Chapter Text
Days would pass and Altan grew revolted with humans. They had no respect for anything around them, believing they were more important than everyone else. He saw their endless greed, watching as it consumed the world they were given and destroying themselves.
How could God love something so flawed?
Altan was curious about how human impurities worked, visiting a man as they slept. His fingers traced around their chest as he searched for a way in, pushing and prodding as he sat on their stomach.
“I will cleanse you. Worry not, human.” He spoke softly, digits diving into an opening forced open by the Virtue. Altan grabbed hold on to the human’s soul, ripping it from their body to inspect it properly.
Human souls were supposed to be a round crystal in a solid colour, yet this one had dark in the centre. It looked as if it were growing, festering, eating away at the soul.
“How strange…” Altan mumbled to himself, looking down at the human. “…”
The man lay lifeless, a pained expression the last thing shown as he was limp on the bed. The angel could no longer see the faint glow around the body, watching as the soul in his hand began to fade. The darkness still spread and he crushed it in his palm, separating the tainted crystal from the pure.
I forgot you cannot live without the soul.
Altan shrugged and slipped the pure shards into a small pouch on his waist as he went back through the veil. He kept his head up, strolling casually to his room to examine the pieces further. Other angels would approach, but he ignored, preferring solitude over loud crowds. He didn’t need anyone else’s company, for he still had the lily.
Through the cycles that passed, the lily grew a deeper shade. The colour spread from the stamens. Altan found it quite beautiful, whispering to it his discoveries every night. It didn’t talk back, nor argue. It was perfect.
“My beautiful lily. There is none other that looks like you.” The Virtue smiled as his lips gently touched the petal, eyes closing softly. “I hope your life extends with mine. Metatron has helped with that.”
There were few times that Altan would smile or even find joy, and that was when he was alone. He preferred solitude, enjoying the calm silence.
Fishing the shards from his pocket, they were fading in their glow.
“Ah… they are missing the body.” He would mutter under his breath.
What if I figure out a way to cleanse the human soul without separating it from the host?
I could cure the humans of this plague that has spread through all their souls.
I could perfect humans.
Angels were forbidden from taking life and creating it, but they never said he could not fix what already existed. Altan knew how to bend the rules slightly, knowing of his role in the hierarchy and that he was fairly high up. The only Dominion he knew was Metatron, who seemed to be absorbed in his own tasks. No one else had dared to interact with him as a result of his avoidant attitude, providing a calm and quiet work space. Another place the Virtue could retreat to for research is the Archives. Everything that was known was there. Surely someone else had the same idea that Altan did to fix humans. It was an Angels job to watch over them, wouldn’t it be easier to supervise if they didn’t have to sin?
If Altan perfected humans to have no need to be looked after, God would not have to create more like him to experience nothing but pain. To be born into this world completely clueless. To fall victim to the system that controls them.
Humans were so fickle. So fragile. Yet they control the lives of the beings that reside in the heavens. Only something truly despicable could do such a thing.
Controlling a God.
Questions, thoughts, wonders, answers, doubts, disputes, uncertainty–
Clarity.
This is what I was created for.
This is why I am here.
This is my duty.
I will fix the humans.
and in turn, repair the Heavens.
Altan would return to the Earth to research; studying how they interacted with each other, spent their free time, went about their days, and what ways they could be fixed. Their flaws were obvious, displayed like a badge of honor on their chest for all the world to see. It never seemed to occur to them that what they were doing was damaging or the masses they were killing. The deaths that happened at the wave of their hand, the heretics that spread the word that this was God’s doing.
“This is all predetermined by God’s will.” they would preach. “He will come save us.” wishful thinking. God will not pity those who do not wish to save themselves. You do not know of this God you speak. The angels will decide your fate.
I will decide your fate. I will cure you.
I.
I, Altan. The Virtue of Charity.
You have been consumed by the Vices of Hell. With the power given to me by the Heavens, you will be saved.
Temperance, Kindness, Purity, Humility, Chastity, Diligence,
And Me.
The golden blood that flows through this body, that fuels the heart that wishes for the better of you– the might and strength, executing the very thing feeding on your souls. Your ego and id. The conflicts inside all of you. The constant discord between logic and instinct.
“The conflicts between the drives of the id and the demands of the ego.”
This so-called instinct that you rely on is the very source of your downfall.
It will be the exact thing I shall rectify.