Nananiel spent the entire night drowning in a sea of thoughts until his alarm clock (to make him feel more human) rang from his bedroom/bathroom. He cleaned himself up, put on his uniform once, and was ready to face another day at work.

Opening the door he found the pure white Anatidae standing on his welcome mat once again. “What is it this time?”

“Rather rude…” Quackziel said.

“I apologize.”

“I need somewhere to keep this Container. Allow me to keep it here.”

“My refrigerator is empty.”

“It’s an empty Container, Nananiel,” Quackziel said and then let himself inside. He hopped onto the coffee table and made himself comfortable as he faced the TV. “Hey, do you have Netflim?”

Nananiel’s face fell. “You know what that is?”

“I’m a forward-looking duck.”

“Ducks are supposed to quack.”

Quackziel grabbed the TV remote by his side using his bill and started poking away at the buttons with it. Nananiel left the angel-duck to it and headed off to work.

The BurgerQueen manager complimented Nananiel for his excellent service. His happy-go-lucky attitude resurrected the smiles of dejected customers eating their troubles away with fast food. His attitude was a far cry from what his co-workers were offering with their sleepy or cranky demeanor when taking orders.

Nananiel worked with energy throughout his entire shift and befuddled his co-workers and manager again asking for overtime with no extra pay. With a smile on his face the manager immediately accepted.

The patrons of the late-night shift were of a whole different caliber. Drunks, stoned teenagers filming with their phones, and naggy mothers who all shared the same haircut. The nighttime crew was different as well, natural night owls who preferred to work through the night and sleep till the mid-afternoon rather than wake up at 5am to get to work. They were surprisingly more energetic too.

Things quieted down, and while awaiting the possibility of a random midnight rush, the workers lazed around and enjoyed a casual conversation. Nananiel eased into the conversation and even made some successful jokes, and references that earned him some new friends (all those hours of watching TV paid off!).

Then he helped clean up the place and offered to take out the trash. Nananiel stepped outside into the cold, two filled trash bags in each hand, and shivered as sweat cascaded his forehead. He missed his parka and scarf.

Nananiel froze in place as he found Quackziel sitting on top of the dumpster.

“Nananiel!” Quackziel said urgently. “She’s coming.”

“Now?” He looked around and saw nothing in the lot.

“And she’s not alone.”

“Who is she with?”

Quackziel didn’t answer.

“Who is she with?” Still no answer. “Quackziel?”

The duck quacked loudly. Nananiel jumped back as Quackziel flew off the dumpster and waddled away. A familiar, petrifying sensation kept him from following the animal. The sensation began to burn from inside, and it wasn’t alone. Nananiel picked up another source of Mana, and it felt… confusing.

He turned back and saw Irin approaching him with an unseen face in an ancient Egyptian dress by her side.

“Greetings, Nananiel,” the angel said with that signature angry look of hers. The cruel beauty with champagne blonde hair was clad in a red pants suit and white shirt.

Nananiel dropped the bags and greeted her back. “Sister Irin—”

“That’s Elder Sister Irin to you!” Irin snapped and bared her teeth. “You swine.”

Nananiel shifted his focus to the young woman beside Irin. She had short black hair, brown skin, and a diamond-shaped face, giving her an incredibly feminine and elegant look. With a closer look, Nananiel noticed she was twitching, and her eyes kept rolling up and down. Her Mana was still difficult to understand.

“Nananiel, let’s go somewhere with less—” she almost vomited when she said, “—human activity.” She looked over at the Egyptian girl. “Help out Nananiel, child. He is a bit slow.”

The girl started gasping for air as her twitches worsened. Nananiel felt a surge of energy, almost causing him to stumble over. It was clearly angelic Mana he was feeling but also… human.

Bone cracking sounds were made as gray skeletal wings sprouted out from the girl’s back. Irin pointed forward, and the girl flew toward Nananiel, grabbed the back of his collar, and took him to the skies.

The duration of the flight was short, but they traveled a great distance. Her speed was more impressive than Second Sphere angels he knew like… Virgil or even Irin!

As they flew over Christmas lights dazzling Berry Park, the girl threw Nananiel into the ground like a javelin. He collided with some holiday decorations and made a small crater.

When he returned to his senses, he witnessed the… thing descending before him with her grotesque skeletal wings that still had some pieces of meat hanging off its bones.

Irin appeared and landed beside the girl. Her spiky gray-white wings were as intimidating as ever. “The child’s name is Az,” she turned to stroke Az’s hair. “Isn’t she magnificent? Child, show him your magic.”

Az stretched her hand to the side, and after a white flash, an Egyptian flute—the ney— appeared in her hand.

“Wait…” Nananiel said right before the attack began.

The winged creature played her ney to perfection, and Nananiel was locked in a trance, watching music notes flow out from her and shift into cryptic symbols.

Half his face turned decrepit and an ear broke off like dried clay.

