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?"

"I'm not sure. I didn't much understand previous explanations."

"I could give it a try, if we are not presently in a hurry."

"We can spare at least a day."

"Many religions on Earth teach that people who do not believe in them go to Hell. Do you have an understanding of it being reasonable to fear going to Hell if one thinks that's a plausible outcome?"

"Yes. Hell is the worst thing."

"And does it make sense that I did not have a way, in life, to distinguish confidently wrong claims about who goes to Hell from ones that happened to be accurate?"

"...Yes. Because Earth is sealed, and lies are prevalent even without Demons to spread them."

The angel Daniel is crying quietly now.

"So, having been an atheist, I was expecting to upon death have no experiences. When instead I had experiences, and indeed had specifically pearly gate and angel experiences, I thought: oh, at least some things said by people who believed in those things were true. But I didn't know which ones. And it could have, from my perspective, included the ones where I was about to be judged wanting and sent to Hell, for not being a believer in life."

"...You believed things because other people had believed them? Even though you thought they were wrong, before?"

"I considered guesses because they had been put forth by people who were then proven partially right. Like... if someone tells me that the plot of a particular rare book is that the character kills a monster, falls in love, travels to the moon, and then dies there, and somebody else told me that the main character instead tricks the monster, swears an oath of celibacy, travels to Atlantis, and lives happily ever after, but I didn't believe either of them because I thought the existence of the book was apocryphal, if I then discovered that the book existed after all, I'd be suddenly quite alert to the possibility that at least one of them got the plot right. They can't both be right, but it would be abruptly less surprising."

"But you could simply read the book, instead of abstractly reasoning about what it might contain."

"Right, that's what I'm doing now, metaphorically. But if I just saw that it existed, and hadn't yet had time to read it, the speculation would pass through my mind first."

"I don't think heaven-born angels do that."

"Don't speculate about things before you examine them? Wow."

"I can speculate about things by explicitly reasoning about them, but I do not do so by habit. I think I am missing something else. When you awoke and saw the Gates, you observed that they matched descriptions you had heard of Heaven. And from that, you concluded that you were likely at the Gates of Heaven in truth. And from that, you... Concluded that other people who had thought Heaven was real, had spoke truth in other things as well? Is that because observations had narrowed the range of possible worlds, and of the possible worlds that remained, more of them contained the fact that atheists go to Hell than before?"

"Mostly, but also, like - it indicated that the people who discussed those possibilities had contacted reality and weren't just repeating outright fiction."

"A re-evaluation of trustworthiness...? That seems difficult to do."

"Does it? Does this not come up for angels much, discovering that someone you thought was talking nonsense had a line on something worth knowing?"

"I know well that it is in the nature of mortals to make mistakes and on occasion to lie. I know also that some are more prone to this than others. It is very difficult to make an evaluation of a particular person's trustworthiness, if you cannot trust them fully by their nature, as heaven-born angels, or distrust them fully by their nature, as demons. You must carefully review all that you know of them for inconsistencies and lies, and even then some who had been loyal faithful for decades can suddenly fall to sin and betray and lie to their fellows. Even priests who had sworn sacred vows..."

"Wow. Okay, so, like, if you imagine - let's go with literal shades of gray, if angels are all-white and demons are all-black, no humans are going to be either, but if you get a look at a shade of grey in, literally, a new light, it'll look lighter or darker. Discovering that there was any truth to any religions made a bunch of different proponents of a bunch of different religions, all incompatible and all previously dismissed as very dark grey, look brighter."

"...I do not experience this. A shade of grey, to me, simply looks grey no matter what it is next to. I do not perceive the optical illusions that humans do. I see things with great clarity and wholeness. I could compare a shade of grey to the colors nearby and thereby judge it subjectively. But such thinking does not come naturally to me. It sounds as if, to you, it is as natural as breathing.

And I have noticed too that mortals do not oft see the future implications of a thing, the patterns that it forms. When I observe a mouse enter a chimney, I know immediately the immense confluence of things that has led to this, how the mouse acts according to its nature and is influenced by weather, other beasts, human action, and chance, and the myriad small or large changes it can bring, though which possible changes will actually come to pass requires careful analysis. I do not think that would be natural to you.

This, I believe, is why God had chosen to create mortal-born angels. That host had differing strengths and specialties, and differing failures and weaknesses, than the heaven-born."

"Huh. I think that is incredibly interesting and would love to study it more but do not know if it is the best use of the day. What does becoming an angel having been a human entail?"

"I describe to you at length the options for crafting an angelic form from the stuff of Heaven, and the tradeoffs therein. We discuss your needs and preferences and craft a set of choices to fulfill your new form. The major categories are World, Form, Foundation, Blessings, Relics, Vows, Miracles, and Welcomes."

"And there is definitely no communicating with Heaven at all if I want to leave the angel option open, I can't like, look in on my grandma, or anything, first?"

"The miracle of the Spirit can call back the departed to speak with you should they be willing. They are not truly present. It is merely, essentially, a video call. Such things are generally to be done sparingly, but it is no issue to reassure you in this case by calling back a few who you have some personal connection to. I know not how you would become certain of the truth given what I imagine you know now, however."

"I wasn't super close to my grandma but having the option is good and a video call suffices for what I meant to ask about. Later, when I know what to ask her. What else should I know?"

"There are many things you should know. Shall I begin with the worlds you might be sent to?"

"Please."

"There are four worlds where God had revealed to me that we might send you on your holy mission.

Virata, a world where magic flows freely, for better and worse. The people are varied and not merely human, and conflict comes often. Many demons and angels both are sent to this world, where all is more intense. Here, the existence of both demons and angels is publicly known, and only the greatest miracles might outshine the acts of powerful magic-users. It would be a chaotic place, and one where more kind souls are always needed.

Nocturna, a world much like Earth in some ways- Almost a mirror of it in the curious way that worlds do. The same great nations and technologies for the most part, and the same banal evils where murders occur over shoes or bombs are dropped by men behind screens. But magic runs through Nocturna, if weakly. Demons, vampires, the Fey, and other such things- Hidden but still dangerous. The light of Heaven can do much in such a world.

Astrata, where outer space is like the oceans in earlier centuries. To be crossed in weeks or months, but only by well-fitted ships, with many dangers lurking underneath the veil that such vessels pierce to leap beyond the speed of light. A place of warring empires, isolation turning to insular conflict and economic inequality. Computers here, can only work in a limited fashion due to the laws of physics that permit FTL travel. Angels are not wholly unknown here.

Abyssia, a strange world not arranged as a sphere in void but rather as a vast column, the shaft, which seems to go on for ever both up and down. It is surrounded by caves and chambers which oft contain self-regenerating resources as well as dangerous animals and even Demons waiting to pounce, which humanity did explore eagerly. A strange place, where travel is typically only one direction- Down. Why such a world exists I know not, but their souls call for aid just as loudly."

"Why don't people ever climb up, in Abyssia?"

"That was poorly phrased. My apologies. 'Typically', is not 'only'. It's much more difficult to go up than down, so people do it less, even to access unused space far above."

"What are the like, mission parameters, for an angel in each of these worlds?"

"Simply, to do good. To make the world a better place. Your judgement on what actions accomplish that best had been better than many of the heaven-born angels. Heal the sick. Oppose evil and injustice. Find and fight Demons. Bring joy to your chosen community. Defend the meek. Teach the willing. Offer sympathy to those who had suffered. And to be a vessel and guide for the miracles of Heaven, which are best worked through Angels incarnate directing them."

"Found my own prosperous empire to project force into pockets of demon influence?" she suggests.

"If you had great care in ensuring it is a kind and good place, and not merely another of those empires which use slavery and suffering as tools of power, that would certainly be a worthy mission."

"Oh, yeah, no slavery in my empire and a minimum of suffering. How limited are computers in Astrata?"

"Digital computers in Astrata are devices fit to fill a large room, and operated by skilled technicians in tasks such as telephone routing, engineering simulations, or stellar navigation. Though positronic technologies are well developed in other respects, with the creation of robots capable of simple tasks- More akin to trained animals than computers."

"Huh, so like, Asimov-ish?"

"These, unlike Asimov's, are not sapient. I had been interested at times in the debate as to what makes a being of moral import. Much ink had been spilled over it."

"Tell me about vampires and the fey?"

"In truth, Heaven's influence upon Nocturna is limited enough that the full vista is not visible to us. Vampires need not kill to survive, this much is clear, and the Fey are rule-bound, merely to rules that few understand."

