Male | Seraphim | Heaven
Many know the tale of the angel Gabriel. In most accounts, he is depicted as a powerful Archangel who fights alongside both Raphael and Michael. This is him, only eons before attaining that level of prestige. Currently, he is no more than a lively albeit reckless adolescent Seraphim who craves for purpose and destiny. Like a dove, whose symbolic meaning is that of hope and freedom, Gabriel is perhaps one of the most jovial of all the angels in the High Heavens - having similar traits as one of their four leaders, Iofi, as well as parts of Michael's unorthodox persona. It was no wonder then, that Gabriel felt caged. His youth, which was the source of his merriment, was the subject of elder angels' annoyance, save for Michael, who himself was a maverick. In the days of his youth, Gabriel rode many Pegasi, delivering important scrolls to others quickly albeit ineffectually, as well as writing stories. Akin to both a brash paper boy and the boy who cried wolf, Gabriel slipped his hand-written stories of exaggerated truth into the scrolls written by Metatron himself. Needless to say, Metatron would often reprimand the young angel for his tampering, in spite of his good intentions and will to share his love for literary art.
As a young angel, Gabriel was given to immaturity and impetuousness. He would frequently meet even the gravest threats with a flippant remark, often showing a certain underestimation of the true danger of the situation. He was also somewhat given to flirtatious behaviour around angels of the opposite sex that annoyed various individuals of his kin. Gabriel's heroism and bravery were beyond question, of course, and he brought a laid-back, down-to-earth quality to the his team. He was in many ways the Angelic Few's most idealistic angel, and his friendliness and compassion were the "glue" that held the disparate team of heroes together. it is evident that he genuinely cares for those he protects. Gabriel is considered the bane of many angel's lives in spite of his gaiety, often finding trouble wherever he goes. Much like the Greek God Hermes, whom he is also know as, Gabriel is a prankster at heart.
Character's History
Born from a ray of light, the infant known as Gabriel found himself in the verdant groves of the Elysian Meadows, Heaven's fields taming with ethereal fauna, where he ran and played faster and livelier than his peers. Full of vim and vigour, the angel Gabriel grew up under the care and tutelage of Iofi, who loved the fullness of his nature. As a child, Gabriel garnered mixed feelings from different angels. Aside from his mother figure, many Seraphim and Erelim favoured his way at handling life; his carefree nature painting red the faces of many female angels. They respected him and allowed him to express his feelings. On the other hand, many Ophanim and Cherubim, the angels on the more serious side of life, questioned his reckless ways. Some Ophans, Raguel especially, wished he would be more orderly, and Cherubs assumed the young Seraph had behavioural defects that prevented him from "rational and philosophical thought." It was Michael's opinion of him, however, that weighed the most. Fortunately, Michael saw himself in the young angel. The same courage and maverick-attitude that Michael once had was so evident in Gabriel's speech, thought, and actions that Heaven's leader had no choice but to respect the young angel.
Iofi was unmatched in the art of weaning an angel in the ways of Heaven's ideals. She fostered these ideals within Gabriel and soon, he was shot into life, like an arrow towards a target. Much of Gabriel's life was purposeless, in spite of him hearing words from his mother figure that pointed to him having a bright future. He was Metatron's vassal, tasked to do countless mundane tasks for the elder Cherubim, such as delivering scrolls of holy magic, local news, and articles of learning in the various academies of Heaven. He was also tasked with cleaning Uriel's study, cleaning the pillars of knowledge, and dusting the old tomes. Under Metatron, Gabriel started putting into paper the histories of Elohim. Gabriel was quite the writer, as it was under the tutelage of Heaven's first scribe his knack for writing stories bloomed. Although he wasn't an efficient scribe, his imagination and love for the fictions were matchless.
Still, Gabriel felt his life had little to no meaning. He would frequently ask himself existential questions about what life would be like beyond the books. Iofi seemed to be no help at all, giving Gabriel broad advice. It was then that Heaven's energies started fluctuating, and all of Heaven's angels began having visions of war, Hell, and Lucifer's reign. Gabriel was one of the few angels in Heaven to have a cryptic vision that made him temporarily insane - that of a six headed, black and red-scaled dragon. After a few days, the messenger angel recuperated, and was back on his feet. Gabriel wished to delve deeper into the story, and so he did. Even if Iofi did not will him to be part of the Angelic Few, Gabriel entered the portal with little hesitation. He ran, disobeying the pleas of his mother figure and instead running towards his destiny.
Position, Rank, or Occupation
Gabriel is the Messenger of Heaven. As Heaven's messenger, Gabriel is tasked with delivering items of great importance. He is also Metatron's pupil in the literary arts.
Skills, Abilities, Equipment, Weapons, and Armour
(only gold and with a pair of feathered wings on its cross-guards, much like a real Caduceus)
As a Seraphim, Gabriel is able to summon a personalised weapon. His weapon is a golden dagger with a Caduceus handle, which is an allusion to Hermes, his other, future alias. This golden dagger can elongate into a short sword at most. Like Thor's Mjölnir, this dagger can fly back towards Gabriel's hands when thrown, although the angel cannot control it telekinetically. It is a unique dagger, seeing as it has its own pair of small, angelic wings. It has electric properties, and acts like a bladed taser.
Although he himself is not nearly as powerful as many of the other angels, Gabriel was still very powerful in his own right. He is crafty and sly, and conceptualises countless stratagem that revolve around trickery, pranks, and deception. He possesses most of the standard abilities of an angel, such as enhanced physical abilities as well as increased endurance; allowing him to remain physically active for incredible periods of time. Gabriel's greatest attribute, however, was his immense physical agility and speed. Aside from the pair of wings on his back, Gabriel has four wings on the soles of his feet – one pair on his left, and another pair on his right. Gabriel's already impressive agility and speed are magnified to beyond superhuman levels and allow him to become virtually untouchable in combat.
His winged feet also allow him to walk virtually on any surface in spite of physics; he can scale up and down walls without the use of the wings on his back, stand upside down on ceilings, "walk" on water, and perch along extremely difficult areas, such as thin ropes. Like the Flash, he can spin his arms and create electrically-charged vortices, and lightning charges are given off when he runs. Although he cannot directly control lightning and blast bolts from his fingertips, the element acts as some sort of " indirect result" for whenever he runs. He cannot run at light speed, although he can and has, on multiple occasions, run faster than the speed of sound.
Weaknesses, Annoyances, Dislikes, Fears
Gabriel is not as powerful as his other angel comrades, and is humble enough to run from a fight when need be. His innate ability to create weapons is unimpressive as well, as he appears to choose to create naught but little knives and short swords.
Gabriel is still a reckless, wayward youth. Because of this, his actions can either become predictable or unpredictable - which is both a weakness and a strength, respectively. He has yet to tap into his full potential, because he is extremely far from achieving his future renown. He is shown to be impulsive and is quicker to act than think, which implies his lack of forethought and foreknowledge.
Gabriel dislikes slowpokes and those he feels are "slowing him down." This can be a weakness because he does not appreciate quality and well-thought-of plans. He also pressures others into do things more quickly, even if other angels aren't as fast as him.
Finally, Gabriel actually fears a number of things; gigantic demons, getting lost in Hell, and death, as well as the power of authority figures such as Raguel. Michael's opinions, whatever they may be, weighs heavily on Gabriel's shoulders, since Michael is Gabriel's hero.