Oh wow hopefully she isn't in mega trouble for being an atheist.

"Hello, Isabella. I'm sorry you had to suffer such a thing. I am Daniel. Welcome to Heaven. I'm sure you have many questions. I will answer them, and then I will have a choice for you."

"Am I in mega trouble for being an atheist?"

"No."

"God is not all-powerful. Hell exists, and Demons exist, and they are truly terrible, and the message to believe, and repent, and give charity and kindness and love your neighbor and rejoice, is designed to bring peace and good things to the world. And to guide as many as possible who have decency and virtue within them to Heaven instead. Only the gravest and least repentant sinners go to Hell. Atheists, and those who believe in Islam, in Hinduism, or any other religion, do most often come to Heaven."

"Oh. Okay, that's... mostly good kind of I guess."

"All people have free will, and it is this free will that allows them to damn themselves if they truly refuse to be saved. 'Tis only the rarest souls that cannot be removed from evil's grasp. And of course the worlds outside of Heaven are filled with evils of their own."

"...Sorry. It's a lot to take in suddenly, isn't it? There's no hurry, so long as you don't enter the gates quite yet."

"Does there... come to be hurry, if I enter the gates?"

"No. Your choice is whether to enter the gates or not. If you do, you will live in Heaven, which is as vast and varied as anyone's imagination. You can meet any departed loved ones, and await your own to come in time. You will find all the joys of the world from food to literature and more, and few of the ills, certainly not injury nor disease. Charlie and Renee will both certainly enter Heaven, barring truly astronomically poor decisions on their parts. If you do not, you may become a mortal-born angel and be sent back into other worlds - not Earth, which is well sealed from both divine and malign influence. Neither angels nor demons can reach there. Other worlds, where you can suffer and be hurt again, in order to bring miracles. Unlike those of us born of Heaven, mortal-born angels can better comprehend the evils and ails of mortals, and the schemes of Demons, and better oppose or alleviate them. Of mortal-born angels we do not demand a state of perfect virtue, merely to make the world a better place however you can."

"That sounds... pretty cool probably... is it an either-or thing?"

"After living and working upon a world and departing it once more you may choose to relinquish the mantle of angel, but once entered the Gates, you cannot again leave until the last Demon is defeated and Hell is irrevocably and completely extinguished. It is fundamentally impossible for souls to leave the Gates, by will or by force or even by God's own hand, in order to deny Hell the chance to steal away and torture innocent victims."

"Is progress happening on that? How many worlds, how many demons, how much Hell, what's the trendline?"

"Well. We keep discovering more worlds in need of help. It seems unclear just how many truly exist. Some, the demons win, more, we bring to enough stability to seal from both sides, a victory. As for Hell itself, I know little except that the Demons are not united. Each pursues its own ends, sometimes opposed to each other."

"And you don't know how many demons there are? What happens to worlds where the demons win?"

"Such worlds become akin to Hells themselves, where cruelty and suffering is the norm. Societies fall apart or turn to empires of pure evil, as if out of exaggerated fantasy novels. But real. The greedy and selfish and cruel are tempted to ever greater greed and selfishness and cruelty. Senseless wars without end, slavery from birth to death in constant pain, and far worse. Thankfully, this is rare. Most worlds are sealed against demons, or still in contention, and only a bare few fall completely. Demons do this with possession of the unwary, with poisoned gifts of power that cause corruption of the mind, and with mundane ideas, lies, fears, and temptations. Some of the souls which Hell claims, we know, become Demons with terrible powers and without the capacity for redemption. There is nothing left but evil. They are more weapons than people. We have tried to redeem them, it does not work. The fate of the rest is unclear. There are perhaps on the order of billions of demons, though typically only a few thousands at most active in any single world. Hell seems to have some limit to how much it can intervene, much like Heaven does. I do not expect you to take all these worse as unvarnished truth without checking, but if you try to compromise with Demons everyone will regret it. Please be wary."

"Okay, so there are demons and there come to be more demons the same way there come to be more angels. How many people become angels?"

"In this at least we have the advantage; Heaven's power waxes, and the ability to create new angels is growing steadily. There are over 310 billion angels, a number which grows steadily. As for why you in particular were given this offer, I do not know. God chooses the mortals we offer to remake into mortal-born angels. About fifty million per year receive the offer across all worlds, and most of those decline it and enter the Gates. There is no shame or weakness in that either. All have earned their place in paraside."

"And he doesn't... say why?"

"He does not. Any guesses I could offer would be baseless speculation."

"How does he communicate these choices to you? Does he ever communicate anything else?"

"Some small number of us have trained in the crafting of angelic forms, and in making this very offer. When I set out to do so, I receive a revelation indicating where I need to be. God answers prayers in words only rarely, preferring to act by revelations to His angels. A revelation feels like a sudden realization, and an indescribable ... warmth, that is unmistakable and pleasant."

"And you don't know why this is the way he does things?"

"I think God is not the same kind of being as we, who see images and speak words. I think He sees futures and speaks feelings. I am a heaven-born angel, built to speak to mortals and their immortal souls, and I have equal difficulty understanding God and understanding your kind, at times."

"What's confusing about mortals to you?"

"For example, I cannot imagine why your first concern was being in trouble for being an atheist. It makes no sense at all. I know that mortals frequently experience worry, fear, anger, guilt, but... The causes of these things are mysteries to me. I have seen the same guilt over eating food and murder."

"And if I explain that to you will you be able to understand it?"