"Goodbye, father," Loki mutters. "I will see you again someday."
"In Valhalla," Odin says.
It has been a solid forty-eight hours since my last revelation, and I'm starting to get worried that my powers have somehow run dry. All I can think about is Raven, about what happened between us two nights prior.
Lust. Total attraction. A completion between us.
Whatever you want to call it, it shook me like no other revelation or experience had before. Now, I can't get the image of her supple, naked body out of my mind.
Since then, we have remained silent about it, but our fondling hands tell stories we never thought would come to light. To put it very bluntly, I used to be a deadbeat loser. I was a nobody that people threw cans at on the streets. But now, she makes me feel like I'm important.
Well, maybe I am.
Neither Lucifer nor the energy that governs the heavens above can take away what we shared. Even if my consciousness someday dies, moments in time are things that last forever. I'm grateful for that, but it also feels a little heavy.
We drive through the countryside and pass an old airfield. A worker looks in our direction, before going back to service the engine again. We move past that sight, heading toward the setting sun.
"What are you thinking about?" she asks me.
"You." I hate to admit it because it gives her the upper hand. In a way, I feel like it makes me look weak. But I'm not one to play games. From here on out, I want to be as honest as possible.
Of course, she isn't the only thing I'm thinking about, and she knows it. There's some huge fish to fry, and we still have very little intel to search with.
We keep our voices low, so only we can hear them.
"What else are you thinking about?" she asks.
I swallow and wish we could just lay together. Just for one more night.
"We have no idea where we're going," I say. "I can't imagine where the other two statues are. The more I think about it, the less I seem to know."
She nods and reaches for my thigh for comfort. "Plus, what the hell are we going to do when we get there? It's not like we know how to summon the angels," she says.
“Maybe there’s something else we need to find first,” I say.
She's right. They are not in their original form. They are just statues. Heavy, dense cement. The lowest of material form.
I have seen them in my visions. They were as tall as skyscrapers. Bigger, even. When they stood, their outer concrete shells cracked away, sending shards across the entire planet. The landscape shook, and everyone bowed their heads, sensing that the rapture was coming.
In that vision, souls exhumed from their graves. Families cowered together. The oceans became erratic, filling the globe with toxicity and garbage. Dying, buzzing insects covered the ground.
I faced Lucifer. Fire heated my cheek, and the angels formed a square around me. The final battle was about to commence, but...
That's when I'd wake up.
I used to fear the angels. I was convinced I would be judged for my own transgressions. I haven't exactly been a saint. Even the gods fuck up every now and then.
A part of me still wonders what they actually are. I mean, what faculties does an angel possess? If I'm a god, what does that make them? Do they think? Are they autonomous as I feel I am?
Can they experience love?
That's when it hits me. The distraction I helped create for Raven was for a reason. I reach into my pocket and feel the cold metal gun. My heart suddenly feels heavy. I'm going to have to use it, but I have no idea when. And the fact that Lucifer gave it to me doesn't make me feel any better.
My eyes widen. "I need to ask you an important question," I say.
I see her cheek indent where her teeth are biting. "Anything," she says.
"When I created that distraction inside your firm's building, you did something in your office. What exactly was it?" I ask.