[Azure Kingdom]

As night falls unto the land of ice and snow, the kingdom in the sky gradually lightens up their own illumination inside their own establishment, as its citizens soon conquered the darkness itself in this dead of the night. Of course this only applies to the establishments inside the capital walls, for the villages outside of the capital's wall, they simply get by through the night by the use lamps and bonfire to lighten up the darkness itself.

It was not as if they were abandoned in their own tools to develop themselves, the hired workers of the kingdom were somewhat doing their best to share the light of the capital towards this small villages in order to accommodate everyone to an easier life during the night. Additionally despite this encroaching darkness around the villages, none of its residents were afraid of the dark, as they go merry in their own way and spend their merry time with their friends and family outdoor.

The reason for their behavior despite the darkness surrounding the villages and the threats of monster within the woods, was all because their safety were assured in the presence of angels patrolling and guarding the whole kingdom itself. With the increase of angels due to their involvement during the tribal war conflict, there were then too many angel residents within the capital, which caused a massive influx of resident and trafficking happening within the streets. Due to that in order to ease up the traffic, Asagi had issued a command to disperse the angels all over the kingdom in order to lessen the load in the capital itself. With that one can literally see angels no matter what area of the kingdom one will go.

Such atmosphere is literally the embodiment of peace. Unfortunately there were some people who often take for granted this peaceful land. One primary example is the incident which involved the Estia Kingdom. Due to their internal conflict, the Azure kingdom was caught in its incidents which heavily involved the queen of angels herself. Because of that the kingdom itself became noisy for quite awhile as the other three kingdoms had their eyes set towards them. After all the perpetrator for the incident haven't been caught yet, due to that a heavy search is still being conducted even to this day.

On the other hand, at this very moment on top of the bell tower that the church has built in the kingdom of angels to showcase their faith towards the people, Azrael is currently looking down at the capital itself from up high of the towers, as he kept his black wings in and observed the citizens that are roaming the streets.

Despite the cold snow and weather of the land, the citizens itself managed to adapt well in this changing environment as they go on their merry way with their own family. Of course one of the reason for this quick adaptation is due to the medicine given by the newly established pharmaceutical firm, but most of all it is due to the resilience of its citizens itself.

At first when Azrael learned that humans begun occupying the sacred land, he couldn't help b7ut voice out his objection and even dared to kick out the humans out of the kingdom of the queen he served. However the moment he even dared to cause trouble for the citizens itself, he was immediately hindered by all of the archangels in the room, which caused him to let out his own hostility.

But his own hostility soon died out, the moment Asagi proclaimed that she herself allowed their occupation. "A kingdom cannot function without its citizens" those were the words given to him by Asagi, even though he is still confused on why his queen is using humanly way of governing the kingdom, he then had no choice but to concede as he tried to be understanding and not antagonize the queen itself. However despite that, he is still skeptical with the ;presence of the humans to the point that he had zero connections towards them at all.

He just don't understand humans at all. At one point they are happy, the next thing they would be angry. They would be good, the next thing they would be sinners. They would act nice and just, the next thing they would act all corrupted from the inside. They would act brave and mighty, the next thing they would act all cowardly. For him humans are just a ball of complexity of the universe gather into one sentient body. Literally no one can understand them.

Due to their complexity, they were capable of sinning. They sin so much that they cant even recognize their sin as a sin at all. In their eyes they are all good, a perfect human being to the point that they believe that they cant even make the simplest of mistakes. Because of their complexity, they were able to defy God based on the bible over and over and over again. Even till the modern era back on earth, the world itself is ridden with sins that humans cant even recognize themselves.

Falsifying truths, believing evil is good, all for the sake of satisfying their own ego. This world itself isn't foreign to such complexity. As long as humans exist, this complexity would never disappear.

After having his fill of watching the complex humans on the ground, Azrael then slowly stood up, patted his black robe, and opened up his huge black wings before taking to flight in the dark starry night sky

Not long after he took flight away from the humans itself, he then soon arrived at the territory of the castle as he looked for an area devoid of humans. After all this castle itself housed a lot of humans themselves. There were human servants and guards all over the place, because of that he never took the front door itself and always leave the castle from his own room's balcony.

Not long after, he then soon found a huge open area, as he landed smoothly along the pathway of the garden that was always tended by the queen herself. The moment he landed, the flowers in the vicinity then swayed with the wind as some petals flew into the air which caused a majestic sight to behold under the bright moonlight from  above.

But just as he was about to take a single step, he then sensed a presence behind him as he turned his sight behind him and saw Sandalphon currently sitting on one of the chairs in the garden.

"What are you doing here, Sandalphon?"

"That should be my question Azrael, what brought you here?"

"....."

