AGATHANGELOS: The Origin

"Queen of the galaxy, all-knowing goddess, the one whose hair is studded with stars and whose ever-flowing gown is made of liquid rainbows and dreams, all hail Agathangelos!" announced the Herald with his ever-so-large golden trumpet.

"You don't have to do that every time I walk into a room, you know. And besides everyone in this place knows who I am. It's kinda annoying when I have to listen to that same old introduction every time I decide to grab an apple from the dining table or go to the library for a book." said the irritated young girl, rolling her eyes. She was the queen but she didn't look like it. A 16-year-old chewing gum riding around the palace in rollerskates is not how you would expect a queen to look like.

Agathangelos slumped onto the living room couch, one leg on the armrest, surfing channels. An old man in a tuxedo rushed in, looking aghast. "Queen! Guests are coming over. Be presentable, please! And what are you wearing? Pajamas? Your gown has returned from laundry after your little incident." Irritated, Agathangelos muttered, "How was I supposed to know the ketchup bottle was already open, Cadbury?"

She got up and stomped to her room while Cadbury rushed after her with her roller-skates in one hand and a file in the other. He smiled at her and stroked her black hair and said softly, "I know this is hard for you. Why, you're only a child! But if the universe has chosen you out of the trillions and trillions of people of thousands of planets, there must be a reason right, princess? Get ready quickly and come downstairs with a big smile. Once our guests leave, the two of us will watch a movie and eat chocolate cake. Deal?"

Agathangelos nodded with a big smile on her face. Cadbury always knew what to say and make her feel like she totally fit into this crazy world. Just as he left, two maids entered. Quickly, they strapped her into her gown and combed her hair. As she came down a staircase, she truly looked like a queen. The ceiling rained glittery sparkles and the ground beneath her feet glowed softly. She looked down to see who the guests were when her dress got caught under her leg and the poised, elegant queen tumbled down the staircase falling onto her unsuspicious herald. Cadbury helped her up and dusted her off, half laughing and half confused, thinking to himself, seriously universe, you chose her?! Agathangelos puffed her face and said, "I told you, I can't walk with heels the size of mountains." Cadbury shook his head smiling and said,"We got a lot of work to do, drama queen."

The sound of horses attracted everyone's attention. Through the window, Agathangelos saw these beautiful black pegasus with a mane burning with a fiery rage to it. The look of the flame excited her but somehow not even a tiny bit of fear crept into her mind. He neighed, doing a hair-flip, making her laugh. She ran to the gates, barefoot and instead of welcoming the guests, she stroked the horse's mane and hugged him tightly, without a thought of the fire that could burn her. It was surprisingly warm and cozy, like a melted marshmallow against her face. The pegasus nuzzled its snout against her cheek and said, "I like this girl. She didn't hesitate. And bonus, she smells of strawberries." Absentmindedly, she replied, "Do I? Well, I think I found my favourite-est horse in the world" and giggled. "What's your name, horsey? I'm gonna call you... Sparkles" she asked him fondly. The pegasus just stared at her. "You, you can hear me?" he said with an astonished look. Only then did she realize she was engaging in an interesting conversation with a PEGASUS. "Cadbury! How can I talk to this horse?", she tried to say with authority but she still sounded like a three-year-old seeing cotton candy for the first time. Instead of Cadbury, a different voice came from behind her. "First of all, he is a pegasus, not a horse. Second, his name is Whiplash and he's mine. And third, you are so amazed with MY pegasus that you IMAGINE he can talk to you. He's MINE and only I can understand him. I should know because I created him", he said haughtily. "Amun! Don't be rude!", said a beautiful lady with her hand on his shoulder. "She's the new queen now. She can hear all creatures of this galaxy. Even the ones that you make." "But that's not fair! He's mine! And there's no word like favourite-est. And this girl is queen?!" shouted the boy as he walked away towards the palace. "Excuse him, your Majesty. He loves his pegasus very much.", she said softly. Agathangelos liked her already. She held her hand and took her inside the palace. The lady looked at Cadbury surprised but followed Agathagelos anyways. Agathangelos showed her the whole palace and was feeling proud of herself for knowing where to go in this enormous place. Cadbury came up to her and said, "Your guest, my Queen, is Athena, goddess of wisdom and the architect of this palace." A huge smile crept on his face. Agathangelos, feeling stupid, stared at her feet, not knowing what to say, pretending to discover a new speck of dust she hadn't noticed before when Athena affectionately lifted her chin up. "I was pleased to see that my creation could cause such amazement in someone's eyes. Thank you, child." Agathangelos smiled and said, "Let me show you to the livin...um...strategy room where we can discuss the pressing matter for which you came to my humble abode." Athena followed her, impressed. She winked at Cadbury and said, "You taught her well, son."