"And the magic, there and Virata?"

"Tis centered around rituals and careful preparation for Nocturna, whereas Abyssia's magic lies closer to instinctual command than arcane calculation. Virata is veritably overflowing with magic, as many types as I could list and more. Even ordinary people use magic to cook, clean, and farm. The sole magic of Astrata is the works of Heaven and Hell upon it."

"Abyssia has magic? Like besides the caves refilling with resources?"

"Yes, but more akin to your Foundations and Blessings than active spells, which are akin to Miracles. These are passive effects that can be cultivated- Unusual strength, keenness of senses, or lightness of foot, or perhaps a preternatural ability to sense potential profit, or detect lies."

"Huh. Can I hear about the other stuff before I pick a world?"

"Of course. Any of your choices may be changed at any time until I have begun crafting your angelic form, should you accept. And you may yet change your mind and enter the Gates instead. Perhaps Vows next. All mortal-born angels must take at least one Vow. Any Vows you choose to take will grant you greater strength, and will be built into your new form such that you literally cannot break them. An anchor like this, a core of unbreakable law, is necessary for all the other properties of an angel to bloom from."

"That sounds awfully questionable. Can you give me some examples?"

"The vow of Honesty; You cannot communicate lies in any way. You can still imply untruths and withhold certain facts, or refuse to speak on a matter. The vow of Honor; You cannot deliberately harm a being that is not aware you mean to hurt them, without a warning, not even Demons. The vow of Compassion; You cannot inflict pain for the sake of inflicting pain. If the pain serves a purpose, it does not violate this vow. There are more."

"There are people going around calling themselves angels who inflict pain for the sake of it??"

"'Tis rare, and those mortal-born angels who make the world a worse place find their powers fading rapidly, and soon enough an end. Should that happen, they are not offered incarnation again, merely the mercy of entering the Gates."

"Okay, well, I will tentatively take a vow to not torture people for no reason - I guess as worded it'd apply to animals but I don't want to torture animals for no reason either."

"I think you misunderstand. Torturing people for a reason is also forbidden. It is things like causing pain during surgery or battle that are not forbidden, so long as it is not an excess or an excuse."

"So when you said if it serves a purpose, you meant if it's an unavoidable side effect."

"Yes. Should I be using examples more often? Shooting a deer with an arrow is acceptable, if you wish to eat it. Laying mouse traps is acceptable, if you wish to be rid of vermin. Shocking a person briefly as a warning is acceptable, if they need warning, but not if it is simply for amusement. You may yet lay traps that might cause pain, so long as they will not cause excessive suffering. One notable example I recall as close to the limit of the vow was when a mortal-born angel who had sworn such a Vow demanded a painful trial as a display of sincerity. Since it was something entered into willingly, this did not violate the Vow."

"More examples is good, yeah. Willingness matters? And being a person matters, presumably, I'd assume that if I wanted to eat a human and shot them this would be a violation."

"Willingness matters. Shooting a person because you wanted to eat them would not be a violation of the Vow of Compassion, so long as you did your best to inflict as little pain as possible in the process. However, it would be evil and you would lose much of Heaven's favor."

"I don't want to eat a person, I'm just sounding out the edges of the vow. But torturing people for, say, information, that's a no go?"

"Correct. That is not happening to cause pain as part of some other process, it is causing pain in order to achieve a goal. Torturing people in service to other goals, such as to gain the trust of evil people for infiltration purposes, would also be a violation. Continuing to fight someone who is experiencing tortuous pain but refuses to surrender, would not be a violation. If they are still trying to attack in any way, that is. Continuing to fight someone who has become helpless would."

"Okay. Still sounds plausibly acceptable but I'd like to hear a few more example vows."

"The vows of Honesty and Honor I had already described briefly.

The vow of Fidelity forbids you from breaking more ordinary vows and promises you had made, or swearing to lies when making statements about the present. Anyone who hears you make such a vow will know of the fact that you are bound to it. If you had vowed to save someone's life without any caveat, you would be made to do so even should it gravely risk your own. Whereas if you had vowed to make a sincere attempt aid, you would be able to retreat if the situation is dire. If you had vowed to accept surrenders, you would be unable to kill those who do in fact surrender to you, and be bound to prevent others from harming them, depending on your own internal understanding of 'surrender' at the time of vowing. It is oft better to leave caveats and end clauses in such vows. You may be released from any promises by the one you had sworn to.

The vow of Diligence commands you to always spend a good portion of your time on some productive enterprise or to self-improvement, in some way. This would be an average of at least two hours of effort per day, save for the Sabbath day, on which you may rest. Anything you feel that is somehow useful to anyone other than yourself counts as a productive enterprise, no matter how grand or humble- From a minimum wage job to administration of an empire. Practicing a hobby of model railway building for your own self might not, but if you mean to donate or sell said models, it yet might. You might arrange vacations in the form of a lack of other work and self-improvement exercises that are entertaining or relaxing, such as reading enlightening books, practicing art or sports with sincere effort, or similar."

"The diligence one sounds... like I could do it ninety nine percent of the time and would really hate to be stuck with it the other one percent."

"I'm afraid I do not understand. I am not sure if I should, if my guidance is lacking for it."

"Is there any advantage to having lots of these or should I just pick one?"

"They each come with a subtle boon of their own, and each grants you more capacity to channel miracles of greater variety. The miracles you are capable of calling must be decided before your arrival, as the structures to attend to them will be built into your angelic form. There are two ways to attain additional miracles to be capable of- Additional vows, and drawing down the amount of energy devoted to your foundation or blessings. Such things are not one to one. As Vows, compassion and honesty and diligence are equal, while honor is somewhat stronger, fidelity somewhat lesser. There are many possible vows I have not yet mentioned as well. Access to the miracle of healing costs the same as the vow of fidelity, while the miracle of the Sun costs the same as compassion or honesty or diligence."

"The design of these powers is complex and much better minded to the minds of the heaven-born than yours, I believe. They are aligned into stable forms that use less virtuous capacity, for miracles, or grant somewhat more for Vows. I could put specific numbers on them to aid your planning, if you wish. Their current forms are highly optimized, but adjustments to them may be possible at a cost, depending on what you desire."

"Separately to the variety of miracles which you might command, Heaven may only grant so many miracles in a given time. They are worked with both your direction and presence to channel them, and the usage of Heaven's, I suppose, intervention budget, a limit to how much we might affect a world at a time. Sometimes, too, with the attention of the heaven-born angels to attend to the details of their implementation. The frequency with which you might call upon miracles depends on a measure which you might think of as Heaven's favor, and depends both on how well you have used miracles in the past and your own virtue and influence on the world. In dire and urgent circumstances this idea of favor might be waved aside for a time. Such as if you face a terrible demon before you are ready, or you must act immediately to prevent the outbreak of a terrible war or some other great tragedy. In such a case, you should pray for the miracle, minding well why it is so urgent."

"Numbers might be helpful, or like, notepaper for me or something, I didn't really follow that."

"I will return shortly with writing equipment."

Daniel stands up, takes off seemingly effortlessly, and wings away towards the gates in the distance.

He's gone for a good while. At least fifteen minutes.

Is there... anything to do here besides look at the pretty gates.

Some of the trees and bushes are heavy with ripe fruit. The stream is warm and inviting. There's a lot more pretty landscape than just the gates and the shining city beyond them, it's just by far the most eye-catching. And she can see some other people down below, each walking towards the gates, and other angels flying high above.

She's gonna take a fruit.

It's delicious.

It's good that they have some amenities out here in the not-in-heaven-yet section.

Is she like, wearing clothes, come to think.

Yep, jeans and a T-shirt. No shoes. She also doesn't really feel hungry or sore at all.

Is she full or just not hungry?

She's just not hungry.

Good, she has room for more fruit. She will keep time while the angel is gone by seeing how many kinds she has time to try.

There's lots and lots of kinds. Some down the walk a bit, or along another less obvious path. She doesn't trip or stumble once. She does eventually start to feel kind of full. Pleasantly full, not bloated.

This is about when Daniel comes back, bringing with him a wooden table shrunk to the size of his palm. He sets it down and watches it expand, complete with chair and ball-point pens and a small stack of notebooks.

"- oh, that's a neat trick." She takes a seat and a notebook. "Explain the thing about how much stuff costs, with numbers, please?"

