The Lost Angel

Chapter One

Sometimes I'd like to imagine that they're just birds, and that the seraphim aren't everywhere in what our world has come to be. That they're just huge colorful feathered animals, just beautiful things flying around in flocks. But no, that is not how the present world works. They were beautiful, yes, but they were dangerous, very very dangerous. The Angels are real, and they're not nice at all.

They've come to destroy, and now, they will capture every single one of us just to find the lost angel- Michael.

It's been almost a year, living like this. Every day has been a struggle ever since that day. Judgment day, as people liked to call it. The angels barged in to our world, tasked to punish the sinners. But then, two days after, their precious leader Michael had disappeared, their leader, the only winged creature that could talk to God-or the emperor, as they call it.

The angels have been searching non-stop for him, ruthlessly torturing any human being that they see just to find out if anyone knew where he is, or if anyone has seen him, for they put the blame of his disappearance on us. A war broke out between angels and humans. It was a fair fight at first, since we found out that the angels weren't invincible. They weren't bulletproof. But somehow, humans were still inferior to angels, and we lost.

It's been so chaotic ever since, and every day, it seems like they just get worse. I've heard that they don't just capture and torture now, they kill, without ever having a reason to.

I thought as I sat crouched behind an SUV, looking above to see flocks of winged creatures flying around. No, they're not birds, although from where I was staying, they looked like it.

What are you doing? I asked myself. This was risky. I could get myself killed, just like what happened to my brother, Dimitri. I shivered at the thought. I looked around from my crouched position, and seeing as not a single thing but ruined buildings and roads are in sight, I cautiously made my way back into the entrance of the tunnels.

We've stayed underground once this started, in tunnels that are named as numbers and in small pockets of population. I don't know if there are others out there who's still living. I don't know if we were the only ones left. I didn't care that much about it.

We had food supplies, but we had to buy them through the marketplace, and the food is quite expensive. Our shelter was just made out of blankets and cardboard, and we only have two changes of clothes.

It was hard, living like this at first, but now, you just sort of get used to it.

I opened the hidden door to tunnel 5, the last tunnel which was just empty and unused. I walked for a few minutes, then I entered tunnel 1, the main tunnel, where people talk and gossip, and where the marketplace was located. I continued walking, giving a few nods here and there to a few people, and avoiding body collisions with the sweaty and smelly men.

Finally, I've reached the entrance of tunnel 2, where all of us resided. I continued to walk in, reaching my family's corner.

"Where have you been?" My little sister tugged on my pants.

"I was just walking around, Vera." I said to her, patting her head.

She just nodded and went back to mom. I sighed. She looked so young and still innocent. It killed me to know that she has to live like this. She didn't deserve it. None of us did.

We're a family of five, I was the middle child. My dad is somewhere, I guess. Locked away for good. My mom used to be so healthy in the past world, but now, she's just a mess of bones, always coughing, always sick. My sister, who's ten, takes care of her while I'm away. Dimitri, my older brother, my partner in crime, is dead. So I guess, my family's life is now my responsibility, and I had to stay alive so I could provide the money for our food.