Choa-Chan

You wake at the perfect time to the chirping of birds outside your balcony, it always seemed they began their twittering a couple of minutes before your alarm was due to go off.

Stretching your arms and small wings with a yawn, you sling your legs over the edge of the bed, urging yourself up to get ready for the day. You quickly shower and go through the motions of your morning routine before slipping into your work uniform.

They had provided you with a few sets on your first day of work. It was a simple white button-up shirt, tucked crisply into a dark grey pencil skirt. Other than that you had been free to choose your own shoes and accessories, within reason of course. You were still working in a professional environment and it was expected of you to maintain a composed and well-put-together appearance.

Yesterday hadn’t been the best of days for you after you had unintentionally bumped into (quite literally) one of the most important beings in the Great Hall.

But you were determined not to let that throw you off, just like Emily said, you had to continue giving it your best and it would all work out for you. It had to work out eventually right? After all, this was Heaven!

With a renewed enthusiastic outlook, you sprang down the stairs of your apartment building to the ground floor and began your short walk to work. You were glad to have been given an apartment so close to the Great Seraphim Hall, given the fact you weren’t yet able to conjure portals or fly as a newbie.

You push through the golden front doors of the building and climb the single set of stairs that led to the floor your office was situated on. Before you can enter your office door, Emily practically side-swipes you.

“Heyyy! Good morning, how are you!”

She’s cheery as ever, her optimism almost infectious.

“Hey Em” You laugh, feeling warmth in your chest at being close enough to the young Seraphim to use friendly nicknames with her.

“I’m pretty good, how about you?”

“I'm simply wonderful! I wanted to come get you first thing as I realised no one has officially shown you the mailroom yet, so I thought it’d be good to get that out of the way this morning. The room tends to get busy throughout the day”

She smiles sweetly at you.

“Oh yeah, sure! Sounds good -”

Not even a millisecond passes after the final syllable leaves your lips and she snatches your hand in hers, skipping through the corridors and back down to the ground floor with you in tow.

You reach the mailroom, a large marble archway marking the entrance. As you follow Emily inside your breath is taken away by the scale of the room, it's almost like something out of a fairytale.

The ceiling stretches up exceptionally high and has beautiful paintings covering it depicting angels dancing in a garden filled with lush foliage and vibrant flowers.

Seemingly endless golden shelves line nearly every inch of the walls, save for a few spaces where there were more marble archway entrances. They were lined above the one you had just entered through, 3 more stacked on top of each other all the way up to the ceiling.

That made sense, so the mail room was accessible from all main floor levels, which seems about right considering there were at least 4 stories between floor and ceiling in this room.

The only catch being you’d have to fly into the mailroom from any exit that wasn’t on the ground floor as those entrances held no floors or balconies of any type, they simply led to the open air of the room.

The room already had a few angels fluttering gracefully back and forth, collecting and depositing packages from various shelf levels. It almost seemed a somewhat antiquated process, you pondered what kind of system was in place to keep on top of where everything was in the massive room.

“All incoming mail goes on this side of the room, and outgoing on the other side” Emily turns her back to you and runs a delicate finger along one of the shelves as she speaks.

“It looks complicated at first but it’s easy to get the hang of, I promise”

How you were going to ‘get the hang’ of collecting or depositing anything on shelves above the ground floor level you weren’t so sure.

You absentmindedly take a few steps backwards as your eyes slowly wander all the way up to the very highest shelf, the sharp angle you hold your gaze at making your head spin with vertigo.

You suddenly gasp and abruptly stop as your back gently bumps into something soft and tall. Before you can process it or make another move, a familiar mask leans forward into your field of vision directly above your head, the face wearing a grin.

You yelp and jump away like you had touched hot lava and back up a good few steps. Before you stood the man from yesterday, the Adam. He’s leaning casually against the archway with his arms crossed while watching you.

“We’ve gotta stop meeting like this, babe” He quips and you blush hard.