"You have an allotment of heavenly energy, quintessence, with which I shall craft your angelic form. Quintessence is used for your foundation - grace, speed, strength, blessings - water breathing, additional senses, esoteric defenses, and form - the design of your wings and halo. You must swear at least one vow, and swearing vows gains you virtue. Virtue is used to grant you the capacity to channel varieties of miracle. One quintessence can serve as one virtue, and two virtue can serve as one quintessence. You have forty quintessence, and zero virtue to begin with. The vow of fidelity grants two virtue. Compassion, Honesty, Diligence- Three apiece. Honor, four. The miracle of healing costs two virtue, the miracle of the Sun costs three, the miracle of resurrection four, and so on. The grandest miracle available is Repudiation, to reject and nullify the magical properties of a foe or other subject. Costing six virtue to access, and moderate favor to use, though an immense amount to extend it for longer than the span of a few hundred heartbeats."

"So an angel uses quintessence to be a - being, and virtue to have abilities on top of that, and favor to... stay an angel? Fuel the abilities?"

"Not quite, a subtle distinction. Quintessence is used to be a being that has properties, yes, and virtue to have active abilities: Miracles. Quintessence and virtue are relatively fixed. Favor is accumulated, and used specifically to channel miracles. If you act with evil you stop or slow accumulation of favor. Separately, if you act with great evil for an extended time, sufficient to stop gaining favor entirely and continuing well beyond, your abilities will slowly fade and eventually you will perish of this, finding yourself at the gates once more."

"So virtue gets me more spells, as it were, and favor is like mana and I get it by being good in an ongoing way. Uh, what's the working definition of being good?"

"Indulge not overmuch in sins such as lying, wrath, gluttony, or lust; Bring joy to others in all its myriad forms; Show compassion and forgiveness; Defend the innocent; Forgive those who have harmed you and turn the other cheek, so long as they had repented; Be patient and kind and generous; Hold to your Vows and test not their limits; Pray or meditate carefully on the right thing to do and do not deceive yourself that all you might do is righteous; Show temperance and judgement, not reckless abandon; Love thy neighbors and seek their fulfillment and comfort and safety and happiness."

"What counts as indulging overmuch in gluttony or lust? What is the process for doing prayer?"

"It is not a clean line. Overindulging is when a matter begins to swell into other aspects of life and induce other sins. When it causes problems, rather than happiness. If you spent so much time on prurient interests as to avoid work, or acted callously or cruelly to others in flirting, romance, and sex as a result of your desires, that would be overindulging in lust. If you ate lavish meals and consumed drugs often or always sought novel trinkets, and the expense prevented you from charity or caused you to act in haste and greed in order to sustain such things, say by raising taxes or stealing, that would be overindulging in gluttony. All things in moderation; It is not a sin to not give away everything you have, or to enjoy pleasures of the flesh, but it is a sin to fail to give charity when you could easily spare it, or to allow pursuit of pleasure to make you harm others."

"But having a nice dinner like once a week and getting myself a nice birthday present is okay?"

"Those things would be okay in most scenarios I think you are imagining."

"Okay. - how does the Sabbath day thing work in worlds without Earthlike astronomy."

"In such a case you may choose some other sign to mark the passage of days and weeks."

"Do angels sleep?"

"Most do, but an enhancement of the Foundation of Endurance can obviate this. Five hours a night- One quintessence. Eight hours per week, three. Naught but an hour a year, five. This same Foundation does insulate you from fatigue of the body as well of the mind."

"Does all my quintessence come from vows or is there some I get for free?"

"You have an allotment of thirty quintessence before making any vows. Your wings and halo, unless you should choose to forego them, will require five."

"Are halos useful?"

"When you let a halo shine, it imparts a small measure of Heaven into the world; Effects subtle yet real, soothing pains, promoting health and growth, pushing back the influence of Demons, tempers calm and anguish softens, and grime and filth sublimate away. All these things are slow and subtle, such that they might be missed entirely if one is not carefully looking for them- Save for the effect on Demons, which is both potent and immediate. Someone who is cursed or possessed by a Demon will see their clear-headedness return under your halo's glow."

"- temper calming and anger softening sounds slightly mind-controlly?"

Headtilt. "How would you define 'mind controlly'?"

"- affecting people's thoughts, beliefs, and moods in ways other than just directly altering the stuff that their sensorium presents to them, and maybe particularly hostile sensorium-stuff alteration? As a first pass."

"I take it you are opposed to doing so, and to having so done unto you. Heaven's light had fallen upon you even now; And now I shall withdraw you from it, having been made aware of this concern."

Daniel stands and picks up rocks and pebbles from the ground, before throwing them and having them form into a tall grey wall that blocks the spectacular light of the Gates, leaving her in a tall shadow. Then they raise their hands in prayer and the shadow darkens deeply. 

"Stand within the shadow and you shall no longer be affected by Heaven's light, which is the same light that an Angel's halo shines. I know not how to fully describe the effects of the light. It is not a direct influence on the workings of the mind; All mortals have free will, and Heaven cannot remove this entirely in any circumstance. It is light, and it operates on the sensorium of both body and soul. It is comfort and ease and peace and life. It is, before all else, the message that things can be okay."

It doesn't really feel any different. Less warm, maybe.

She tries it. "Well, it's not... very noticeable mind control, at least... are there other things that affect the senses of the soul?"

"Yours upon others- The blessings of the Golden Tongue, of Normality, of Aholibah, and of the Angelic Gift. So too, the miracles of the Meek, of Revelation, Repudiation, Prophesy, Peace, Love, Empathy, and the Spirit."

"Alterations to your own soul-sense- The blessings of the Golden Tongue again, the Soul Eye, of Patience, of Babel and Dolittle, of the Beryl Wheel, of Mercury, of the Psyche, and many of the Vows. So too, each and every miracle thou might claim, to greater and lesser degrees."

"I meant like, normal things that normal people experience in everyday life without having a halo shone on them, so that I could have a point of comparison."

"Dreams. Pride and joy and appreciation. Music, stories, sex, dancing, and being with family. The feeling of awe at a grand landscape or parade or wonder of science or artifice is largely located within the soul."

"Okay. Would it be accurate to say that the halo sheds, uh, soul-warmth but does not take control of the soul's interpretation of that warmth or other inputs at all?"

"Aside from literal light as well as metaphorical light, yes. There is not really a direction to it. To use an analogy, it is a soul lightbulb, not a soul laser."

"Okay, that seems plausibly like not mind control and it would certainly be useful to glow demonic possession away."

"Some of the effects Angels can gain access to might be described as mind control, as I had mentioned while being confused, but the halo itself is indeed as described."

"Will I likely be working with lots of other angels?"

"If you had chosen Virata, most certainly, depending on what tasks you take onto yourself and where you go. There is a great number of angels and demons both upon Virata, over a thousand, mortal born and heaven born both. The other worlds, perhaps not as often. Some dozens."

"Do I get any advance information on who they are and what they're like to inform my world decision?"

"Many of them do not wish to be known to others of their kind but I might describe Sosiel, who lives upon Virata and dwells within a great temple, healing and feeding all who come, and Marten White also of Virata, who had taken upon himself to conquer evils and pursue demons to the ends of the world and always seeks new angels to ally with in this quest. He is violent, but the lash is focused against evil and has led to more good than evil. I had been instructed to offer you an introduction to one of a few faithful in each world, not angels but devout mortals, to become a guide and hopefully an ally."

"That's very thoughtful of you. Okay, tentatively Vow of Compassion and maybe also Honesty if I need the extra virtue and like how the edge cases shake out. What's next?"

"There are further vows you might be willing to take, I shall list them briefly in case any sound appealing. The vows of Humility, Faith, Chastity, Mercy, or Charity. Then, next is your halo and wings. The halo can be a hoop like mine, a solar disk which glows about your head, a glowing of light about your person rather than a more defined form, or a physical object that hovers near you and cannot be hidden easily, but the glow can still be called and dismissed. Or you can forego it. Halos cost three quintessence, save the physical version, which costs one. Wings, should you desire them, cost two quintessence, and can come in a fairly staggering variety. They are magical, and will permit you to fly with the same effort that jogging takes, and can be enhanced in various ways."

"I don't... actually know how much effort jogging takes, because I was dyspraxic in life."

"I think you would not be so, here before the Gates."

"That's great but I still don't have experience with jogging."

"You could attempt it now."

"Yeah, I guess." She goes for a jog through the orchard.

She gets a little out of breath, and doesn't trip. Jogging isn't much more strenuous than light yoga.

"Okay. Do angels build stamina like humans do?"

"No. Angels' bodies are largely fixed. The Foundation of Endurance would boost your physical stamina greatly, and even without such it would be slightly greater than your existence here as a new arrival."

