Chapter 1 - Avatars

Chapter I: Avatars
Faith was faced with a choice. She could quit now, and face being hunted down, or she could assassinate this man and risk jail. Either way, her life sucked.
Faith was a teenage girl with dark brown hair, deep green eyes, and no money. Her mother was a crying heap after her father died, and now she just sat and wept. So it was left to Faith, an only child, to get money. She was desperate, but she knew she was not going to resort to prostitution, so the only choice she thought of was some sort of fast food-type place. But while she was there, a man in a red cloak walked up to her, looked her over, and before she said, “Can I take your order,” he grabbed her wrist and they were running. She later found out that she was picked to join into an elite group of assassins called Hell’s Children. Only catch was, if they pick you and you don’t join, you’d die. So, she had no choice but to accept.
And here she was, ready to kill a man she didn’t know so she herself wouldn’t die. Selfish, as always.
The Hell’s Children worked in strange ways. They didn’t use guns or any technology. The only weapons they allowed their assassins to use were swords, which made killing much harder. But, so were the ways of the Assassins of the Red Cloaks.
Faith was faced with a choice.
She made it.
She crept into the man’s house. Silent as the wind, she slipped past his dog into the bedroom. She raised her sword above her head, ready to decapitate the man. She swung down-
“STOP!”
Time stopped.
Appearing in front of Faith was the most beautiful woman she had ever seen. She was blond and wore a white robe...
And had wings.
“You do not belong here. Come with me,” she said in an almost-heavenly voice.
Just then, the Children broke through the door. They filed in, as the leader spoke.
“So, Archangel, we meet again,” he said.
“Satan. It’s been a long time. Ever since Penelope, I believe,” replied the winged woman.
“Yes. How is she?”
“How should I know? The Pantheon got to her.”
“Well, then since neither of us have an Avatar, why don’t I take this one, and you take the next? Deal?”
“Oh yes, of course, I’m just going to let her slice this man’s head off and go traipsing off to Hell with you, is that it? I don’t think so.” She turned to Faith and said, “Give me your hand, Faith, and we can go.” Dazed, Faith took hold of Archangel’s hand, and they took off.
By now, Faith was completely confused, and just went along for the ride. When they got to what looked like a place in the clouds, she just sat and stared.
“I know you must be very confused,” said the woman the Hell’s Children had called Archangel, “but I promise, I will answer any questions you want to ask.”
“Fine,” Faith said, “Then where the hell-
“DON’T SAY THAT!” Archangel bellowed.
“Ok...” Faith cowered, “Then where am I?”
“That I can answer,” Archangel replied, much calmer. “You are in Heaven.”
“Wait, so I’m dead?” Faith questioned.
“No, not really. I have taken you out of Life, made it so no one remembers you. You see, Faith, you are what we call an Avatar, an embodiment of spiritual energy. There are many like you, but they have all escaped, and neither Hell nor we can track them, because they have way too much spiritual energy to spot.
“Heaven and Hell have been fighting for you Avatars, because with that spiritual energy that is part of you, one side would gain the advantage in our constant fight. We don’t want you in Hell’s hands, and Hell wants you all to themselves. Unfortunately, all the other Avatars escaped both of us.”
“So, wait,” Faith said dazed, “I’m an Avatar-thing, and both Heaven and Hell want to use me as a spirit battery?”
“No!” Archangel cried. “Well... yes, I suppose we do.”
“Ok... Not that I’m disturbed by that or anything, but why would me killing that guy have hurt your chances of using me?”
“Well,” Archangel went on, “murder is a HUGE sin, as we all know. If you had killed that man, the demons would have killed you, and you would have gone to Hell. We couldn’t allow that to happen, so I stepped in.”
“But how would the demons know where I was? You said they can’t track me, and the only people who knew I was there were the Hell’s Children.”
“Think about it, Faith. Hell’s Children? They were all demons, led by Satan; to find Avatars and get them to commit murder so the demons could kill them and get them to Hell.”
“Ok. Let’s say I buy this, and this isn’t just a dream. Why should I help either of you?”
“Do you really want Hell to rule the world?” Archangel asked worriedly.
“Do I really want Heaven to rule the world?” Faith shot back.
“Well of course you do!”
“No, I don’t. I don’t want ANYONE ruling our world but us. Now, if you’ll kindly let me out of here and go back home, it’d be much appreciated.”
“I’m sorry, Faith, I can’t do that. I told you, I’ve taken you out of Life, and quite frankly, we need you here.”

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