.
The night Heaven sent an angel to retrieve her, the Devil was holding her as though she were the last beautiful thing left in creation.
The garden lay beneath the ruins of an ancient kingdom. White flowers trembled in a wind that smelled of rain and forgotten prayers.
She stood between two immortals.
One had black wings and horns, and eyes that had frightened kings for ten thousand years.
The other was an angel, radiant and untouched by suffering.
"Come with me, Elara," the angel said. "Your place is among the living. He has no right to keep you."
But she noticed something the angel didn't.
The Devil was trembling.
Malachar. The demon who had brought seven kingdoms to their knees. The one Heaven itself feared.
He could barely look at her.
"Tell him," he whispered.
"Tell him what?"
"That I never asked you to stay."
His voice broke.
"I gave you a thousand chances to leave. Every night, I unlocked the gates. Every morning, I waited to find you gone. Because I knew that if you stayed, you would discover what I truly am."
She touched his cheek.
"I discovered that long ago."
"Then why are you still here?"
"Because you were the first creature who could have possessed me, and never once asked me to belong to you."
The angel lowered his hand.
He had come for a prisoner.
He found a woman making her own choice.
But Heaven had one last cruelty.
If she stayed, the Devil would become mortal. His power, his immortality, everything that made him feared, gone.
Malachar looked at her and smiled, softly, sadly.
"Perhaps I could finally learn what it means to have only one lifetime."
She kissed his forehead.
"Then let's make it worth living."
And for the first time in ten thousand years, the Devil looked forward to growing old.
—
Some of us don't want to be saved.
We don't want to be owned.
We want the door left unlocked, and someone who still stays because they choose to. 🖤
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luna retweeted
The night Heaven sent an angel to retrieve her, the Devil was holding her as though she were the last beautiful thing left in creation.
The garden lay beneath the ruins of an ancient kingdom. White flowers trembled in a wind that smelled of rain and forgotten prayers.
She stood between two immortals.
One had black wings and horns, and eyes that had frightened kings for ten thousand years.
The other was an angel, radiant and untouched by suffering.
"Come with me, Elara," the angel said. "Your place is among the living. He has no right to keep you."
But she noticed something the angel didn't.
The Devil was trembling.
Malachar. The demon who had brought seven kingdoms to their knees. The one Heaven itself feared.
He could barely look at her.
"Tell him," he whispered.
"Tell him what?"
"That I never asked you to stay."
His voice broke.
"I gave you a thousand chances to leave. Every night, I unlocked the gates. Every morning, I waited to find you gone. Because I knew that if you stayed, you would discover what I truly am."
She touched his cheek.
"I discovered that long ago."
"Then why are you still here?"
"Because you were the first creature who could have possessed me, and never once asked me to belong to you."
The angel lowered his hand.
He had come for a prisoner.
He found a woman making her own choice.
But Heaven had one last cruelty.
If she stayed, the Devil would become mortal. His power, his immortality, everything that made him feared, gone.
Malachar looked at her and smiled, softly, sadly.
"Perhaps I could finally learn what it means to have only one lifetime."
She kissed his forehead.
"Then let's make it worth living."
And for the first time in ten thousand years, the Devil looked forward to growing old.
—
Some of us don't want to be saved.
We don't want to be owned.
We want the door left unlocked, and someone who still stays because they choose to. 🖤