His more gentle and teasing tone was at least better than the livid outburst you’d been on the receiving end of in your last encounter.

“I’m sorry!” You want to cringe at the way you practically squeak.

Emily has turned to you both now, a glint of warning in her eye directed at the first man.

“You’re here early, Adam” She says in an almost accusing tone.

“I work when I wanna, Em-ster. Today I just so happened to feel up for an early start, don’t get used it”

She scoffs but there is a small hint of amusement there.

“Well, since you’re here then it’d be great to officially introduce you to the new assistant that Sera and I informed you of”

She’d mentioned you to him? You wonder if that was before or after you knocked his drink all over him, the memory does nothing to help the blush on your cheeks.

She gives your back a small and reassuring touch, coxing you towards the intimidating man.

“This is Adam” She continues, although both of you knew you had already learnt his name.

You tentatively reach out a hand.

“It’s nice to meet you”

You force a smile, still a little shaken from the interaction you had with him yesterday. His yellow glowing eyes flicker down to your hand and you briefly worry he might leave you hanging.

But he breaks the awkward silence and reaches forward, grabbing your hand in his own gloved one. It practically swallowed yours whole, the size difference between the two of you was rather prominent.

He shakes it, albeit weakly.

“Sure, nice to meet ya, ‘assistant’”

There’s a patronising edge to the way he says your job title.

“What’s she even assisting with anyways?”

He directs the question to Emily but before she can answer his fingers suddenly tighten around yours and he reels you in closer to him.

“I’m sure I’ve got a few things I could use a hand with” He snickers and shoots you a suggestive wink.

You snatch your hand back, blush now burning hot, and stumble back a few steps again.

This...this is the first mortal man? It felt like you were being flirted with by a 20-year-old at a modern age bar, not like you were speaking with the most ancient human soul in all of Heaven.

“Adam, cut it out”

Emily’s tone is stern, but it also comes across as if she’s not at all surprised. Was he like this with everyone...or every female at least?

“She’s going to be helping with all sorts -”

The Seraphim continues casually, definitely not at all shocked at the man’s behaviour like you were.

Adam pushes off from the archway and begins stalking towards you in a slow, sauntering manner as Emily speaks.

“- like arranging meeting rooms, supporting with paperwork, organising people’s schedules...”

He’d begun to slowly circle behind you and Emily was in her own world, eyes cast off to the side and she lists through some of the tasks that you’d be doing.

You don’t dare turn to follow the man with your gaze, not wanting to look scared or defensive. However, that’s exactly how you feel when he has completely disappeared somewhere behind you.

“aannddd..” Emily taps a thoughtful finger to her lips, trying to think of anything else worth adding to answer the man’s question.

You squeak when hands are suddenly on your wings, tugging them outwards and forcing them to spread - putting your meagre wingspan on display.

“Collecting mail from shelves level 1 to 3?”

He asks mockingly, referencing your inability to fly or even reach up high while standing.

Although embarrassingly you see that looks about right when you glance over to the closest shelves to you, the third shelf would probably be just about reachable on your tiptoes.

You snatch your wings out of his grasp and spin to face him, backing up once again this time feeling more annoyed than fearful. Your face must’ve conveyed as much too, as the strange mask he was wearing morphs from an amused grin to a mocking pout.

“Awh did I ruffle the wittle baby’s teeny-tiny feathers?”

“What-…I am NOT a ‘baby’!”

You snap in disbelief at his belittling comment. The man rolls his eyes.

“Yea, right, and I’m not 10,000 years old. You got here, what, a week ago?”

You neither confirm nor deny, still staring him down with your fists balled up, trying to ignore the way ‘10,000 years old’ makes your stomach sink.

“Exactly, you’re a fuckin’ baby”

Before you can snap back again Emily interrupts.

