Azrael, being immortal, and having existed since the universe breathed its first breaths, has seen the world advance through the ages, seeing all of history take place, much of it firsthand. His stories and recounts are unending in volume, and in intrigue, taking place all over the world, and through all points in time. In his effort to record the lives and deaths of mortals, he has seen things that have never been recorded in history, with nobody else to remember and recount what happened. He's lived through the rise and fall of empires, knowing secrets granted only to loyal subjects, and revered brethren. He knows all languages, and he possesses knowledge of plots, blueprints, and other such perishable information, long since lost to time's atrophic clutches. Following will be a collection of memories from Azrael's experiences.
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Azrael floated above the small town, looking down at the inhabitants, preparing for another early winter’s night. He checked his watch, and his teeth clenched at what it reminded him. He hated what was about to happen. Humans were evil yes, but he believed they weren't born so. It was something that they learned through hardship and abuse. Children, he knew, were born innocent, with no knowledge of deceit, or hatred. He descended, invisible, until he was but 10 feet above the pavement. He looked down the avenue, past the silhouette of the buildings as the setting sun neared the last seconds of its decent, shining brilliant red and orange light across the sky and the ice, glittering on the sidewalk and roads. He looked again at his watch, sighing deeply. He hated this part of his job.
"4:21:43 P.M., January 18th, 2006, Lost Horizon Boulevard, McCall, Idaho. 8 years old. Female. Car. 4:21:48 P.M., January 18th, 2006, Sycamore Street, McCall, Idaho. 23, 25, and 19 years old. Females, all. Car."
He recited the statement out loud, hating every word of it. Disgusted, in more ways than one. He looked down to the street corner, and saw what he knew would be there. A young girl, a child, innocent, approaching the corner of the street. Her bag swung blissfully at her side, to and fro in her hand as she walked, humming a tuneless song that only she knew. Her bright green jacket buttoned wrong, and her red hair bouncing as she walked. He tensed, even before he heard the inevitable revving of a car as it skidded around the corner behind him. He knew what direction it was headed. He knew what would happen. His fists clenched, shaking at his sides. He heard every step the child took, crossing the street, oblivious. Heard every drunken hiccup, and slurred word as these women barreled toward her in their chariot of death. There were no brakes. There was no time. Just a sickening thud. As the body rolled over the top of the car, flipping, and falling limp onto the street. Broken.
The little girl's screams of fear pierced his ears. Screams of terrified worry for the man. The pain racked his body with convulsions as he lay there on the cold pavement. She ran to him, crying, with only a few scrapes to show for anything. She knelt down beside him and put her hands on his chest, and yelled for him.
"Mister, mister! Please, get up! Are you o-okay? Please mister, you gotta get up! Please Mister, don’t die! I don’t want you to die!"
Azrael coughed, flinching in pain as he did, raising his head to look at the little girl. He noticed the car, flaming and mangled, flattened against the brick wall across the street from them. The crackling fire being the only other sound than the girls gradually lessening sobbing. They were dead, he knew. But he cared not. He let THEM die. They were drunk. They were evil. They deserved this. But the little girl? He could not let her innocence be flattened by a twisted mass of burning steel and wheels. He smiled weakly at her.
"Are you all right, young girl? You gave me quite a fright when I saw you. I hope I didn’t shove you too hard."
"I'm fine Mister, thanks to you. Just a few cuts. But you’re hurt! Where did you come from? You saved my life! Come home with me, I can give you medicine, and you'll be better! And we can have dinner, and you can be my friend, and we'll play tea part-"
She started to grow teary eyed, and hysterical as she continued. And he knew why. She missed her father, whom he'd escorted just less than a year ago. He'd been killed in an accident at the plant he worked at, when a breaker box exploded, jolting him with enough electricity to stop his heart instantly, and enough heat and flame to burn the flesh from most of his body. It was a closed casket funeral, and as he looked down at the mourners, he felt worse for no one more than the little girl. After that, her mother had shut down. Ignoring the world she lived in, growing cold, and uncaring. This girl was alone. Desperately alone.
