nexus_crossings | A Strange Afterlife

A Strange Afterlife

It had to be impossible. He could feel his skin. A pulse beat under his neck. He stood in front of a store window and regarded his reflection in the glass. Same black leather outfit. Same brown trench-coat. The fabric weight down on him and he rubbed his arms as he tried to figure out what was going on. A wandering spirit had doors to enter and exit when it came to the world of the living, but he'd never achieved something like this. It was alien and wrong and he had no idea where anyone was.

Mantis sighed, marveling quietly at the way his chest rose and fell with his breathing. It didn't matter. He'd keep moving and hope for the best. If this was some punishment for a misstep, he knew exactly who to take it up with.

"Sorrow!" Even his voice carried an echo. Mantis pointed himself into a new direction and began to walk. "What did I do this time, old man?"

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"I think you'll find plenty here who weren't born but came into existence by other means." After all Belial was one of them. Angel's weren't born. They were created.

"I used to think angels were born as little stars that unfolded into people-like shapes. Your appearance is more like the space between stars." Not at all in a bad way, though. Very gothic.

"There are a lot of odd ideas about the creation of angels." Belial considers the comments with care. "We are more the energy undercurrents behind the workings of the universe."

"The force that makes all other things happen." He's not sure he entirely gets it, but he gets enough of it to make an interesting mental picture. "It reminds me of when people would speculate on how my powers come to be. I'm not even entirely sure of it myself."

"We can make things happen, but we don't have to and they will still happen." Belial pauses trying to think of a good mortal analogy but he's not coming up with one at the moment. Mostly because he doesn't know much about Mantis' living situation to make something meaningful.

"We have similar speculations about ourselves. We often wonder if the things we manifest gave us our personalities or if those personalities define what we fuel in the universe. I am not sure God even has an answer to that question."

"Like a conduit? Celestial beings live interesting lives." There's some things he can wrap his head around. Belial is odder and more out of the way as anything else Mantis has experienced, but in a good way.

He considers the lines of logic and nods quietly. "I think everyone is born with natural inclinations to do certain things. The blueprint tells us how we act and what happens because of what we do is how you define a personality."

"Potentially, though we may also be considered the battery." Belial agrees with his assertion. "Long lives make everything more interesting."

"I think that is true for beings who are born. We we never born. Creation is more specific than the random chance of birth." This was the kind of discussions the angels really got into. They loved thinking about how things worked, why they existed, how universes progressed. They could be very head in the clouds and think well beyond mortal comprehension too often, though they couldn't really help it.

"I started entertaining the idea that a long life might be worth the effort. My death happened in my early thirties, so I missed the chance to properly become a bitter dedushka."

Mantis made a surprised noise, followed by a more contemplative one. "That doesn't seem very fair. Interests and personality should be more happenstance than something that's inherent to one's being. You could get stuck in a role or a rut that you can never get out of."

"Well, many of us passed through that phase some time ago. When you go on forever, you pass through phases more fluidly." Belial was one to sit and contemplate just these sorts of questions.

"I can't recall any angel finding fault in the personality they were born with. It is true that many celestials stagnate but the fallen are constantly in motion and changing since the fall when we diverged from the other angels."

"It might have been fun. My last real chance of ever coming back in a meaningful way is a girl who's part of the current generation of a massive extended family. I keep away, out of respect to her fathers and her mother, but she's constantly toeing the line many others fell over."

He laughs quietly imagining the kinds of personalities that presented straight away. "From the way you talk of your kin, it sounds as though you have done well over the years to learn who is best left alone. Personalities clash when lives are as short as mine. Angels would have a lot more time to figure out who really ought to spend time around each other."

It's a very rare thing for Belial to laugh, really laugh from humor, but Mantis has managed to get one from him. The laugh is deep but short. "I see you haven't met Lucifer yet. He, for valid reasons, goes out of his way to mess with everything that should be left alone and clashes with him."

"I would hope I'd remember someone like him." He doesn't mind the laugh at all. It's always easy to tell when you've touched on something deeper and older than you. "One in every family. Can't imagine what a reunion would look like if that's his truest instinct."

"He would make sure you did." Belial knew full well that Lucifer made a first impression that no one ever forgot.

"There are three million with similar views, much to God's dismay. It does make for endlessly amusing stories around the dinner table."

"Three million?" Even with a human's natural inability to process a number of such magnitude, Mantis is keenly aware that is a hell of a lot. "God bless God, if that's appropriate to say. I've never had anything close to that many people to keep an eye on all at once."

"A third of heaven's angels were cast out during the fall." Belial cracks a smile. "God cursed himself when he cursed us."

"Does he ever complain about that?" The idea of divine complaining is an amusing one. "He has to at least be able to admit it's a problem of his own making."

"He comes to scold Lucifer." Which was infinitely amusing to Belial because it was like screaming into an abyss. Lucifer probably enjoyed it even.

"God does not make a point of taking blame for anything. I'm sure he blames Lucifer for it."

Mantis has been the subject to such scolding. It's quite easy to tune out the angry one when you have no remorse.

"There's enough of you that you could go up to Him and talk His ear off. I don't know what it would accomplish, but numbers have to mean something."

"There are twice as many angels, in heaven still, as there are among the Fallen." Belial considers and then shrugs. "In the end, I believe charisma is what will be the undermining of God."

"I wouldn't doubt that. I'd sooner follow your Lucifer than the nameless one with the angelic entourage." Mantis has relaxed considerably, body and vocal tone. "People are more willing to follow those who act like them, even if that person turns out to be a good actor."

"He has a name. Lucifer knows it from the time before the universe existed." Belial knew it existed but Lucifer hadn't even shared it with him. That alone spoke to some importance.

"Actors can be uncovered. True charisma is getting people to follow even if you don't agree by the act of taking off the mask." Belial had seen all forms of charisma in his time and those who truly lead without manipulation had the truest following and usually created the best leaders.

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A Strange Afterlife

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