Immortal

The Love of a Greek

Unedited

The Angel waited for the next soul.

Instead of one, two appeared together, holding hands. They had chocolate brown hair and wore white robes with blue ornamentation. Gold jewellery hung on their necks and wrists.

"Ooh, look at this," the Angel said curiously. "Looks like we got us some Greeks."

The girl with her long braided hair and the boy with his curly hair, watched with wide eyes at the strange Angel in front of them. Since the Greeks believed so strongly in their gods, a lot of them tended to put up a protest after death. Confusion from finding out that what you believed your whole life wasn't true.

"Hades?" the girl said, while the boy said, "Pluto."

They looked at each other then back at the Angel.

Since their Gods were fairly uptight, it was in the job description to behave accordingly.

The Angel let out the divine light that every Angel had.

"Step forward," the Angel said. The voice choked through their heads. The boy took a deep breath and stepped forward.

"Antonius of the house of Argyros and my sister," he said, pulling the girl to his side and tucked her under his arm. "Olympia of the house of Nanos," he said, defensive pride in his voice.

"Siblings from two separate houses," the Angel mused. "Tell me how this happened."

The boy's chin rose. "We were blessed at birth by Eros, our Patron God. An Oracle predicted that bad people, followers of Hades, would come to hunt us, people to whom Eros owed a debt. To protect us, our father separated us, sent my sister to the house of a merchant, to live in guise. To protect us from being found," he said. The fact that it didn't work seemed to hang in the air. "We were charmed to find each other in our darkest time by an old woman."

"Our grandmother, the High Priestess of Eros."

"Tell me of your departure from the World of the Sun," the Angel said.

"We were at the temple of Eros, in a hidden garden, known only to devotees. The barbarians followed us into there and hid. While we were commencing the praise, they struck us down, before Eros, so that he could see us, his blessed, die."

The Angel was surprised that the boy's voice didn't shake or falter. That Greek pride was impressive sometimes.

The Angel was about to speak when the girl, Olympia, spoke. "We saw him."

The Angel looked at her, a hint of curiosity in the passive face. Her brother just pulled her closer to him with a warning glare.

"Saw whom?" the Angel asked, already knowing the answer.

"Lord Eros. We saw him right before we died. He came to us. Blessed us," she said, touching a hand to her lips in a respective gesture.

So, that's why they arrived together.

Mortals rarely arrived together. When they did, they tended to have an inseparable bond.

Something like the blessing if an Angel.

How like him to toy with mortal lives, the Angel thought sarcastically.

The Angel didn't say anything. Instead, gazed down at the girl. The girl didn't break the gaze for a long while but after a nudge from her brother, she looked away.

"I will now judge you, to see your soul," the Angel said in the judgement-day-has-come voice.

They both looked nervous.

The Angel began the process.

The girl, was fair. A good person in life if not a little selfish. No sins committed. Through to the Afterlife.

The Angel made a sweeping up motion and the girl turned into a light that flew upwards, into the starry sky above them.

"My sister!" the boy gasped.

"Has gone to the Afterlife, safely. You may be able to find her there again if you're quick enough," the Angel said.

The Angel began the judgement again. The boy, however, was not as pure as the girl.
What's this? The Angel wondered.

The boy had lost all his hope in the temple of another 'god'. It had stained his soul.

Even though the gods they believed in were actually just a clan of Angels and the gods were what the clan represented, it still had a symbolic meaning.

What the girl said before about the followers of Hades wanting to kill them made a lot more sense, now.

"Been naughty have we?"

The boy didn't reply.

"Doing something like that, in the temple of another god...maybe your patron, Eros, let you die. To think that your sister got brought down with you. Such a pure soul," the Angel said, testing the boy's limit. It was a waste of time but there was all the time in the world to waste. After all, time is just an illusion.

Instead of answering, he stared the Angel down. A show of disrespect.

"Mortal," the Angel's voice boomed across the heavens. "Know your place."

The boy looked away, almost carelessly. After a few moments, "Why do you do this job? Why do you spend all eternity in repetition, when you could be doing other things?"

The Angel was thrown off guard. "I...never thought of it."

"Well, you should. You deserve to do what you want. You are your own being," he said.

That wasn't true. The Angels served their beloved master.

"I am doing what I want. I wish to serve our Creator," the Angel said.

The boy smiled. "Have you ever loved?" he asked.

The Angel shook it's head. "Only humans are given the gift of love. Angels are forbidden."

The boy looked at the heavens.

A thousand years could have passed on earth as the boy studied the heavens and the Angel studied the boy. He had such imperfect perfections. The Angel had always found that fascinating about humans. So imperfect and yet, so beautiful.

The genius of the Creator.

While they stared up at the stars, a bond formed between the two. A silent bond that comforted both of them.

The boy looked at the beautiful Angel.

The Angel watched the boy that had seemed to turn into a man.

"Are you curious about love?" he asked.

The Angel nodded. "I have watched your kind. I have watched them build and destroy empires, I have seen them do foolish things, lose so many things, because of this strange power. Yet, they still treasure it...I have always wondered what it is like to be controlled by such a power," the Angel said.

"It's not true, you know? Gods can love. Zeus, Hera, Aphrodite, Eros. They have all loved. What God are you? I'm sure you are not an exception to love," the man said, sure of himself.

It had never bothered the Angel before but now, it kept bothering it. "That is because I am not a god. I am an Angel."

"Is Eros also not An Angel of sorts?" he asked, curiously.

The Angel's head snapped up. Eros was the Angel of Love. Did that mean he had loved? That he was allowed to love?

"You are right...but...I do not know how to love," the Angel said.

The man smiled. "Shall I show you how?" he asked, holding out his hand.

Chiming voices were protesting in the Angel's head, saying that Eros was given the power of love for a reason and that he was not an exception to the rule but it was too late. The Angel was enthralled.

"Show me."

And so, the Angel took the man's hand, who would show what Love was, and began their forbidden act.