"Slow down. Breath, little one. I am all right. Listen, I'll tell you a secret if you promise not tell anyone else, okay?"
She nodded excitedly in agreement to this proposition. And he smiled a little too. Azrael sat up, slowly, his back cracking loudly as he twisted back into shape. His previous cuts and bruises were quickly disappearing, and the gash on his arm was closing at an inhuman pace too. She stared in awe at him, as he finally stood up, and held his hand out to the young girl, helping her up too.
"Let's leave before the police come, or this will be very awkward. Come, I'll walk you home to make sure nothing else happens to you, and to tell you my secret."
As they walked lazily through the winding streets towards the young girl’s house, the sirens of emergency vehicles fading in the distance, she bombarded him with questions. Questions about everything. His name, his home, his family. Where’d he’d come from, where he was going, what he did. Where had he come from when he saver her, how was he so fast, how was he all better. Azrael was in overwhelmed, but in awe of this child’s infallible innocence. She had no evil in her at all.
”Again, slow down. You ask many questions, child! I will answer your questions, but you have to give me the chance to!”
He said this with a warm tone, void of command, and not scolding. Even smiling to her.
”Now, as I’ve asked, you may tell nobody who or what I am. Or even what happened tonight, understood? I’ll take that excited nod as a ‘yes,’ haha. Well, my name is Azrael, and I am an angel. You may call me ‘Ray’ though, if you like.”
He waited in anticipated silence for the girls reaction. Her eyes widened, glittering with adoration, millions of new questions showing themselves in her gaze alone. But before she could ask, he placed his finger over her mouth, shushing her effectively. He smiled as he continued.
”Now, I’m not like other angels… I do not rule the heart, or the light. I am a different kind of angel. One who watches over all people, at their own times like… that. I am the angel of death… But do not fear me, please, for I am not evil. I saw you, crossing the street, and knew what would happen, for it was fate you would be hit by that car. And killed… But I could not let that happen. You have too much ahead of you, too much good in your heart! You’re a wonderful little girl, you know.
She listened, dumbfounded, as he spoke. Not watching where she was walking, she walked into a light post, and fell backwards. Rubbing her cheek, she asked him angrily:
”If you know what will happen, why didn’t you tell me about that!?”
Laughing heartily, he told her he thought it would be funny. They were nearing her house, and with it, their parting of ways. She looked to him expectantly, holding out her hand to cross the street to her driveway. As they set foot on the concrete he, again, shushed her before she could begin.
No, I cannot come inside, I am sorry. But there is no real place for me amongst mortals. I saved you because you were worth saving. Please, do not be sad to see me go, for I will watch over you. And we will meet again, one day. Remember, don’t tell anyone my secret. And be good, Isabella, don’t become like the others, stay true, stay innocent.”
As Azrael said her name, he released her hand, unfurling his black wings, and rose into the air. She watched on as he ascended further, perching atop a streetlamp. She was beginning to cry as she watched him.
”Oh, one more thing. Your father says that he loves you very much, and that he’s always with you. He says ‘I’ll be kissing you goodnight tonight, glowbug.’”
Her eyes shone as memories of her father calling her by his favorite nickname for her flooded fresh into her mind, and she waved both arms in goodbye. Azrael leaped into the air, and disappeared from the girl’s sight, though he was still there, watching her. He peered in through an upstairs window, and the doorway burst open as she flung herself onto her bed, swiftly clutching ahold of a very cartoonized plush animal resembling a glowbug, hugging it close, rocking from side to side, as she hummed the song her dad hummed when he tucked her in, the tuneless song that only he and she knew.
HIDDEN in plain sight is a modern-day supernatural noir game set in New York City and sprawling the rest of America. Magic is real, and so are angels, ghosts, gods, vampires, and witches. It doesn't matter if you believe in them, because they're coming for you either way.
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