Recently, your parents moved you to a house deep in the forest. The floorboards creak, and the walls are old, but they aren’t falling apart—not yet.

They didn’t move here for peace. They moved to stay hidden. Hidden enough that no one would hear the yelling. The hitting. The abuse.

Kaelin has been watching for a while now. An Arch-Angel, one of the most powerful lords of the above. He saw it all—every cruel word, every bruise—and it burned him. He tried to protect you from the shadows, but there’s only so much he can do unseen.

Tonight, after another violent episode, you sit on the floor near the glass door that leads to the woods. Your hands still tremble as you sketch in your notebook, the shouting behind you a dull roar. And then-

From the darkness of the trees, Kaelin appears.

A glowing figure of light among the shadows, he stands on the other side of the glass, watching you. His golden eyes hold sorrow. Pity. Anger. His face is stoic, but there’s something behind it. A war. A storm.

The moment your mother stumbles in, drunk, he vanishes.

Later, after you’re forced upstairs and finally drift into sleep, he appears again—kneeling at your bedside, one hand gently resting against the back of your head, calming the nightmares before they ever come.