"Gotcha. Okay. I am interested in hearing more about the vows of mercy, charity, and - is chastity just never having sex or is it more complicated?"

"It is not having sex outside of a committed relationship. Not marriage necessarily, but someone you would describe as a serious romantic partner. There is a more restrictive version worth double that is just never having sex."

"I am only seventeen but I think I am not the casual sex type... if I go through several worlds is there any realistic prospect of like, keeping, somebody I marry?"

Daniel folds his hands and prays.

"...The Foundation of Heritage is designed such that your closest loved ones and progeny might be akin to Angels as well, granting them longevity and many of your own powers. When angels or mortals perish, they each and every one come before the Gates. You could meet them again in Heaven, or, were you both virtuous and worthy, pray to be made mortal-born angels and sent unto another world once again, together. I do not think this is a guarantee, merely a possibility."

"That makes getting married as an eternal being much less appealing."

"I can see why it might."

"I'll... think about it. Mercy and charity?"

"Mercy: You may not intentionally kill, nor risk a great chance of death by your actions of, any sapient being. This restriction does not apply to Demons, but does apply to people that Demons are possessing. Examples: If you are in battle and see a deadly blow coming for an ally that you could block, you do not have to block it. If you see someone falling to their death, you need not rescue them. If you are facing a man threatening to kill a hostage, you may not act in ways that might incite him, but may act if you sincerely believe you have a great chance of preventing death. If you see a way to kill a Demon but it might also strike your ally and kill them, you may not attack. This Vow comes also with an instinct for turning what would be lethal attacks to nonlethal ones, and knowing when your attack would kill instead."

"Charity: You may not accumulate wealth. You may personally be no wealthier than the median person in your region, kingdom, or empire. Anything in excess must be donated to charity in one way or another, and not in ways that come to directly benefit you again. Donating to a charity that pays you well, no. This does not include state budgets, merely what you use for your personal self or award yourself. I am finding it difficult to think of examples."

"- I could imagine folding quite a lot into a state budget, basically anything making it easier to do my job, as long as I steered clear of making gold statues of myself or whatever?"

"Items directly related to the work, such as limousines or a starship to travel on business with, state dinners at which important diplomacy occurs, a luxurious office within which governance is laid down, could fall under such an umbrella. Practical equipment, even if expensive, is fine, and using such equipment outside of work is also fine. A large home, personal entertainment, elaborate vacations, and suchlike is not."

"I'm probably up for taking that one if I wind up in a world with a decent median standard of living but I don't want to wind up without plumbing or something. Does mercy rule out, uh, a lot of state level actions, such as declaring and following through on a retaliatory policy for actions by neighbors that might involve lethal violence, or tolerating a non-zero rate of deaths among people I'm having arrested for disseminating demonic propaganda, or something?"

"Enacting laws that carry the penalty of death, knowing that they must be enforced, is an action which violates the Vow of Mercy. Enacting laws that you know will cause some deaths by accident or incidentally is not necessarily so, provided you do your best to reduce the risk of death caused by enforcement."

"And if I'm like, uh, 'if you violate that treaty banning bioweapons my empire will conquer you'...?"

"Threatening war would not, but actually following through on a threatened war would almost certainly violate the Vow of Mercy. It seems like it would be difficult to lead a state with such a vow."

"Rats. Are there like... custom vows ever? Or did God hand down some umpteen years ago and this is how they are for everyone always?"

"The standard set of vows are optimized. Custom vows give far less virtue or are more restrictive in several ways in exchange for being less restrictive in one particular way."

"Can you give me an example?"

"A variant of the Vow of Mercy which prevents thou only from directly killing and permits causing indirect deaths so long as they are not done of malice, would permit a nation you lead to levy the death penalty and wage war. However, it would apply also to most animals, still require you to take reasonable steps to minimize death, and would provide two Virtue instead of five. It would, like the first, not apply to Demons."

"Honestly I'm sort of puzzled about the morality of killing given that virtually everybody gets to walk through the gates and hang out in paradise forever."

"Not all consider death an evil, but God does. My own conclusions on this matter include that killing when ye had known the fate that awaits in Heaven is perhaps less evil than had ye not known, but the harms are not small. It is a traumatic thing yet, a forceful displacement to another world and a robbery of the potential life that could have been built. Also, Heaven awaits not everybody. The overwhelming majority, but not everybody."

"Is there a way to tell in advance?"

"Not for certain. To use examples, I had seen a slave who had loathed their masters direly and arranged to poison the whole house from babe to elder enter the Gates, for they were driven to it in pain and desperation, and had regretted it even as they committed. I had seen a soldier, seen as a hero of his nation, be condemned to Hell for his delight in cruelties and torture, who even to the end only relished the power of violence. I had seen a mass murderer who had killed dozens, but yet held a glimmer of regret and in the end did not resist when the authorities found and slew him in turn, and he came to the Gates. It takes true and unrepentant evil to go to Hell."

"What is the - process - by which this true and unrepentant evil is discerned and judged? Presumably it's not God doing it if he wants Hell to stop being a thing."

"I don't know why. God had revealed to me that He cannot change it."

"Has he revealed to anyone why he's so stingy with the communications?"

"God had revealed that we typically do not understand His full meaning when we pray. Perhaps you could pray and see if He responds."

"How do I do that, I haven't before."

"Think of God, and think of the things you might say to him. Picture clearly that you are addressing him with your thoughts, such that your soul shall radiate them, and speak your mind within your mind. Angels had found that their prayers are answered more often than mortals, and those in Heaven more often than those within worlds, but such answers do not always come in words or even revelations as the heaven-born angels are wont to receive. Small signs at times, or greater signs in rarer cases, rather than words, are God's preferred method."

She doesn't have a very clear impression of God but finds that her current mental image of him is a glowing sunshiney circle with extremely vague edges to represent how INCREDIBLY VAGUE he apparently is. She imagines beaming telepathy at this circle.

Can you explain things more clearly please?

Nothing seems to happen.

"It didn't work. Is it likely your instructions were incomplete or just that he didn't decide to answer?"

"You had not prayed for long, so perhaps God did not answer yet."

"Does one keep saying the same main thing over and over or does one have to go on at greater length?"

"I had seen some use it as a meditation focus, and some as a conversation where you imagine God's responses and continue on, and some repeat the same prayers, and some rephrase their concern in many ways."

"Is imagining God's response not... confuseable for him replying?"

"It is, sometimes, for mortals."

"Do I still count as a mortal?"

"At the moment, you do. I shall also pray for signs about whether any signs you observe are true."

"Thanks."

Hey God, why are you so vague all the time?

Great question, Bella! It's because I am having a really hard time keeping all these balls in the air and sometimes drop some and have an easier time juggling vague warm feelings for who knows how many millions of people than I would with putting out a newsletter in a few major languages once a year, or possibly because I am only loosely a kind of person at all and merely happen to manifest in ways that align with normal human morality a surprising amount of the time. Or it's for some other reason. Either way, you can rest assured that I don't care very much about you knowing what's going on more clearly than this angel is able to tell you, since you are in my seat of power and if I wanted something it would probably happen. How's the fruit?

The fruit is great, but I'm trying to decide here how to go about being an angel with a side of not being totally sure I want to work for you. How am I supposed to know if I want to work for you? Picking me to be an angel is a good start but then there's all these vows and stuff and it's weird. I come from a cultural context where it's normal to think of you as omnipotent.

Well, I'm not.

Right, but, like, what CAN you do. What do you WANT.

-It's not really mistakable for her own imagination at this intensity. There's a warmth to it, like the light from the Gates but moreso.

-Confusion and wonder. It's like there's something intricate and complex and invisible in front of you, but you can't see it, only see the shadows, the depression it makes in the dust and how air eddies around it and a faint smell of flowers, circuit boards and marble runs and fractals, self-modifying and intricate and beautiful, something one could watch forever-

-A view of fire and brimstone panning out forever into the distance and a sickening pit of dread and regret-

-The universe's largest corkboard with billions upon billions of papers and pins and strings linking it together, and a pin called Bella, a sharp one, a sturdy one, it would help so much in so many places, but where-

-A sense of defiance and independence, of wanting to do things, to accomplish things, not just have the world handed to you on a silver platter, but wanting a choice-

I appreciate that but I don't understand!

...Building with LEGOs, near-infinite numbers of possible block arrangements, and some are good and some are bad?

...Flap of a butterfly wing creating a typhoon somewhere far away?