“The word you’re looking for is ‘new’, Adam. She’s new and still settling in, so find it within your cold, dead heart to be nice”

You so badly wished you had the bravery to speak back to him the way Emily did, but you knew she outranked him and therefore had the privilege. Unlike you.

“Damn Em-ilicious, don’t go hurting my feelings like that babe. This is me being nice”

His eyes flick back to yours again.

“You’ll know when I’m not being nice”

You hate that he’d directed that sentence your way, it almost felt like a subtle warning and you can’t help but shrink and look away.

The violent mood swings you’d been through so far with this man gave you whiplash. From the livid outburst yesterday, to playful flirting, to mean taunting, to low-key threats...

You didn’t know how to keep up with it all, let alone what you’d done to deserve to be on the receiving end of it. A small voice at the back of your head perks up and reminds you what Emily had said yesterday, about how ‘Adam’s an asshole with everyone’. Maybe that was really just it, this was just how this guy was?

“Alright Adam, I think you’ve terrorised the girl enough for today. We have plenty of other things to be getting on with this morning” Emily seemed intent on ending the interaction much to your relief.

“Whatever you say, Em-sy” He comments nonchalantly and then presses his gaze your way again.

It’s only now you realise his mask is some kind of sleek screen, a very impressive one at that. The eyes and mouth on it were made up of dancing pixels that somehow morphed perfectly and without delay to convey whatever the face underneath was expressing.

“I’m sure I’ll be seeing you again soon, short-stuff”

He grins and winks once more before opening his huge golden wings, only requiring two powerful flaps to reach the highest-up exit of the mailroom. The power of the wind from his departure nearly knocked you down entirely.

You give it a moment to ensure he was definitely out of earshot before speaking.

“He uh…he sure does come up with a lot of unique nicknames, huh?” You turn to Emily, and she shoots you the most exasperated look ever.

“Oh don’t even get me STARTED. When I met him, I made the mistake of introducing myself and telling him he could call me ‘Em’…Ever since then it’s been nothing but Em-ster, Em-ilicious, Em-sy, Em-this, Em-that, UGH!”

You have to stifle a giggle at her outburst, it’s rather cute, although you feel sympathetic.

Something she had said causes your ears to perk up too.

“When you met him? Like, you weren’t around..before him? M-maybe that’s a stupid question, I don’t know – “ You nearly back out feeling incredibly uneducated.

She smiles sweetly as usual and shakes her head, a beckoning hand reaching to call you to walk with her as she leads you out of the mailroom.

“Not at all, always ask questions! We don’t expect you to get all this stuff right away of course”

You nod, following her lead through the hallways, unsure of your next destination but trusting her all the while.

“But yes, I am technically a couple-thousand years younger than Adam. Many Seraphim were around before him, before Earth, before it all. But not all Seraphim, some of us have come into divine creation since those times”

You nod again, head swimming with all this new knowledge.

“So, needless to say, I’ve been where you are right now. Learning all about Heaven and everything that comes with it...As well as learning how to handle Adam”

The fact that it almost seemed she was suggesting ‘learning all that encompasses Heaven’ and ‘learning how to deal with Adam’ were on the same level nearly made you burst out in disbelieving laughter. He certainly was...a character.

Before you realise it you and Emily had reached a door, one that looked different from the normal conference room doors. Emily entered first, holding it open for you to follow.

As you walk inside you see it's simply a large empty hall. Once again the ceiling is rather high, but the floor completely empty. The left wall of the hall was lined with a tall, continuous mirror that ran the entire wall length, the right side lined with grand, stained-glass windows.

There were many aspects of the Great Seraphim Hall that gave off almost magical qualities, it sometimes felt the rooms inside were impossibly endless for what the exterior architecture suggested…it would be a question for another day.

“This particular hall is used for a lot of things, but, I thought it’d be a great place to help you get a head start on portal training!”

Your eyes widen a touch.

“Like, I’m going to be making portals…’open’?”

