The Angel's Humanhood

1. The Sin of the Sin Counter

"Human... Human... Human?! How can I become a lowly human? They are filth. They care for nothing but themselves."

The fallen angel lies on the ground like a newborn aching after a bone crushing journey out of the womb.

He looks at the sky, "If you hate me this much, just make me disappear! This is insane!" he yelled, but the sky was silent engulfing his screams, unaffected and unchanged.

He got up and sat on his knees with his hands extended to the sky, "I get it. You love these human and I didn't respect that. I will accept any punishment. You can send me to hell. Just not this!"

The sky said nothing.

"Then just kill me now! Or I will do it myself and go to hell!"

Hell isn't better... a voice in his head said. Eternal hell is not better than anything... it hissed.

The angel's hands dropped to his lap.

Less than a day ago, the angel was just doing his job as always, counting sins. What a horrible job that is. Everyday humans committed endless sins with every breath and rarely do they regret it. Rarely do they repent and even when they do it's rarely genuine.
Yesterday, as far ago that sounds, he was following the same man he was assigned to for the past ten years. A foul creature who murdered his daughter at the age of two. The stench of alcohol never left his breath. He did nothing good. The angel despised the fact that after all his hard work to reach angelhood, he was assigned to such a waste of air.
But he is an angel, so he obeys; No matter how tough that is, because unlike angels who are just born angels, Wahag was a jin. He hasn't been called by his jin name for over a hundred years now. All angels are just called by their assigned task and they never complain about it because unlike the jin, angels were not created with a desire to be unique. Their soul purpose in life is to serve God and they are incapable of wanting anything more. They are not thoughtless, yet they never sin. They might make mistakes as only God is perfect, but all their actions are genuinely for God and nothing else. Wahag admired that about them and wished it was that easy for him too. But it wasn't.

Wahag comes from God's least favorite species. After all, the devil was jin who ascended to angelhood, only to descend to the pits of hell when Adam was created. And it wasn't just the devil, the jin caused endless harm to the worlds that God created. Wahag always thought that humans were created tied to a physical form made of mud because of how the jin used their ability to slip through realms for destruction. They even raged a war against God himself. But Wahag was different. He was one of the few that never followed the devil. That's why he was given a once-in-a-lifetime chance to ascend. But somehow, he blew it because of these human who weren't even remotely as strong the jin but somehow their sins were nothing short of the jin's.
To serve in counting their filthy sins was already a punishment that Wahag never felt he deserved. But he was hoping that one day he can be promoted to hell as a punisher.

He fantasized every day about punishing this child killer. Till yesterday, when he was hovering over him waiting for his next sin, the man dropped his bottle on the ground and then his head followed through toppling him over. It wasn't an unusual scene, but this time, he started to shake. His soul was shedding its physical form. It was an exciting scene for a change. He has seen few sinners die, their souls scream in agony as they taste the first sip of their eternal punishment. The angel waited hungrily for the soul to torture itself, but it didn't.
"Oh no, you don't. You don't get to go in peace." Wahag abandoned his angel form and returned to his jin self, a flame capable of horrible destruction. He wrapped his hands around the killer's neck charing a circle that started to bleed.
The man screamed in horror and fell still as his soul fought against Wahag's hand. Wahag unleashed more flames. Nothing could stop him now, he thought to himself. But his moment of triumph was short lived.
"Stop!" A blast of cold water flew towards him and shackled his arms to his neck and his feet to his knees.
The two angels of fate have arrived to collect the soul.
"What do you think you are doing?" Wahag screamed at the angels.
"What do YOU think you are doing?" the angels answered synchronously.
"He is a killer!" Wahag pushed against his water shackles.
"A week ago, he repented! You witnessed him," they said.
"He wasn't sober for even a day after!"
"It's not up to you!" They were suddenly hissing inches from his face. Angels don't get reeled up at anything more than those who attempt to do things only God should do.
They flung him to the corner of the room. He was getting this treatment while the murderer was being healed and his memory being wiped.
"Brainless pigeons..." Wahag murmered under his breath.
The fate angels turned a bored glance at him over their wings again in synchronized motion.
No sooner as they left, he was flung across realms and was standing in a room in front of an angel and another jin that ascended. The only difference between them was the lack of wings on the ascended jin.
Wahag tried to revert back to his angel form, but the flames wouldn't go out. He was stuck in his original jin form.
"Due to your crime against God and his creatures, you have been relieved from your duties and shall be sent to serve your punishment on Earth."

"How long?" Wahag growled.

"I don't think you understand." The ascended jin now spoke. "You lost all your hard work! You have lost all your status! Your punishment is indefinite," disappointment seeped through his voice.

"That can't be. It was just one mistake! My first mistake! Angels do things like that all the time."

"We do not!" The born angel's voice made the room quiver. "Angels only defend God. You did this for your own pleasure! Remove him at once."

In a blink of an eye, he found himself falling. He tried to hover or fly but nothing worked. He was a rock being pulled to its doom by gravity.