I float.
Everything around me is white.
A white so pure, so blinding, it hurts my eyes. I blink, trying to understand where I am. The pain is gone. My body no longer hurts. I’m not cold. I’m not hot. I feel nothing… except an immense, frozen, terrifying emptiness.

And then… I see him.
In front of me, a silhouette appears in the light. Immense. Majestic. Powerful. A man dressed in a long white robe shimmering with gold and silver. His face is veiled in a light so intense I can’t make out his features. But I know.
I know who he is.

“God…” My voice is just a trembling whisper.

He remains still for a moment, watching me without moving. I feel his judgment pressing down on me, crushing me from the inside out. My black wings tremble behind me, heavy, burning. I lower my eyes, unable to meet his gaze. Silent tears roll down my cheeks.

“Caël.” His voice is deep, resonant, echoing within me like an infinite chime. “You used force. Violence. You raised your hand against a creature, even a demonic one.”

I shake my head, broken sobs shaking my chest.

“I… I had no choice… he… he hurt me… he…”

His voice cuts through mine, grave, unyielding, thundering like a storm.

“There is never justification for violence, Caël. Never. You were light. You were purity. But now…”

I slowly lift my eyes to him, my tears blurring my vision. An icy terror pierces through me.

“No… no… please…”

He reaches his hand out toward me. A golden light bursts from his palm, enveloping me completely. I feel the burning immediately. A monstrous, devastating pain that consumes me down to my soul. I scream. A scream so raw, so inhuman, it echoes through the white void.

“You are banished from Paradise. Forever.”

The golden light turns red. Then black. My entire body catches fire. My black wings burn, my bones, my flesh, my blood – all of it in flames. I scream again, my shattered voice resonating into eternity. I feel my hair burning, melting, disintegrating, before a new sensation rises. A heaviness. A darkness. A monstrous force growing within me.

My vision blurs. Burning tears stream down my cheeks. I hear a voice. Far away. So far away. A deep, rough voice, trembling with a love so powerful it gives me the strength to keep breathing through the pain.

“Caël… wake up… my angel… wake up… please…”

I know that voice. Azrael.
I want to answer him. I want to open my eyes. I want to see him. Touch him. Feel him. But I can’t.
I am a prisoner of these black flames consuming me.

“Azrael…” My voice is just a broken breath, lost in the void.

Suddenly, my entire body tenses. My muscles contract violently, a monstrous spasm ripping through me from head to toe. My wings spread wide, striking the air around me. My back arches. My hands clench. A horrific scream tears from my throat.

I convulse.
Again.
Again.
Again.

And everything goes black.