Jonah's head still throbbed as he took his seat in the courtyard for Seraphiel's instruction the next day. As sat down to his right as usual. He looked to his left and saw Muriel sitting a few seats down.
"How's your head?" Muriel asked, talking in more of a hushed whisper, even though Sera hadn't started speaking yet, everyone afraid of incurring her wrath.
Jonah shrugged, "It's better than last night... I think" he said, rubbing the side of his temple, "sorry for going a little overboard with the shield, by the way."
"Nah, I deserved it", chuckled Muriel, "we're all good. Maybe we can have a rematch sometime so I can properly kick your ass without you kicking it yourself!"
"Sure" chuckled Jonah, glad to have made what seemed like another friend in cadet training. As had been his only friend here until now, they knew each other from childhood, long before either enlisted, but they had somewhat grown apart over the years and had picked up their friendship as if no time had passed.
"Are you sure you don't want to go to the clinic after class?" asked As, also whispering. "maybe you should ask Raphael if you can sit out the drilling today."
"Already did," informed Jonah, "Asked him this morning, he wasn't happy but he said he didn't want me to get too concussed on his watch."
"Relax, meet me in the courtyard afterwards and I'll give you a rundown of today's lesson", invited As. Jonah was about to speak until Sera abruptly broke the room's relative silence, her voice intimidating as always.
"In three days, I will begin taking each of you in groups of two to perform your first gathering." 'So soon...' thought Jonah, it wasn't gathering he had an issue with, it was Sera's... well, everything about Sera. Though he was still anxious about gathering, Samael's lessons really did help ease some of that fear, he just hoped Sera would be able to teach them some of her own practical experience before they departed for Earth.
"As you know, I am the highest ranking gatherer in His Father's service, I have been doing this for five hundred years, I have seen every scenario and how quickly they can devolve into chaos... Today I will be discussing the two different kinds of gathering scenarios you will encounter: 'the Lamb' and 'the Lion,' as they are colloquially known to us." Jonah had recalled Phanuel once asking a superior 'Is it a Lamb or Lion?' before, he hadn't known what he meant until now.
"The Lamb is the easiest, yet rarest style of gathering, a 'soft target', if you will." This made sense, he remembered Phanuel seeming exasperated when his superior had replied 'lion.' "In the 'lamb' scenario, the humans below will greet you as if you were God himself, you can reveal your presence fully, and the gather will be plentiful. The flocks will drop to their knees, praying, adulating, worshipping at your feet as you gather their souls." Sera spoke these words with a mocking tone, she had made her feelings towards humans clear before so it wasn't shocking to Jonah. "You will be able to infiltrate and exfiltrate with ease, treated as saviors. These humans are usually devout in one of the many Earthly religions, so we can mask our presence to them as being one of their various gods' servants. These targets are most often their places of worship, or affiliated care facilities." Jonah had read about the human religions, some were similar to the reality of the angels' presence, but none had it exactly correct. He knew he should feel bad about tricking the humans into believing an angel of their god was in their presence, but he felt oddly numb about the entire thing.
"Now, the Lion. The most common type of mission you will undertake as a gatherer. During these missions, the humans you gather will not be selfish and shortsighted, unable and unwilling to grasp the truth of God's will. During these encounters, one must be shrouded at all times, as not to raise alarm, do not reveal yourself until the point where they are rendered unable to alert other unfaithful humans. It is during these missions that humans will instinctually use their souls' memories as a countermeasure against our incursion." Jonah hadn't been told about these 'lion' type gatherings before, when he had enlisted to be instructed in gathering, what had been described to him was that of only 'lamb' missions. But he supposed it didn't matter as long as humans couldn't see him. The worries and trepidations that had so worried and confused him just a day ago seemed to have settled, Jonah had made up his mind and was fully invested in his upcoming duty.
Sera continued to lecture about the various intricacies of a gathering mission, namely all the ways it could go horribly wrong. "The final aspect we will discuss today will be the business of 'concealment.'" Jonah hadn't heard that phrase before either. "To make certain that humans do not suspect a divine presence after we are gone, there are measures that must be taken to conceal our footprint." Sera held her hand out straight, and with a simple outward flex of her delicate but forceful fingers, she created a small but brightly colored spark of fire. Sera held the small spark in her hand, as it settled it began to burn more consistently, now forming a small flame in the palm of her hand. "This is holy fire." stated Sera, as if all the cadets already knew what 'holy fire' was. "This fire is manifested and sustained by an angel's will." Sera flexed her forehead, concentrating, and the fire in her hand began to grow. It reached a height up to Sera's nose, she then furrowed her brow again and the fire shrank back down like a cowering animal in the presence of a predator's gaze.
"When you have completed your duties and are ready to exfiltrate the mission, you must lay down holy fire to cover your presence." The bright red fire slowly began to die down in Sera's hand. "Humans will investigate the cause of the soulless vessels we leave behind, and as not to arouse suspicion of angelic activity, we purify the area in a blaze that will leave nothing behind but ash." Sera clenched her fist, extinguishing the small flame that still flickered gently in her grasp. "We will cover the conjuring process in a later lecture, sometime after you've all been to the surface. We must ensure your will is strong enough to gather before I allow more dangerous techniques like this to be taught freely." Sera adjourned the class of wide-eyed cadets, none of whom, including Jonah, could wait until they could conjure holy fire of their own.