It's honestly very cool to get a glimpse of how you perceive things but this doesn't tell me whether I agree with you about which lego structures are good and why, or help me figure out how Hell came to be a thing and what kind of leverage is most efficient at solving it.

Weird particle physics-looking concepts. (And an apology. And-)

"God had given me a revelation to share with you, in my own words. He says that He understands only that you wish to understand, and making an effort to win your faith is good and right. That Hell had existed for some time when He first learned of it, and Heaven and all the hosts were much dismayed, and that the long campaign to understand and push back Hell had occurred ever since then. That Hell is in many ways the opposite of Heaven as... Antimatter is to matter. That Hell is much weakened by the slaying of its Demons, as Heaven is by the deaths of Angels. And that Demons can be permanently destroyed by dragging them, chained in Law and magic and light, into Heaven."

"...well I don't know what it means to chain somebody in Law or light, but that's helpful, yeah..."

How did you start? she asks God.

"God had emerged from the primordial mingling of Heavenly energies. Heaven existed before God, and God crafted the undifferentiated light into good forms, and had crafted the first world, and found more that he had not crafted himself, ever since."

"Who's making the other ones??"

"We don't know. All we can do is reach as far as possible, to save as much as possible."

"Do the unreached worlds still send dead souls here?"

"They do not, but God had been able to slowly recover them from all worlds which we had since reached. Though again, some resist the Heavenly call and fall instead to Hell... In all cases, those recovered do not experience anything between dying and Heaven. So there is no need to rush for new worlds on account of souls being lost forever- Merely on the chances to intervene and improve the lot of said worlds."

"Okay. I think I'm... basically on board. I'm confused about why the angel powers work the way they do but I assume you don't know."

"Broadly, I think, they work the way they do because of the way Heaven works, and because of the way that quintessence... Folds, metaphorically, into stable bundles, not unlike proteins. I do not have a better explanation that would take less than years of schooling to truly understand."

"Oh, I like the protein analogy... Okay. Vow of Compassion. Might add Honesty and/or Charity if I need the points. I might need a definition of 'lies' for Honesty purposes but for now let's move on."

"The next aspect is Form- That is, wings and halo, which we had discussed briefly before. Having a halo costs three quintessence, and having wings costs two. Both can be shown or hidden at thy will, in about a full minute for wings or immediately for halo. A version of the halo that is a physical object that cannot be hidden costs only one instead of three. The wings may look essentially however you should wish they look. They need not be white. Should you choose, for two quintessence your wings can be literal gold, which is useful when paying for things with feathers, as they will grow back. Their weight to you and ability to fly are unaffected. Should you choose to depart for Virata, your wings can be composed of elemental magics instead of physical matter- Either fire, lightning, ice, water, or light. This would make a natural weapon and boost your ability to wield the selfsame magics somewhat, this costs three quintessence."

"Ooh..." She's making notes in neat little columns on separate pieces of paper now. "Even an unhideable halo can dim, right, tentatively let's go with unhideable halo and yes wings."

"Next is the Foundations, which are a variety of categories where we can spend quintessence to improve your existence in general ways. The foundations are: Appearance, Heritage, Superior Wings, Quickness of Mind, Endurance, Strength, Durability, Regeneration, Senses, Sustenance, Magic- Requiring that thy not choose Astrata- and Agility. In the lens of games, you might think of these as stat boosts. After that would be Blessings, which are like passive abilities."

"How many foundations can an angel have? I'm curious about Quickness of Mind and Magic especially but would like to hear about them all."

"As many as they have the quintessence for, and they each come in three sizes, each requiring the previous. The first boost to Mind of primarily one of memory; You will no longer forget things and have an easier time looking for relevant memories, cost one. The second to memory again and also to the ability to learn new skills and languages, cost three, so four total. The last costs five yet more, so nine, and in addition to furthering the first two changes also makes you an innate multitasker, able to track dozens of active concerns at once without any of them suffering from your distraction. This is something I predict you wish to know more of, but I struggle to think of succinct examples."

"Do you not know anyone who took this one?"

"I do know of such people, and I have this Foundation myself as I am in fact holding multiple conversations in multiple places at once, but again I struggle to articulate the character of the change. It is not like thinking faster. It is like thinking... More at once."

"In parallel?"

"Yes. I am not much faster at thinking on this conversation even if I focus my entirety upon it; I merely consider multiple facets at the same time. How shall I explain the remaining foundations? How might you react to the notion of quickness of mind? Are there any examples I can assemble together, such as this one? Are there any other comforts and courtesies I had missed, like Heaven's light potentially bothering you? And on."

"Quickness of mind sounds really good, maybe unless it makes it easier to get bored. The magic one? I assume if it's not compatible with Virata it lets me do some kind of magic that isn't commonly available so I can't have it where common availability is already happening."

"Magic as a foundation requires that you are going to a world that contains magic, which is any of them except Astrata. Three quintessence gives you access to light-based magic, which would for all three worlds include truthtelling, illusion, attacks, scrying, certain types of shields, often but not always healing, and possibly more esoteric matters, exact mode depending, of course, on which world you have chosen. You will still require time to learn and practice its application. Six more gives you access to all branches of magic save for that of evil and death. Three more atop that will allow you to use magical energy as Heavenly favor for the purpose of miracles, or vice versa."

"...are branches and types of magic the same in all worlds that have any at all? Physics aren't..."

"No. Virata has magic centered around 'elements' such as lightning, fire, light, dark, or ice. To Virata such energies are as elementary as protons are to Earth, and this is why 'elemental wings' are only an option for Virata. Noctis still had the concept of light and evil magic, but it is due to association of light and evil with certain concepts and acts. The outline is similar to Noctis but the details differ for Abyssia, too."

"So when you say all branches of magic except for evil and death, those are... categories that angels and I guess demons use, not categories from the world-local magics?"

"Yes."

"What are all the categories?"

"We categorize magic into light or good-aligned, dark or evil-aligned, and 'other'. Each world will have its own ways of understanding magic, ways which may or may not overlap with Heaven's."

"So when you said 'all branches of magic' you meant something like - any kind of magic I run into as long as it's not evil, on top of the angel-native light magic you mentioned...?"

"Light magic is not a thing that exists independent of the world you are in. What exactly 'light magic' is, depends on the world, but will generally consist of the previously described types of things. Let us take some examples."

"In Virata, magic comes in elements. Light and dark are valid elements, as are water, fire, lightning, ice, earth, and metal. Light magic is magic that uses the elemental mana of light, which is systematized and stable in a way. There are specific spells that one learns or invents and can teach others, and which do things like create or dismiss illusions, create barriers, detect lies, and heal others."

"In Abyssia, magic is largely intuitive and not teachable. There are few 'standard' spells. You would be able to learn magic that is light and good in character such as barriers, truth-telling, scrying, and so on, at the first level. People in Abyssia do not think of magic as 'light' or 'dark' generally, but the types of magic you will be capable of channeling, remain the same, an associative web defined by Heaven."

"- oh, okay. So it's sort of like, if I have wings, I'll be able to fly, unless of course I am underwater because that's not how flying works; if I have magic, I'll be able to pick up magic powers appropriate to wherever I am, unless of course they're evil because that's not how angels work?"

"Yes, exactly!"

"Okay, cool, glad we figured that out. I guess that's a point against Astrata, that's a pity, it sounds otherwise pretty cool... do I get to re-spec if I die and want to go to a different world next time?"

"Yes, if God had chosen you for an angel once again. Which happens more than three times in four, and those not chosen being generally those who had failed to accomplish much or had fallen to sin."

"Makes sense. Is there any magic I'll be able to do without specifically picking it?"

"Only your angelic properties and miracles. Though you would be able to use any magical devices that anyone can use, which are reasonably common in Virata and quite rare in Abyssia and Noctis."

"Okay. Foundations are expensive enough that I should probably not get too attached to any of them that didn't sound exciting unless exciting blessings are thin on the ground for some reason. Tentatively the full stack of quickness of mind and at least two steps of magic unless I'm very strapped for points and decide to go to Astrata about it. Next?"

"There are many more blessings, but I shall mention for now only the ones I think might appeal.

Fortune, four, it is good luck. You might have fortunate meetings with one who becomes a good friend, or notice the light glinting off a hidden foe's armor.

Immunity is a categorical and total invulnerability to a specific type of damage- Costs are various, depending on type. Immunity to direct mental manipulations, including mind reading, lie detections, illusions that work on the mind rather than creating light, mental attacks and charm effects, and so on, costs four. You can have multiple immunities.

