azrael
If Azrael had known her then, before circumstances stole away her innocence and wonder at the world, would he have truly seen her as he does tonight? It was a wonder Elena stood beside him, open and trusting. It was a wonder she could exude such warmth, despite her doubts on love and her guarded heart. Whether she thought herself spurned and betrayed, the beauty of it all was this perspective had not changed her. At her core, Elena was still a creature with a beautiful soul.
As night wore on, the stars rose higher in Caligo’s sky, and he wishes they would stay forever – not for the starlight, but so the fantasy would last. Beside the gilded girl, Azrael feels at ease for the first time since coming to Denocte. Here, the two are lost to the moment, hidden from the rest of the world. It is a moment he wishes to last, but still the shed-star knows that morning would come, the illusion lost with the fading stars.
“It sounds as though you are haunted by memories – it happens to the best of us.” It wasn’t that he didn’t feel such things, only that he’d learned to quiet his thoughts. Azrael is quiet as he considers his own horrors – the scent of burning flesh, the cries of those who did not heed the star-speakers warnings. The sound of their pleading was enough to curdle his blood, memories of it roaring in his mind as he fights to still the feeling of loss which washes over him. In dreams, he’d learned to manipulate the horrors away, a luxury he knew not everyone could afford. If he could, Azrael would steal away the darkness for Elena – to let her soul shine brighter – weightless once more.
While it’s clear that Azrael had suffered from the loss of his homeland, he does not allow himself to dwell on it for long. The memories were too painful... for the brothers and sisters he had lost, and for the only home he’d known to be reduced to ash. Still, when Elena asks if he was there, he cannot deny her an answer. Shifting slowly in the moonlight, a silver-grey mark becomes visible against his shoulder, faded with time but unmistakably the result of a burn rippling just beneath his pulsing glow. “I was lucky,” he whispered, “for many lost their lives that fateful night.” He offers her a sad and knowing smile, bonded in a shared sense of grief for those they’d lost.
Watching the sky once more, Azrael considered her suggestion that the stars hid from the darkness of their world. “The People believe that stars return to give us hope in the darkness. When they go, it’s only to welcome the sun, and all things bright that come with it.” He settles closer to her, lowering himself to a bed of soft grasses beneath the star-flecked night and fitting easily around her as she joins him. Tucking a wisp of hair behind her ear, his lips graze against her nape for the briefest moment, holding as he draws her scent to memory.
You can leave before I wake up. Azrael cringes silently into her mane, wishing instead that she’d asked him to stay, even as his voice begins to hum a lullaby to the girl.
Please don't see, just a boy caught up in dreams and fantasies
Please see me, reaching out for someone I can't see
Take my hand, let's see where we wake up tomorrow
Best laid plans sometimes are just a one night stand
Turn the page, maybe we'll find a brand new ending...
Where we're dancing in our tears and
God, tell us the reason youth is wasted on the young
It's hunting season and the lambs are on the run
Searching for meaning...
But are we all lost stars, trying to light up the dark?
Azrael’s song trails off as Elena’s head grows heavy against his shoulder, his glow warm over her as he senses the peace of her dreams. Tonight, at least, he had given her respite from the memories. Tonight, she too would haunt his own dreams – dreams of a golden girl racing against the sea, with eyes which thirsted for knowledge and warmth which burned like Caligo’s bonfire in the night. With great reluctance, Azrael heeds her words, rising with a longing glance at her sleeping form, before he leaves Elena in a puddle of moonlight with his obelisk glowing softly around her neck – a reminder and a promise that the night would reunite them again.
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