Jonah used the time he usually spent in Raphael's courtyard wandering down to the outer districts. It was the solstice season in Beulah, the air had a crisp chill in it that made Jonah's breath exhale into puffs of white smoke, which he blew around leisurely while walking. Beulah was constructed mostly of sandstone-like buildings that towered higher than gravity should allow, their divine architecture a mystery to Jonah, he hadn't gotten to those scrolls yet. The edifices were covered in brightly colored ceramic tiles, a dark blue was the favorite of most residents, skilled artisans would include tile reliefs of clouds, constellations, and even some earth animals like horses or cats. The stone was usually lined with gold, especially if the color of the tiles complimented it. Jonah passed through the gates from the military district to the central courtyard, where his little apartment lay in wait gathering dust for when his training days were over. Jonah could see small children playing near a large, reflective pool of water that stretched down the center road of the courtyard, encircling the Divine Palace at its center, God used to rule from it, but now the main halls were empty, only the more modest outer palatial structure was occupied by Gabriel, who ruled in God's stead, "until His return", a common motto of Gabriel's reign was plastered over the main gates to the palace. Jonah crossed into the market district, the buttresses adorned with hanging plants and flowers.
Jonah crossed into the outer district just after the twelfth hour, so the chill in the air intermingled with a bright warmth from the sun, juxtaposing each other in a way that Jonah loved, he closed his eyes and took a breath full of the cool air into his lungs. He exhaled white puffs of clouds as he opened his eyes and continued walking. The outer districts were the furthest from the city's center, even though the city was small, it still felt like a journey to get there. Jonah didn't really know why he sometimes found himself in the outer district, he didn't have any business there. He would look at the relatively plain brick homes that lined the streets, small amounts of greenery would line the roads with very little artistic tiling on the outsides of the modest houses. This is where the laborers lived, where Jonah had lived with his father, he couldn't remember the exact house, but he remembered certain things despite his mind's usual difficulties in recollection. He remembered his father taking him for walks along the streets, into the archive hall in the city center where they would read scrolls all day, telling each other stories of adventurous humans and of the mighty archangels' conquests. He remembered vividly only one thing, walking hand in hand with his father, the warmth of his hand clashing with the cold, chilled air around him, he remembered the bright sun warming his cooled face, the glow of sunlight still visible from under his closed eyelids, as his father's laughter mingled with his own during conversation.
Jonah realized just then that he had stopped walking. His reminiscence, or at least attempts at it had left him immobilized in the road. He looked around and saw only a few others around, it was the time when most were working so mostly parents and their children were scattered about. He could hear distant chatter and laughter, he smiled with a bittersweet twinge of nostalgia at it, reminded so vividly again of his father. He decided to turn back by the time he had reached the outer wall. The outer wall ran the perimeter of the city, impenetrable. It prevented them from simply falling off and plummeting down to earth, empaths and warriors lined the wall, taking shifts at guarding Beulah from whatever enemies would even know it was there. Jonah couldn't recall ever reading about Beulah being attacked before, he couldn't imagine it ever being under siege. As he turned around, Jonah wished he could manifest a spark of holy fire to warm his hands right about now.
As Jonah walked back into the military district through the large gates, inscribed on which was'Standing firm at His Father's Service'. Jonah looked around for As, they had agreed to meet for some light sparring, but he was nowhere to be found. He went to the barracks, but as he entered the halls, he was stopped by Phanuel and two other warriors.
"Turn back and go home, come back tomorrow." Said a stone-faced soldier.
"I'm a cadet- Phanuel, what's going on?" asked Jonah, he glanced past them into the barracks, the entire room looked like it had been hit by a hurricane, mattresses thrown from bedframes, blankets thrown asunder. Scrolls and some clothing piled in the corner of the room, the bedframes moved slightly from each wall.
"Jonah, come back tomorrow", started Phanuel in a serious tone, "or better yet, go find Asmodel, he'll explain what's happened, I don't have the time right now." Jonah could see Phan was very concerned, his face scrunched up in thought. Jonah tried to get a better view of the barracks by leaning to the right of Phan. "Please!" snapped Phan, "Just... go find Asmodel..." Phan then turned heel and walked into the barracks. He grasped a mattress that had somehow not been thrown onto the floor yet and exclaimed "shit!" as he launched the mattress against the barrack wall, it thudded to the ground with a small puff of dust. Jonah decided not to risk staying any longer lest he be thrown like the mattress.
'I've never seen Phan like that before...' thought Jonah as he walked at a brisker pace through the hall and into the courtyard, "As?" he called, he could now see a few people meandering around, but the military plaza wasn't nearly as crowded as it should be this time of day. He was growing more and more worried the longer he went without information, he could feel his mind whirring, coming up with every possible scenario that could've occurred, yet somehow none of those thoughts made any sense either. After a few minutes of searching for As, Jonah decided to pay Metatron a visit, maybe he knew what was happening, or at least maybe he knew where As was.
The route to Metatron's study went by in a blur, Jonah becoming more and more panicked with every step he took without answers. He burst open the door so hard that he could've caused a small scroll avalanche deep within the study. "Hello?" He asked, calling into the endless aisles of scrolls. "Metatron?"
"Jonah?" a voice replied, but it wasn't Metatron's, it was As'!
"Thank goodness! As!" shouted Jonah as he shoved past piles of manuscripts into a corner of the study where the voice had come from. There he finally saw As, sitting on a cushion, his eyes red and his knees shaking. "As?" Jonah was concerned, he hadn't seen his friend like this in a long time, the last time he could remember was a few years back when he had gotten into a bad fight with his father. "What's wrong?"
"Michael's dead."