Irin held up a hand and Az stopped playing. Nananiel dropped to his knees, groaning as he had a horrifying realization. That magic. That spell, he knew only one angel who used it.

“That’s Brother Dabriel’s magic….” Nananiel said, clenching one-half of his face. “What’s going on here, Irin?”

“The future, you swine.”

Nananiel hadn’t spoken to either Virgil or Dabriel since most of the angels escaped from limbo. Was she one of Dabriel’s new students? No, Dabriel would never take the time to do that, and his music spells were Holy Marks which were unteachable like Irin’s Holy Volcanic Magic.

The sensation he was getting from the girl was frustratingly eerie. Sometimes it felt human. Sometimes it felt angelic as it kept swinging back and forth on the spectrum. But there was a sensation of pain underneath every time.

Then it hit him.

“No,” Nananiel said in a quavering voice. “You didn’t. This is what Cathetel was banished for! That was the whole point. We should never tinker with angelic essence—“

“Don’t you dare utter Cathetel’s name with your putrid mouth!” Irin shouted. “Even though Cathetel’s a traitor, I still would favor not hearing the name come from your mouth.”

“We’re supposed to protect them. We go to war for them! We fight on their behalf!”

Irin scoffed. “This is why you don’t have what it takes to be Chief Dominion. You have the gall to spout discourteous nonsense all day long, but when it comes to doing what’s right. For humanity and the universe. You cower like the low-life you are.”

“How dare you use human souls to fuse them with angel essence. Are they even aware—?”

“It was all consensual. They want to fight for the safety of their world. They are the minority of humans that I actually like.”

“I can sense the agony coming from their souls, Irin.”

“It’s a painful ordeal. They were made aware of it and still accepted.”

“How did you trick them, huh?”

“Some are willing to do whatever it takes for good deeds. Not all are useless cowards like you.”

Nananiel shook his head. “It’s because of angels like you that creatures are afraid of us… hate us. It’s why the Angel-Killer exists in the first place.”

“What did you say, you swine?”

“There’s nothing angel-like about you. Everything you do is more akin to a demon. The way you talk. The way you look at others. The way you treat Cat—Naomi… like she isn’t one of our own.”

“That abomination wasn’t created by Father.”

“The girl is Cathetel’s child.”

“And of that demon our late Sister let herself get charmed by. What a disappointment.”

“Who approved this? Maliel?”

“I am done talking to you, swine,” Irin said and then looked at Az. “This waste of space doesn’t approve of your existence, child. He looks at you like you’re a monster. The only thing I see wrong here is HIM. Punish him for his insolence.” She turned her head back to Nananiel as she made a twisted smile. “I’ll give you a chance to summon your unimpressive weapon to defend yourself.”

“No,” Nananiel said sternly.

“Are you that scared you aren’t even going to try?” Irin scoffed. “Pathetic.”

“Angels exist to protect humanity. I am done with attacking blindly. There is a human soul inside that mess you made, so I will not! I will not hurt an innocent human… even if it costs me my life.”

Irin’s smile faded, and she scowled at him as she crossed her arms. “Die, then.”

Az moved the flute to her lips, and Nananiel closed his eyes, accepting his fate.

A loud crash into the earth forced his eyes open, and the park became covered in dust. The sound of flapping wings was made, and the dust settled.

Naomi was in front of Nananiel with her back to him. On the back of the black coat of her preppy uniform confidently jut out her massive wings with a seraphic blend of white, gray, and black feathers.

She looked back at the awestruck Nananiel with a serious look on her round, babyish face. “I won’t let them hurt you, Elder Brother Nananiel.”

“Ugh, the abomination….” Irin said and spat to her side.

Nananiel outstretched his hand. “Child, wait—”

“No, Nananiel! Please let me do this!” Naomi shouted as she turned back to him. Her face contorted into a sad smile. “You’ve always protected me. Please allow me to return the favor.” She put on her serious look just as she turned back to her opponents. “I’m ready for you, Irin.” She said, and her wings larger as gray fire ignited from her doe eyes.

Irin smirked and put a hand on Az’s shoulder. “We’re off.”

The blonde angel and her underling flew away.

Naomi withdrew her wings and crouched down to Nananiel. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, thank you,” Nananiel said.

“Let me heal you,” Naomi said, hovering her hand over the decrepit side of his face. Her hand radiated a moonlight glow.

Nananiel’s face was back to normal, and even his ear grew back. “Thank you,” he said. “I was telling you to wait because I didn’t want you to hurt the person Irin was with. She was human. I wanted to protect her.”

Naomi withdrew her hand and pouted as her eyes welled up. She pushed her fists up to her chin. “I’m sorryyyyyyyy!”

The pouty look made Nananiel smile. That was more like the child he knew. He put a hand over her head. “It’s okay, child. You did good. You did good….”

Nananiel wondered what could’ve happened if Naomi hadn’t shown up.

Maybe he would’ve been better off dead, given what’s to come.