A man, a human male, is sitting at a neat desk in a small office under the
Eternal City. Other than the desk, the man, and the chair he occupies,
there is a second chair, both rather plain, and an overstuffed couch. The
walls are lined with bookshelves, which is to be expected in this part of
the City. The man, while he appears to be a kindly old man, is not Yves.
We will call him "doctor".
The doctor looks up in response to a knock on the open door. In the
doorway is an angel, based on the white swan-like wings, one could safely
assume a Mercurian.
Doctor: "Ah yes, Shilom, I received your note. I have been expecting
you. Do come in. Have a seat, please."
Shilom: Steps into the room. "Thank you for agreeing to see me so
quickly." Looks around. "Um, ah, which..."
Doctor: "Oh either, whichever you prefer. I got the couch because
Kyriotates look so uncomfortable in chairs."
Shilom: Sits on the couch and smiles, nervously.
Doctor: "First off, let me tell you a little about myself. On Earth
I was a psychiatrist, with, ahem, human patients, of course. After I died,
Blandine asked me to stay on here for a while and provide what help I
could to those of your kind that needed it. Yves was kind enough to
provide me with this space, and all of the texts I could possibly want. I
say all this in the hopes that you will feel comfortable..."
Shilom: Interrupting. "Doctor, it's okay. I trust you. You
wouldn't be here otherwise."
Doctor: "Quite so, quite so. Anyway, I do not actually work for any
Archangel, but I will have to report my findings to your Superior. I am
afraid that there is no doctor patient confidentiality in
heaven."
Shilom: "That's okay, I've already mentioned to Dominic that I would
be seeing you."
Doctor: "Dominic... A Mercurian and you work for Dominic.
Interesting. Please tell me more about yourself."
Shilom: "Where to begin? Until recently I was an outcast. I guess my
file crossed Dominic's desk at some point. Apparently he felt that there
may have been some... improprieties...? with my being cast out. So he sent
teams to find me. Eventually one of them did. There was a trial, I was
rejoined with the Heavenly Host, as a servant of Dominic, and here I
am."
Doctor: "Why were you so hard to find?"
Shilom: "I was an outcast. Outcasts don't want to be found. Either
it's demons looking to give the "tripped" a little push, or it's
Malakim looking to add another scalp to their belt. I was created to serve
God by helping man, and I had to stay alive, and out of hell, to do that.
Though I felt the temptation. It was rough. The purpose of an angel is to
serve the Lord. You can't image what it's like to have your purpose taken
away from you. It's... It's... I understand the fallen. The need, the
craving, to serve... to serve something. It's so strong. I... I.. but I
didn't give in. I didn't. I almost..." Pause.
Doctor: "Okay we will come back to this..."
Shilom: "No, I'm okay, let me finish, please. So when that fledgling
purple wing finally found me, I was ready to be found. I was tired of
fighting myself, keeping myself from giving in. I was ready. I knew what
the outcomes of Dominic's trials are. The blessed reunion, the welcoming
back into God's arms, trumpets, parties. Or the slightly less blessed
relief." Pause. "The end to the War inside. The war against
fate." Pause. "I wanted back into heaven, but I was willing to
have my forces ripped from me and scattered all over heaven. I'm no
Virtue. But I was not going to pervert the Lord's creation that was
me!"
Doctor: "Ahem, let us move on, shall we. We will come back to this in
due time. So you were an outcast. Why were you dismissed?"
Shilom: "I served Uriel at the time, we had some
disagreements."
Doctor: "Go on. Over what did you disagree?"
Shilom: Pauses. "Well, there was the Koran, but that's not
really... It... it was... I was..." Another pause. "It
was like..." Long pause.
Doctor: "Never mind, we will come back to that too. So, if you were a
servant of Uriel, you must have been outcast over a millenium ago. That
is a long time. Where did you go, what did you do?"
Shilom: "I kept doing what I thought I should be doing. It's, like,
in my programming, you know? I helped people. I tried to look after the
protectors, cops and the like. I did what I could for the war. I didn't
take on any demons, well, not more then a couple. Mostly if I stumbled
upon some infernals, I'd make a big noise in the symphony and get away as
fast as I could. Sometimes it wasn't fast enough. I spent a lot of time
in limbo."
Doctor: "We will go back over that in more detail, but since you are
on the subject, tell me more about limbo."
Shilom: "Tell? What's there to tell about limbo? It's nothingness,
and a lot of it. The only thing there is what you bring, and other then
your memories you're not allowed to bring anything. Thank the Lord I have
plenty of memories..."
Doctor: "Um, Shilom, exactly how old are you?"
Shilom: "I was created about a century before the fall."
Doctor: Audibly swallows. "Yes, um, I see. I think that this
is going to take a bit longer then I thought... and unfortunately we are
out of time today. You will come back, no?
Shilom: "Of course Doctor. Again thank you for your time."
Shilom exits. The doctor looks at his notes and sighs.
To be continued next session...