Chapter 6- Key of Wisdom

A guiding voice to unknown

with thy light so brightly shown.

Please don’t leave me all alone

Or I won’t give you thy loan.

Leaving the cheering crowd of the happy angelic folk behind, the rest of their travel was wrapped in peaceful silence. Seraphina took that time to gather her composure again. The girl didn’t think her world would be extended in such a breathtaking fashion. Just an hour ago, the only people she knew had been her father, her uncles, her maid Lauriel and the other servants and knights in the castle. Looking back at that now raised a radiant smile on the tiny angel's lips. 

‘How easy it is to widen your horizon by realizing how small you are in this world… To realize you aren't the only person living their life is incredible. I feel so warm, like never before. But also… It makes me recognize how unimportant I am in this world. For some reason, this makes me feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders.' She thought happily, feeling a lot more relaxed and in touch with herself.

Michael silently watched his daughter recover, smiling lightly to himself. Once more, he was convinced this trip was the best decision in a long while. Sera's smiles and happiness were worth every little obstacle and trouble they would have to face. Yet, little did he know that he would regret this decision very soon…

———🕊———

After traveling silently for a few more minutes, the princess’ expression brightened in awe when they drew closer to Heaven's main gate. The enormous doors to the other side were built from ethereal shimmering steel and protected by angelic and godly force fields to keep everyone unwanted out of paradise. The metallic gold shimmering bars twinkled brightly in the sun as Seraphina guessed that their height had to be interminable. 

The closer they drew to the gate, the smaller Sera felt as nothing she ever saw could compare to this. ‘These bars... have to end somewhere, right? It’s not possible to create an infinite long blockade.’ She asked herself curiously as her eyes traveled along the gate. But no matter how hard she tried to see past the misty clouds and find the end of the bars, she couldn't spot an end to them. 

“...How…” Seraphina mumbled in slight frustration as a small pout graced her features, the girl trying to stretch and lean forward more to get a better look at it.

“Hey, hey.” Michael interrupted her thoughts as one of his arms wrapped around her waist before she could fall off the horse. “What did I tell you about not falling off?” He teased her softly.

“But…! The gate of Heaven is so big!” The small princess protested while staring up at him stubbornly for a moment. 

Michael shook his head at that. “What kind of reason is this?” He asked her in amusement, his smile making him appear years younger. 

A smile that soon diminished as they reached the bottom of the gate where a platoon of Nephilim knights had gathered. The King of Angels frowned at the unusual sight with a sinking feeling in his stomach. His grip on his daughter tightened gently as he held her closer to him. 

“What’s going on?” He asked in his deep, authoritative voice while stopping Nocte in front of the knights.

“Oh! Your Majesty!” The Nephilim shouted in genuine relief as they glanced up to their king, only a few of them showing genuine surprise and curiosity when they spotted the tiny figure of the princess.

“We got called here by the First Cherub because of suspicious activity near the gate. Apparently, they detected demonic evil energy outside of the gate but can’t remember letting any bad aura pass through the gate.” The Nephilim general reported seriously with a wrinkle of worry on his forehead.

“What?! How is this possible?!” Michael shouted at them, making the knights flinch at his thundering voice.

“We have no clue either. We tried to investigate both inside and outside of the gate but there are no traces of any demonic energy, not to mention the gate doesn’t have any visible holes or flaws where someone could have sneaked into.” 

The Archangel of Justice gritted his teeth at that, his features scrunching up to an angry grimace. He brushed his fingers through his hair in stress as this report was more than a little concerning. ‘Dammit! Why does this have to happen now?!’ He thought in frustration as he glanced down to his daughter who was listening in high curiosity.

With a low annoyed sigh, he slid off the horse before gently lifting Seraphina down as well. “Stay close to me, okay, Sera?” Michael told her seriously before taking a deep breath and looking back at the Nephilim with an emotionless expression. 

“So, you are telling me that a Cherub has given a false alarm? ...You do realize how ridiculous this sounds. Cherubim are our high-respected guardians, who protect the gates to Heaven day in and out with their life! Their wisdom and rank are far higher than even mine, and you are telling me their intuition was wrong?” He growled out to the poor platoon of knights who immediately started to sweat in fear.

“O-Of course not, your Majesty! We just wanted to report that we couldn't find anything-”

“No! If the Cherub reported concerning demonic energy, there is a trace of it here, no matter how small! And I want you to find it! You won’t be going home until you searched every little parameter periodically and turned around every oh-so-little stone! Do not face me again with no evidence… Do you understand that?!” He ordered in an unforgiving voice that intimidated the knights.

Seraphina smiled awkwardly at that, not having expected her father to be that harsh on their subordinates. ‘I guess that explains why the knights never wanted to talk to me for long. They fear papa… And I can’t really blame them after witnessing this…’ The young angel thought in sympathy as she watched her father bark out further orders to the now highly stressed Nephilim. 

‘I feel so sorry for them… Papa is really ruthless when it comes to his duty.’ She thought and bit on her bottom lip lightly. ‘I really want to help them but I would just get in the way…’ Sera glanced back at her father who was making the general report every tiny little detail he could remember, making the poor Nephilim feel like he was being interrogated rather than reporting the incident.

Seraphina shook her head at that fondly and sighed, feeling like she was in the way right now since her father had just ordered the knights to crawl and look at every tiny spot on the ground. She looked back at her father, who was still busy questioning the general before she stepped a bit further away.

Her wings folded neatly on her back as she stopped close to what looked like a natural cave. Closing her eyes, the princess sighed again as a sad expression graced her features. ‘I should have known this trip was a stupid thing to ask for. Father is always so busy and rarely can catch a break. It was selfish of me to drag him away from work after all.’ She folded her hands anxiously and started to fiddle with her thumbs. ‘Protecting heaven is way more important than a brief trip and this really seems like an unusual emergency.’ 

Sera opened her eyes and leaned slightly against the rough surface of the cave, feeling the rocky structure press against her sensitive back. It was an unpleasant feeling, yet it helped her keep a cool head about this situation. After all, it wasn’t her father’s fault this happened, nor was it her own fault. It was simply fate or the universe playing their tricks.