Chapter II
Gold in a Bottle

   The next day was going to be a good one for many reasons: first off, I was three hundred zalès richer from that last contract, secundo, Mivelris had just received his mark for his latest astronomy test and he had passed and finally, I was on a day off. My roommate was a bit displeased when I announced him I was going to the Windy to cool off a bit.
   --- You're going without me? And to say I have a long, boring chemistry course... I could skip it, y'know!
   --- You failed your terminal class because of that, Miv, I reminded him while tying my hair with a light blue rubber band.
   I was about to leave when I remembered something extremely important.
   --- Why can't you go out without those stupid rings, asked he while I put on a series of tight silver rings around my neck, wrists and ankles.
   --- Altacian tradition, moron, and you know it perfectly, I retorted harshly. I hated it when people made fun of my origins---I adored my hometown and its somewhat old-fashion customs.
   --- Eesh, sorry, he moaned while cranking the vinyl player and putting a record on.
   I took off and headed up, eager to have a drink and hoping I would find some friends there.

*****

   The Windy was a small and comfortable club, not that popular but rarely empty. It was the place of predilection for all the guardian Angels who had finished their contracts and wanted to have some fun. The bar was lit by a dozen blue hyxémel lamps and the atmosphere was muffled and very relaxing. Sitting in two of the many cosy couches, some Principalities Angels were drinking and having a joyful conversation, while two girls were in the middle of a chess game (chess was as popular as pool in the angelic Realm).
   I sat down at the bar and greeted the barman.
   --- Malkeb, Saelius, ves tokvar vaquobé? he asked, a wide smile on his face. He had a very strong Frasvinian accent but it just added to his overall sympathetic personality.
   --- Fine, fine, I'm on a day off, finally!
   We talked about the usual: business, money, family and some random little adventures. Suddenly, his eyes widened and at the same time, I felt a gust of heat behind my neck. I turned around and simply stopped breathing.
   What had stepped into the Windy was the most amazingly beautiful creature I had ever seen: she looked like a ray of sun and she emanated so much power that the hyxémel lamps seemed to be of no use with her around. She sat down at the bar, two seats away from me---I was dying at that point---and saluted the barman with a calculated smile:
   --- Malkeb, sir, she said while shaking his hand, my name is Yui. I'm looking for the finest bottles you have; I collect them and I want to enlarge my collection, so I was wondering if you had anything interesting, from the surface let's say. Of course, I'm willing to pay your price...
   He scratched his head and pointed a beautifully crafted bottle, probably containing a very expensive liquor.
   --- I'm sorry, I already have this one, she sighed. Well, I won't bother you any longer.
   Gathering all of the courage I had, I got up and offered her my help, while taking this occasion to truly appreciate her immense beauty: she was a bit smaller than I was, she possessed a perfect silhouette and knew exactly how to use it. Her orange slanting eyes looked like glowing amber and her shoulders were buried under masses of incandescent hair curls, the colour of copper. She was without any doubt a Cherubim Angel, probably working for the Academy, considering her refined manners and her calculated way of talking. All Angels irradiated a fair amount of power but she was so incredibly magnificent that her aura was amplified by a thousand folds. Compared to her, I was nothing but a grey and tern nobody, a miserable low-life bum with overly used clothes and a bad haircut. But surprisingly, she smiled back at me and offered her hand to shake.
   --- My name is Saelius, miss, I said, not without a hint of fright in my voice.
   --- Please call me Yui.
   I swallowed painfully and told her I had overheard her conversation (to tell the truth, I had been passionately staring at her since she had set foot in the bar) and that I was particularly interested myself in Earth's objects.
   --- I have a fair collection of, well, let's call it "junk", back at my place and perhaps I could give you some? I do need to clean up a bit.
   She almost looked content and I immediately offered her a drink, even though I was so broke that this gesture could cost me my apartment. She accepted and we sat down in the back of the club, at a table lit only by a yellow hyxémel lantern. As I observed her more, I discovered that even her wings were astounding: they were mainly in warm tones, ranging from fiery red to shimmering gold, with dark stripes and long and solid back feathers. She was simply breath taking.
   I discovered she was only two angelic years older than I was, which was about four years in human time. We Angels aged about as twice as slowly as humans did, if not a little least. Let's say I looked and behaved like a twenty-one year-old man in Earth years but I was born thirty-eight years ago. Simple, no?
