People had misconceptions about Heaven. It wasn’t their fault. Religions that didn’t know the whole story spun a tale that fit their doctrine. Some got parts right, others wrong, and some were way off the mark. In the end, Heaven had two ultimate purposes.

First, it was a place of eternal happiness for those souls that deserved it, and God had very high standards of admittance. That was the main tweak God made to the already existing ætherial architecture of Earth. When he conquered it, he dared mankind to be better than their primal selves. Their primal selves had existed in a world of pain and chaos, and he wanted to make sure that those who rose above that were rewarded. When those evolved souls’ bodies died they ascended to Heaven. The rest were returned into the endless cycle of reincarnation up until Lucifer tampered with the plan. Essentially, the Father of Lies copied and reversed God’s design and sent those souls whose karmic balance was in the red to Hell.

Hell’s pull wasn’t as refined as Heavens. Some got pulled down that should have gone back into the reincarnation cycle, other stayed in the cycle that should have gotten pulled down, and a bunch flowed around and over Lucifer’s ætherial hack without being effected at all. That was what you got when you ripped off a primordial being’s work without his power or knowledge base, but at the moment it was how things worked.

Heaven wasn’t a place made of fluffy white clouds, singing choirs of angels, and a giant bearded man sitting on a throne over it all. Each soul got their own personalized paradise; a little slice of Heaven – an afterlife home – where their wants and desires played out. This paradise was maintained by God’s æther and monitored by angels; specifically, the Virtues. They were Heaven’s architects, graphic artists, and custodians all rolled into one. They made sure that those righteous souls got what they deserved.

Ava had spent time shadowing a Virtue when she was a young angel. They were big on cross training in Heaven and wanted to make sure every angel had a chance to see everything before choosing a desired profession. For her, it had been Guardian training all the way, but she still saw the value in seeing how every piece fit into the whole. What was the point of her defending all the souls of Earth if they got to Heaven and didn’t get what they wanted?

Ava remembered one old woman’s heaven was family dinner every night with her children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. None were real, they were all creations of æther, but she got to do what made her happy and enjoy the company of the people she loved.

She knew another heaven where a man made himself President of the United States and solved all the world’s problems. It was still difficult, it kept him engaged, but he thrived on the challenge. Another heaven she’s visited was actually one of those puffy white-cloud places where a woman who’d worked herself to death in life, just kicked back and relaxed.

Those were all good heavens, but her favorite one was of a teenage girl who died of cancer. She sat in a stadium, the edges were blurred so you really couldn’t tell what kind, but it was packed full of people. You couldn’t see any faces, colors, creeds, or orientation; they were all just sitting there quietly while wave after wave of complete peace washed over them. When Ava was feeling stressed lately, she would spend a few moments in that heaven to help wash away her emotional turmoil.

She wished she was there right now.

“Ma’am…Ma’am…?”

Ava snapped out of it with a shake of her head. “Sorry, Bart, go on.” She turned her thoughts from the peaceful heavens and to the battle plans in front of her.

The Heaven those righteous souls saw and experienced was only half of the realm. The second half lay on the opposite side of God’s Palace and could best be described as a military base. Heaven, for all its power and authority, was constantly under threat of invasion. Their primary aggressor was the Infernals in Hell, but some of the other realms in existence tested their borders on occasion. The Divine Host stood between those souls and those enemies, and Ava’s responsibilities in that Host had risen after her battle with the Dux in Charlotte.

It wasn’t just the Hand of God that had replaced the hand she’d lost to Gerald Fuller. She’d been promoted. She was now a Power.

A Guardian was one of the frontline soldiers. They were powerful enough to tangle with certain Infernals, and commanded by a Dominion. The Infernal Lords had empowered their Duxes to be able to stand toe-to-toe with Dominions, who were in charge of defending strategic positions, like cities. As the battle outside Charlotte had shown, those Duxes had varying levels of success.

Guardians were foot soldiers, Dominions were their officers, and then there were the Powers. Powers were a higher class of officer who were assigned areas of greater responsibility. The Power that Ava had reported to had been in charge of everything from Washington, D.C., down to Miami, and over to Nashville. Ava was one of over a dozen Dominions to report to him. He’d been reassigned after the Charlotte battle to a quieter sector.

Ava felt bad about that. She’d gone over his head straight to Uriel during the battle. When Hell literally popped up in the middle of your territory, a critical seal was broken, and you didn’t know what was going on you were bound to get fired. Now, Ava was in the hot seat, and her first job was to promote a replacement for Emmanuel. There was enough left of the former Dominion’s Divine spark to reconstitute him in Heaven, but it would take time for him to get back up to strength, and then he would likely return to duty as a Guardian until a new post opened up. The Divine Host was fair, but it did not condone failure.

