Page 108 of Grave Revelations (Prophecies of Angels and Demons #3)

Aniel stepped out of his gleaming courtyard and loosed a breath into the world. It had been an age since he set foot in the mortal plane—if standing on the gilded patio of Heaven’s fortress could be considered such.

One by one, blue wisps sailed up, free of his gentle caress, and bloomed like flowers into mortal forms. Each soul that found its shape lightened him a fraction until he breathed deeply, feeling the weight of his eternal task lifted.

They touched down on a bridge connecting his home to theirs and began their descent. The realms were merged, Heaven, Hell, and Earth all in one plane. It was the day he’d waited three thousand years for.

Some humans went with joy in their hearts, a skip in their step; others were tentative, testing their footing after so long outside a body. He watched them all go.

His chest swelled as the last wisp drifted to the ground, forming legs and setting foot on Earth.

It wasn’t her. None of them were. Not one looked back for him.

The hope that lived inside him wilted, his soul crashing against the cage of his chest as fear like he hadn’t known since the day he lost her surged within him. She must have been there. Had he missed her?

Impossible. He would know his other half among millions, billions. In a sea of souls, he would know her.

He waded into the high grass and searched stalks of wheat for stray souls trapped among them. A light breeze picked up, his agitation stoking it into a gust of wind that stroked the tops of golden wheat.

Nothing sparkled. Nothing glowed.

Aniel sank to his knees as a blast of wind tore across the field, knocking his carefully cultivated crops to the ground, bending stalks and snapping them. He dropped his head into his hands and sent a silent plea to his Father.

The wind raced around him, whipping his curls into his face. He pushed them back. Three thousand years. Three thousand years, he’d had hope. Now, at the end of the world, he knew this was the thing that would break him.

Standing, he gazed around the empty fields he’d tended unendingly, letting out one long, defeated sigh.

In the distance, the room that overlooked the fields called, beckoning him forward. The sweet oblivion he’d fought so long to avoid, hoping against hope his other half would return to him, could no longer be denied.

His chest buzzed, a hum reminding him of what he could never have.

Lifting his gaze to the bright blue sky, so at odds with the desolation settling in his soul, he opened his mouth and screamed.

The sound, which had been blocked so long, erupted along his vocal cords, vibrating through him, and as sound poured from his lungs, so too did a tiny wispy blue spark. He grabbed his throat, watching it sail lazily over fields of yellow until it reached the rainbow path to Earth and began to expand.

The shape of a woman bloomed, golden curls tumbling down her back. Her bronzed thighs stretched toward the ground until her feet settled on a glittering rainbow bridge. She turned in a circle, and their eyes met.

“Aniel?” she breathed, touching her hands to her face, then her arms, hips. She opened her mouth again.

He disappeared in a blink, reappearing in front of her, cupping her cheeks between his palms and kissing her deeply, endlessly. Devouring her. His fingers found her hair, and he slid them through her silky locks, wrapping his hands in knots until she was trapped in his grasp—and still, he kissed her.

She moaned around his mouth, returning his kiss, needing his touch more than air, more than life.

After a long time, far too soon for his liking, their lips parted, eyes meeting again. In his mind, she said, I am yours. Yours for eternity.

He touched his head to hers and repeated the words in his mind. They didn’t have a witness, but their soul didn’t care, stretching forward, filling in the hollow places that had lived inside them for so long. “We are one,” she said, touching her forehead again.

We are whole, Helena, my dove.

“Complete,” they said together, and he touched his fingers to his lips, smiling.

“Brother,” Gabriel said, coming to stand beside them. Aniel’s vision blurred as he looked up.

Rebecca came next, but she wasn’t Rebecca anymore—Leah. The first Naphil to transcend humanity and become a seraph.

A tear slid down Aniel’s cheek as Gabriel pulled him into a tight embrace, whispering against his ear, “Eternity with your other half won't be enough, but I wish you infinite joy and bliss.”

“Rebecca.”

Gabriel released him as he turned. They all did, facing a sphinx, the first Aniel had seen since early man walked the Earth. He had assumed they were extinct.

The creature rushed to bow before her, dropping his head low.

“Please, Asher, don’t bow. I’m so happy you made it to Earth. What’s the matter?”

The sphinx stood pawing the ground nervously. He glanced around the circle, pausing on Aniel’s mate to eye her for a moment.

“It’s Peter and the other souls. They’re gone.”

Find out what happens to Peter in his Novella, PARABLE – coming in December 2024.