It was long ago that my kind ceased to fear death, my first experience with it was not pleasant, and after such I spent many years in Purgatory before the loophole was discovered; A gap in the law saying that we could return to a physical form on His new project, the world he so lovingly named Earth. We rejoiced, feeling after such long periods of suffering, that knew a small taste of divine happiness as we set our first steps in this new Utopia. It was unlike anything we had every seen, the lush foliage much unlike what we had known in our old homes, the golden light shining down from the Heavens casting a sense of holiness apon it all. We basked in its warmth, it roamed like loving embrace across our tattered souls.
Despite popular belief, The Divine is not infallible. As it is said, man was crafted in the image of Him, thus said, it is naive to believe that he could be without flaw, while humanity is so abundant in them. It has also been said that within flaws comes perfection, and I believe that He has achieved exactly that. Something so simply beautiful it could have only been thought of by the creator, in all of his complexity.
Man, on the other hand is incapable of achieving such goals as perfection whilst their lives are riddled with lies and deceit; The cold unwavering lack of regret for their wrongs, such qualities that only the most tolerant to not hate them for. Not long after my kind mingled its was amongst them, did they not start to adorn themselves with such humanistic characters. Those who still lived in His glow watched with disgust as we shed any trait of holiness we once embodied. Those of us wise enough to recognize it for what it was were cast out and forced to live alone in some miserable desolate wasteland where they could easily be ignored by those who were changing.
After a while my will to stay apart of The Divine began to crack and chip away, as years of isolation will do to you, finally crumbling to nearly nothing at all. I yearned for the companionship of my kind like a fish in need of water. I packed the few things I had managed to accumulate in my stay into a leather satchel no larger than modern day breadboxes; Some dried snake meat, a change of clothes and some chunks of cacti for quenching the undying thirst accompanied with the this place where the sun bore down so hard that the earth cracked beneath it's wrath.
With so much time to yourself, you are left with time to ponder the depths of your mistakes. He had cast us out of His heart. Deep down I knew we would never be forgiven, no, out betrayal was too great. This was as good as it was going to get and I was reluctant to accept it.
"You might as well make the best of this, Michael." I told myself. Yes, I guess I should.
I journeyed for what I estimated as a fortnight. It was on that last night before I saw the lights of the small village of New Haven that I believed that I had never left Hell at all, that it had all been a trick meant to torture us further for our heinous actions. I made my way silently to the center of the light, to a small inn; The Sanctuary, it was called, I prayed that it would be just that.
As I walked in to The Sanctuary, it was as if the world had come to a pause. Voices of drunkards and travelers were quickly hushed as they all turned round in their chairs to stare at me; The room was fairly small and lighted by lanterns above each table. A row of stools lined the bar, filled by, no doubt, the town regulars. A small staircase in the corner, which led up to the guest rooms. With great caution I walked closer to the bar, with no more than two dozen pairs of eyes following my every move.
"Can I help you, Mister?" The barmaid asked me, as she cleaned a mug and filled it to the brim with amber liquid, setting it down on the bar in front of a burly man. The liquid sloshed about, and spilt on the mans hand that was still firmly planted on the counter. He seemed not to notice. Across the room a table of cowboys were standing up to help me make up my mind.
"I was stranded in the desert for some time," I answered as the three men neared me. "I was looking for somewhere to stay." The room seemed to relax a bit.
"Alright, but it ain't free, you understand." The regulars were turning back to their drinks. The cowboys did not turn back to their table. At this point they were no more than ten paces from where I stood.
"I understand, but that will be a problem. As seeing the whole reason I was stranded in the first place, was on account I was robbed." I lied, not as if it made a difference, the truth would have been less believable anyway. The barmaid grunted and proceeded to wipe down the counter infront of her. "I realize the world wasn't built on good intensions, but if you would be so kind as to put your faith in me, I would look for work tomorrow so I could pay what I owed." I walked closer to the bar so I could talk to her a little easier, and also for the sheer fact that the cowboys were drawing ever nearer to me and I wasn't looking for trouble right now. She stared in to my eyes for quite some time before she answered. I tried with all of my might to project that I meant no harm through my eyes.
"I don't know what it is about you, boy, but I trust ya. My nephew has a ranch outside of town, you go talk to him tomorrow and tell him that his Auntie May told him to put you to work." I could sense the cowboys standing a few feet behind me, I could feel the mistrust radiating from them. "And if I hear you gone an done anything stupid, I'll have those boys string you up by your ankles, you hear?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"Alright, your room is upstairs at the end of the hall." I turned around to see the cowboys with fists clenched grinning at me. "Oh, and boy?"
"Yes?"
"Call me Auntie May, or I'll have em string you up anyways." She said with a grin.