PinoyWrimos

So it was about him again, wasn’t it? Hazel could almost see a much younger Kyriel, maybe around five or six, going around heaven annoying everyone with the repeated use of his name. It was vain of him perhaps, but anyone who has been with the black-haired angel for at least a day would tell you it was not a very far-fetched image.

“That’s great,” he told his twin a second or two too late, but the smile that had started to slip off his face returned at his words nonetheless. It fell away altogether at Hazel’s next ones however: “If it’s that important to you, then why don’t you practice more? Kyriel, you don’t have to be by my side all the time, you know.”

It was not that he hated Kyriel’s presence. He could be annoying at times, and his near fanaticism of his older twin could be utterly unnerving, but Hazel would be lost without his guide and companionship. It need not be constant though, and he wanted to make sure Kyriel knew and understood that. While he did not know what they were, Kyriel must have other interests outside pleasing Hazel and he should realize that he was free to pursue them, that he should give them just as enough attention if not the time that he gave Hazel, and that he was free to do so.

Again, he should have seen it coming, but the green-eyed angel was completely unprepared for his twin’s reaction. Kyriel clutched his middle again, although now possessively, a far cry from the tender hugs from earlier. He called the other’s name softly and sighed, placing his hands gently on the arms wrapped around him to get them to let go of him, but Kyriel would not give.

“No,” he heard the younger one whimper, ”I need to spend as much time with you as I possibly can.”

“And why is that?” Hazel asked, giving up on getting out of the tight embrace. Kyriel would let him go eventually, when he was assured that Hazel would not be going anywhere without him.

“Because it won’t be long and you’ll be gone again,” Kyriel said, another short answer that the darker haired of the two seemed to deem enough and needed no explaining, for which Hazel demanded with a wave of his hand in front of them and prompting him to continue when he would not say anything more. “When you finish your re-collection, you will no longer be allowed to stay here. They will bring you to the second realm, to Beri’ah, where I can no longer accompany you because I haven’t been incarnated as a mortal yet, or had been made complete in the process of re-collection.

“I want, no, need to spend as much time with you as I possibly can,” he repeated, his hold tightening a little, “I’ve been waiting and waiting for a very, very long time to meet you. I was so happy when they told me you had finally been incarnated as a mortal. Because that meant I would finally meet you, when you return and I would be appointed as your guide. I was so extremely excited, and happy. That happiness did not die, even through the years of waiting out your mortal life.

“But then they couldn’t tell me when I was going to be sent down there.” His voice was suddenly so sad and even somewhat broken that Hazel was expecting to feel the dampness of tears on his shoulder any second now, but it never came. “I don’t know when it’ll be. It might take years, decades, maybe even centuries from now.

“After you finish your re-collection, you’ll be sent to Beri’ah and I won’t see you again. At least, not until my re-collection which no one knows when. Being with you makes me happy, so I want to be by your side as much as I can, while I still can.” Hazel took a deep breath which he let out in a sigh as the arms loosened around him marginally. He could feel his twin do the same thing next to him, although more audibly and a bit more sadly. “It’s ok if I don’t get to join the Camena this time. I don’t care. I can try again after forty years. It’s a long wait but you—I don’t know how long it’ll be before I see you again, Hazel.”

“I’ll visit you here,” Hazel told him, in an attempt to cheer him up. But much to his surprise, Kyriel just shook his head in objection. He thought maybe his twin figured he would forget once he was in the highest heavens, and assured him he would not, but Kyriel just shook his head again.

“I think you will,” he said slowly, sounding half-sure and half-unsure, “But even if you don’t, they won’t let you come back here, or you’ll be too busy to come back here.”

Hazel tilted his head to the side towards Kyriel’s in askance. “What do you mean?”

“Only a few angels aside from the highest-ranked are free to travel between the realms. And, anyway, you’ll be too busy with training, and meetings and things. That’s what they do in Beri’ah. At least, that’s what I heard. Beri’ah holds all the high-ranked angels and those who have returned. They’re the complete angels, the perfect ones, and they rule over and look after all of Yetsirah and Asiyah. The true and highest hierarchy of angels can be found in Beri’ah. That’s also where the heaven’s army is, the Ensis, which I’m pretty sure you’ll end up in. It’s the dream of all young angels to be a part of the Ensis. It’s composed of great, wonderful angels that everyone looks up to. They’re really brave. They do battle with the demons, the fallen angels of hell, and they—“

And Kyriel was rambling, his tongue off on a tangent. Hazel placed a hand on one of his knees to try and stop the steady stream of praising words that was coming from his mouth. While it was Kyriel’s job to inform him, and indeed the other angel was a valuable source of information for almost all things concerning heaven, right now he needed to know what Kyriel thought, not what he knew.

It worked and Kyriel stopped, and Hazel waited patiently for him to speak again.

“Even if you say you won’t now, I think you will forget,” he said, placing his hand over Hazel’s on his knee quickly and squeezing it when Hazel made to protest. The grip begged that he be allowed to speak first, to be heard. “And even if you don’t, you’ll be far too busy with your responsibilities up there. I won’t resent you for that—I can never resent you for anything—but I… I’ll definitely wish I was there with you.”

And the angel fell silent again, and Hazel knew it was his turn to speak. But what was he to say to that? It made sense now, why Kyriel was always keeping around him, as if he was going to disappear right before him at any minute. “Kyriel…” he began, mind racing for anything, anything at all, really, to console his twin, but nothing came. “I’ll wait for you,” he said at length.

The black-haired angel just gave him a small smile. “Please. Promise me something.”

“What is it?” Hazel asked quickly.

“When we meet again, stay with me,” his twin told him, “We came into existence together, but we were separated and we didn’t grow up together. We may be twins, but we are not one, so we have to live separately. But even then, we were always thinking of each other. So when we meet again, promise me—promise me you’ll never leave again, and we’ll stay together forever.”