I looked at Gabriel, saddened. He didn’t love me after all; he was fated to someone else. I didn’t want to ask him about her; I couldn’t bring myself to.
“And you were an Angel of Death?”
“Yes. There are nine different ranks of Angel, all of which are tasked with continuing to collect the pure energy of souls from Earth, but in different ways. Some Angels are messengers, visiting Earth and influencing mortals to make the right choices, to find their grace, so that when the time comes their energy is pure and an Angel of Death can collect it and move it across the dimensions,” he explained.
“What if a person’s soul is not pure? What if they are bad people?” I asked.
“If the soul is tainted, it is darkness, not light, that leaves a mortal’s body. Styclar-Plena was born from light, and light is what keeps all its inhabitants living a pure and beautiful existence. We have no use for dark souls. Their energy exists on the Earth until the scavengers appear and snatch it for the third dimension.” He raised his eyebrows, waiting for my reaction.
“The third dimension?” I stared back at him, bewildered.
“It is believed that Orifiel’s passing between the dimensions created rifts. The more that Angels moved between our world and this one, the more fissures formed, creating a passageway between Earth and another dimension which sits on the opposite side of our own. We call it the third dimension; mortals on Earth call it Hell. It’s from the third dimension that Pureblood Vampires have emerged.”
I tried to understand. “Did they already exist in … Hell?”
“We don’t fully understand how they came to exist. I was taught that when the dark souls left a human body, they would linger and then move toward an opening. Orifiel, during his investigations, followed one and watched as it levitated over a black crack in the atmosphere. He believed it to be a doorway to the third dimension. The more the Angels visited Earth, the more these cracks appeared. At first it didn’t seem to have an effect on anything, but during the time when so many Angel Descendants fell, Orifiel lost track of them on Earth. They were separated from Styclar-Plena and had become mortal, so they became lost. There were rumors that some of the fallen Angels had passed through the doorway, to the third dimension, but Orifiel couldn’t determine if that was the case.”
“But how could Angels, beings born out of light, exist in darkness? Wasn’t it the darkness that began killing your world in the first place?” I pressed.
“They were fallen. They had lost their light and gifts when they fell; they became mortal. But their souls were still created and born out of light. If they did move across, who knows what would have become of them. Soon after this, Orifiel learned of new creatures—terrifying, dark, and evil—which were crossing over to the second dimension and existing on Earth. The Arch Angels watched over them and observed them killing mortals using their fangs to bore into human flesh and drinking the blood until the mortals were empty. What was even more disturbing was that these humans didn’t release any light or dark energy, so it was as though these monsters were consuming their souls along with the blood.”
I shuddered as Gabriel continued.
“For a while, they were like savages. It was almost as though they had stumbled across the rifts and passed through to the second dimension. They were merely surviving here with no purpose or goal. But then they started creating Second Generation Vampires. They became ordered and collected. The Pureblood Vampires started building small armies of humans that they had infected with their venom and turned into Second Generation Vampires. The Purebloods sought good, clean souls; it seemed as though the venom worked in a superior way, changing the mortal not just into a Vampire with powers, strengths, and gifts of their own, but it made their external features enhanced and flawless. It made it easier for them to hunt and bring the mortals back for them to feed off or change as they saw fit.” Gabriel took a breath.
“So what you’re saying is that they target dark souls to feed from and pure souls to change?”
“It appears that way. They seem to survive on blood and the dark energy released from a tainted soul. Mortals who are pure take far better to the change when a Pureblood fills them with their venom. When they are changed they become connected to their Gualtiero, their Master,” he reminded me.
“And what of these scavengers?” I asked.
“It seems that more and more creatures are creeping into this dimension. The scavengers appear the same way we do, to collect the souls of humans who have died. Only they seek out dark souls.” Gabriel seemed riled at this idea.
“So basically, to ensure the survival of Styclar-Plena, your kind transfer light souls to fuel your own world. And in doing so have created cracks in these … dimensions, so that we now have evil penetrating Earth, and murdering human beings? And worse still, Angels know that for every doorway they open, more rifts occur and yet they still come?”
How could the inhabitants of Gabriel’s world be so careless?
“They didn’t do it intentionally, Lailah. But this dimension in itself is a hard place to live. While Earth has its beauties, it’s also so full of darkness. Styclar-Plena is a miracle, pure and excellent, where there is no such thing as suffering or pain. I could try to describe it to you, but I could never do justice to its magnificence. They deem the few lives of humans to be a worthwhile sacrifice for the many lives in Styclar-Plena, and for the world itself.” Gabriel’s eyes glazed over with a sense of longing. I wondered how much he missed his home.
“Let me into your memories, show me,” I pleaded, my eyes filling with tears.
“I can’t, Lai. Humans can never pass through the gateway to Styclar-Plena, they would lose their physical form the moment they touched it, and if they were a pure soul, would exist only as light. You’re immortal, but I don’t know exactly what you are. So for now, you can’t experience it in the same way that I can. If I showed you from my memories, I fear you would drift in and not return. I couldn’t risk it; I might lose you, only this time, not to the darkness, but to the light.”
I must have appeared crestfallen, so Gabriel attempted to compensate.
“Can you imagine the icebergs in the North Pole, with the sea that runs underneath so crisp and unspoiled, that it reflects everything that surrounds it? So still; no breeze, no movement. Perfect. You seem to breathe not air, but the taste of fresh fruit, crisp and refreshing, and it consumes you. Looking up, there is no sky; just a blanket of stars and moons, and worlds swirling against a clear film. If you can imagine that, then you are a thousandth of the way there.”