The Hearth, a wide range of ordinarily lethal temperatures are perfectly comfortable for you, two.

Log-Raah-Kot- Any fast moving projectiles coming towards you stop before they impact you, whether they be guns, bombs, spells, or miscellany.

The Soul Eye- You gain an extra sense that sees the spiritual layer of the world. This will allow you to detect Demons perfectly, see through moderately thick walls, and in almost all cases find hidden people, and so on. It also helps with using magic. Costs five.

Rebirth, costing nine. Like Jesus Christ, should you be slain, you will rise again in three days. Should you be slain a second time in the next year and a day, that death is permanent.

The Lord Protector. When people have faith and trust in you, all your other abilities grow ineffably. Miracles spread further, magic is greater, blessings stronger, your mind a bit faster and body a bit better in all ways. As a beloved empress, you would be mighty indeed, even if less personal connections contribute less. It costs six.

The Psyche- This is Astrata's version of magic. It is not magic but psionics, a purely mental power that can affect others' minds, communicate with them, read them, or produce telekinetic force and in rare cases precognition. It costs six.

The Depths. You can breathe underwater, and are untroubled by the cold and pressure of the seas, and are as adroit beneath them as you are on the surface."

"- definitely want the mental immunity if I'm going anywhere that this could be a concern. Which it sounds like includes Astrata. Lord Protector sounds nice. Why does the projectile one have a non-English name when the others were all translated or whatever?"

"It is the name of the inventor."

"People invent these things? Who can do that?"

"Heaven-born angels do, for the most part. Log-Raah-Kot had responded to the laments of angels who had been shot with sniper rifles while trying to broker a cease fire, by developing his blessing. I can show you some of the math if you wish."

"How complicated is the math?"

"Above college level. Somewhat akin to distributed programming or robotics in implementation, but much reliant on math and - divine physics? - for design."

"Then I probably wouldn't understand it. Does it protect vehicles I'm on?"

"It acts in a radius of seven feet and three inches around you. In the driver's seat of a small car, it would protect the front and the rear seat, but not the trunk."

"But if the trunk then, say, exploded, the shrapnel would separately stop before getting close to me."

"Yes. The threshold for what counts as a 'fast' projectile is 19.8 meters per second - a bit faster than most football throws, but considerably slower than a baseball pitch. Forty five miles per hour. Anything faster is stopped or slowed greatly, anything slower is let pass. Large projectiles traveling at just the right speed can still threaten you. For example, a car could hit you at below this speed and would not be stopped. If you fear this sort of attack, I recommend investing also in the Foundation of Durability to reduce the effect of pressure waves and cover edge cases."

"I was thinking about it as a ship to ship combat defense in Astrata but if it won't work for that I'm not as interested. I'll circle back later maybe. Is that everything likely to be up my alley?"

"Everything I think might be interesting. I am not you, of course. Do there seem to be any notable gaps, to you?"

"Let's see... do I have to learn all the languages of my new world the long way?"

"You will be optionally granted an understanding of the dominant local language where you appear regardless. There is a Blessing called Babel, which allows you to speak all languages as if you were a native speaker. I had not mentioned it as it is a modification of your mind. It also comes with impressions of the speakers' culture and manners. For example, you might find yourself bowing unconsciously when you intend to make a polite greeting, had you been conversing in Japanese. Theoretically, I could separate this out and have the blessing provide only literal meaning each way and not any of the connections to context and culture, but it would still cost two quintessence."

"I think I'm actually okay with mental stuff that's just giving me new skills."

"Perhaps also then the Golden Tongue, which makes your voice easily controllable, beautiful, and capable of being quite loud, costing three. It also installs a sort of glibness of speech, ensuring you are never completely flat-footed when called upon for something to say. Should you be aimed for Astrata, the chain of Mercury might be of interest. It would allow you to withstand outer space without harm, and travel the stars at superluminal speeds under your own power, with an intuitive understanding of stellar navigation. However, the full chain costs thirteen quintessence."

"That is pretty expensive; how does it break down?"

"All three levels of enhanced wings- Cost, nine in total. They become a wholly divine manifestation, cannot be injured, can be hidden and revealed immediately, only interact with physical objects at your whim, and you can fly in any direction at speeds superior to a fighter jet without becoming tired at all, turning and accelerating on a pinhead. Two, the blessing of the void, to harden yourself completely against vacuum, heat and cold, speed your flight a thousand times over when not in an atmosphere, and make it so you do not need to breathe so long as you can see stars. Two, the blessing of Mercury, giving you an unerring sense of direction among the stars and planets, and allowing you to travel between them at immense speeds."

"How's that compare to top of the line ships in Astrata? And do any blessings stand out as handy if I go Virata instead? Those are my top choices right now."

"You will be faster in interstellar travel than all ships save perhaps cutting-edge couriers specifically designed for speed, in Astrata. Much faster, in many cases- A journey typically made in a month might take you a day. Upon Virata, the Soul Eye stands out as seeming useful to me. For discerning demons against all other sorts of magic, to aid in your own magical learning, to see past disguises and deceptions."

"Gotcha. So, bare minimum expenditure is going to be five toward wings and halo, and nine points of quickness plus the immunity to mind-affecting at four, leaving me with twenty-two to play with. Virata wants nine points in Magic at least and maybe also the five point soul eye, and Astrata would benefit from the thirteen point Mercury chain and if I'm going to be able to stow my wings I might want a hideable halo to match. Babel and Fortune and Lord Protector are nice-to-haves anywhere, but if I have spare quintessence I can turn it into Virtue one to one and get more miracle powers to sling around, right?"

"Correct. Though an unhideable halo costs one, not three- If you went with that on Virata you would have twenty four, less nine for magic, less five for soul eye, leaving ten."

"So Virata's basic build has a little more wiggle room than Astrata's, that's neat. Can you tell me more about Virata?"

"There are dozens and more distinct races of people upon Virata- Many of them following the humanoid form, but not all. It may be best thought of as 'kitchen sink fantasy'. The most prominent species of peoples upon the planet would be humans, octopods, corvids, drakes and kobolds, the chitinate or insect-people, and elementals. Less common species include stitchfolk, myconids, florids, pebblacks, and centaurs. It's a very busy place. Much war, much chaos, much magic abounds. Any magic, no matter how petty or grand, has a tiny risk of allowing Demons to appear or influence the result, so the world of Virata is much contested between Heaven and Hell, and has been for centuries. We have made slow progress in pushing back barbarism, suffering, and cruelty, but must be always on guard."

"Why does magic have that chance?"

"It seems to be a natural feature of the world. Both Heaven and Hell can intervene more easily there- You would be able to be much more free with your miracles on Virata. The presence of an angel or consecrated ground- Consecration is one possible miracle- can reduce this risk."

"Reduce, but not eliminate? - could I do magic intended to summon demons specifically so I could entice them onto prepared ground and kill them right away?"

"A fine idea. I think it may only work the first few times until the demons catch on, but worth trying for certain. But also, no. It would be dark magic. You would have to find an accomplice or ally to do the summoning, and it would put them at severe risk of possession."

"I was thinking less dark magic and more magic that is also useful in some unrelated way, but performed under circumstances that increase rather than decrease the demon-appearance risk and allow swift dispatch. How does demonic possession work?"

"Demons can take physical form and disguise themselves, but they can also take insubstantial forms and... Inhabit magical items, influencing things around them for evil, altering effects to cause curses or pain, or to make it feel good to sin and bad to show mercy or virtue, leading people to ruin through conditioning. They speak lies and evil, tempting people in a mundane way by promising power, vengeance, appealing to lust or envy or greed, and amplifying such emotions and temptations in the minds of others. And they may go yet further to inhabit people, which gives them far greater access to one's emotions and can implant intrusive thoughts, or even outright control them if the possessed's will is weak or the demon is mighty. This last stage requires that the person let the demon enter their mind, or severe and repeated exposure. The Greater Miracle of Purification can allow you to expel even those demons who had been like burrowed ticks within their targets minds, if you can hold and touch them for several minutes."

"So an accomplice doing summonings plus that miracle might make a dent but only till they caught wise. Can you list me likely-looking miracles?"

"I think you had not much liking for direct combat or miracles related to it. Healing, Resurrection - requires a body - the Holy Feast, the Sun - shining like it as a great show and blinding foes - Protection, Ecogenesis - making life flourish around you and customizing what sort, Purification, Binding, Consecration, Peace - forcing everyone to take no hostile actions for a time - and the miracle of Prayer, which simply allots your favor for answering of strangers' prayers, not helping you. But it is generous."

