“What is it?” Ellabeth snapped, catching them staring.
The scream rang out again. We all looked at each other. Then we ran barefoot, sandals in hand, throwing them onto our feet as we launched into flight. Omarion got to the doors first and threw them open. We poured out after him and froze mid-flight.
Angels spilled out of their wingtowers.
And hundreds of them were being burned alive.
From the inside out.
“What in the stars is going on?” Daelun cried.
“Oh my stars! Look!” Isandra cried.
I could only stare as the eyes of all the burning Seraphim turned from the elements that made up their bodies, into weapons that began choking them out. Every angel struggling to stay alive had fresh food in their mouths. They were decaying from within while they were mid-chew. I covered my mouth with a hand as one female spat out the food, trying to get it off her tongue. But it was too late. Her wings began withering. Shriveling. Decaying. She screamed in agony. Begged for help.
But what in the stars couldwedo?
We will choose to let you die.
“This is a trial,” I whispered.
Seventh Choir snapped their heads in my direction.
I kept my gaze on the dying Ascendants.
“If you choose to live by your stomach, we’re given no other choice. We will choose to let you die by it.’This is a trial…”
“Holy…” Ellabeth ogled the dying, horrified.
“Those who read the scrollport or just took too long to notice are spared,” I continued.
“And those who got greedy…” Omarion’s words trailed off.
Seraphim began dropping like flies, the feathers of their wing pairs deteriorating. My spirit ached at the waste of their lives. They died simply because they wanted food. Manmi always said only the strong, the vigilant, and the worthy survivedto Ascension. Were they not worthy just because they were hungry?
If you choose to live by your stomach.
The words wouldn’t stop echoing in my mind. If not food, then what were we suppose to live by?
Angels do not live by Manna alone, but by all the written words that come from the Infinite himself.
My nose wrinkled. Something about all of this felt…wrong. I couldn’t fathom the Infinite taking our lives like this. Not so carelessly. But Manmi had said there were things in the Temple I wouldn’t understand. I had to simply trust the process and Ascend into the Farasee Order if I ever wished to make a difference on an impactful scale.
With all of Seventh Choir, I slipped back, leaving the dying Ascendants to their fates. It seemed we all came to the same conclusion. We came here to Ascend, not to die in the process. Those who didn’t make it, may the Infinite guide their spirits into the Ellelights.
I couldn’t help but feel like something in me was rotting away with them. I watched as the angels burned, and rotted, and screamed. Until my ears rang with their cries, and my eyes were stained with their golden blood. Until they died one after another until all that was left was silence and their phantom, desperate pleas to be saved.
Chapter 16
There was a reason for all this death. There had to be. I knew it in my bones. Temple Efysis was the epicenter of purity and holiness throughout the empyrean. Manmi had warned me time and again, to become dissuaded by nothing. To be shaken by nothing. Everything wasn’t as it seemed, and even if I didn’t understand, there was a purpose for it.
I trusted Manmi.
I trusted the Farasee Order.
I trusted the Infinite.
As the bodies of the Seraphim disintegrated into nothing, I made a personal note to be careful. Vigilant. Smart. Even when fatigue bowed my shoulders, I needed to keep watch.
