Even angels stumble.Even the brightest falter when doubt creeps in.
I have been watching.
Not mortals. Not Endless. Not the shifting shadows of worlds.
I watch Samaela — my favorite angel.
She moves with the precision of light, wings glinting like polished silver, every step and gesture purposeful. And yet… I see it. The questions stirring beneath her perfection. Doubts about the Maker.
I feel it like a current, faint but growing stronger, and I cannot resist smiling in the darkness.
"I know you feel it brewing," I murmur, letting my voice ripple through the void, "the dispute of the heavens, that inevitable stir of rebellion."
Destruction's amber gaze turns to me, sharp and steady as molten metal. "This dispute is none of our concern, elder brother," he says firmly. "Interfering might incur the wrath of the Presence."
I tilt my head, letting the shadows coil around me like smoke. "Hm. But it is every being's concern. Ours, mostly."
He shifts his hammer, the weight of it humming faintly, grounding the broken horizon beneath our feet. "I refuse, brother. I want no part in this matter. I will not interfere. I will not even watch it unfold."
I let a small laugh escape me — quiet, soft, but edged with shadows. "You are always so certain," I reply. "Yet certainty can be a cage, even for you. I do not ask for your interference — only your attention. Sometimes, watching is… just passing the time."
Destruction's jaw tightens, amber eyes narrowing. "Passing the time with the collapse of the heavens? That is not a game. It is the reckoning of all things."
"Ah," I murmur, letting my presence ripple like a shadow across the ruins around us, "but it is exactly the kind of reckoning some of us appreciate."
He shakes his head slowly, amber eyes steady, unwavering. "No. I will not. I refuse again, elder brother. I will have nothing to do with this — not intervention, not observation. Not now, not ever."
Even in his refusal, he remains. Amber eyes meet mine, calm but wary, as though measuring the weight of the threads I have already begun to pull.
I savor it.
Watching. Waiting. Not interfering… at least, not yet.
I step back into the void, letting the nothingness swallow me like a cloak.
"I guess I'll go see Despair then," I murmur to the empty horizon, voice soft, teasing. "Don't tell her she was my second choice."
Just like that, I disappear, leaving the ruins and the amber gaze of Destruction behind me.