“I don’t know, but ignore that slimy two-faced Axia exam cheating tell the mora the test results bitch, he’s just pissy because he forgot leave his tent flap closed!” Dagiel smirked at Haniel as he said this.

  He made sure he shouted loud enough for Gabriel to hear. Dagiel had been the one to put the racoon in the tent, but no one needed to know that. Gabriel flipped Dagiel off right before he walked away. “Fuck you starfish bitch!”

 “Up yours you fucking wader!” Dag stuck his tongue out and placed his finger at his eye, pulling the bottom lid down as he flipped Gabriel off in return, his feathercom did the same. Haniel was at first shocked by Dag’s use of language, but he didn’t have a chance to gasp. “Suck my groin area you fucking sea skank!” Gabriel shrieked back. 

 Haniel couldn’t help but laugh at that, he had long since noticed Gabriel’s hair change. He assumed the extra appendages granted by the tree had other representations. He would find it fascinating if the situation had been different. 

“You’re a fucking overgrown ostrich!” Gabriel added before he stomped away, Dag and Hani cackled as they watched Gabriel storm off. Haniel had let it go, figuring that in a way Asta was right, things were different down here. 

“Conch ya later bitch!!” Dagiel called out at last with a deep chuckling laugh. The seafoam green haired angel shook his long head of hair as he finally turned to the shorter cropped haired blond angel. “I fuckin hate that fucking slut asshole, you know he touched the lower regions of every guy in his class flock? He’s such a bitch. He thinks he’s better than everyone, than me mainly, I tell you, that whore has been trying to steal my thunder ever since I joined the academy.” Dagiel paused to glare at nothing. “Even though he graduated ages ago and was an Axia when the dinosaur beasts still roamed this fucking planet. Only one did that is me, he just a wannabe who acts fresh out of God's biomass.” He paused to breathe before he carried on speaking. 

“God, I fucking hate that skinny know-it-all eat more wanker, wader bitch!” He stopped himself as he looked at a now giggling Haniel. “Shut up, anyway, came to tell ya, we have to take another shift after Balthazar and Samael” Dagiel walked over and sat down next to Haniel. The shorter angel nodded, “Otherwise God will punish us the way she has Lucifer, she stripped his twin away from him after the deaths of the Arch Babies way before any of our births and now he must work the fields and make the forests and jungles with us. He was going to be the sun they say, or the moon, his twin the opposite”

 Haniel cringed listening to Dagiel as he looked at the direction where lay their eldest brother, the first angel God had created. The straps attached to his skull, which were attached to the massive machine that created field and meadow alike.

 “At least that’s what I heard from some of the others.” Daniel’s face broke into a deep frown. The once immaculate powder blue haired doll sat broken in a pile; head still strapped to the contraption he was forced to pull during the day. The two looked out over the field at their other brothers. Samael, Cassiel and Uriel, all blond and covered in soot, dirt and crawling things climbed out of the underground. 

Within the overall team of Axia angels that had been sent out, this team’s name was Treasure Team. It was the team Lucifer had been assigned alongside his team survivors to watch over them as punishment for rebellion. Each sub group within the Team all had a specific task. If the task was not completed by the next day they would be punished. Haniel, Raziel, Lucifer and his twin Mikha’el were assigned to creating the earth, vegetation and the wild creatures in the forests and jungles. 

Azrael, Raphael, Paimon and Sarathiel were assigned to the crawling things and the animals and creatures that lived and grew under the earth. Lariel, who was never around, Dagiel and Barachiel were assigned to the oceans and the seas and all the life within it.

Other angels had their tasks and the camp was split into sections just like every other time.

 Dagiel had been in one of the first group of angels from the generation before Haniel to arrive so he would frequently help him in gaining his bearings. Another team consisted of Anpiel his twin Anapiel, both who vanished shortly after landing on earth. Nobody knew why exactly, and Haniel had not heard any rumors about it. He figured that the two had been captured by the prototype of man, in all their savagery and primitive ways. 

He sighed while looking around, the rest of the camp was bustling in this warm night air; he crossed his legs and took the time to observe the rest of the camp. Dagiel had long wandered off to find berries and bugs to eat. Bugs being the angels only food source a side from berries. 

