Blooming Ashes

> "You shouldn't look at me like that," the angel whispered once.

Death never learned how to look away.

Buildings burned. Humans screamed. Souls wept beneath ash-filled skies.

And in the middle of ruin stood a boy dressed in white, hands bloodied from saving strangers.

Azrael-the King of the Underworld, feared by demons and cursed by Heaven-had guided souls for centuries without feeling a single thing.

Until he saw him.

Elia was never meant to stay on Earth. Angels were forbidden from attachment. Forbidden from desire. Forbidden from creatures born from Hell itself.

But the more Azrael returned to the human world, the more dangerous his obsession became.

Flowers died beneath the Devil's touch. Flowers bloomed beneath the Angel's footsteps.

Yet somehow- for the first time in eternity- a single white flower survived in Death's hands.

And Heaven noticed.