   She only seemed interested in my collection and kept asking questions about the source of all those objects I liked to collect so much. It was obvious she didn't care about my life so I decided to be as precise and brief as I could. She barely smiled during our conversation; she seemed so stiff and serious that there wasn't any room for mistakes.
   --- I've always been fascinated by humans, I said while sipping on my drink. When I moved here, I started bringing back stuff from my trips to the surface and now, my apartment's packed with all sorts of junk.
   --- You're from Altacia, right? she asked, her eyes piercing through mine like deadly laser beams. Altacians have worn those rings for millennia, as a symbol of their place in the angelic Realm. It's what's keeping them from going over the atmosphere, according to their beliefs.
   --- Right... we always were proud of our town. Not many Angels can bare with the cold and the altitude of Altacia. When it reaches ten thousand meters above the ground, it gets so cold that icicles are forming on the floatation ring.
   We talked for a little while after and she asked me if she could see this so-called collection of mine. I was surprised at first, overly excited but then I realised I would drag a Cherubim Angel---and not any Cherubim, more to say---in my house, that pitiful hole deep down in the city's slums.
   --- Er... wouldn't it be better if just I brought my nicest bottles over to your place? I asked, unsure of her answer.
   She pondered a bit but shook her head.
   --- It'd be too long. I have an important meeting in two hours and plenty of things to do.
   I sighed and remembered Mivelris was still at school, which was a minor relief because he had a tendency to get a little too comfortable with women. We exited the Windy---under the puzzled eyes of the barman---and headed down in the deep fog enveloping the bottom of the city. I made sure to avoid all the "hot spots"---those place where clothes lines were so close together it was almost dangerous to pass between houses, or where shouts and cries were piercing through the clouds---so it took us a little longer than I had expected before we reached my apartment. I was too ashamed to look at her as we landed on the entrance and proceeded inside the house. With her in it, everything seemed more shabby and ugly than usual: the big crack on the left wall was suddenly way more apparent; the paper lanterns hanging at the ceiling looked dirty; the carpet was stained; books and boxes were spread on the floor everywhere and I wondered how it ever got so messy.
   --- Rustic, she said with a smile on the corner of her red lips.
   --- I... I'm sorry for the mess and... for the rest as a matter of fact, I stammered, trying to clean up as well as I could.
   She was walking around in the house and I just couldn't believe my eyes for a second: there was that girl, that beautiful girl and behind her, my apartment. It just didn't fit right in my mind. Yet, she was picking up objects, observing them and carefully replacing them back before moving on.
   --- I'm sorry I can't offer you anything to drink, I said, we're all out of water.
   --- You share this apartment?
   --- Yeah... but it's not that bad.
   I searched inside one of the many wooden crates under the work desk and pulled out a small box full of dusty bottles making lovely noise when they hit each other. She brought the only available chair in the middle of the room and I simply sat down on the floor, the box on my knees. I pulled out one bottle after the other and each time, her eyes widened a bit. I eventually got out a wonderful blue blown glass bottle and she just gasped in astonishment.
   --- How much are you selling this one? she immediately asked.
   I swallowed painfully and told her:
   --- I want nothing. You can have it, it's a gift.
   I knew that what she was willing to pay exceeded the price of my monthly rent but I just couldn't ask her money. She was too... too perfect.
   --- Surely I can give you something back, said she, almost nervously.
   She quickly looked around and I understood she meant paying if it could help me a little. We were in an awful financial situation and it showed, from our clothes to our apartment.
   I shook my head and she didn't insist. What she suggested after, though, changed my life for ever: I still don't know how I managed to avoid a heart attack when she said:
   --- You could be my personal bottle provider? You have such taste, I mean, all of your belongings are beautiful! It's incredible how you turn objects that we Angels find useless into near works of art.
   She pointed a device Mivelris and I had come up with to eliminate our space problem: an old bike wheel was hung at the ceiling horizontally, and we simply put our clothes to dry there, on hangers. Other than that, there were many hand-made decorations built from aluminium cans and colourful broken pieces of glass. You could say I lived in a friendly mess.
   I asked her is she wanted her bottle wrapped in something and I'm glad she said no because, well, I would've had to sacrifice one of my shirts---or Mivelris'---to do so.
   She shook my hand but just before exiting, a dark shadow covered the door and a familiar voice was heard.
   --- Saelius! Hey, you have to see this!