You weren’t even sure of the correct terminology to use, it all felt so soon for this. But Emily puts your worry to rest.

“No no, you’re not going to be summoning portals, silly!”

Her words are entirely light-hearted.

“Just moving in and out of them. I know they only cover this briefly at the intro, that’s because most regular newbies don’t really need to know how to use portals so soon. They can ease into it over their first few years”

The young Seraphim guides you to the centre of the room.

“I’m afraid for you however, it’s going to quickly become a necessity, at least for you to be able to use the portals others summon for you!”

The girl gestures forward.

“Let’s start small”

She clicks her dainty fingers and you see two portals open in front of you, only a few feet between the both of them.

“Enter one, and you’ll exit the other. Simple! Go ahead and have a look”

You tentatively approach one of the portals, peering through you see the room you are in, but through the crackling frame of the portal. You shoot her a nervous look.

“It’s going to feel strange, always does at first. But the more you do it the easier it gets and the further you can travel via portal over time!”

You look back at the buzzing portal, it couldn’t be that hard right? You’d just step through and appear on the other side.

Without giving yourself time to think it through any further you shut your eyes and hunch your shoulders before jolting forward into the portal.

Your head suddenly spins and your balance felt as if the floor had been pulled from beneath you, your legs crumbled underneath you and opening your eyes felt like a mistake. The room was now spinning wildly as if you were completely drunk, nausea building in the pit of your stomach.

But distantly, you noticed you had landed on the outside of the other portal. You had officially popped your portal cherry. It felt like utter shit.

Warm hands were on your shoulders, they helped ground you.

“That’s it! You did it! I’ve seen people literally pass out cold from their first time portalling this early after their arrival!”

Her words aren’t entirely reassuring, considering she held back that info until after you’d hurtled headfirst through her portal.

“Tha…That fucking s-sucked…”

You admit honestly. Somewhere distantly you feel as though you hear her giggle.

“It’s okay, just breathe. It’ll pass”

And it does pass. The moment it does, she wants you to do it again. You’re much more reluctant now given your first experience, but she assures you the worst is past you. And she was right.

Your next couple of tries at portaling the same distance are far more tolerable.

Pleasant? No. But tolerable.

She begins widening the distance between portals and it challenges you, but you feel your body and mind adjusting each time. You spend the next good couple of hours practising this with her, finding the progress you’re making to be slow but satisfying.

Eventually she claps two hands together happily, signalling the end of your session.

“That’s enough for today! You’ve made great progress, it’s going to take some time before I’d suggest using any kind of long-distance portal, but you’re headed in the right direction! We can practise more over the coming weeks. But right now I’d say it's time to grab lunch”

She was right, it was just gone 12pm. Time had completely slipped by you in your portal practice.

“I’d love to come along with you, but I’m afraid I have some stuff to go and take care of!”

Emily flutters up on her wings after exiting the hall with you, and you smile reassuringly.

“No worries, I know my way to the Food Court by now!” You reassure her.

She reaches down from her position hovering in the air and takes both of your hands into hers affectionately.

“You’re doing great. I’ll see you later alright? And don’t hesitate to give me a shout if you need me, anytime”

“O-of course. Thank you, Emily” You reply earnestly, genuinely so glad for a kind being such as her to be here for you in this situation.

She smiles warmly once more before turning and fluttering away on her six wings.

You weren’t lying, you did know your way to the Food Court, however you hadn’t eaten there alone yet. Your first few days Emily had shadowed you throughout your entire shift, and the two of you had gone together to collect some food from the Food Court to bring back to your office.

You hadn’t admitted it, but yesterday when she wasn’t there with you the entire day, you skipped lunch, feeling nervous to venture too far without support.

However you knew you couldn’t keep this up. You had to get used to working here eventually. It was just nerve-racking as the Food Court was a bustling place, especially at lunch hour, the idea of going there alone made your stomach churn with nerves.

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