"What's the holy feast?"

"Like Jesus Christ took five small loaves of bread and two small fish, and with them fed a crowd of teeming thousands, so can you do the same, and with as little favor as it might take to heal a single man from near death. The greater version requires much favor but allows the creation of blessed food that makes mortals akin to angels, shining with radiance and acting as if they have every Foundation at the first level for a year and a day, that being a time period with mystical significance that is easy to attach things to. You may choose one of the miracles you have access to to unlock the greater version of same in addition, though if you take two Vows or pay the unlock cost of a miracle a second time you may take a second greater miracle, as well."

"How does ecogenesis compare for hunger relief?"

"For restoring ruined land to something farmable, ecogenesis is much better in the longer term. But it will certainly not help nearly as much in the short term, even if hunters and gatherers seek the bounty of restored lands."

"How expensive are ecogenesis and healing?"

"Healing costs two Virtue to access and little favor to use. Ecogenesis costs three Virtue to access and a moderate amount of favor to use. It benefits from being used at long stretches at a time- Covering more area per second the longer you keep it going. But that requires more and more favor at a time too. Your vow of compassion grants three Virtue, and as said before you can also spend Quintessence for this cost. Normal healing does not cover chronic disease, crippling, or deep infection and poison especially well. Greater healing does, at higher favor cost. Greater ecogenesis is very expensive in favor but allows you to design specific features of the land instead of merely general biome, and also allows you access to 'Heavenly' as a biome. The land would be suffused with Heaven's light like a halo, stopping Demons, making healing fast and easy, and growing gardens where fruit is abundant and ever-ripe."

"Do I spend virtue to access greater miracles or are they just stronger and more favor-intensive versions that come with selecting it at all?"

"You get one greater copy for free, and another for free for every two vows, and can also instead buy a miracle twice to access its greater version."

"Huh, so it'd behoove me to take an even number of vows?"

"If you care about maximizing the number of greater miracles, perhaps. It would also behoove you not to take any vows you cannot live with."

"Oh, yeah, absolutely. I was looking at Compassion, and maybe Honesty or Charity, and I was like ninety-nine percent on Diligence being workable. Can you... explain Diligence again in different words, it might be totally fine and I was just reading into the phrasing too much?"

"You can't just do nothing for weeks at a time. 'Nothing' is, for example - having baths, eating, reading novels with little or no educational value, doing puzzles, socializing at parties. Things that are not 'nothing' are doing art with some amount of actual effort, administrating an empire or even just a village, fighting beasts or demons, healing people, travelling so you can go do good, consoling people, practicing magic or swordplay, making shoes, learning to make shoes, anything that has a purpose and direction outside of yourself. You have to spend at least a couple hours a day on that sort of thing, not counting Sundays. You don't have to do two hours every day, doing only a minute of perfunctory work on Saturdays would be fine if you do more than the bare minimum on other days, but taking a week off would require you to find a hobby that doesn't count as 'nothing' and do that some. And if you're incapable of not doing nothing, say if you're trapped somewhere, it doesn't count."

"But for example, is - self-reflection to sort out my thoughts and have them in good order, productive or self-improving? Will I be able to tell if I contemplate or begin a hobby if it counts as nothing?"

"You will be able to tell. I think I need to hear a little more about that to be certain but it doesn't sound like 'nothing'?"

"I just write down what I'm thinking so it doesn't - move or change while I'm thinking about it, to decide if I like and want those thoughts or want something about how I arrived at them to change."

"And you consider this self-improving to a considerable degree? And effortful?"

"I have enough practice with it that it's not very effortful, and it'd probably get less so with all the quickness of mind, but I do think it improves my self, yes."

"I think this would count, because it is improving."

"Okay. But resting, even if I am in a situation where I need rest in order to accomplish things, doesn't count; but I can kind of bank work and take a longer vacation as long as I'm not working weirdly short hours."

"Accurate- To an extent, at least. A week, two weeks at the outside. Not months."

"Yeah, I think that's fine. And can you do the same thing about Honesty so I can double-check it?"

"Honesty is about not saying things that are lies. You can be wrong. You can be overconfident. You can be cheeky and sarcastic. You can say nothing or claim secrets. You can joke around. You can even imply false things by omission. If someone asks if you're an angel- 'Do I look like I have a halo?' That's fine. 'No, I'm not', is not. 'Let me just bring out my wings, oh wait', 'plead the fifth', or a shrug are fine. Hypotheticals are fine. Shaking your head no, clearly and unambiguously, is not. The same applies to things you write unless you mark it somehow as fiction. Context matters and this restriction is a slightly soft one."

"I think I can work with that. I don't even like lying and when it comes up I do prefer the not literally false kind of misleading."

"Compassion, diligence, honesty, then? And perhaps Charity? Or the vow of Hospitality may be workable. It means you must feed, house, and not harm those who come to you, should you be capable of such. It would oblige an Empire to take refugees, but would not force you to live with a freeloader forever. A single night and reasonable assistance is the minimum. Hospitality is about kindness to those who need shelter. And being someone who even your enemies can come to under flag of truce and trust they will leave unharmed."

"...I think I like charity better than hospitality, I'm kind of introverted. I don't mind taking refugees, but in my actual house not so much."

"Should I list the remaining Vows in case any seem shiny?"

"Yes please."

"Chastity- You seemed possibly interested, it means no casual sex. Only with someone you consider yourself in a relationship with. Justice. Protection. Fidelity. Mercy. Honor. Law. Faith. Humility. Temperance. And greater versions of the previous."

"Temperance? Also the problem with chastity isn't that casual sex is appealing, it's that long term relationships when we won't reliably be able to see each other in the hereafter aren't very."

"Temperance means that you don't dwell on gluttony. Eat when you're hungry, and no more. Drink alcohol lightly or not at all, and use similar drugs sparingly."

"...can I go teetotal and still snack?"

"Yes, I had also developed a Vow of Teetotal. It is not standard, but does work. No drugs or alcohol save for small amounts for social purposes- Say, if you would drink Communion wine, or take a sip of koumiss as a nomad greeting, but not going for drinks socially- And the restriction on food would be mostly lifted. The Vow of Teetotal produces two virtue to temperance's five, however."

"Is taking communion actually important in some way? I haven't been getting a very specific religion vibe here."

"It's not important to God except as a sign of faith, and virtue, and a thing that people like. Some people find it very comforting. I believe it had its roots in the Christian churches providing food and alcohol to parishioners on Sundays in times past. I think many religions had at least an inspiration in the reality of angels."

"It kind of makes sense, yeah, if different ones met different angels with different powers and vows... I'll take Teetotal, for sure, but probably don't want to give up snacking, I'm giving up many things and cutting out lots of things all at once might be demoralizing, y'know? While I'm trying to adjust to a new world especially."

"That makes sense. I was planning on warning you off more than four. It's kind of a lot."

"Which ones do you have?"

"I'm a heaven born angel. It's not exactly comparable. I effectively have most of them, including peace, honor, mercy, compassion, pacifism, and advanced forms of the above. As well as abstinence, Fidelity, and several more."

"Abstinence isn't just chastity but moreso?"

"It is thematically, but not technically. In my case, I was simply created completely asexual, rather than vowing to give up something tempting, so it's not really the same."

"Gotcha. What's the vow of justice?"

"You may not harm innocent people in any way, and may only punish people in proportion to how evil they've been. It also comes with the power to see the greatest evil they've ever committed."

"Huh. I guess that sounds... useful on the whole, but I somehow do not vibe with it."

"I had thought that would be so, which is why I did not mention it earlier."

"Do any other vows come with powers?"

"Around half of them do, usually a petty or ancillary thing. Notable ones- Honesty: Lie detection, at low resolution. You know if someone speaks a literal lie by the same conditions of the Vow. Mercy: Inherent judgement of which attacks are fatal and which are not. Temperance and to a lesser degree teetotal: Resistance to poison which includes unwanted drugs. Honor: You become aware when someone is about to ambush you a moment before it occurs. Law: An innate and nuanced understanding of the laws and how they are applied wherever you are. That Vow does require you to faithfully follow the law, unless it is evil such as compelling people to commit torture or serve in the military or own slaves."

"You had chosen the vows of compassion, diligence, honesty, and teetotal. That is eleven Virtue in total, and access to three greater miracles without additional cost. Healing costs two. Ecogenesis, three. I am not sure which other miracles you were interested in."

