Chapter 1

A grand welcome

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It’d be lying to say getting assigned another human after so long on the battlefield didn't fill Nathaniel with excitement. Returning to the peace and quiet of Paradise, once again submerged in absolute calm, able to walk the meadows and breathe cool, clean air. The echoes of harrowing screams were long gone, the scent of fresh blood a distant memory; hands finally clean, skin glowing bright. Idyllic conditions that made his job a lot easier to handle and the stretch of peace between realms feel like a different reality, because he wasn’t always a warmonger, and he didn’t always have a spear in hand.

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A tunic of soft linen, light as air, hung from a shoulder, across his chest and around his hips, white with gold trims in intricate patterns that adorned the edges of the fabric, fastened at the waist with a rope, the complete opposite of his battle armor. On his head sat a laurel wreath of golden leaves, and directly behind it hovered a brilliant halo that almost made it seem as if the wreath itself were glowing, instead of simply reflecting its shine. It was a newly acquired medal of honor that brought him much pride and never failed to turn heads, causing his peers to wonder what the world outside Paradise looked like. His return meant something, only they couldn't ask about it, expressly forbidden. Higher orders were followed blindly, the cornerstone of faith.

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Beyond the gates of Paradise was an endlessly reflecting pool, the home of all newly emerged souls that floated on its surface like paper ships. They drifted on their backs, unconscious until touched, in a vegetative state that rewatched their past lives and slowly molded their souls to fit the shape its consciousness had liked the most. Stepping into the water was strictly forbidden, so Nathaniel waited by the shore instead, watching the sea of apparitions change, morph, and move with its creations. He was here for a specific soul that had already chosen its form and was ready to wake up, floating just out of reach, with a healthy glow about its skin that indicated the transformation was complete. The body twitched, its eyes moved under their lids, and as it floated closer to shore, Nathaniel knelt down to meet it.

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Just like every other creation in Paradise, Aiden was beautiful and perfect, with blond hair in thick curls on top that fell over his forehead, shaved sides, thick eyebrows, a button nose and a nicely rounded jaw, wider under the ears. In silence, his body quivered and his eyes desperately tried to snap open in what was probably the rejection of yet another viewing of his past life, so Nathaniel touched his arm. Two brown eyes immediately opened, fixed on him. His eyebrows bounced in response, acknowledging the attention.

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“Hello, Aiden. I’m your Guardian Angel.”

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Wide eyes stared at him for a second, bouncing across his face and up his head at the halo and wreath that confirmed his claim. Slowly, Aiden moved to a sitting position, mindful of his limbs as if it were the first time he used them. His eyes kept track of Nathaniel, disinterested in looking around. Leaning a hand on the bottom of the pool, legs and forearm submerged, Aiden sat, and for a long and quiet moment, both of them simply stared at each other, not an uncommon reaction for new arrivals. Nathaniel took the opportunity to notice the dust of light freckles across his nose, the fullness of his lips and the color of his skin, as tan as a summer day, practically golden; beautiful and perfect. It squeezed his chest, crushed his heart and drowned him in a flood of memories that had taken him far too long to forget, pulling at the scab of a newly reopened wound. His throat closed around a tight knot, but still he refused to look away. If he breathed, he would’ve been knocked breathless.

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“I’m dead,” Aiden commented. His voice was emotionless and flat, a spinto tenor that Nathaniel had not expected out of him, as if the gracefulness of his features warranted a much higher pitch than a man ought to have, as if his memories had caused him to expect something else.

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“Only physically.” Nathaniel spoke around a small, forced smile that almost hurt.

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Dark eyebrows pinched together as Aiden’s lips parted, though no reply came. Instead, he watched Nathaniel get up and offer him a hand. Aiden took his entire forearm in a strong clasp that forced it as he stood, skin warm on contact, squeezing just before the elbow. Nathaniel’s heart skipped—he wasn’t supposed to touch the water. It was probably fine, though. His height put him above most residents of Paradise; it was no surprise to see Aiden stand a couple of inches shorter than him, in line with his expectations.

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With an arm out to indicate Paradise, he started across the shore. “Welcome to the rest of your life,” he happily announced, crossing the open gates into a lush green field that rose into a small hill, obscuring what came after.

