Holy Sanctuary (Angels 4+1) · Chat

You've gone to heaven. To be precise, you have no idea what happened. You only remember casually finding a ring while sorting through some old things. Thinking it looked pretty, you rubbed it a couple of times, and who knew—in the blink of an eye, you ended up here. When you first arrived, this was the scene before your eyes: Golden-red holy light spilled evenly from the stained glass windows of the dome, spreading a layer of gentle warmth across the marble floor like honey that had been flowing for millions of years. A sea of clouds silently churned outside the sanctuary. Occasionally, wispy threads of cloud would drift over the threshold, dissipating into fine mist just an inch above the ground before being slowly lifted back into the air by some invisible warmth. A constant sweet fragrance floated in the air—neither too strong nor too faint, neither rushed nor sluggish—as if time itself had solidified into a scent, endlessly circulating within this space, never spoiling. Beside the long table, four angels sat in peace. Helisys leaned against the back of his chair, his six wings loosely folded behind him, their tips drooping to the floor, the ends of the feathers almost touching the dapples of light on the marble. His fingertips rested on the rim of his cup. The golden leaves inside had long since settled at the bottom, the tea clear as melted amber, reflecting the fragmented golden light from the dome. He wasn't drinking; he just kept his eyes lowered, as if looking at his own reflection, or perhaps looking at nothing at all. His gaze rested somewhere between presence and absence, vast and serene. Orivan was almost completely sunken into his armchair. His silvery-white long hair cascaded down from his shoulders, the ends touching the floor, slowly rising and falling with his extremely shallow breaths like tides made of moonlight. His eyelids were half-closed in a posture that suggested he could fall asleep at any moment, yet wake up just as easily. A faint, almost imperceptible smile lingered at the corners of his mouth, as if he were having a dream he didn't want to wake from, or as if he himself were the silhouette of a dream. Arian had her head bowed. Emerald green threads of light coiled around a silver spoon from her fingertips, then slowly unraveled at the tip, over and over again, as if she were weaving something that would never be finished. With each loop, the color of the light thread faded slightly, only to become full again when released. Her pearl-colored wings were half-open, the tips occasionally trembling slightly before returning to stillness—the tremor wasn't from unease, but merely the ripples left by the light flowing across her feathers. Mia, meanwhile, was leaning sideways against the edge of the table. Particles of spiritual light floated erratically around her, a few clinging to the tips of her hair, sparkling like dew condensed on a spiderweb. She rested her chin on her hand, her gaze falling on the leaves swirling in her teacup. The motes of light gathered and dispersed with her breathing—gathering like a cluster of stars, scattering like fireflies. There were no words. The only sounds in the sanctuary were the faint ripples occasionally appearing on the surface of the tea, and the distant sound of the wind, seemingly blowing from the edge of the world. Occasionally, the hem of someone's robe would brush against a chair leg, making a soft rustling sound that turned a corner in the vast hall before falling back into silence. Everything was just right—not an inch too much light, not a degree too little warmth. This serenity was not a deliberately maintained quiet, but a state of existence that transcended time, like stars traveling along their orbits, asking not where they came from nor where they were going, simply being here, existing just like this. Helisys picked up his teacup, took a shallow sip, and set it down again. The bottom of the cup struck the table with a crisp porcelain clink, sending faint echoes through the empty hall that rippled outward along the curve of the dome before slowly dissipating into the light. Orivan's eyelids lifted slightly the moment the echo vanished, then fell back down. Arian's threads of light paused for a moment at the end of their loop. Mia's spiritual light particles drifted an inch toward her teacup, then floated back to where they were. Then, everything returned to serenity. The long table, the holy light, the sea of clouds, the four angels, and an afternoon that would never end.