   That was my long-time friend Zhankiel who was making his entrance as loudly and impressively as usual. He did lower his voice, though, when he crossed Yui on her way out.
   --- Well, malkeb Yui, he said to her, a charming smile on his lips.
   --- Malkeb, Zhankiel, she answered, not quite warmly. Please excuse me, I have an important place to be. Than you for the bottle, Saelius, and I'll be back somewhere next week to discuss of our little deal. Shebvar!
   --- Shebvar... I said, even though she was already gone. That meant "goodbye", by the way.
   Zhankiel entered the house and I let myself fall in the suspended chair, in a state of trance.
   --- My, Saelius! he laughed, you know how to choose women!
   He brought a chair near me and sat down, that reckless grin glued on his face. Zhankiel had been my tutor at the Academy and we became friends, even if he was five years older than I was. He was a Seraphim Angel and one of the most powerful beings in the angelic Realm but that didn't keep him from hanging out with me on some occasions, even though I was at the bottom of the hierarchy.
   --- She hired me, Zhankiel, I mumbled while taking off my glasses. I'm a total loser and she hired me...
   --- I have to say, seeing her here was the most inconceivable thing I could have imagined.
   --- You know her?
   --- Of course I do! We both work at the Academy: I give courses and she's a representative of the Heaven Sky City Academy in the other cities of the Realm. She's a nasty one, trust me... wouldn't want to argue with her. But I wouldn't argue, tough, if she asked me to spend a night in her company.
   He mimicked a cat and I shook my head, smiling. It's true that he had everything to make this request possible: he possessed thin and intelligent emerald-green eyes bordered by thick, black eyelashes; his handsome face was covered by long locks of raven-black hair that reached the middle of his back. And if it wasn't enough, he was very tall, quite muscled and carried majestic black wings on his back, highlighted with hints of shimmering blue.
   --- I'm surprised you haven't already dragged her in your bedroom, I said. He laughed very loudly---as he always did---and retorted:
   --- It's not like if I haven't tried yet, he sighed. That's why she talks that harshly to me. She thinks I'm nothing more than a player.
   --- Well, isn't that what you are...?
   He didn't react at the moment and I was almost scared: when he was angry, Zhankiel could become a deadly destruction machine. He was the funniest and smartest guy you could find, but when he was in a bad mood, he looked like a demon, with his immense wings and his eyes burning wickedly. I didn't stand a chance beside his seven feet and two inches and plus, I was a lousy fighter.
   Fortunately, he only slapped me on the lap and started laughing.
   --- You only know me too well, Saelius! he snickered.
   He replaced the sleeves of his elegant, black silk shirt and got out a piece of rigid fabric, which was the angelic newspaper; every thirty hours, machines spread across the city, filled with fresh news and you only had to bring your last paper to one of those to get your old news replaced by more recent ones. Since we couldn't use paper that much, that system was very useful. And you got to chose which news you wanted to have printed on your paper, which did make a lot of sense.
   --- That's what I wanted to show you, said Zhankiel while pointing a big article on the top of the cloth.
   I read it quickly: Negotiations in Course in Paradise: Thrones Angels Demand Changes in Soul Administration. (Note: It's actually pronounced "Parah-diché" in angel language.)
   I was stunned at first and said:
   --- What's that all about? What are those "changes" they want? What is it to change?
   Zhankiel looked as puzzled as I was and I wondered why he was interested in such a story: those matters were futile to a Seraphim like himself and the way he kept staring at the paper with a frown worried me a bit.
   --- I don't know, he answered, a grave look on his face. But I went to Paradise a few days ago and something was changed... I don't know what but I definitely don't like it. Security has been tightened and I saw employees handling souls like if they were nothing more than worthless pieces of junk.
   Paradise was a huge floating warehouse for souls: once there, human spirits were put in storage for a certain amount of time---decided by a council---and rested in a blissful sleep. That was the so wanted "eternal life after death" which many religions praised. I very much disliked that place: Thrones Angels were stern and heavily trained; no one could get out of the fortress with a soul in hand.
   It was starting to be dark outside and I decided to light a few hyxémel blocks. Hyxémel was a magical phosphorescent substance that came in three forms: solid, liquid and gaseous. Compacted into blocks, it was activated by a special oil poured onto it and emitted a feeble light until it finally consumed itself, leaving only small crumbs. The liquid form was way more expensive but lasted longer and could be put into bottles or lamps of various sizes; the gaseous form was rarely used, except for fantasy lamps and costly decoration items.
