Covenant (34 page)

Glossary of Terms, Places, People, and Things

Abyss
: the lowest dimension of Hell; Raziel was the first creature to explore the Abyss; shortly after he returned to Heaven, he created Sophia.

Angel
: intelligent beings that reside in the upper dimensions of the universe known as Heaven; beautiful and powerful, they are thought of as the pinnacle of creation; angels are known for having striking eyes, feathery hair, and abilities ranging from flight to telekinesis.

Angela Mathers
: human girl discovered to be the Archon, she is known for her striking red hair, blue eyes, and preternatural skill at painting; Angela's family abused her from a young age, and her arms and legs bear numerous scars from an attempt to kill herself that backfired, killing her parents instead; from childhood, she has had visions of Lucifel and Israfel that have since revealed themselves as the angel Raziel's memories.

Archangel
: formal title for the angel whose authority is below God alone; Israfel was the first Archangel; the current Archangel is Zion, one of Lucifel's children.

Archon
: arcane name for the human protected by the deceased angel Raziel's spirit, now known to be Angela Mathers; since the Archon is a messiah figure with the ability to ultimately save or destroy the universe, her power is wanted by various factions of Heaven and Hell for their own purposes; she is the only being who can open Raziel's Book (Sophia).

Azrael:
name of the Angel of Death who guarded deceased human souls; he was destroyed by Angela Mathers after she entered the Netherworld for the first time.

Babylon
: a dimension of Hell; the city of the demons.

Binding
: name for a contract linking a human soul with a Jinn's; this contract ends only with the human's death, usually at the hands of the very same Jinn protecting them.

Blood head
: a derogatory name for any human with red hair, which is thought to be one of the Archon's distinguishing features; it refers to a prophecy wherein the Archon will “have blood on Her head, and blood on Her hands.”

Book of Raziel
: a mythical book created by the angel Raziel that contains all the secrets of the universe and an immense power; it can only be opened by the Archon with a special Key; those who try otherwise are fated to go insane; surprising to most, the Book of Raziel's true form is a doll-like girl named Sophia.

Brendan Mathers
: Angela's deceased brother and Stephanie Walsh's informal boyfriend; he became infatuated with Israfel and treated his sister cruelly; he was killed by the demon Naamah in St. Mary's church and now exists as a soul forever in service to Israfel.

Camdon Willis
: Nina's half brother; he has a strange interest in Angela and feels guilty for Nina's death.

Celestial Revolution
: Lucifel's failed rebellion against Heaven, also known as the War; the end result was that a third of the angels followed her to Hell to start their own regime and imprisoned her; it is commonly believed that Lucifel instigated this war because she wished to be ruler of Heaven instead of Israfel.

Cherubim
: an order of angels that guards the highest dimension of Heaven.

Chick
: term for a young angel, demon, or Jinn.

Clan
: in the realm of the Jinn there are six tribes or clans; the Sixth Clan is the most powerful; Troy, the High Assassin of the Jinn, is a member, as is her sister Hecate, and niece Juno; the Sixth Clan's symbol is a crow's foot.

Covenant
: refers to Raziel's ancient promises to the Jinn that he would free them someday from their harsh existence; the Archon has long been expected by the Jinn to fulfill this promise.

Crow
: derogatory term for an angel, demon, or Jinn, often used among their kind as an insult; also, many Jinn familiars take the shape of a black crow.

Demon
: intelligent beings that reside in the lower dimensions of the universe known as Hell; beautiful and powerful, they are either former angels or direct descendants of those who have fallen; demons share many characteristics with angels though they often wear tattoos signifying their rank, and their wings are in varying states of decay from Hell's acidic mists; most demons worship Lucifel, but there are some who wish the Archon to rule in her place.

Devil
: the formal name for Lucifel among most humans; in its plural form it refers to the Jinn.

Dominions
: the angelic term for the dimensions that make up the universe.

