The Present
December 21, 2012 was called by many the Mayan Apocalypse, the date that the Long Count Calendar came to an end and it was purported to be the end of the 4th World in Mayan belief. The date passed largely unnoticed by humanity like any other day, there was no reckoning, no end to the world, no perceptible change in the reality everyone had come to know and the skeptics more or less collectible shrugged and moved on. No. Perceptible. Change.
Humanity may not have the ability to notice but its a brave new world. Just as the Maya predicted the first imperceptible death throws of the world have begun; Armageddon is upon them all and now in the shadows and fringes of the human world a war wages in secret that will determine the fate of their very souls.
Erie, PA
New York Times wrote:InterPol Indicates Violent Crime Rates Skyrocket World Wide
An older man sat in the booth next to the body that once belonged to a man named Daniel Milligan paging through a newspaper, the headline was clearly visible to the being occupying the body, at its size it would have been clearly visible from a hundred paces. He could see the man shake his head sadly and mumble to himself but the words were plain as day to his occupant, "The whole world's gone to shit." he said sadly.
Barakiel, the being that was wearing Daniel as a suit, frowned for a moment but then offered a comforting word, "It's not so bad really. These kinds of things happen, its just fallout from how desperate things are getting in some places. Before too long things will work themselves out, you'll see."
If Barakiel had anything to do with it there would be no more unnecessary violence for millennia to come and of course he also knew why crime had spiked so much, where darkness and chaos reign violence becomes commonplace and wars always have casualties, even hidden ones had body counts. The last few bites of the Grand Slam he had ordered went down his hosts throat to make its way down to his stomach, then he followed it with the remainder of his orange juice; he may be immortal but the body still needed fuel and rest to run properly. He didn't mind eating and drinking though since there were few things in the human world more pleasurable than food and he did not at all blame the fleshlings for devouring themselves into a fat stupor when they had to opportunity since he himself and ANGEL of the Celestial Choir, a being that was supposed to be above temptation, had to battle to avoid over indulging himself.
"I'm not so sure." the man replied back, "I can't recall these kind of crimes happening so often, and I lived through some lawless times."
Barakiel formed Daniel's mouth into what he hoped was not a patronizing smile and let some if his infectious positivity spill out into the room, "Tell you what, tell the waitress your coffee is on me, I'm sure that by the time you finish a cup or two everything will be just fine."
Pulling a couple of wadded bills from Daniel's pocket he placed them on the old man's table, he wasn't sure but he might have put nearly $10 down, not that he cared too much about the amount, the gesture was the important part, "Just make sure the waitress gets all the change, kay?" he said jovially and headed out, his own bill already paid.
"Well... um thanks stranger. What's your name?"
"That's not important." he answered back with a friendly tone, "Some people like to call me a guardian angel." the latter part followed by a conspiratorial wink before Barakiel left this Denny's behind, probably forever.