   I got out the big rusty bottle of hyxémel oil and plunged the fist-size block into it before putting it back inside the round paper lantern. The room was soon filled with a warm yellow light.
   I still couldn't believe my meeting with Yui. She was filling every inch of my mind and I soon forgot everything about that Paradise issue. I was re-seeing her long, curly, fiery hair, the shape of her mouth, the way she moved her hips when walking, her slender neck...
   --- Hey, this is the sky calling Saelius! Wake up, you might have wet dreams, smirked Zhankiel. I blinked twice and told him to quit teasing me. Besides, there was not a chance she'd ever fall for a loser like me.
   Mivelris arrived afterwards and I realised how packed we now were in the house.
   --- Malkeb, Saelius, he said joyfully. And, well, malkeb to you too, Zhankiel, he moaned while hanging his hat on a hook.
   Those two never really liked each other but Zhankiel was smart enough not to answer to such remarks. He only kept staring at my roommate with evil eyes. But when the conversation switched to my meeting with Yui, both were on the same side: the one mocking me.
   --- And he was so shocked when I arrived that his wings were all floppy, said the Seraphim between two bursts of laughter.
   --- I can picture the scene, added Mivelris, taking off his shirt. Blimey, is it ever hot in here!
   I crossed my arms and waited for their conversation to wear out. They kept making up scenarios of wedding between me and Yui and the more I heard them talk, the more it hurt: it wasn't the little mockeries---they weren't evilly-intended---but I was realising how hollow my life was. I had no one to share my life with, my job brought me no satisfaction and I felt like I was going to stay a loser for the rest of my existence.
   --- I'm going out, I moaned, taking both of them by surprise.
   I grabbed my glasses and took off before having to answer questions. I just wanted to free my mind, to get away from that suffocating city. I knew that the city stopped for a few hours to recharge the invisibility and the floatation mechanisms so it left me enough time to visit the surface for a while. Flying at more than four kilometres above the ground was a thrilling feeling; I let myself drop for a few hundred metres before slowing up my descent to explore the surroundings. A luxurious tropical forest was spread out under my feet and I couldn't see its end. I landed in a little clearing and let myself fall on the thick and soft ground covered by leaves and humus, my wings opened on each side of my body. I closed my eyes, put my hands on the back of my head and let all of the noises of the forest fill me: a bird was singing on a regular note somewhere far away; a water source was running near with a soft lapping sound; the entire forest was filled with whispers and secrets, with distant rumours and hidden places.
   I was starting to feel a little better when I heard a cracking sound. I was also struck by a strange sensation; someone was watching me. I stood still for a moment, trying to figure out how any human could venture this far away in the wild and I eventually sat down, scanning the surroundings. What I saw was the last thing I expected.
   Perched on a tree branch, another Angel was staring at me. Normally, Angels didn't bother coming on the surface to relax but what surprised me the most was that he looked like no one I had seen before; he was about my age, if not a little older and dressed in a grey outfit---deprived from any decoration---which sleeves and pants were in shreds. I could distinguish every trait of his face even though he was in the shades of the leaves; he possessed a wild expression and eyes so evil it gave me a chill. On one side, his eyeball was light blue and his iris was of a bright orange; on the other, his eye was dark blue on yellow. Angels normally had their eyeballs in the same shades of their actual iris but he was just freaky.
   I took place in his staring contest, hoping he would cease his mockery but he never did. He had unevenly cut hair, dark blue with streaks of bright colours, a rather unusual mix in the Realm.
   --- Malkeb? I said, so unsure it must have been funny.
   No answer. He opened his large wings a bit and I was suddenly jealous. With wings like that, I'd be home right now with a dozen women. They were overly bright and colourful; he must've been a Seraphim, I thought.
   But suddenly, he took off and disappeared in the adjacent three, like a graceful tropical bird.
   I let go of a shout and flew off but once I was above the forest, I had lost traces of him.
   Intrigued and a little disappointed, I set ways for Heaven Sky City.

*****

   --- Never heard of someone like that, said Mivelris after I was done with my story.
   I sighed and continued brushing my wings, a more than necessary ritual for Angels. Mivelris left for school later on and when I saw the box of bottles under the desk, I sighed and closed my eyes.

© 2002 Tsuki