"Based from the direction where you came from, looks like you've been roaming the capital... so did your perspective change regarding the humans?"

"My... I don't know what you meant by it, how can you assume that i was observing the humans? Don't delude yourself"

"... It's not that hard to guess where you've just been Azrael, angels are forbidden to lie and that rules also applies to us.... don't enact such a forbidden thing unless necessary Azrael"

Hearing Sandalphon's words, Azrael thought of it for a bit, before he sigh and replied.

"Fine... I did observed the humans, but what does that have anything to do to you?"

In that moment just as he said those words, Uriel  then popped out of the darkness of the garden as he let his presence be known and answered Azrael's question.

"Nothing... whatever you do has nothing to do with us"

"...Then..."

"But it does something have to do with our queen... after all as you may know, our queen are quite fond with this mortal creatures" cuts off by Uriel

"The queen... I just cant understand her line of thought... well i do understand that citizens is necessary to run a kingdom's economy, but why humans out of all creatures? humans are sinful beings... there is a reason why their far most ancestors were kicked out of Eden.... does the queen wants to repeat the tragedy of the past?" asked by Azrael

"That will not happen" said by Uriel

"???"

"The humans in this world is different from the humans of earth... in this world despite having religion, there is no god in this world and the far most ancestors this world has started from eight humans, not two but eight"

In that moment, Azrael was shocked for a bit as he heard those words coming from Uriel. Putting aside the starting humans, Azrael was more shocked to the fact that there is no god in this world. Every living world has a god, that is the sole proof that the world is living and has life on its surface. So hearing a world with no god was such a shocker for him. After all based on his knowledge, a world with no god was equivalent to a world approaching apocalypse and will enter the age of chaos.

"No god? That's impossible! Then how can this world stay in tact? You should know that if a world doesn't have a god..."

"Then that world will enter the age of chaos, yeah i know! i know! i know" cuts off by Uriel

"But this world isn't quite simple... Instead of gods, this world has guardians similar or closer to a deity"

"Guardians? What are you talking about?" asked by Azrael as he looked between Sandalphon and Uriel

"... Don't look at me, this is the first time I've heard of this too" reacted by Sandalphon

"In fact there is a total of five guardians... excluding one who had died, there are 4 guardians that are still living till this day... based on what i had gathered, those four guardians are the ones responsible for keeping the balance of this world and surprisingly one of them is hiding within this cold lands in the north" explained by Uriel

"... I see... i understand that this... guardians are like proxy to a missing god... that much i can understand... but what des that have anything to do with the humans in this world?"

"Don't you get it? He's basically saying that the humans in this world is different" said by Sandalphon as she pointed out an obvious fact

"So?" reacted by Azrael

"....."

"!!!"

Seeing that both Sandalphon and Uriel were silent from his unexpected reaction,  Azrael then quickly followed up as he spoke out.

"Are you saying that just because they are different, that means that they cant make the same mistake? Don't delude yourselves... just because they're different, there is still a probability that they will make the same mistake just like they're alternate counterpart... the only reason why they feel different is because this world has no existing god... but think about it, what if there is an existing god? In this world our queen could very well be equivalent to a god of this world and her kingdom is Eden itself... with such scenario of a god and Eden, making the same mistake could potentially happen now that humans in this world has a god they could comparison with"

"!!!"

"....."

"If that ever happens our queen would suffer from a betrayal out of all things... she will witness the very people she is trying to protect, betray her and go against her wishes... do you want to see such a future?"

Hearing Azrael's words, both Uriel and Sandalphon has no words to refute as such future has a probability to happen no matter how small the percentage may be. There was no false in Azrael's words. It is known that humans are greedy creatures, just a little temptation is needed in order for them to bite back their own benefactors. Meaning despite the peaceful atmosphere the kingdom's exude, as long as there is any human within the capital that can be tempted by offers, then the probability of betrayal cant be ignored.

However despite knowing that, Asagi still chose to believe in them and accept the humans, just like how god back on earth accepts humans despite their sin.

In they're moment of silence, Azrael then turned his back on them as he started walking away after giving his peace. But before he could leave the garden, he then spoke out as he seemed to also think about what he had just said.

"But despite all my opinion regarding the humans... i will try my best to understand them just like how our queen tried to accept them... you may be right that they are different, but being different is not enough of a proof to say that they cant be lured to do the sin and betray our queens trust towards them.... nevertheless i will try to understand them"

As he left the garden, both Sandalphon and Uriel stayed silent for a bit as Azrael's words linger in their thoughts. But not soon after, Sandalphon snapped out of her daze, as she threw a rock towards Uriel's head.

"And why are you still standing there? Get out!!!"

"Huh?"

***ReadAtWebnovel***