Asta came over to sit down next to him. “You thinkin about something? Look, I’m not sorry about what I said before, it was something you needed to know ok?” He pets Haniel and the younger angel chuckles.

 “It’s ok, I understand” Asta reassures him as Haniel turns back to look over the other angels. “Dummah and his silent twin Duma are assigned to the flying creatures and the very air that floated on the breeze. Duma would, using the wind as his voice, communicate flight commands to his brothers.” Asta provided as he watched Haniel. He knew the angel wanted more knowledge; he would provide it where he could.

“But they favor making deer for some reason. Just like during our time on Dino Team, Maze and I are part of Alarm Call One Flock, Sacrifice Flock has lots of brave angels this generation, Alarm Call Two Flock is working hard. Defender Flock is up and down, Gatherer and Hunter Flocks have gotten deadlier, we heard a rumor of giant bugs in the east, all in all everything is decent.” 

Asta stared at Haniel and Haniel stared back, “You in the Creation Team?” the younger nodded and Asta sighed “Too bad.” 

The Third Sphere raised an eyebrow at that, “Why is it too bad?” he frowned thinking about those words as Asta got up and walked away, waving at Haniel as he left. The angels labored day in and day out, they worked for hours, the angel in charge of carrying the sun across the sky did so with sweat trickling down his body. The angel who lifted the moon from the ocean waves dripped in sea water and bathed in moonlight.

 Danger was rampant in the lands and God saw fit to leave its creations to their fate. It only, only intervened to punish them, throughout his lifetime on the earth, Haniel would learn this the hard way. Apollo and his closest brother saw this and it broke them inside, but in the end, they would lay witness to the horrors that transpired in the camp, trapped within themselves and unable to provide any assistance or comfort save the moonlight’s gentle heat created from the caresses of the sun at night. Haniel could not have known what was to go on in the coming days, what fate would befall himself and the others. 

Haniel had had a blur of the next few moons, things passed by so fast he was unable to keep track or remember much of anything. So far, for him, everything had stayed the same, even though everyone else around him were doing other things. Defender Flock tried their best to distract the animals away from camp. Sacrifice Flock gave their all sacrificing themselves so everyone else could live. The Alarm Call Flocks did their part, alerting Defender Flock of danger. 

This night was no different, as Haniel finally returned from making various plants in the forest. He had passed by Gatherer Flock collecting berries and watched Hunter Flock hunt for bugs. One such angel in Hunter Flock waved at him “Hi Haniel!” it was Teitrael, the angel he sometimes saw in school flock. He was waving happily, a large bug in his fingers.

“Hi Teitrael!” Gabriel waved back with enthusiasm. “Hunting going well I hope?”

The other angel nodded excitedly “I caught a big beetle!”

Haines smiled “Great! Have a good night! I have to get back to work myself”

Teitrael grinned and waved again “Ok!! See ya!” He said this as he put the beetle in the basket at his side.

Haniel nodded and kept walking.

Ten years had passed since he came here. Ten years, of watching brothers get snatched in the night, witnessing Dagiel wander off with Salsa to do, whatever merangels did together, he always came back smiling though. 

It had been a long journey for him, from staring at Asta and Maze as if they owed him some kind of answer for their behavior. All the way to simply ignoring what he still considered their, ‘oddities’. He’d worked in the ten years since he’d first arrived, he’d made so much progress he was sure things would be better, the youngest Axia angel yawned, getting back to camo he moved to stretch, settling down next to an already lit fire.

  Haniel listened to the sound of that dear friend of his, Dagiel and that slut Gabriel, shouting at each other. 

 “You ain’t got no real experience in this world Gabriel so stop trying to act like you do, just because you are an arch angel don’t mean shit! Who do you think you are? Sara, Bara, Suri and Ana? They were the Arch Babies, you’re just an Arch Maybe.” Dagiel smirked as Gabriel glared.

 He watched as Dagiel then turned on Cassiel, “you, Cassiel, your ass is so weird you think the sun is pulled by Amaterasu!” He smiled as he listened to them argue, Cassiel quipping in about how he made an honest mistake and that Dagiel was the only weird one among them. This led to more arguing and the sound grew to a pitch so loud it nearly attracted a few predators. 