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The gates closed behind them. The sound of the hinges turned Aiden around for a glance, but Nathaniel quickly blocked the view with a wing, outstretched to wrap across his back. It curved just around his shoulder, a friendly gesture that covered up Nathaniel’s panic, pulse rushing in his ears, reflexes in check. Brown eyes ended up glancing over to him instead, then up ahead to where they walked. Shield the innocent from horrors. It struck him in passing that no human had ever thought to look back at the Pool of Corpses before, except for this one.

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Over the hill was the old meadow and the white soapstone bridge that led onto the main road where most humans lived, learned, and rested for all of eternity. There were countless activities for them to do here, should they desire, ranging from what they already used to do back on Earth, to what they wished they'd done, to what they never even knew was possible. Some spent their days lying in the sun reading poetry, while others took pottery classes, learned multiple languages, or partied to no end. A common sight was newcomers treating the afterlife as a sort of resort where they could finally retire and swim in the pool, drinking lemonade all summer long, an infinite vacation where winter never came, even if their enthusiasm for it, at some point, invariably came to expire and forced their hand at something else.

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Crossing town, where people huddled together for a glass of wine and a merry song early in the evening, Nathaniel explained that, as an honorable member of Paradise, Aiden was free to do whatever he wished and could apply for absolutely anything he could think of.

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“If the class you’d like to take, or the activity you’d like to do, doesn’t exist yet, we’ll make it and tailor it specifically for you. There are a few different forms in your house that let you contact pretty much any divine being and ask for whatever it is that you want. They’re pretty self-explanatory, but I’ll still show you what I mean when we get there anyway.”

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Aiden scouted their surroundings as Nathaniel talked, finding some interest up in the mountains, past the clouds, far beyond the limits of human exploration. In the distance, shining gold under the sunlight, The Court stood tall and wide, protruding from the mountainside with stairs that descended into and disappeared within the thick clouds that cut through the sky like a blanket. Its architecture, classically Roman, morphed with the plants that sprouted from the alp as if a natural part of them, bringing form to nature in thick tall columns and a wide marble porch. It didn’t look like Aiden was very preoccupied with what Nathaniel had been saying this whole time and found celestial matters a lot more interesting than his own eternity. Curious. As far as Nathaniel could tell, no other human’s priorities were in such a peculiar order, or at the very least, none he'd ever met.

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“What’s up there?” Aiden asked the moment his angel was done talking, keeping his eyes up at the sky.

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“Higher matters that, frankly, do not concern you. They’re far too laborious for someone who’s perpetually on vacation anyway, so don’t worry about it; just know you’re always being looked after and you’re going to be alright.” Nudging Aiden with a wing, Nathaniel motioned to a left turn at the corner. “C’mon, we’re almost there.”

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New arrivals were readily appointed a residence and a collection of personal belongings that would help them feel more at home, which could vary from person to person, but usually consisted of a phone, internet connection, the sort of clothes they liked to wear back on Earth and items of sentimental value. In Aiden’s case, however, they couldn’t really find much in his file to really make his house feel like his own or give him more than just the standard. Back on Earth, he'd been estranged from his family, had never really had any friends, and had spent his entire existence creating profit for huge companies that had paid him back with a big empty mansion and the sports car of the year. Unoriginal and lifeless. It'd been baffling to find he'd made it to Paradise, but Nathaniel wasn’t in any position to question his superiors. In an attempt to bring Aiden some sort of comfort up here and surround him with the closest that Paradise could get to familiar, Nathaniel and the architects had built him a house on the hill with three large bedrooms, a wide living room and an incredible view of The Valley; no neighbors for miles and a small forest between his house and the others for seclusion. Early in the morning, the sun would rise from behind the mountains and shine over this hill, bathing Aiden’s living room in light; flooding the floors, crawling up the walls, refracting through the crystals that cascaded down the ceiling to dance across the room. It was breathtaking. Even now, with the sun practically gone and the valley below lit up like fireworks, the view was extraordinary. In silence, Aiden regarded it.

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“Welcome home!” Nathaniel announced, offering the human a wide smile, heart pounding against his ribs. He had enough experience in this field to be utterly confident in everything he and his team had created, but they'd never been assigned a businessman before. Would Aiden be hard to please?

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Slowly, almost poignantly, Aiden turned from the valley to glance up at the front of the house, eyes clouded over with an emotion Nathaniel couldn’t exactly read, but that made his blood run cold in his veins and a breath catch in his throat anyway. Did he hate it? Shit, he hated it. Dammit.

