Page 109 of Crimson Promises
"Haven't been in here before," I mused.
“None of the rest of the employees have actually. Normally, this room is reserved for the Dean and other bigwigs around the university. They use this boardroom in their rotation of locations across campus to ensure they honor all of us peasants with their esteemed presence.”
A whoosh of air so powerful it pushed me forward blew from behind me. Jean grabbed my arm in the nick of time.
“Whoa there. You alright?”
“What was that?”
“Ah, that would be the specialized humidifier the university had installed to convert this room into a makeshift space to work on rare collections when the boardroom is not in use. It keeps the room at optimal temperature and prevents the air from getting too dry, especially as we head towards cooler temperatures.”
“Wow. They really went all out.”
“At least this was one of the benefits of this ridiculous hoopla that I’ve been unwillingly roped into. A library could always use more room with these types of gadgets. I had Burt bring everything up here so we could work away from the distractions of downstairs. The only caveat is your matcha is going to have to remain on the counter away from the precious cargo.”
“I’ll just down it.”
She winced. “You can down it?”
“It’s not the typical way I tend to enjoy a latte, but I’d rather scald my tongue than get up every five minutes when I’m cataloging something.”
Jean brought both of the laptops from the counter towards the table while I chugged.
I bit out, “Crap.”Reminder to future self: never try and chug a latte. Your throat, esophagus, and digestion system won’t appreciate it.
Jean chuckled to herself. “Told you it was a bad idea.”
I attempted a neutral expression. “It wasn’t completely horrible.”
“Mhm.” She smirked at the laptop that began buzzing to life.
I followed suit and rolled my seat close to Jean, where a space was available between the books spread out like places on a map before us. “So why exactly are they having us re-catologue everything?”
Jean was moving her finger furiously across the mouse pad. “These computers are crap. Remind me to put in an order for new ones next week. I don’t even recognize what IOS software it’s running on.” She held down a button for a few seconds before I heard the familiar buzzing again. “Better work this time. We have the pleasure of reorganizing everything because some of the professors, at the Dean’s insistence, took another look at the texts and deciphered more of what the texts were saying.”
My curiosity was piqued. “What did they find?”
“We learned that those angels who joined Lucifer’s army took a vow.”
I leaned forward and slid my chair closer to hers. “What sort of vow?”
“All the professors were able to decipher was that those angels who chose to join Lucifer’s cause and abandon Heaven’s laws took a vow. The faculty compared it to an oath one would take on the witness stand to tell the truth.”
“So, something related to establishing their allegiance to Lucifer, it sounds like. Nothing about that seems unusual, though. From Lucifer’s perspective, not that I agree with that at all, but there may be more about Heaven than what we all know. It would make sense that he would want to ensure those who defected away from God to join his cause were loyal.”
Here I was, eating my own words. Only a few days ago, I had been quick to judge those who would turn their backs against their friends and family to hypothetically join Lucifer’s cause. But now that I knew Heaven was real and as flawed as our world, I empathized with the other Ordinaries at the bottom of Heaven’s totem pole. People like Ben’s mom suffered. The oath to join Lucifer’s cause seemed innocent enough.
I relaxed my features and tucked away the contempt behind a mask, a mask of indifference. Feigning I knew nothing about the truth about Heaven was imperative to keeping Ben and myself safe.
“Interesting perspective,” Jean commented. “Most people believe that Heaven is paradise, the epitome of the afterlife, where one shucks all of the worries, fears, responsibilities, and boundaries they face here on earth. Heaven is freedom and the ultimate reward for living a benevolent, genuine life directed by love. To hear that you are proposing it may have its own flaws is a stark objection to that.” She had turned to fully face me. Her eyes were shrewd and assessing. The woman was whip-smart. I hoped she hadn’t realized any change in my opinion because I had a direct source who spoke to me about what it was like to live there.
“All of this came from the advice you parted from me the first time I had voiced my opinions on this. History, as you said, is normally written about from the perspective of the victor. Apart from our knowledge of the major archangels, there are very few accounts of what Heaven was like for other angels in Heaven. We don’t know. I’m reserving my right to pass judgment until everything is presented firsthand in front of me. This is not to say that Heaven is not a wonderful place and could be the paradise you described for many people. However, not every angel may have had that same experience. Lucifer had an army of support, according to the stories. After all, he didn’t force the soldiers to join him in a rebellion. He had support from somewhere. I’d be interested to see if the professors end up finding more information from their side.”
Jean clapped her hands together and almost hit my nose while doing it. “Superb, Aurora! This is exactly what I meant. You should never take what someone tells you at face value. Always question everything. Every person is entitled to their own truth!”
She began to get up and pace the room. Her entire body was in a state of movement. Jean's arms were making expansive gestures as she walked the room.
“Accepting what you are told at face value, especially at an educational institution, is limiting your scope of knowledge. Part of academics is taking a stance on a subject and supporting it with subsequent evidence. Some professionals and experts may disagree with your opinion or findings, but what makes it fascinating is that there is all this knowledge for people to consume. They can come to their own conclusions, hopefully, based on the evidence. The essential value of this is to know that there are differing accounts out there instead of one version that says, 'We are the victors. The other side is atrocious humans without souls. They lost.’ Life is not so clean cut. There is always more to the story. It is our job in this library to ensure there are many versions of those encounters available to students to have available to them to come to ultimately come to their own decisions.”