Gabriel and Dagiel were then engaged in a screaming match. It grew intense with Dagiel commenting on how dirty and underhanded Gabriel was. 

“You think you’re better than the rest of us! Every Holy Light you try to shove that down all our fucking throats you, wander into a bear cave, never groom yourself bitch!” 

Uriel and Cassiel argued back that Gabriel was perfect and Dag was just a quote, ‘jealous whore’ Haniel didn’t know where that word came from but it sounded bad. Gabriel glared at him scoffing at Dagiel’s aquatic companions the two nameless sea otter pups that rode around on his head, their Feathercoms, three small badgers for the posse and Dagiel’s river otter were hissing at each other just the same. Listening intently to the interaction between Gabriel and Dag had him cracking up. 

He looked out at the glowing eyes in the shadows warily however. They vanished after a few minutes once things fell silent. After Dagiel had left, and Gabriel had stomped off whining to Uriel and Cassiel about ‘petty stupid starfish bitches. Haniel mentally deflated in the silence of the night. Once everything had quieted down, Haniel was left alone with his thoughts. Haniel thought about the last ten years since his arrival on earth. 

Haniel had seen things in the camp that had scarred him for life. From Maze leaving his post during a bear attack to Asta giving another strangely haired angel a bone piercing. 

He’d watched Dummah and the others converge around each other and avoid everyone else. He’d never laid witness to any death however; he was unsure of if his luck would hold out. He also found it weird that Azrael was there watching each death. He looked up at the darkened sky, Amaterasu flew around the moon before landing at the top of the tallest tree that had been created. The Tree of Life. He believed the angels could find solace next it, however, he always heard screams during the night, closest to it.

 He listened to the latest screams, as wild animals feasted upon the body of one of their younger brothers, a pretty angel named Teitrael. He’d been listening for the ten years since his arrival, he finally decided to look, just this once, one time. Just one time to see what really happened when the animals took the angels from their beds. What he saw shocked and horrified him. His eyes fell on a tormented looking Teitrael, hand covering his mouth as he watched. 

The young angel’s glassy seemingly dead eyes stared ahead, his once blond hair stained black with his own blood, he’d dressed against the cold unlike every other angel. In furs and big leaves under heavy robes. His tattered and worn robes were shredded to pieces by the bear that was consuming him. The angel wasn’t dead yet, he screamed, batting at the bear’s snout.

The beast's large fangs tearing him open he trying desperately to get away. Haniel locked eyes with him for a long time as he cried out for help. A bloody hand reached out to the shorter angel. “H-Help… help me Haniel! Help!!” the young angel, Teitrael, croaked as he looked at the older brother. Blood flooded from the angel’s mouth as the bear continued to eat him.

Powerless and frozen to the place he stood, the angel shook in terror. Panic set itself deep inside Haniel’s heart, watching the bear carry on its feeding. “I’m sorry...I’m so sorry…” Haniel froze and backed up, having come all the way out of his tent by now. He fell back onto his ass on the ground. A mix of shock and horror painted his features, hand still clasped firmly over his own mouth. Tears gathered at the edges of his eyes as he watched, ice cold fear like death's hands gripping his very core.

“That is the way of nature, disrupting the balance of nature is a sin against God… God commands that every angel stay out of the business of those creatures God has them create. God commands this and so shall it be done.” Dagiel came back to the camp, coming up, up behind Haniel’s frigid form, saying these words solemnly. “I wasn’t thinking of doing anything…” Haniel’s voice was ragged, choked, dead, he watched the bear crush Teitrael’s head, still screaming, between its jaws.

The bear ate its meal and lumbered away into the darkness that surrounded them all. The darkness that locked them inside it like a cage filled with death. Mocking their every effort to hold on to the bars of life. “I wasn’t doing anything…. I know what it means to get picked for the Axia, I love God, I would never…” Dagiel sighed and shook his head as he looked at his companion. 

He normally would have expected to be patted on the shoulder, like was custom of the angels in comforting each other. Or even feel Dagiel poke him in the head as close angels did. Instead, he just stood there and stared at him.

“You, don’t understand what the Axia really is, do you? A hundred years have passed since the hundred before them I arrived here as a naive recruit.” Dagiel paused and stopped to stare at him even harder.