doing. Teacher knew what she was doing as well when she poisoned Eve with the Apple, but I believe Gabriel will not do something so rash and imprudent." I turned to my blonde friend, and seeing the panicked look of her face, I assured her with a small smile. "Gabriel is not Michael, Anael. You need not to be so worried about her. She understands the purpose behind actions."

"Still…"

I placed a hand on Anael's shoulder. "You need not to worry of her, old friend. Gabriel will be fine…she is in good health, mind and body…" I drifted into silence. Years of familiarity had provided me with some skills of empathy. The emotion that streamed from Anael were not feelings of fear and anxious for Gabriel. No, it was something much deeper; there was something disconcerting that my old friend was trying to keep from me.

"Anael…?"

She looked to me fretfully, her brows furrowed, her eyes gleaming fear and indecision. "Uriel…"

"It's not just Gabriel, is it?"

"No…" she finally spoke. She turned to me, her eyes wide and full of worry and trouble. "It isn't just about Gabriel…I did tell you that I wanted your opinion."

She sighed, and finally spoke. "I'm worried, Uriel, about everything that is occurring. There is something troubling with what I am doing, what our people are doing. Where are our people going with all our science and discoveries? What are we doing with it? What is Father requesting of us with it?" She smiles sadly, clutching her hands tightly together. "We've been at war with the lowly creatures of Tartarus for so long…we claim to be Angels, the Pure and Sanctified, but we terrorize those poor beasts, who are mere mutations of the Fallen Ones, former Angels nonetheless. We take no pity on the souls of Man…we're constantly working away for Father, and yet we do not know what it is we are trying to accomplish. We're cruel things, Uriel, we are. As worried as I am of Gabriel and what she might do, at times I cannot help but sympathize with her. I cannot help but question the direction of our people. Zaphikiel…he's told me of such terror—of what the Angels have done…and oh, Uriel, with everything I observe of Gabriel, I cannot help but feel something foreboding about everything. Belial tells me…she tells me to abandon the Laws for only a moment and look at our people with the same eyes Teacher did. She tells me…that if I do, I will begin to see what a few of them—Gabriel, Lucifiel, Belial, Asmodeus—what they have slowly begun to see."

"And have you?" I questioned.

She gazes at me with those golden eyes, and for a moment she is silent, as if unsure whether or not she should reply.

"Yes…" she finally speaks. "I have."

"And what have you seen…?"

She smiles at me most secretly, almost afraid to speak. I will remember her most clearly for that smile, so timid and frightened, yet bold because she smiles with a secret knowing. Just like Teacher. That smile held quantities, and told a great magnitude of who Anael was—an innocent, trying to break from an ideal world into a reality, trying to mold a democracy from an autocracy. She had begun, at that point, I have come to believe, to seek the same things that Belial, Gabriel, and Lucifiel and the others, and even myself, have slowly begun to search for. It was a pursuit that none of us truly understood, but from the moment of our Teacher's death, we all began a journey of unspoken importance, each and every one of us, traveling in a direction unknown with a map that was completely perplexing to the mind's eye.

"…Uriel, you spend so much time in Hades; you do not know the things that the Angels are trying to accomplish here in the Kingdom." She looks down at the ground, almost mystified by her own thoughts. "There's something depraved about this project I am leading, something utterly vile about it all."

"What has changed your mind, old friend? You were so elated and delighted and proud about gaining such a prestigious station…what has caused your vacillation now?"

"There is something portentous about this project, something absolutely wicked."

"But the High Council commissioned it; the Father requested it. You are a White One, Anael…why do you have such odious feelings about the Sandalphon Project?"

