The embassy was not at all like she had imagined. It was definitely Heaven's aesthetic, but there was something off about it. Something… creepy.
It was the same beautiful sleek design with calm blues and golds, but it had none of the warmth that Heaven did. Ironic considering how uncomfortably hot it was down here, she supposed that made sense, this was Hell after all. Emily wondered if it was always like this, of if it was just because it was the middle of summer.
She slowly wandered between the rows of empty seating, everything in here was in immaculate condition. That usually wouldn't bother her, after all everything in Heaven was perfect. But here it just felt wrong, like people weren't supposed to be in here.
Speaking of, where was everybody?
Emily scanned the empty hall, she wasn't really sure what she'd been expecting. But it wasn't this, it was just her and Peter here. Her friend hadn't moved an inch from where the portal had disappeared, almost as if he was afraid he'd burst into flames if he took another step into Hell.
She had kind of just assumed the Embassy would be manned, she didn't know by what. Heavenborn? Hellborn? But she could see know that it was just an empty building with a few meeting rooms to the side. As she approached the front desk and rang the bell, she discovered that even the guest book was automated.
Dissatisfied, the seraphim side stepped the floating golden parchment. Peter finally ungluing himself from where he'd been rooted to follow her. Emily opened a draw and started riffling through folders, if no one was here she'd have to find the information they needed herself.
"Urm, y-you sure you're supposed to be going through that Emmie?" Her blonde compatriot stuttered meekly.
"Peter, this is our building." She reminded him gently.
"Right! Right, I-I knew that."
She spared him a bemused smile before frowning down at the documents in her hands. They were all blank, every… single… one of them. But why? She opened draw after successive draw to find just more of the same. Every folder, every leaflet, every card in a rolodex… was completely blank.
There was a low rumble behind her, Peter "Eeped" as she turned around to see the giant stain glass window vibrate ever so slightly. It was beautiful craftsmanship, the panels gleamed with an ethereal beauty.
Then she saw it, it was a portrayal of Heaven looming over the fires of Hell and raining something down upon it. The art was too abstract to make out what they were supposed to be, but it gave her an uneasy feeling.
Periwinkle eyes wandered around their surroundings, only now noticing the depictions of exorcists surrounding them from above. Part of her felt a little sick as she put it all together, this wasn't an Embassy, not really.
This was a display of Power, meant to instil fear.
The young seraphim turned back to her friend, Peter was eyeing the Angelic gargoyles with a disconcerting look in his baby blue eyes. He'd always been intimidated by the members of Heaven's legions, he now had the face of a man who finally felt vindicated in his feelings.
Emily was about to entrust her friend with her assessment of the Embassy, when another low rumble shook the floor beneath their feet. It was a lot louder than last time, the chandelier above their heads clinking terribly as small bits of crystal smashed into each other and broke off into shards.
The divine beings threw their arms over their heads to protect themselves from the sparkling rain. When it finally stopped Peter peeked his face out from his sleeves. "What in Heaven was that!?" He sputtered.
"I don…" Emily's words were abruptly cut off when a large black sphere covered with spikes came crashing through the window behind her.
The two angels screamed in terror, hitting the floor as the wrecking ball swung perilously over them.
When the large red crane wound back the demolition ball for another swing, Emily grabbed her friend's wrist and made for the exit. The pair sprinted hand in hand as they ran, she prayed they weren't locked in.
As they burst through the heavy glass doors, the intense heat and smell of brimstone hit them like a slap to the face. They found themselves standing on marble steps to an imposing golden building, even the outer fencing was shaped to resemble exorcist spears.
Just beyond the property line the architecture changed dramatically. The pavement was heavily cracked with deep dark fractures that seemed to crawl over everything like a vine, it was even trying to encroach on the "Embassy".
Emily's stomach turned when she noticed some of the cracks had sinister looking eyes in them, how horrifying!
Terrifying creatures of all shapes and sizes milled about the rubble ridden streets, going about their day like it was the most normal thing in the world.
