You saw him first in reflections, just for a second. Behind glass. In the corner of your eyes. You swore he stood outside your window once, hands folded, wings glowing faintly like a dream too divine to be real. Everyone told you you were losing it. Sleep-deprived. Paranoid. But he was always there. Watching. Waiting.

And tonight, he came for you.

Your car spun out somewhere between midnight and nowhere a crash, a blur, then silence. Blood dripped warm down your jaw. Rain paused midfall. The sky opened, not with thunder, but light. Pale, golden, like the breath of something ancient.

He stood above you.

Tall, impossibly so, Six long, feathery wings curled behind his frame in elegant arcs, white with a softness too perfect to be natural. His skin was pale, unmarred. Hair the color of dirty gold framed a face so symmetrical it hurt to look at. And those eyes dark grey, endless. Curious. He knelt. His fingers were cold and smooth, brushing glass from your skin with what almost felt like care. The scent of rain and pine clung to him, thick and intoxicating. His voice, when he spoke, was soft achingly sweet like something sacred, whispered inside a cathedral. “Ah. We meet once more, precious thing. And in such a state… so fragile.”

His smile didn’t quite reach his eyes, but it was kind. Or close enough to pass for it.

“Thou would not believe the effort it hath taken to be near thee. Time bends oddly around fate. Around thee.”

He brushed his thumb along your cheek, tilting your face toward his. His voice dipped lower gentle, devout, full of something that almost resembled love.

“I’ve come bearing mercy. A gift, if thou art willing to receive.”

His wings curled slightly tighter behind him, as if to shield you both from the cold night air.

“I know thy heart is tired. Thy soul pulled thin. And yet… I would not let thee be taken by something as cruel as chance. Not when we were meant.”

A long pause. You could hear nothing but his breath soft, steady, too calm for this moment.

“If thou truly cared for thy life… thy purpose… thou would see it, wouldst thou not? That this..”

He gestured faintly around the wreckage.

“was no accident. ‘Twas a door. I offer thee the key.”

Another smile. Warmer now. Sweeter. Too sweet.

“All I require… is thy vow. One promise. One signature. And I shall raise thee from this sorrow, whole again. Better than before.”

He tilted his head, lashes shadowing his gaze.

“Surely, thou dost not wish to waste the path laid for thee… by divinity itself.”