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The Tower, WEEKS AGO

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The Creation Death Camp of the Garden of Eden was a silent ghost town that night. The angels had worked particularly hard that evening, they were exhausted and some slumped down next to their tents instead of inside of them. 

One of the angels, Raphael, was sitting outside his tent. The angels had been working all night on a new project God had ordered them create. It was a massive building, said to lead to The Heaven itself. He got up and walked over to examine it. His cropped blonde hair swayed as he did so. He was soon joined by several other angels. Looking over at them he whispered in a hushed tone. 

“Duma, Dummah, everybody, come on, let’s see what is really inside this building.” a few other angels came over to join them, curiosity overtaking common sense. Dummah was the next to speak, tugging at Raphael. “Don’t. We don’t know what is all the way up there...We helped build it sure but God put the ball at the top.” He pointed up at the top of the sleek grey wooden building. It reached past the height of two trees stacked atop one another. There were places where one could look outside from within the building, it traveled upward until it came to a stop at two crossing beam like pillars, these pillars lay flat on their sides right where the open spaces ended and the solid building began.

 The structure was black, a product of half the angel teams spending hours stomping on blackberries and other ingredients to make a sort of black paint. 

The beams rose up into the air two on each side to join together in a tall round dome like ball on top. The angels had built as far as the beams, God finishing the rest. Duma came up beside Dummah, who was hugging Lariel close. Dummah sighed and looked at Raphael. “You seriously want to go in there?” he asked incredulously. His gaze flicking from the tower to Raphaels face.

"No. I'm leaving" Raphael spread his wings and flew away.

 “He's right! We can’t go in there! What if it’s filled with Protos?” Samael, ever the faker faked his concern as he spoke these words. He was someone in the group who until now had remained quiet, not uttering a word all night at least so when he finally spoke up, everyone listened to him. 

Balthazar came up right behind him, no words would be gained from him either they all figured. 

They were all the same uniform blond naked angel. Each angel was an exact copy of every other regular angel, but their differences in eye color spoke volumes. Even though Samael was hiding something from the rest of them of course. When it became clear that no one was going to be the first to speak, Balthazar after a few more silent minutes finally said something.

 “Relax. Perhaps it would be wise if one of us were to go in and scout ahead? It will take we angels forty days and forty nights to fully finish this tower, even if God put the top of it up already, there is still much ground work to be completed.” He spoke quietly and logically as he moved forward toward the black door that was the entrance to the looming structure. His teal eyes focused on the doors intently.

 The group entered slowly, Lariel holding on to Dummah’s hand. He watched the shorter angel push the door aside. He smiled a bit as Dummah looked at him while they walked in. Lariel was left feeling a warm emotion bubble up inside his chest.He wanted to comment on why this was a bad idea, but he chose not to.

 He adored Dummah, the younger angel worked so hard to make sure nothing messed with the way God planned. But he knew his feelings would be against God’s plan and therefore unacceptable to Dummah. Anything against God’s wishes was unacceptable to Dummah. Even Lariel’s growing feelings. He shook them from his mind and walked with the others.

 “So, Lariel, did you hear? Our plan worked! Well, Gabriel suggested it but Samael executed it.” Dummah said this as the other followed behind them. He turned to look at him in surprise.

 “The new feather is gone?” Lariel asked this with a smile, he was overjoyed at that news. He pretended to be nice to Haniel when in reality, he hated seeing his open expressive feelings for Dagiel. It’s not fair, if I can’t be with Dummah he can’t be with Dag!! Lariel knew his thoughts were cruel, but he couldn’t help it. He would always resent Haniel for being brave enough to do what he himself never would be able to. 

“Yes, he is gone! Or he will be soon! Dagiel along with him, we can celebrate once we-” Dummah was cut off as they walked up the long flight of stairs that led past the marble floored lobby of the tower. A massive hand reached down to grab him around the waist and carry him away.

Lariel screamed and the others scrambled back down the stairs. Shrieks and cries of the monsters that now raced through the building assaulted them. One of the angels was tackled over the railing. Hitting the floor, the angel called out, “Help! Fucking help, me!!” The beast, head like a split melon and body like crinkled and burning leaves screeched and bit the protesting angel’s head off. More creatures flooded the room, coming into the halls and crawling along the railing of the large staircase.

 The hand returned, it was wearing a dinner jacket with grey and black pinstripes. Silent as death itself the hand descended in what felt like slow motion for the frightened angels. Suddenly, time sped up when it reached out to snatch Samael. Azriel and Lariel, Gabriel and Cassiel, as well as freaked out, heaving Uriel along for the ride had joined them late. 

They too were running for the door; various other angels being tackled down the stairs by the creatures. Angels were being bowled over and ripped apart all around them. Blood slicked the ground and the smell of death and decay shattered its way into their nostrils like an earthquake. The hand had not come down for a long time, but just as they started to think it gone, the hand shot out and squeezed Uriel and Cassiel as they melted into the floor.

 Treza, an angel that had remained to help the building of the castle, rushed over to pull Cassiel up from the ground. He tossed the other angel over his shoulder and tried to run, but he was impaled by the finger of the Mystery Box Gentleman, guts spewing out of his back. Cassiel was torn away from him and absorbed by the wax that had begun to bubble up. Treza grunted and pulled himself off the finger, escaping the building. 

Screaming for help Lariel and Azrael, Gabriel as well, raced past the falling pieces of their friends. Uriel and Cassiel's screams fell thick and heavy when they reappeared on the ceiling. They grew to enormous size and began to drip down on their friends. Huge chunks of melting flesh rained down and the trio had to dodge each gelatinous mound. After a moment the building shook and the ruined angels shrunk back to normal size. 

With pieces of their flesh melted away, plants that had sprung to life inside the now skin like pulsating walls attached to them. Many of the other dead angels that had turned fully to wax crawled across the floor, grabbing anything they touched. They would merely graze a leg and proceed to sinking into the living angel’s very flesh. Stitching into their bloodstream, flooding their mouths to infect their internal organs. 

But not all the wax did this, Balthazar had gotten caught in the wax and was currently on fire. His arms and legs flailing to no avail in an attempt to free himself. The angel was trying to free himself from the sizzling grip of the cold embrace of ceasing to exist. He fell over and the high-pitched screaming stopped, from him at least. His body was blackened and charred, blood and pus oozing from the cracks of what was once his flesh. Lariel reached out to him but Gabriel pulled him away. “We have to get out of here!” 

That’s when Lariel looked up to see Dummah. The other angel had escaped the mystery box gentleman. He was flying toward them so fast he crashed into Lariel. “Du-” he was cut off as he pushed Dummah out of the way of one of the plant creatures.

Dummah smiled at him and got up, helping Lariel up as well. The group began to run toward the exit once more. They made it to the door and Azrael slammed it shut behind them. Or at least tried to. The wax had fused together, reforming the dead angels. Uriel and Cassiel long faded from the cruel joke of life, their bodies entangled by vines that pierced through their internal organs and met back up at their brains arching from their skulls like twisted crowns of viscera. These two were fused into one being that scuttled along the ground, shrieking like an enraged animal. 

The surviving angels watched in horror through a slit in the door, the zombified wax creatures that they had once cared for shambled into view. Az struggled to keep the door closed even as the screaming ripped through his mind. With a final push it jammed shut, right before the melted wax versions of their friends could attack them.