His hand glistening with golden energy, I took it off at the wrist. I silenced his scream by burying my blade beneath his chin, pinning his tongue to the roof of his mouth as the steel slid through to crack the dome of his skull. His eyes rolled in their sockets and I felt his weight upon my sword arm.

Forcalor finished the others before I could draw my weapon loose. “Come, child. We must reach Uriel before he is forced to seal the Garden and we are trapped outside.” He grabbed my arm and pulled me along. “To Eden, my brothers,” he screamed as we ran. Thunder roared, competing with his voice. “Rally to Eden if you would live!”

As we closed upon the Garden, it was clear Gabriel had known where we would make our stand. Generals on high, He and Michael sent wave after wave of their rebellious legions to assault the gates of Eden. Uriel held strong, an army of desperate angels at his back, though it seemed only a matter of time before they were overcome.

Uriel’s cherubic face out of place on the field of death, he was no less a warrior for his boyish appearance. Dressed in full battle regalia, save for a helm, his sea-green armor reflected his position in the Angelic Choir. An image of the Tree of Life was impressed upon his breastplate in the finest gold, its roots circling his limbs, and winding their leafy way to his fingers and toes to begin the journey upwards once more. His fiery sword, not simply enwreathed in fire, but made wholly of the flickering tongues of God’s flame, which set light to the sun, laid waste to any who dared come too close.

Rebel angels melted away at its touch as those allied to Uriel stood at his side and defended the flanks. For all his majesty, it was clear the battle was already turning against the guardian of Eden. He looked frayed and worn, as did Forcalor. It was not the fight itself tiring them, but the nature of the enemy and the field upon which the conflict arose. Never before, not even in the days before Lucifer’s fall, has there been blood shed upon the soil of Heaven.