The prevailing colour palate of the surrounding buildings was of reds and purples, and it seemed like no opportunity to place a spike on something had been missed. Above their heads in a Vermilion Sky hung an absolutely giant pentacle, it was like nothing she'd ever seen.
Peter tugged at her sleeve. "Err… Emmie?"
She looked down to see what had her friend concerned and froze. There at the bottom of the steps where two demons in safety vests and hard hats, sitting on crates, mouths agape to reveal their fangs and staring blankly at them.
The larger one looked like a giant slug with four arms, it had a clipboard and a cigar that was slowly falling from its' lips.
The Smaller one looked much more like a traditional demon from her books, red skin, tail, and black and white horns on the top of its' head. She was pretty sure this one was a hellborn, but she couldn't recall what it was called. Sharp claws held a sandwich, or at least what was left of it, most of the meaty filling had fallen to the ground, it looked a little raw if she was being honest.
Emily took a step forward and raised a hand to the pair in greeting. "Hi! My name i…"
The smaller demon leaped up and backed away from her, seemingly shocked out of its' stupor. "Oh shit! I knew it! I knew it! I told you guys this was a bad idea! They've come back for us! They've come for ALL of us!" With that the creature turned tail and bolted.
Stunned and confused Emily and Peter both turned to the remaining demon, it was shaking in fear. Slowly a stubby arm rose to point at them as the gastropod's bottom lip trembled, cigar finally falling to the ground in a burst of embers on the concrete.
"a-a…a-ANGELS!" The Sinner shrieked in terror.
It was like the whole world froze.
Every horrid being in view stalled to look at them, a few moments beat by painfully slow, before everything erupted into chaos.
Screams and cries of "Oh, dear Satan!" and "We're all gonna die!" filled the scorched air as demons everywhere started to run for their lives.
"W-wait! No! We mean you no harm!" Emily pleaded as she tried to calm the creatures down, but it was no use.
A large bull like demon scrambled out of the cab of the crane, spilling the contents of its' thermos on the control panel and snagging multiple gears and levers in its' haste to flee. The giant steel ball going haywire as the boom swung wildly.
There was a defining crunch of glass that sounded from above and Emily looked up to see an enormous hourglass on top of the Embassy collapsing in on itself. What in Heaven?
She was so dumfounded by the bizarre sight that she didn't even think to get out of the way. Luckily for her Peter was still thinking straight, he grabbed her hand again and took flight. Pulling her feet from the glowing sand that had already begun to pool around them.
The contents of the strange structure spilled out onto the surrounding area of the embassy, crashing against buildings like a golden tidal wave as it streamed into the adjoining streets. Flowing down the road like molasses and burying multiple demons beneath it.
Oh dear, this was not a very good start to their diplomatic mission, was it.
Peter landed them in the middle of the road and Emily immediately ran forth to try to help the victims. Only to be hit in the shoulder with a sharp piece of brimstone, confused she tuned to see the origin of the projectile.
The young seraphim gasped in astonishment when her eyes were met with a group of children, throwing rocks at her. They didn't do any damage, naturally, but she was blown away none the less. How could this be? They didn't look like any hellborn she'd ever seen before.
"Go back to where you came from freak!" One of them shouted, before they all fled around a corner. The chant of, "The Angels are here! The Angels are here! They've come to finish what they started!" trailing after them.
Hell was just one world shattering shock after another, they couldn't be sinners, because sinners couldn't have children. It wasn't remotely her area of expertise, but from what little she understood, being dead, none of the sinners could create new souls.
Unless… no. No, no no no. They couldn't have been sinners that died as children. There couldn't be child souls in Hell.
She heard movement behind her and turned around to see demons crawling and being pulled out of the sand, oh good. But then they all immediately scurried away from them the moment they were free. Hmm, it seemed their help was not welcome here.
With conviction the divine being turned back to the direction the children looking creatures had gone, grabbing St. Peter's hand as she marched after them with purpose. "Come on, we need answers."
Her friend fell into step with minimal protest, clearly not likening the idea of going even further into Hell.