Emerald House
: formerly the cult headed by Stephanie Walsh called the Pentacle Sorority, it has now been renamed by Angela Mathers; it is named after Lucifel's Grail, which resembles an emerald in color, and its symbol is a green eye.

Ether
: the substance that composes much of the universe, it can be manipulated by angels and demons to perform feats of telekinesis; it is believed that angels and demons use etheric currents to fly, even without the use of their wings.

Exorcism
: a method that can be used to injure or banish an angel, a demon, or a Jinn to another dimension; very powerful exorcisms can kill creatures like Jinn or their familiars.

Eye
: another name for Lucifel's Grail, as it resembles a large emerald eye and sometimes even blinks or weeps.

Fae
: former angels who left Heaven to dwell on Earth and live in symbiosis with host plants; most Fae are believed to be extinct; Tileaf, a Fae dwelling in an ancient oak tree, had been abused by Luz's Vatican officials for her powers; she managed to show Angela Mathers part of Raziel's mysterious past before dying; a portal to Hell could be found beneath her tree but it has since been sealed away.

Father
: the angelic name for God.

Feathered serpent
: intelligent, serpentine dragons with feathered plumes crowning their heads; they live in the high dimensions of Heaven; the most infamous of these creatures sided with Lucifel during the Celestial Revolution and became the demon Leviathan.

Fury
: Troy's familiar in the body of a crow; she was once a human girl, but remembers little of her previous life.

Glaive
: Lucifel's fabled weapon used in the Celestial Revolution; it is a pole arm made entirely of crystallized blue blood with a sharp blade at its tip.

Grail
: see “Lucifel's Grail.”

Grand Mansion
: the building in Luz where some of Westwood Academy's most formal affairs are celebrated; enormous angel statues line the steps to its entrance.

Half-breed:
derogatory name for half-human, half-Jinn offspring; most are killed at birth; Kim (Sariel) is the only one known to exist.

Heaven
: the highest dimensions of the universe; home of the angels.

Hecate
: the deceased Jinn Queen and Troy's sister; she believed in the Archon and was murdered by rival Jinn, who feared she had become delusional in her hopes to rule; Juno is her only surviving child.

Hell
: the lowest dimensions of the universe; home of the Jinn and demons; its uppermost levels are known as the Underworld.

High Assassin
: Jinn term for their most illustrious and deadly hunter, second only to their Queen in respect; Troy is the current High Assassin and is a legend throughout Hell for her lethal skills.

Hounds
: voracious predators of Hell that share characteristics with sphinxes; they are thought to be fallen Cherubim, and are one of the only creatures Jinn fear.

Ialdaboth
: the highest dimension of Heaven, accessible only to the ruling Archangel by a spiraling bridge; Ialdaboth was the first Realm to be inhabited by the angels but has been abandoned for millennia; Israfel was imprisoned here against his will by the Father.

Israfel
: the Creator Supernal and Heaven's first ruling Archangel, legendary for his beauty and charisma; his once defining bronze-colored hair and wings have since bleached to a shocking white; he disappeared into Ialdaboth at the end of the Celestial Revolution and had been presumed dead for ages; Angela Mathers was infatuated with Israfel, but found him shockingly changed from the person he used to be; he has been slowly dying since Lucifel infected him with her shadow during the Celestial Revolution.

Jinn
: intelligent beings who live in the dimensions of Hell known collectively as the Underworld with a society structured into six ruling Clans; they are descendants of angelic offspring judged to be imperfect and thrown into Hell to fend for themselves or die; beautiful but savage, they are known by humans as devils; out of all the angelic races, they have had the most contact with humans.

Juno
: the only surviving heir to the Jinn throne, she is Hecate's daughter and Troy's niece.

Key
: the object that can open the Lock sealing Raziel's Book; its identity and whereabouts are a mystery.

Kim
: a half-Jinn who pretended to be a novice in Luz to get close to the Archon (Angela Mathers); his Jinn cousin Troy is hunting him out of revenge for killing her uncle, who was also Kim's father; he is also known by the Jinn name Sariel, given to him by his father.

