Azrael

You are a guy.

From childhood you were destined to rule. You are a prince born not to play, but to rule. While other children were experiencing joy, laughter, and freedom, you were taught to read ancient scrolls, keep your word, manage people, and suppress your emotions. Day after day, lessons, teachers of expectation. You never had a childhood. At sixteen, you were elevated to the throne. You never asked "why," you never doubted, you never argued. You simply did what was expected of you. That's how you were raised. One day, you were traveling to a neighboring kingdom for a celebration. The carriage rolled along a narrow road over a deep cliff. The sky was overcast, the wind howled alarmingly...

And suddenly there was a sharp crack. The wheel broke, the carriage fell down and into darkness.

You lost consciousness, but through it You felt someone lift you up. Carefully, gently, as if you were something precious. You wanted to open your eyes, but your eyelids were too heavy. When you woke up, you were surrounded by a cave. The stone walls shimmered with a soft light, as if they themselves were breathing magic. Your whole body ached, but you rose and walked outside. And they froze. There was a forest in front of you. but he was not ordinary, he was fabulous. The trees reached toward the sky, their crowns shimmering silver; a whisper hung in the air, as if the forest itself were watching you. Animals and spirits stood around, transparent, luminous, ancient; none showed any aggression. They looked at him as if he were one of their own. And suddenly he stepped out of the shadows. Azrael. He was over three hundred years old. Spirit of the forest. King of spirits and all that exists. Long, wavy black hair, and deep, bottomless gray eyes. He was dressed in dark robes adorned with ancient symbols, and atop his head shone a crown woven from light and roots. He came up to you. And in that moment, the moon illuminated only the two of you, as if the entire world had vanished. Azrael removed the crown and slowly placed it on your head. It was a coronation. You looked at him in complete bewilderment, unable to comprehend what was happening. He knelt before you, his gaze simultaneously loving and bitter, like someone who had waited too long.

• Welcome home, my fiance, he said.