The Undertaker's Daughter
an excerpt

Chapter One: Of The Curious Nature of Angels

When death came, so did the angels. The fluttering of wings overhead heralded the coming of the messengers of light, fire and flame, beginnings and endings. Sometimes people would stand by the side to watch as the beings from the higher plane came down to escort the denizens of this earth to the next phase; if they were lucky they might glimpse what could be a loved one returned. But they knew that it wouldn’t be the same person. Going to heaven changed you - death took much of what you remembered on earth and going to heaven meant a rebirth of mind, body and purpose.

This time, the crowd of angels flew to a small valley in the midst of green hills. Sweetbriar was a peaceful little hamlet where resided a scattering of souls, people used to frequent visitors from the skyward realm. For this was where the Blessed Undertaker lived, Zecharias Ilyas. Blessed in the respect that he was revered over all others of his profession and he was often the choice for anyone who could avail him of his services. Zecharias could not meet all the demands he received - too many people died at the same time for him to make the walk to every single one of them but often people were willing to travel from the ends of the earth to have him walk with their loved ones.

Undertakers were held in much awe; they were not mere preparers of corpses. When the Parting had happened, the great time of the revelation of the planes, there was no place for decay or dead bodies. Now, whenever a man died, his body would fall into a temporary stasis until the time of the soul’s ascension. An ascension could be as simple or as magnificent a ceremony as he wished. For some, ascension was as simple as the visit of an angel to facilitate a soul’s flight to heaven.

But for some, the presence of an undertaker was needed. Those scared of death found it comforting to have an undertaker make the walk with them. Undertakers were men of faith marked by piety and courage; they would need both to make the astral walk with a dead soul to the heavens. In life, it would seem as if the undertaker would still be there but in truth only his body was present. An undertaker’s mind and consciousness would follow the accompanying angel and the departing soul to make the journey from this plane to the next.

No one knew what had precipitated the Parting. As accounts record, the heavens literally parted - angels descended from heaven to speak to Man. They spoke of the presence of an omniscient being, the one whom most had called God. The words they had brought down had been recorded for posterity in writing, in lithograph and recordings. Stores still sold discs and tapes that continually played those words that spoke of a Being who would unite them all in one aspect - a belief in Him and his existence.