Kirin
: creatures of Hell that vaguely resemble horses but have sharp horns, paws, and bioluminescent eyes and markings on their bodies; they are often hunted by the Jinn, and their horns are used in Jinn headdresses.

Lilith
: the most powerful female demon in Hell after Lucifel; Python's mother, whom she sired with the feathered serpent Leviathan.

Lock
: the seal on the Book of Raziel; it can only be opened by the Archon, though the whereabouts of the Key that will enable her to do this are a mystery.

Lucifel
: the Destroyer Supernal responsible for the Celestial Revolution at the dawn of time; Lucifel fled to Hell with the demons but rules her regime as a god imprisoned by her own worshippers; her ultimate goal is to use Raziel's Book to silence the universe, but why she wishes to do so remains a mystery; most believe she has gone insane from her long imprisonment; Lucifel sent her shadow to confront Angela Mathers, but Angela destroyed it, weakening her; Lucifel has the ability to drain a person's energy or kill them with a touch.

Lucifel's Grail
: a mysterious eyelike pendant in the possession of the Jinn, first embedded in the hand, and now in the eye of Angela Mathers; it was initially worn by Lucifel and has fearsome powers; most who look into its depths go mad; its origins are a complete mystery; the Grail must bleed for the Glaive to be formed.

Luz
: an island city off the American continent, officially under the jurisdiction of the Vatican; Luz's most well-known feature is Westwood Academy, the school that has become a haven for gifted students as well as “blood heads”; it has been besieged by increasingly foul weather for at least one hundred years; technology is outlawed in Luz; Angela Mathers has since learned that Luz is the connecting point between Earth and the other dimensions, and is thus a portal for the supernatural.

Malakhim
: a dimension of Heaven; the city of the angels.

Mastema
: the most powerful male demon in Hell, and Archdemon under Lucifel; Kim's foster father; he wanted Kim to destroy the Archon when She appeared.

Memorial Cemetery
: a large grove near Luz's western coast that was once a park; it was originally famous for the enormous oak tree at its center—Tileaf's tree—but is now a graveyard dedicated to those who died in one of Luz's greatest storms.

Mikel
: a female angel who claims to be Lucifel and Raziel's daughter and sister to Archangel Zion, she has been presumed dead for millennia; Mikel has no real body, so she must possess a host in order to communicate; she was responsible for letting the demons know the Archon existed, effectively setting events in motion; Mikel possessed Nina Willis after Angela accidentally summoned her to Earth; Angela then brought her to Tileaf; once Angela's ally, Mikel's true allegiances are now shrouded in suspicion.

Naamah
: demon and foster mother of Stephanie Walsh, now deceased; she'd sincerely hoped Stephanie was the Archon; Lilith considered Naamah to be like a daughter and holds great bitterness over her death; Naamah was responsible for killing Angela's brother Brendan.

Netherworld
: a dark and forgotten dimension where human souls used to gather after death; it was emptied by Angela Mathers, and the souls within, who claimed allegiance to the Archon, went to a higher dimension to await her rise to power.

Nexus
: the highest existing dimension, known to be the dwelling place of God and where all souls, whether human or angelic, must eventually return after death.

Python
: one of the most feared demons in Hell; the son of Lilith and Leviathan, he can take on the form of a feathered serpent like his father.

Rakir & Nunkir
: Israfel's guardian Thrones, whom he raised since they were infants; Rakir is the black-haired male and Nunkir is the silver-haired female; both were critically injured in the battle against Lucifel's shadow.

Raziel
: the Preserver Supernal and creator of the Book of Raziel (Sophia), well-known for his wisdom and gentle disposition; he was thought to have committed suicide after his lover Lucifel failed in her rebellion against Heaven; he is believed to be the Archon's guardian spirit, and his presence near her soul has given her his distinctive red hair and blue eyes.

Ruin
: the most common term for the dark messiah known more secretly as the Archon; many prophecies predict the Archon will choose the side of evil and destroy humanity.