Lissia
The sun never set. Perpetual light bathed everything in a warm ethereal light that penetrated the souls of those that lived there. The city itself sparkled and glowed with a luminescence all its own. The streets were made of a white opal that pulsed with color and energy. Spires of seamless silver reached high into the sapphire sky. The inhabitants numbered in the billions and every one angelic.
Every citizen was an angel. Every soul was waiting their turn to serve God by serving man. The list was long and the wait to be called into service even longer. Some angels were called after spending only a few short years while others waited centuries before being called. Lissia had been waiting for over four hundred years to be called upon by God to perform a service. The waiting seemed like a millennia rather than a mere four centuries. She wondered if God had forgotten she was waiting.
Lissia sat on the bank of a crystal river that sparkled and winked at her as the rushing water flowed past. The gentle sounds of the moving water sang a sweet tune that filled her with joy and peace.
"Lissia, are you listening to me?" Bask asked.
"I'm sorry. I was just wondering if God had forgotten about me," Lissia said casually.
For once Bask didn't have anything to say. He was shocked more by the casualness of the question than the question itself. "What are you talking about now?" he asked not sure how their conversation had wound up there.
"I mean, I've been here for four hundred years waiting to be called into service and nothing. What is He waiting for? I'm ready. I've been ready. Maybe the paperwork was lost or something?" she mused.
Bask was uncharacteristically silent. He just sat there with a silly smile on his cherubic face looking beyond Lissia.
"Lissia," a soft echo said.
Lissia turned around to see two tall angels dressed in golden armor smiling at her. "Yes," she answered, "I am Lissia."
They spoke in unison, "Lissia, your services are requested. Your time has come."
A smile spread across her perfect face as she stood up from the river bank and held out her hands to the other angels. "Now that's what I call service," she said with a smile and in an instant they were at the office of human relations. She stood in the middle of a small room with one chair directly in front of her. Her angelic escorts stood behind her at ease like holy soldiers protecting her. A quick flash and the director of human relations was seated in front of her. He opened a large book he held in his lap and looked up at Lissia.
The director was rumored to be one of the oldest angels in existence. Lissia wondered what he had done to get placed there?
"Lissia, your request to be put into the service of human kind has been reviewed and approved," the director said with a smile. Lissia smiled back. "Now there are a few rules we need to go over before we send you on your way. Remember that you can only intervene when told to. You are there to provide a service and that act has to remain pure. Perform your service and nothing more," he said sternly. "You will be frequenting hostile environments, so be careful and remember to have faith in God." With that the director disappeared and the two armored angels took her to the assignments office.
She found herself in another one chaired room waiting for the assignments angel. They were late. She didn't like to wait. She had waited enough. With a flash the assignments angel appeared sitting in front of her. She glowed like burnished bronze deep, dark and mysterious. Her golden robe wrapped itself loosely around her spirit flowing smoothly in a transparent breeze. She had no book or scroll to read from. Her hands were empty and stretched out toward Lissia.
"Give me your hands, Lissia," she said in a voice like the river's waters. It was cool and soothing. Lissia extended her hands and placed them inside the upturned palms of the bronze angel. Loving warmth flowed between the two and bonded them in thought.
"Lissia, your time has come," she said to Lissia's mind. "Your task will not be an easy one and your trials many."
Not too encouraging, Lissia thought. "No. Not very encouraging, Lissia," the bronze angel replied to her thought. "That is why you must remember to have faith. God loves you. Everything has its reason for being."
Lissia was embarrassed that she had allowed this golden robed angel to hear her doubts. "Don't worry, my dear," the angel said, "we all have our demons to battle." There was a moment of silence as the words were allowed to sink in. Then in an instant what her service for God and man was to be became very clear. Her soul sank as she was whisked away by the armored angels to earth.
* * * *
The darkness caught her off guard. She had never been in darkness before, only seen it from afar. It was far more intimidating being in it, she thought as a tremendous explosion rumbled in her ears. She searched for the source of the explosion and saw in the flashes of explosive light that she was in the middle of a battlefield. There were scores of dead and dying men all around her. She could see their souls separating and standing next to their earthly bodies. Waiting for someone to show them where their lives have led them.
A gentle voice called her name from behind and she turned to face it. A beautiful angel with eyes as black as midnight and the face of a bronze god smiled at her. She wanted to touch his skin, but made herself refrain.
"Welcome, Lissia," he said in a burnished baritone and gently took her hand. "I have much to show you and little time," he said leading her away toward the waiting souls ahead. "Their destinations become clear to you as you touch them. You'll know the way when it's time. And remember, don't take it personally," he said and disappeared.
"That's it?" she asked the sky. "That's all the on the job training I get?" There was no reply. She turned to the waiting souls and knew what she had to do. What she was in fact becoming in order to serve God and man. She had become death. Oh well, she thought, beats waiting around and turned to the first soul waiting for her touch.
THE END
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