"Fine, I will grant your request,"

"You will? You will open the rift?" This person is actually going to help me now? Even after killing a herald of heaven and god?

"If you love the heavens so much you can join them," Wait what?

She grabs me and throws me into the rift, all I experience is pain as my flesh burns off, my soul collapses in onto a core I didn't even know it had and all my senses except pain are gone and that is the worst pain I have ever experienced or could have imagined, burning me away leaving just a sliver left.

I wish I could have said that was the end but slowly the core of my soul expands again painfully like bits are missing and I just scream.

Screaming, that means I have a voice again. It was like turning from a small marble into a person but my perception is all wrong. I am shorter, my arms and legs thinner and I feel like if I jumped I could go further than I ever could. I glance over myself a little, I seem to have a slightly golden hue, my breasts have gotten a lot smaller, younger even, wait I am naked!

Where are some clothes?

What is going on?

What is this place?

Is this really heaven?

“Calm your mind, you are now a radiant witch, granted a very weak one”  a blindfolded angel states and I instantly go to my knees and push my arms forward on the ground to worship, “Get up, you have been corrupted by stories,”

“But I feel so much divine magic from you! How could I not worship it?” Why would this great being refuse my devotion?

“This is not divine magic, there is no such thing. It isn’t even celestial magic just heavenly magic,”

“I don’t understand,” How could heavenly magic not be divine magic?

“You were not taught the story of magical beings but the one that humans have changed and forgotten over time,”

“But the holy words have been passed down as fact by the priest who trained me!”

“A warlock, he was pushing his own agender to stage an invasion of the hells using the mortal plain as a staging ground, your little invasion would have been crushed within minutes no matter how much you managed,”

“Because of the evil one that stopped me?”

“She stopped you by chance but… odd so many strands are starting to connect to her, how did I not see it before?”

What is going on?

I try some questions but all of them are ignored so after a time I simply look around. There is ground under me, no idea what it is made of but seems like of like solid clouds but on closer inspection, there is actually just ground like on earth, the weather is bright and pleasant but clouds move as if a storm might come later. Angels are far away, buildings made of different material, minor clouds seem to cling to them a bit with golds and whites as common colours. It is a bit like humans might describe but it just seems like a normal city all around I guess this makes this a park. I still feel incredibly exposed, more so with all the angels but they seem to be ignoring me. Some angels walk, some fly. I can feel a bit of the energy here, I feel attuned to it and it is a little calming like I know my place which seems to be under almost everyone here. I guess I am at the bottom of the hierarchy.

“Tell me what you know of the woman that stopped you,” The angel speaks again and I can only follow the instructions.

“She was incredibly powerful, she killed the herald of heaven-”

“An archon,”

“An archon but his magic-”

“Enough, continue,” Her demand cuts away at my own will to question.

“She had someone with her who was very powerful too and she actively seemed to be against heaven and wanting to stop us,”

“So you know nothing more about her, she wasn’t anything special you were just an apprentice with little training beyond what you were taught to contact the archon and create a rift. I will have to meet with her later, you can go now,” She starts to lift up and I panic.

“Wait what about me?”

“You are now in the heavens where you will live until your end, either here or in the mortal plain if you decide to leave in your eternal form,”

“There isn’t anything more? Not even clothes?” She has stopped moving and clicks her fingers before what feels like just blinking out of existence. Another approaches me his radiance fills me with awe and I try to bow down but a quick glare of disapproval from him and I stop.

“You are barely above a lost soul so I will guide you through life here,” He throws a sort of tunic at me, “First get dressed, it seems you are too weak to manifest clothes or even an adult form,” I put it on at least glad to no longer be naked, is this life from now on? I feel like I know more as if my understanding of the rules of the heavens, wait heavens? I see, there are so many sub realms in a greater realm. I can almost see the structure if I close my eyes and I am so low down here.

“Name?” he asks.

“The priest gave me the holy name Mary,”

“Not your false name, your name,”

“Jenny Ross,”

“Jenny, we will head to the department of radiant witches and find you a home and task,”

“A task?”

“Of course, the celestial beings of the heavens valued order and everyone has their place and purpose here,”

Heaven is a lot different from what I expected and I start to wonder how much I was meant to be here...