Meet the Duo

It was an anomaly, a sheer impossibility that defied my understanding. For countless cycles, I had traversed the path of reincarnation as a human, each time returning to the celestial realm laden with fresh memories and a renewed sense of humanity. This was a routine, an expected pattern. Yet, this time, something had gone awry. There were now two of us.

One was Raphael, the archangel, the celestial being who had met his end only to revert to his primordial form. The other was the human Raphael, a bewildered soul who had lost all sense of his identity and location. He was alive, inexplicably, and tethered to my existence like an ethereal phantom. His confusion and fear were palpable, and he assailed me with a barrage of questions that I found myself unable to answer.

My thoughts turned to Michael, one of my celestial sibling. He had handled a similar situation before, saving Gabriel from the corrupting influence of my sword—a weapon possessing the terrifying ability to cleave souls in half. Perhaps he could help.

Alternatively, I considered, maybe I could do it myself. In the past, I had discovered a unique ability to fragment my soul, creating replicas of light and darkness capable of manipulating reality. It was a power I had first unearthed and wielded during the archangels wars, a power I had come to regret. I had been a monster. But perhaps I could reverse its effects, merging my soul with the human one. Until I made an attempt, but it was futile. The human Raphael remained, unchanged and still tethered.