Her choice for the job was Bartholomew, but he went by Bart for short. She’d served with him as a Guardian before she got her Dominion in Charlotte. He was cunning, professional, and a little devious if that was a way you could even define a Divine being. Ava really appreciated his ability to think outside the box, which was not an angel’s strong suit. Their enemies wouldn’t like what Bart had planned for them.

“I want the two companies to insert here and here.” A three dimensional rendering of Charlotte, with live-access ætherial input hovered in front of them. “It’s a classic pincer movement. We will sandwich the Infernals between us and squeeze. We’ll have a couple squads in reserve to complete an envelopment and deal individually with any wards they’ve been able to mine the area with.”

It had been eons since the last major Divine-Infernal combat took place on Earth, and people needed to brush up on tactics. Like the wards used to hide the beginning of the ritual sacrifice of Ava’s daughter from her, wards had a lot of uses. They could keep people out until they were bashed down, or they could trap people. They could drain power, cause destruction, hide objects, and do a plethora of other things. The old accounts of battles long past told of serious warding on both sides. The result was a slow slug fest between two armies as they moved forward inch by inch and destroying everything in their wake. Archangels or Infernal Lords could turn those tides by brute forcing through things others couldn’t, but the carnage that would cause an already wounded city…she didn’t want to think about it.

Contrary to those old accounts, Bart’s plan was about speed and tactics. “All initial reports are saying that it isn’t more than a few hundred, lightly armed, and weakened Infernals. They got mauled by Behemoth’s granddaughter as they passed through the Veil, and it looks like the initial action taken by the humans took a few more of them out.” There was a hint of pride in the new Dominion’s voice. “I’m confident if we move swiftly we won’t run into many, if any, wards. The Infernals look like they’re having enough trouble holding themselves together. I don’t think they’re going to have time to set up proper defenses. We need to counterattack now.”

“The troops do fit what we know about Seere’s legionnaires, and if they’re in a fighting retreat they might not even be able to set up proper warding…”

“That sounds like a well thought out plan,” a new voice interrupted Ava and Bart, and they both braced to attention.

Michael walked into their command tent, but barely peaked at the battlefield. He was wearing a simple tunic and sandals, not the Divine Steel armor that both Ava and Bart had strapped on. Ava’s even had its own personal warding. It was a definite upgrade from her Dominion armor.

“I just wanted to let the two of you know that Uriel is still recuperating, and I will be your commanding officer for this operation. Reports and critical communications will flow though me. Any sighting of Infernal Lords will be sent straight to me. Am I clear?”

“Yes, Sir.”

“Good.” Michael’s face was calm. “Bart, do you mind if I have a moment with Ava.

“No, Sir.” The newly appointed Dominion practically ran out of the tent.

“I just want to make sure you’re ok.” Michael sat on the corner of the table and studied Ava.

“I’m good to go, Sir. I’ve worked out an excellent battle plan with Bart that I think will more than…”

“I’m not talking about the battle plan, Ava.” Michael stopped her. “I’m talking about you, your readiness. You went through hell, and I’m about to throw your right back in the fire.” He didn’t look concerned, just thoughtful.

“I’m ready for anything, Sir.” Ava said confidently in the hopes of restoring his confidence in her.

“No one is ever ready for anything.” Michael shook his head but let the subject drop. “I’m assigning a squad of Cherubim to your strike force.”

“What!?” Ava blurted at the sudden revelation. “Is this because…”

“It’s not about you, Ava. Think through the situation.” He was using his commanding voice and Ava nearly snapped back to attention. “This is believed to be the remnants of Seere’s forces. If they are in full retreat it is wise to assume it will be the people who were able to survive the longest with their lord gone. These could be powerful generals, administrators who ran his affairs, or other high level personnel used to wielding a lot of power. A few hundred Guardians might not be enough to defeat them, and this is a battle we can’t lose.”

was what she thought.

“Understood, Sir. We’ll work them into our deployment pattern,” was what she said.

“Good. Bart, you can come back in.” Michael looked to the side of the tent where the Dominion was probably standing with his ear to the fabric. “Good luck, Ava, and keep me informed.”

She saluted as he left. Bart entered and immediately identified likely positions based on ætherial output for the Cherubims to check out. Ava nodded without looking at the battlefield anymore. The time for planning was over. It was time for action.

“Deploy the troops, Bart. Happy hunting.” She marched out of the tent and toward the portal to Earth, created by Michael, as her soldiers rallied behind her.