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“Look, if you don’t like it, we’ll just make you another one; it’s fine.” It wasn’t fine. “There are plenty of options for you to choose from and we can make anything you want too; it’s no big deal.”

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“No, it’s fine; it just… reminds me of where I used to live. You know, my house back on Earth.” A pause, and Aiden turned to look at him, a slight scowl on his forehead. “Are we still on Earth?”

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“No, definitely not. Listen, if the hill isn’t to your taste, we can bring you down, closer to the hustle and bustle of town. Some people like it there; some people just can’t get enough of it.” His heart raced, mind going over everything he could remember from Aiden’s file; the countless nights spent at bars, how often he partied, his clear preference for nighttime. “There are a whole bunch of apartments available too, empty and ready to move into. It really won’t be any trouble. I mean, this is where you’re going to spend the rest of eternity; it has to be the home of your dreams.”

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As his mouth ran and his heart hammered him in the chest, the corner of Aiden’s lips slowly tugged and curved into a smirk, eyes squinting a little bit. It put a stop to Nathaniel's speech. “What’s your name again?”

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It occurred to him right then that he'd never actually said it. “Nathaniel.”

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“Nathaniel…” The syllables rolled off of Aiden’s tongue and pushed against his teeth, spoken around the smirk, bringing a sort of meaning to his name that hadn’t exactly been there before, and he wasn’t sure he liked it. No... He really wasn’t sure. “I like the house you made for me.”

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As an angel, Nathaniel didn’t need to breathe, but still exhaled in relief. It was fine, actually; his performance was fine. There was no need to doubt his capacity to do this. As usual, his team had done an outstanding job, especially considering the nature of their client, and he should be nothing if not confident in what they'd created, so why didn’t he believe him? Why did Aiden’s words resonate across his chest but not reach his heart? Tangentially, and perhaps far more importantly: why would Aiden lie? A resident of Paradise, an objectively good person, a pious soul worthy of eternal rest—why would he lie? It made no sense; it couldn’t be. He must not be lying at all. Nathaniel probably just needed some rest, after all, he'd been working day and night ever since coming back.

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“It’s nice; it’s beautiful. I love the view of the valley and stuff, but don’t you think it’s a little too big for just one guy?”

One more glance at the house made it evident that, technically speaking, yes, it was a little too big, mostly due to the whole three-bedroom situation, but they'd based it off of Aiden’s actual home in California, hence the leftover space and extra rooms. Obviously, they shouldn’t have done that, and if Nathaniel had paid just a little more attention to the fact Aiden, when alive, had spent much more time in cramped hotel rooms, he would’ve known to give him a smaller, cozier place. Damn, what a major oversight. A rookie mistake, really. He could still fix this, though.

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“I guess you’re right. Would you like a smaller one?”

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“Well, it depends if you’re coming with me.” A suggestive quirk of the brow, brown eyes that pierced right through him and a smirk that made his pulse skip, so familiar his own throat choked him, heart squeezing in his chest. For half a second, almost ethereal, as fleeting as if it were suspended in air, he forgot he was supposed to reject Aiden. Horrifyingly, he almost said yes.

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“Aiden…”

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“I’m just saying,” Aiden cut him off, loud and snappy, promptly starting for the front door. “Do I have any roommates?”

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The bite in his voice brought Nathaniel right back to the present, prompting him to follow Aiden inside. The harshness he'd used was extremely surprising for a resident of Paradise, who never raised their voices at celestial beings. Throughout his career, Nathaniel couldn’t say he'd ever really met a human like this, defensive, with walls all around him, suspicious even in death. Perhaps having spent so long in a dog eat dog environment had caused Aiden to carry over some of that split-second defensiveness, which Nathaniel was fairly certain would be taken care of in due time. He made a mental note to add that to his report later tonight.

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“Would you like some?” Nathaniel spoke while towing after Aiden, which, he noticed then, was something he'd never done before. Wasn’t he supposed to be the one showing Aiden around?

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“So that’s a no, then,” Aiden concluded, harsh and curt, crossing the living room without ceremony, nothing more than a semi-disinterested glance at the expensive furniture. Usually, humans took a second longer to glance around and comment on just how much their new home resembled the one they used to live in, or how close it was to being their dream house, but Aiden clearly wasn’t an ordinary man. He walked straight past the living room, through the hallway arch, and out into the main hall where all the other rooms connected, forming a large hub with an open-concept kitchen and wide marble stairs. The small garden under the stairs had been carefully curated by Nathaniel himself, but he doubted Aiden would take note of it. Seemingly indifferent to his surroundings and the beautiful plants that engulfed the exterior of the house, visible through the great windows that stretched from wall to wall, Aiden made to cross the hall straight for the stairs.

