Chapter Text
A searing white pain unknown to Gabriel for aeons coursed through his body and sent him crashing onto the ground. Agony like no other forced him to grovel at the Machine’s feet as it stared coldly at the fallen angel.
Impossible. Heresy.
His head a spiralling mess of thoughts and a burning hatred for his adversary. He wasn’t bested, he WAS NOT bested.
This mere tool of mankind has not defeated me… Impossible. Heresy.
The Father was testing me, and I failed him… how could this be?
Pain which drove Gabriel to his knees had turned to churning wrath and vitriol for this… this THING. This insignificant fucking machine of warm blood and cold, dead steel had bested… the almighty Archangel Gabriel?
Impossible. Heresy.
Rage. Anger. Wrath. Ire. Wrath. Hatred.
A bonfire rivalling the Father’s Holy Light raging inside of Gabriel; a conflagration of unbridled, perfect hatred.
“You… insignificant FUCK! THIS, IS NOT, OVER!”
Gabriel swore to return with a vengeance. Its days are numbered and few, and that Machine will rue the day it dared to strike against Gabriel; mightiest of the Archangels and loyal to the Father.
He fled with a clap of holy thunder and light as the unstoppable flame within only continued to flicker with that same ire as before.
“May your woes be many; and your days few.”
Yet, that ire was quenched by a tightening of the lungs from one, simple question.
What of the Council? How would they perceive this humiliation at the hands of a Machine?
They would not take lightly such a pathetic return, and for the first time in what felt like centuries he was… scared.
And for the first time in aeons, he had one person- one THING to direct all his unbridled wrath towards.
One. Single. Machine.
Once the time came, sparks would cry for mercy; for such pure brutality will make even the devil cry.
...
...
...
“Council” pleaded Gabriel. “The machine may have bested me but I will go back, I will purge every fibre of its profane being... Just give me one more chance”. Gabriel was practically on his knees, he knew the council were less forgiving than he was. He knew a mistake could be fatal, especially of this calibre.
“Gabriel” said the councillor, in a voice that echoed around the chamber. “In failing to kill the machine, you have been deemed a traitor to the father.”
Gabriel fell to his knees in despair. He knew exactly what was going to happen, as he had been the one in this position many years ago. If Gabriel was a creature of flesh and blood, his heart would have sunk.
“Because you have abandoned the father, you have been deemed unworthy of the holy light. You have 24 hours until the fathers light leaves your body. Prove your loyalty”
Gabriel sat there in silence. He knew objecting would do nothing for him. All he could do is wallow in his own failure. The last failure he’d ever do.
The silence was unbearable. Dozens of angels just... Watching him. Waiting for him to lash out or cry or anything. But he sat. Numb.
Until the light was ripped from him, and in that moment all Gabriel could feel was hatred. Hatred towards the machine that had caused this to happen.
Gabriel screamed. His cries echoed through the chamber. It felt like his skin was being ripped off every inch of his body. Sheer agony, agony he had never felt before. He felt so unbearably weak.
He’d never felt like this before. He felt so pathetic, so fragile, at the hands of the council.
He felt…
Mortal.
He fell to the ground. He had fallen from grace, and now he was a mere husk. A mere consciousness inhabiting a dying form.
He felt burning rage. He felt such emotions he couldn’t describe. He needed his revenge against the machine, and not even the vast cosmos could get in his way.
He felt reborn out of his pure hatred.