Anael is silent—her lovely golden hair fluttering in the wind. She looks so sure, yet unsure of herself, seeking answers…to something that was very dangerous. "Father's afraid. That is what Belial tells me at least. She mentions it as if it were some provisional information that all should know. She says…that Rosiel has been fervent about his sister these days, completely mad and disturbed. Gabriel says the same thing. I've tried to go see Alexiel in Eden, too, but the Zodiac have been much more relentless since the last time someone was in Eden." She pauses suddenly, and turns to me with a frightening look in her eyes. "There's something you should know, Uriel…what Father is planning with the Twins. What their purpose actually is…" She smiles a weak and pitiful smile. "There was a human that existed on Assiah, gifted…a prophet, as the mortals call him, named Elijah. He passed on, and we took his soul, and molded him into those two children, Metatron and Sandalphon. They are such sweet children, and I do such terrible and evil things to them with my own hands…they are nothing but tools for the Father, in any case that Alexiel and Rosiel decide to oppose him."

"But isn't that why He keeps her in Eden…" I stop myself. "Rosiel…Rosiel is…"

She nods.

"I really have been away from Heaven for too long." I smile and shake my head. "Belial tells me…right after Teacher's death, Lucifiel broke into Eden, for what purpose even the Father did not know, but Teacher knew, that I am sure of. Probably her idea in the first place for him to see Alexiel. I thought he would be punished, but of course Father would never punish the Holy Prince…

It still puzzles me, to this day, what the Teacher has left behind for us. I still cannot perceive what she told Lucifiel that she kept from all of us. I wonder, Anael, I wonder…a piece of flesh of her's was used to make the Twins, that much I know, for I collected that flesh myself. Yet…I do not know what became the rest of her body, or her spirit. What did Father do to her?"

Anael fidgets and shakes her head, as if telling me not to ask, her hands trembling against themselves. "I see sparks of her inside the Twins, the seed of something very troubling indeed. I cannot rid myself of this horrible premonition. What should I do, Uriel? Should I listen to these premonitions, or should I carry on with Father's orders? What should I do? What should I, Uriel?"

I sighed deeply. "What can any of us do, Anael? We're trapped in our positions; the Irin and the Qaddisin makes their Judgments by the Father's Word and Law. We cannot oppose; it's an absolute despotism. Have you tried to talk to Gabriel of this?"

She shakes her head. "No…she's much focused on the Annunciation. I wonder what Father plans with this. What He intends to do with Humanity frightens me, yet…somehow, I cannot help but remember what the Teacher said before her death…"

"I gave Humans what I could not give you…" I echoed. "Yes, a puzzling statement. What did she mean? What could she have meant, and the question so confuses me that I cannot find an answer. She was terribly unclear, and yet it was expected as her last education. I wonder perhaps if Gabriel has figured it out yet. Belial seems to know more than she lets on, and of course Lucifiel…he and the Regent were so close—like Mother and Son, nearly."

"What is going to happen to the Kingdom now?"

"We shall see…I am sure. We shall see."

I never considered the importance of that conversation I had with my dear friend. She passed on soon after, victim to her own premonition and her own fears, victim to Father's ever so strange plans and workings. When I look back and remember of Anael, I remember that particularly day in Heaven when we spoke of something we all saw in the future. Anael was perhaps the first to meet that deadly Wave.

Like a tidal wave, this precarious age of Angels came into play with heavy costs.

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Author's Note

1) In this act, Anael is compared and juxtaposed to the character of Antigone, the daughter of Oedipus and Jocasta from Sophocles' play Antigone. In the play, Antigone disobeyed Creon (the King of Thebes after Oedipus) and she performed a burial right for her brother, Polynices—and for such an act, she was condemned to be locked alive in a cave, whereas she hung herself. As so, the two women are compared to have suffered misfortune for doing something that they believed to be morally correct and are seen as having martrydom characteristics.

2) The Second Twins are Metatron and Sandalphon; the First Twins being Alexiel and Rosiel.

3) At this point in the story, many of the major events in the Bible, such as Noah's Ark, Moses, and the birth of Christ has yet to have happened. They, in this story, are all parts of the Annuciation—one of God's experiments being lead by Gabriel. This will be explained further on in the story.

4) In Angelology, the Irin and Qaddisin are two other pairs of twins who make God's laws, as well as implementing God's judgment—they work in unison to keep Heaven as an autocracy. They essentially make up the key parts of Heaven's High Council.