Alia

When a seraph has finished their service or is demoted past the point of existing, they pass their soul onto the next seraph who is created to preserve essence (a form of energy). This cycle has been preserved by Francisci for millennia. Alia’s creation came about with the retirement of 5 of the eldest seraphim. They were highly ranked and well regarded by many – including the cherubim they controlled and the human villages which they helped to protect. Alia replaced one of these Seraphim: Asher. Inheriting his traits and his reputation, she had essentially been given the short end of the stick as he was not well regarded by other seraphim. She persevered for several centuries with little pride in her work, owing to a lack of respect given to her by her community. She would oftentimes vent to Nadia who understood her frustrations but felt Alia should just accept where she stood in this society and that perhaps more work wasn’t necessarily a good thing for every seraph to aspire to have. Of course, this just spurred further resentment. How could anyone, especially someone who was climbing the ranks at a rapid pace, know how she felt. Over time Alia forced distance between herself and Nadia once her breaking point was reached.

As a seraph Alia was given the task of taking care of a few cherubim who resided in the lower world - this is the world where humans and other mortal creatures live. This meant she had to make sure they were provided with enough essence to do their jobs correctly, which include looking after the humans in their villages and protecting fountains (mostly a source of essence). This is where Alia was able to meet Danielle and Stilts - who at the time were both cherubim. Over the years they became closer as friends and Alia spent more time with them than those in the upper world. Francisci disapproved of seraphim going unnecessarily to the lower world as it took a lot of energy and by putting themselves in danger (Seraphim can only be killed in the lower world) it could potentially be a permanent loss of essence and the soul of one of the original seraphim. She would visit them very infrequently to start with but after a few hundred years without trouble she spent the majority of her time in the lower world, getting to know other cherubim as well as the humans who lived in the closest villages. For once in her life she felt respected and was actually enjoying her job.

However her disappearances were noticed fairly often, many just believing that she was never available when called on because she was lazy and didn't care about what she did. But when word got to Nahuel, the head Seraph, that one of the younger Seraphim wasn't doing her job he was furious. He sent Nadia to investigate what she was getting up to as a last resort before he was to inflict any kind of punishment. When she found Alia talking to the cherubim as though they were equal she was distraught and told Alia to beg Nahuel for forgiveness. Alia was furious that Nadia could be so disrespectful to those who actually cared about her and this brought her to tears. This made her report back to Nahuel that Alia was 'no longer, nor ever was' suited for the tasks that a Seraph had to do. 

Nahuel felt contempt towards her for being so insolent and leaving her position to goof around. As an extremely hard worker he felt as though she was personally attacking him for thinking so little of her role. He was going to inflict a punishment on her but at her request to speak to Francisci he gave in (only because he thought that Francisci would give an even worse punishment). She spoke about how unsatisfied she was with life and wished to have a different role, she wasn't useless at what she did but it wasn't the right thing for her. With this Francisci decided to remove 4 of her wings - turning her from a seraph into a cherubim. He removed the majority of her ability to manipulate essence, made her physically weaker, and forced her to live in the lower world permanently. While she was pleased that she was no longer somewhere she hated, she was distraught at the fact that the majority of her ability had been stripped from her.

Currently Alia has a cherub form, having a standard appearance of 2 wings on her back. As she is no longer a seraph she has no control over any other cherubim and she now looks after the fountain of youth, a small cavern containing a fountain where the youth essence (energy which controls how quickly a creature ages and can in some cases permanently stop a creature from dying). To do so she needs to ensure that humans don't accidentally come across the fountain and that only a certain amount of essence is taken from the fountain at a given time. If necessary she can extract youth essence from those who come within a 5 km radius of the fountain of youth by creating an eternal bubble, but this causes immense pain to those it is inflicted upon and so she tries to prevent it being needed in the first place.

She is very distraught about having her power taken away from her and despite how much she enjoys the lower world she feels that there are far more downsides to this than she expected. So she decided that the best plan of action for her would be to become a seraph again which requires her to undertake a trial from each of the 13 fountains. By successfully completing a trial she gains approval from one of the original seraphim and with approval from all 13 she will be given the chance to talk to Francisci again where he can then decide if she is worthy of being a seraph.

Extremely fickle with a tendency to speak first and think later; behind closed doors her friends would describe her as aggressive and brutally honest. She isn't afraid to speak any opinion she has, not because she always believes herself to be right but because she doesn't think anyone does it enough. Having found that people are more likely to speak the truth if they get emotional, although particularly cruel, she tries to enrage or upset those around them to find out what they really think.

She puts on a positive front to assume the standard angelic stereotype and to gain the affection of others in order to rise back to her status as a Seraph, however her reputation precedes her so it doesn't quite work as well as she'd like. For those who haven't met her before they would describe her as kind, forgiving and unassuming - some may even think that they may take advantage of her because she appears too innocent. But when she does realise that someone is trying to take advantage of this she will find a way to turn the situation around on them as entertainment for those in on the joke.

It's difficult for her to figure out the intentions of others and, unless she is close to them, will presume nothing but the worst. However this doesn't stop her extroverted nature from kicking in and inviting herself into every conversation within a 5 mile radius. 

Underneath her rough exterior she can be very sincere and a genuine compliment from her, although hard to come by, is extremely valuable.

She has tritanopia which means she is blue colourblind.

Alia used to eat sushi every day for several years until she found out it was made from fish. After this she attempted to erase everyone's memories of her having enjoyed it (she was unsuccessful but they pretend for her sake).

Using her healing powers, she has kept a Luna moth alive as her pet for the time she has spent on the lower world.

It took Alia 1 hour to learn how to heal broken bones but several weeks to figure out how to heal papercuts.

Alia attempted to complete medical school to learn more about the human body. However her communication skills were not up to scratch and she failed too many exams that she was barred from ever practicing.

She cannot blow her nose.