Twenty minutes later, the three of them gathered with Samyaza, Ananiel and Sariel in a small temple Ananiel had procured for the unfortunate and orphaned children. The backroom, stuffy and annoyingly silent, Ramiel watched Samyaza pace while Ananiel fussed over her robes.

“You do realize this means you have damned us all just by giving into the Betrayer’s temptations. Honestly, I thought as the leader of the 5^th layer of Heaven you would know better.”

Samyaza turned on the icy Aramoros and his judging cold stare, “YOU are no better than I! You sit there in judgment of another’s actions when it is not your place! We were his tools, not his mind, brother.” The endearment spat from his mouth like a poisonous word, “Our time on earth has been long enough. I will not pretend to know what the Father wishes or thinks, but I am created to do what’s right.”

“And you feel that slaying an innocent creature simply for what it is, is right?” Ananiel wrung her hands together with a graceful frown on her face.

“Or to create one for that matter. Humans are so mundane…I would rather we leave their matters to themselves and find our own place to reside.” Sariel ran her fingers through her long dark hair, looking from one face to the other. Ramiel grunted in agreement when their gazes locked.

“Just leave? We cannot. Most of the others have already integrated themselves…” Samyaza turned his face away from the room, rubbing the back of his head.

“Integrated themselves?” Both Sariel and Ananiel.

“Looks like our brother here has been a busy little bee. How persuasive he has been towards some of our other siblings. Tell me, Samyaza. How many followed you? How many have slept with the humans? How many have children spread already? How many have told the secrets we harbor about the Lord’s world and universe?”

Samyaza turned around once more to face Aramoros. A thick silence filled the already muggy air.

“Yes. It is true…”

Ananiel sighed, Sariel snorted in disgust, Baraqiel twitched uncomfortably.

“Then there’s only one thing left to do.” They all faced Ananiel, who looked more pained than the rest of them, “I believe this is where we say goodbye, my siblings. We have found our dividing pathways to our fate.”

Sariel touched Ananiel’s shoulder, “Where will you go, sister?” She danced her eyes to the others, “And you?...Is this a mutual agreement? Have we ever been apart?”

Aramoros stood, brushing off the folds of his toga, “Ananiel is right. This is where we split ways.” He turned to face the door, pausing to finish his words, “I will follow Samyaza no longer. I will take my own warriors to hunt down and destroy those monsters you have sinfully created, brother. You can be sure of that.”

And he left without a word. Ramiel wondered for a second why he had not asked who, in the tent, would follow. But he was quick to reprimand himself, grunting self-deprecatingly and crossing his arms. Of course, Aramoros had a specialty of minds. The complexity of a puzzle, mental codes and secrets. He would have already known Ramiel’s interest in the half-breeds hung very low.

“Then it is done…” Ananiel tenderly removed Sariel’s hand from her shoulder, “I shall find those who wish it. Those who hold no desire to see the innocent killed…Samyaza, you must feel the same.” She looked to their original leader with a twinge of hope upon her face.

What surprised Ramiel was that Samyaza had the modesty to look guilty when he faced Ananiel. His shoulders, once straight and strong, now slumped with a weight. The general knew he was losing his warriors. He was losing family, “I am so very sorry, Ananiel. I care not for their life or death, however it may come about. You heard Aramoros…we are no longer of the divinity. We no longer belong to the kingdom. We may as well consider ourselves human.” He shot a glare to Sariel, “Mundane.”

“Oh. I see. Then…goodbye, brother.” A quick hug was administered before Ananiel turned to the rest of them. Baraqiel stared at his feet. Sariel shook her head sadly. Ramiel kept his arms crossed; a silent bodyguard.

Ananiel received the message. She nodded and tilted her chin up, leaving the room in search of those who shared her vision. Ramiel admired it, he really did, but he just didn’t care enough to exert that much energy into saving a race that may not show much gratitude after finding out they could not belong in either faction that their genetics originated from.

“I suppose this is where I take my leave as well, Samyaza. You have been good to us, but I find your actions distasteful.”

“Then you should have left with Aramoros.”

“Killing the innocent? It’s not my place.”

Samyaza raised an eyebrow, looking skeptical now, “Yet you denied dear Ananiel’s lead?”

“Saving them is not my duty either. They are YOUR doing. I shall keep my wings clean and find my own place to mind my own business.” With a stubborn nod, Sariel turned, “Baraqiel. Ramiel. You will follow?”

Ramiel grunted, just one last time, “I will follow, sister.”

“Good. And you, Baraqiel?”

All eyes casted upon the poor warrior who looked as if his sandals were the most interesting thing in the empire, “Forgive me, sister. But…”

Ah. So the energetic little angel was living in the flesh. Sariel merely patted his shoulder, letting him know in a silent gesture that she would not hold it against him.

And just like that, Ramiel left with his new leader, glaring down at the starving mortal children he passed on his way out of the temple.

“What shall we call them?”

“Call who, Ramiel?”

“The half-breeds.”

“Does it matter?” Sariel wedged herself outside, holding the door open wide for Ramiel to wedge his large body through.

“We mattered once. The humans matter to Him. The least we can do is give them a name. To know what to avoid if not for anything else…”

Sariel’s sigh couldn’t seem to leave her today, “You are right. So insightful for a strong-arm warrior.”

“I was also one of His oracles. You give me too little credit, sister.” This brought a small smile upon her face.

“I see them as mistakes. Big mistakes.”

“Giant mistakes…” Ramiel grunted under his breath, staring at the passing market scenery.

“Hm. Giants. Do you still speak Hebrew, brother?”

He already knew where she was going with this, “Nephilim.” A tingling sensation tickled down his spine.

“Yes. Nephilim. The Nephilim are on the earth these days, while the sons of God go to the daughters of men and have children by them. They are the heroes of old, men of renown.”

Ramiel sneered, walking alongside the reflective Sariel, “Not for long, hm?”

Sariel grinned in response as their figures were soon swallowed by the busy crowd, “No. Not for long.”