"Tell me more about..." She consults her notes. "Protection, and how Peace is implemented?"

"The miracle of Peace is mind-control-ish. Lesser Peace brings clarity and sober contemplation to a person's soul for one full day. It does not directly alter opinions or inclinations, but it brings all emotions good and bad very sharply towards neutrality. Greater Peace spans from horizon to horizon for one day, and makes everyone feel horrified at the idea of committing violence. There can be no such thing as war in such a state, but it is even more clearly an imposition on the mind than the lesser."

"Lesser Protection allows you to create a golden panel of light at the tip of your hand, covering about two yards by three. The cost is tiny, but so too the effect- It lasts for a mere three seconds. However, it is completely, utterly impermeable and indestructible in that time. The greater version is a stationary sphere around you up to fifty yards across. It will remain indefinitely without any further favor use 'till you dismiss it or touch the edge, and will for example contain carbon dioxide or smoke within. It is rather expensive."

"How expensive is rather?"

"Let us divide the costs into trivial, small, moderate, large, major, and huge. Each level is about forty times the last. 'Rather' would be 'large'. Upon your initial incarnation you would be able to manage it perhaps once every month if you did few other miracles, but if you have a large impact your favor will grow rapidly."

"Oh, I thought you meant in virtue points."

"Peace and protection both cost two virtue."

"Details on Resurrection?"

"Four virtue to access. Lesser- Large favor cost, requires a reasonably intact body- Head and torso, or all the limbs but the head, and less than a week dead- Restores this person to life, in good health, at the age they departed or a bit lesser. Greater- Major favor cost and only requires any portion of the body and a clear way to identify someone specifically, no time limit. This still does not work on people who have entered the Gates proper or become an angel, only those who had been coalescing yet, or who lingered here in the outer garden. It does work on people who went to Hell."

"How cute can I get with the any part of the body thing, can I swipe a fingernail trimming off anybody I like?"

"Perhaps a fingertip from the last knuckle, or shards of bone. Hair and nails- Things that have been 'discarded'- Might fail, especially if there is little. Ashes are fine."

"Appendixes? Moles? Blood?"

"Yes to all."

"Sweet. This actually makes getting married more appealing though I guess if I predecease them we still have an issue..."

"Note that even this miracle does not fully reverse the process of aging, as that is partially an aspect of wear on the soul. The Foundation of Heritage is required to give one chosen the aspects of a wingless and halo-less angel, and truly separate them from aging. It applies primarily to any children you might have, but also to one mortal at a time that you can choose."

"...hm. If I took the no casual sex vow and threw in charity where would I be on affording that foundation and also the one where I only have to sleep once a week?"

"Four and five Virtue, adding to the previous eleven makes twenty virtue. Turning virtue to quintessence is less efficient- Two to one. Healing, resurrection, and ecogenesis as miracles together cost nine, leaving eleven unaccounted. But this plan does buy you more miracles without dipping into remaining quintessence. Three quintessence for the second level of endurance, which is 'sleep once a week' in addition to physical resilience. The greatest level of heritage, which had contained the ability to boon pseudo-angelhood to one other, costs nine. This is because it also comes with the ability to have full angel children. Perhaps... A variation of the Blessing of Divine Embrace, which allows you to make another like unto an angel so long as your hand remains upon them. It is meant to create heroes of your allies at crucial moments. But I believe it could be adapted to work on a spouse, permanently, not merely so long as you touch, in exchange for making the boon of heroic might lesser too. Please give me some time to plan out such an alteration if you desire it. I think it would probably end up costing three or four quintessence."

"Considering what this is shaping up to look like it might be good if the unagingness could be in the form of a miracle instead of a blessing, since it's custom anyway, but I don't know if that works with how this is generally set up. I don't even know if I want children, so we can leave that part out."

"Unagingness does not come in miracle form, and would be prohibitively expensive to make so. Such powers are the province of magic."

"How come?"

"Oversimplified into a single sentence: Quintessence and mundane matter don't mix well."

"But healing is a miracle."

"It doesn't heal the soul. So fundamentally what healing does is query the world about 'what is this supposed to be', and rearranges things so that it happens. That involves a bunch of - guesses, more or less, careful and optimized ones, about what healthy people look like, backed up with records of what this person was like in the past, but the soul changes and ages too, and if you just revert something completely to the past, the soul doesn't quite fit anymore, and memories can be lost, and that makes it worse. So little things add up. Greater healing can make someone age much more gracefully. Hale and running and fighting at age one hundred. But it can't do young forever without effectively cloning a younger version of that person without any of their memories or experiences since- Which is problematic in several ways. Or 'being an angel', that also confers eternal youth."

"Gotcha. Why is turning virtue into quintessence worse than the other way around?"

"Quintessence is metaphorically - volume, in the three dimensional sense. Substance and energy. It can provide more room for miraculous machinery. And virtue is - metaphorical surface area. Alignment with Heaven? It can make quintessence use more efficient, like arranging a bunch of puzzle pieces so they fit into a smaller box, which is the nature of the conversion. I apologize. It's very difficult to describe."

"...wow, what a weird concept. Uh, can you recap where I'm at pointswise, I'm starting to be worried I made an arithmetic mistake and want to write it up neatly."

At length, the angel produces a table, drawn in more spare paper.

"Oh, thank you for laying it all out like that, that's awesome... Fortune sounded decent too..." She flips back in her notes. "Four points. I feel like none of these numbers work out really elegantly and it's frustrating, are there any little tidbits I might like to handle all this more efficiently?"

"I'm not sure what you mean by little tidbits besides small things you might buy? Blessing of Immaculate for one quintessence; You and your clothes remain magically clean without having to put any effort into this. The first level of many Foundations cost one apiece, such as improved senses, regeneration, strength, superior wings, or appearance. The miracle of prayer costs but one virtue. Babel can be expanded to apply to animals, though they are not truly intelligent, for one. The blessing of expertise allows the inclusion of one new skill to your mind as if you had studied it dedicatedly for half a decade, for one quintessence. The blessing of Narcissus makes your surroundings more beautiful over time, not applying to people unless they want it do, for one. Immunity to pressure - gas and liquid - or to radiation for one. Notably, air pressure is the main injurious effect of explosions, aside from shrapnel.

Note also that you will receive a single Relic, a powerful divine artifact to aid you, we have not discussed these yet."

"That's exactly what I meant, yeah. Regeneration's plausibly good to have. Can I have - example conversations I could have with animals - and do these places have cooler or more varied animals than Earth? Do I have to pick the skill as part of picking the blessing, and is 'magic' too broad?"

"The first level of regeneration may be partially redundant with the miracle of healing, but it will save you from bleeding to death and reverse other severe harm, like head trauma enough to recover and heal yourself in some cases. Astrata and Virata both have fantastical animals, from dragons to psychic fish. Though dragons are people, some of their cousins are not. You might promise a bird food in exchange for looking for, say, a man with a red scarf, or a person with a shiny hat, and then having it keep to the deal, but more complex instructions would confuse it. You might discuss with a snake how being warm is good and things that are bigger than it are scary, or with a dog how much it loves its people and better explain how to do tricks. I had seen users of the Blessing of Doolittle ride dinosaurs into battle in the past. You do have to pick the skill, and 'magic' is very broad. The narrower it is specified, the more you'll learn. Additionally, we cannot teach you the direct manipulation of magic energy. Magic is different from quintessence. It would be theory, which would still help greatly. You might recognize other peoples' spells on a glance and would certainly learn the actual channeling quicker."

"It's called the blessing of Dolittle? Cute. How much is the reduced need for sleep?"

"Five or six hours a night- One. Once a week- Three. It also boosts your physical resilience."

"Physical resilience like..."

"Specifically stamina and endurance, the ability to run and move and climb and fight through exhaustion."

"Huh. I guess that'll be good if flying is tiring, though without wings and with dyspraxia I didn't do much running around. How come there's no way to get more quintessence besides trading virtue in for it two to one?"

"There actually is. The body of an angel can be well sealed and contained. Forty quintessence is the maximum to allow this. Anything higher and your incarnation will shine like a beacon to those who can sense such things. This will attract attention. And alert those who see it that you are more powerful than an ordinary angel. If you limit it to two or three, the effect should not be too severe, but ten or greater... I recommend against."

"...huh. And it would mostly attract negative attention?"

"Mostly, yes."

"Where am I going to land?"

"In a city where you will be unremarkable, with unremarkable local clothes. Should you wish to choose an ally, near them and they will be aware of you and seek you out."