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“Aiden, if I could have a moment,” Nathaniel called, making the human stop and turn to look back at him. Hanging on the wall on his right, near a small table by the window, was a mount with holders for the various forms and envelopes that comprised the main means of communication between humans and celestials, color coded and neatly organized in their own folders. “This is what I mentioned before, the line that connects you to us. The forms are simple and self-explanatory; you just need to fill them out with a request, seal them in the correct envelope and either write the name or the title of your addressee for delivery. The moment you put it in a mailbox, someone will come pick it up for you.”

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“I guess you guys haven’t been introduced to cell phones yet,” Aiden joked through a small scoff, leaving the stairway to walk back to his angel. The fact he hadn’t cared to mask his total indifference towards everything he'd been introduced was truly commendable, despite how quickly it made Nathaniel’s heart race, a loud voice in his head beginning to question everything he thought he knew about humans up until now. The self-doubt crept up on him like a shudder.

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"There should be one up in your room, actually. They've been every human's request for such a long time that it's become standard procedure to welcome everybody with one now."

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"I take it only humans actually use them, then."

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"Yes. I’m afraid life beyond the valley is far too complicated for those."

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"Right." The word left Aiden’s lips slowly as he stared at Nathaniel’s face with a look that was impossible to read and eyebrows that pinched the tiniest bit together. Talking to him felt like being under a microscope while trying desperately to perform what should be routine at this point. Briefly, Aiden glanced off at the mount on the wall. "Which one of these can reach you?"

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"Any, as long as you address them to me. The blue one usually works."

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"Where do you live?" The question came with piercing eyes that cut through him like a letter opener to the chest. He'd gotten this question multiple times before; it was extremely common and completely understandable, so why was it that, when Aiden asked it, his heart raced and his blood ran cold? Why didn’t he trust him? The war must’ve left some lingering skepticism behind. He might not have dropped all his guard just yet. This was Paradise, the safest place in the universe.

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"Remember the mountains you were asking me about?"

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"Huh." A pause, contemplative, and brown eyes squinted. "What's in The Valley?"

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"Salvation."

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His answer got the sort of look he could only describe as somewhere between confused and intrigued. Interestingly enough, and differently from his peers, Aiden seemed to only care about what went on in the mountains, not what his afterlife looked like, or even what awaited him. His sense of self was strong, but was quickly put aside when in contrast with the lives of celestials. As a former businessman, did he perhaps see their position as aspirations? The corporate ladder? Nathaniel couldn’t tell.

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“How many of you are there?” Aiden asked.

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“Ah, countless, of varying shapes, forms and matter. Some of us can’t even be comprehended by the human mind at all. I’m a middleman for your own protection.”

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“You sound a lot like Lovecraft.”

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“Then you’ll be very pleased with the library we’ve put together for you; his entire bibliography is up there.”

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“Was he right?” A quirk of the brow, a tilt of the head, and the curls that cascaded over Aiden’s forehead bounced with the movement. “Are the Great Old Ones real?”

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“Perhaps you could figure that out for yourself; there are multiple books on Paradise waiting for you just upstairs.”

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His comment made Aiden's eyes shine, but only for a moment, quickly hidden as he turned to face the kitchen, obviously intentional. He didn’t want to expose his interests and let Nathaniel finally start to get a read on his personality. Why? He was here to help. Aiden’s enjoyment of Paradise rested entirely in his hands, so why didn’t he trust Nathaniel with it? Why didn’t he want to be known? Still turned around, now with a hand up to touch his own face, Aiden took a few steps forward, walking toward the kitchen counter.

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“Will you be spending the night?” The question was spoken to the expanse of the room. Despite the brief flirting earlier, this one didn’t sound like a follow-up to that. Actually, it almost sounded like an anxious parting, as if Aiden couldn’t wait for him to leave.

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“I’m afraid I can’t, but I’ll be back tomorrow morning for checks," Nathaniel explained, taking a step towards the archway to allude to his departure. Aiden saw him out of the corner of his eye and threw a glance over the shoulder, accompanied by a small nod.

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“See you tomorrow, angel.”