The Seven Archangels

7 - I Mourn Over People I've Never Met - Percy

We traveled healthy fifty miles in half a day. Yes, it was hell above the ground and yes, I was very much tired when it finally came time to set up a camp and think about sleeping.

We were all sitting around the campfire, too tired to do anything. "I think we should sing something," said a younger hunter. I think her name was Lily. Knowing well enough how campfire songs usually ended, I decided to just head off to bed a little earlier. "I'll just hit the hay. Too tired to do anything," I told the others as I let out a huge yawn.

"You can't escape singing forever! We will make you sing, whether you like it or not!" shouted Adelia. The hunt found her in 1864 when they visited the Victorian England. She still had a recognizable British accent. She's quite bubbly for a 13-year-old.

"You wish!" I shouted before entering my tent. I was out the instant I fell on my bed.

I was somewhere in Greece and it was not pretty. There was still fresh battlefield and ruins of a city which once might've been beautiful all around me. Al sat on a fallen marble pillar, his face in his hands. The usual mirth and joy in his eyes was gone. I looked around and saw that two of the other guys were there too. The one with the black cloak was sitting with the blue cloaked man on another fallen pillar.

Looking around, I realized this was probably the aftermath of the same battle I saw earlier. Clearly more things happened than I saw back then because there were only three of those seven left. I've lost people too so I understood them. Immediately I felt sympathy for all of them.

Al rose up from the place he was sitting and slowly walked towards some debris which probably was a magnificent temple once. The remaining two shared a quick glance before standing up and walking behind Al.

"I was a fool," Al said quietly. "I believed the humans would want peace and tranquility, but alas, their only desire is power. All we have built throughout eons, gone in a day." Al slowly shook his head before continuing, "We nothing are without a purpose. We cannot fade yet we cannot interfere. All we have lost yet nothing gained."

The black cloaked man stepped forward and said, "Their deaths, it didn't feel right. I was supposed to guide them like the others but I couldn't." Al only shook his head, "Azrael, thou have guided nothing like us heretofore. We mightn't even have a psyche nor soul."

Azrael's shoulders slumped. For the first time, the blue cloaked man raised his head. His face was covered beneath his hood so I couldn't see his features. "Then what do we do?" he said. His voice was hoarse like he hadn't spoken for a long time.

Al turned around, his face holding determination. "We shalt live on. My sister would not want thee to weep over her. We keep on doing what we have done in the past, we help those who deserve it. Our time is not nigh. Their legacy shalt we carry with honor."

"But it hurts. It hurts so much," said the blue cloaked man. "Gabriel, she..." his voice broke near the end and his shoulders started to shake slightly. Al was quiet for a moment before saying, "I know how it feels, Raphael. I did not only lose my friends close to my heart but also my sister. Chamuel had a vision sooner this day. He told me all holds a significance today."

So, the blue cloaked man was called Raphael and he had just lost Gabriel, probably the auburn-haired girl I saw in my last dream. But Gabriel was a boy's name, right? Why did Raphael call Gabriel 'her' then? Anyways, I knew how it felt like to lose a girl close to you, I did lose Annabeth. Now that I think about it, I did 'loose a love to worse than death'. Break up hurts more than death because you know you weren't enough for the other one. It's ironic how it happened to Annabeth and she came crying to me, seeking help. I probably was only a temporary solution she intended to throw away anyways when she didn't need me anymore. Prophecies always have double meanings so the prophecy Annabeth got all those years ago might've even been targeted towards me.

While I was lost in thought the dream had changed. Azrael, Raphael and Al were fighting side by side against soldiers who looked like the ones from the Roman empire. I was surprised. These guys weren't evil, that much I knew, so why would they be fighting the Romans who weren't necessarily evil either? In the back, I saw a man holding a familiar looking scepter. It was the scepter of Diocletian.

That's when I realized that they were fighting against Diocletianus and his army. I remembered the story of him being told on the Argo II. But if this really did happen then Diocletianus couldn't have lost.

My suspicions were proven right when a high-velocity javelin was shot from a huge crossbow mounted on top of a rock. The projectile impaled Raphael's chest and went clean through. I was far away yet I still heard what he whispered with his last breath, "Gabriel, we'll meet again."

Seeing his comrade fall, Azrael hit his sword at the ground and darkness fell upon the battlefield. Screams of agony could be heard from all around the battlefield. Suddenly Al were above the battlefield in his angel -like form with wings. He shone in the darkness but this time his light wasn't soft and welcoming like the one I had seen in the clearing.

This light was cold and sharp. His whole form was pulsating, shock waves emitting from him. He was like a second sun, or a normally brighter moon, illuminating everything around him. The Roman soldiers fell on their knees, clutching their heads in pain. Even Azrael looked at him in awe.

In the distance, the man who operated the high-sized crossbow was the first one to recover from his shock. He reloaded and shot another javelin, this one hit Azrael in the neck. He was dead before his head fell to the ground. Al, seeing this, let out one last wave of light which incinerated the whole battlefield. Only scorch marks were left on the ground.

The dream changed again. This time I was looking at only Al. He was standing in the same forest clearing I saw in my first dream. Al looked thoughtful before he slowly nodded. He whispered, "One day, we will meet again." He kneeled and his whole body was slowly starting to dissolve. There was one dull flash of light before his body fell backwards, cold dead.

Istared at what I just saw. This very powerful man, Al was his name, just gavehis life. I guess the pain of seeing all of his friends and family die was toomuch for him. Or he knew something others didn't.