Amalia
the archangel
The name he breathes on winter lips burns her ears like fire, a memory of a memory, a brand on her chest that blisters across her heart. "What?!" she hisses, cracking like coal - and for a moment she is Rishima, her mother, her ancestor, lifetimes of history she cannot remember glaring out from behind her black eyes.
"To save the world." She doesn't know why he hates her so much, nor why looking at him makes her blood run hot. Clawed fingers clench against her palms, and wings flare out behind her; she is judge and the unicorns are jury, all of them looking at him in this empty space that is simply too small for them to exist in peace. "My gods are merciful," she murmurs harshly, and there is no attempt to hide the coiling smoke of her hiss. She is aware of Nova, tucked away; her fingers itch to draw out the blade, to show him the strength of her gods.
Instead she takes another step forward, condensing the space between them into something electric and raw. "My gods are love. They are growth and decay, hunger and thirst and joy and pain. They are life. And when the time comes for me to die, my soul will be sheltered by their love. Even then, they will not forsake me.
"What would happen to your soul, if I saved you from the prison you dare to call a life?"
"To save the world." She doesn't know why he hates her so much, nor why looking at him makes her blood run hot. Clawed fingers clench against her palms, and wings flare out behind her; she is judge and the unicorns are jury, all of them looking at him in this empty space that is simply too small for them to exist in peace. "My gods are merciful," she murmurs harshly, and there is no attempt to hide the coiling smoke of her hiss. She is aware of Nova, tucked away; her fingers itch to draw out the blade, to show him the strength of her gods.
Instead she takes another step forward, condensing the space between them into something electric and raw. "My gods are love. They are growth and decay, hunger and thirst and joy and pain. They are life. And when the time comes for me to die, my soul will be sheltered by their love. Even then, they will not forsake me.
"What would happen to your soul, if I saved you from the prison you dare to call a life?"
you are slowly growing
but you are still growing
and that is enough
