Heaven Central, 9:00 AM, 1st of January 2025

Lute woke up from her sleep, groggy as usual. The morning sunlight filtered through her window, casting golden streaks across her white sheets. It was the start of a new week, and a new year. Which meant recruitment year... something Lute hated. The year would be 25% training newbies, and even though she hated it, she hoped it would be pushed toward the end of the year so she could get back to the real work—extermination. She’d rather be out on the field than babysitting the new recruits, that was for sure.

As Lute got out of bed and stretched, her joints popping softly, she made her way to her wardrobe and pulled on her Exorcist uniform. The sleek, form-fitting outfit made her look like the perfect poster angel for Heaven’s top-tier warriors (thanks to Adam's idea to make it tighter, of course). It highlighted her hourglass figure just the way she hated—yet couldn’t deny looked damn good.

After making sure everything was in place, Lute made her way to the Exorcist building, located in the corner of Heaven. The marble corridors echoed with the sounds of other angels hurrying to their duties. As usual, she clocked in and began her day.

She wasn’t surprised when she passed by the recruitment room on her way to the cafeteria. Newbies were always being tested, and most of the time, they didn’t make the cut. Typical. But as her eyes landed on one recruit, something was different.

It wasn’t uncommon for new recruits to not know the rules, especially when they first arrive in Heaven. Lute had seen it countless times before—some guy would wander into the Exorcist training hall, completely unaware that the job was female only. But, Lute didn’t care about it. She had a job to do, and whether they were a guy or a girl was none of her concern.

After grabbing her coffee, its bitter aroma filling her nostrils, Lute made her way back to Adam’s office. For the next seven hours, she’d be glued to his side, standing still, following him, maybe talking, but mostly listening to him talk nonsense. Yay.

12:30 PM: Break time

Finally, break time arrived. Lute’s job wasn’t hard, but standing still for 3 hours with Adam either talking her ear off or complaining about something really wasn’t the most stimulating way to spend the day. She made her way to the break room, the sound of her boots clicking against the marble floor echoing in the empty corridor.

As she stepped inside, she overheard some of the other officers talking about the newbie, who was apparently doing... surprisingly well. Stronger than the average rookie, huh? Lute thought to herself. Maybe they were physically trained or had some hidden talent. But it couldn’t be a guy, right? There was no way they'd let a male be an Exorcist. Right?