Agathangelos was going to slump onto the couch when she caught Cadbury looking at her aghast. Gracefully, she sat on the chair, one leg over the other, pinkie out, slurping tea. Cadbury tilted his head to the side, impressed. He mouthed, "Drama queen." Agathangelos giggled, snorting her tea out her mouth like a water fountain gone rogue and Cadbury slammed his head against his palm. Athena, fairly surprised, ignored the sudden turn of events and brought out a huge file from her seemingly tiny knapsack.

"Now that we're done with the formalities, let's get to business, shall we?", she said, as a presentation-board came out from nowhere. Putting on her "smart-entrepreneur" glasses and taking out a looooong pointer from her fist-sized knapsack, Athena looked like she was going to bury the new queen in an avalanche of statistics. Pointing at a drastically declining graph saying 'Our Fans', she rolled her eyes. "The people these days, they got a small bundle of problems and they decide the Gods don't exist or that Gods aren't worth their time just because we are not showering them with presents. A century ago, u give the people a famine or flood every once in a while, offerings go out the roof! People are getting dumber and softer every decade. (Sigh) At the current rate of decline in offerings, we're gonna have a huge budget cut and you do not wanna tell the Gods they are not getting a new rollercoaster. You. Do. Not." Athena had the pointer almost touching Agathangelos' nose. Seeing her stunned face, she hastily moved back and smiled. "Best of luck, Queen. You're gonna need it. And oh, the rollercoaster opening is due next month.”

"Can I slump now?" asked Agathangelos, as she watched Athena and Amun leave the castle with Blaze by their side. Cadbury asked in a pitiful tone, "Tea?" Pointing at the tea fiasco that just happened in front of her, Agathangelos rolled her eyes. Laughing, Cadbury said, "Too soon?" and got her strawberries in whipped cream. "All better," he said and ruffled her hair as she left out a long sigh. "Three days I'm here and it's a mess already," she said, slowly dozing off on the sofa.

The next day Agathangelos woke up with an idea. The reason why the Gods weren't being worshipped was that the people didn't know they existed. Everyone knows history books are so boring to read. So Agathangelos got to work. Busy typing, the next three days she didn't leave her desk. Scrumpled paper balls flew everywhere, one landing in her astonished bodyguard's morning coffee. Silently, the young man watched her work with sheer determination and brought her food from time to time. Cadbury was shooed away as she felt he talked too much and ruined her "writing mojo vibe". But, her bodyguard was perfect. Quiet, disturbance-free company. After 8 full days, Agathangelos jumped out her chair and waved a piece of paper, dancing and jumping on her bed. "Finished, finished! Who da man? I da man!", she said with a triumphant smile. "I believe the correct phrase is "I da 'queen', your majesty."",said Cadbury, trying to hide his smile. "It's all done. I just saved the universe... from a budget cut. The Gods are seriously crazy.", she said in the most serious voice she could muster but she couldn't help bouncing off walls with high pitch laughter. Cadbury picked up her laptop and read the document. Amazed, he said, "This could actually work."

Soon, a book titled ‘Your Average Teenage God’ took the streets of New York by storm and then the world. It was placed in the fiction category but I think both you and I know the truth.