I stand in a graveyard, the thick wooden doors of the Old Church wide before me. The building is brilliant white, restored, and shining with a light that draws me closer, a light I recognize all too well.
It's not the same shade as Zuriel’s. It’s brighter, bluer, lacking the warmth that made his light his.
An angel stands at the dais, their features blurred by the light emanating from them, and I have to cover my face, and look to the floor as I near.
“You summoned me?” the angel asks, sounding irritable.
“S-summoned?”
The light glares brighter. “Such ignorance.”
“I’ve defeated a demon. I don’t think I have the luxury of ignorance anymore. I was given your talon as a gift.”
“Is that so?”
In a rush of feathers and wings, they descend. They tower over me, their light so bright that I squeeze my eyes shut, palms covering my face. There’s pressure, a hand upon my brow, and memories flash before my mind.
They replay every moment I had with Zuriel.
The good, the bad. The beautiful, the painful. I watch the weeks unfold until I’m crying, coming to the end. My body writhes to contain Adrial as Zuriel lights me up from the inside.
Only the vision doesn’t stop there.
I’m given the blessing and curse of witnessing what happens next.
My body is still, unconscious, purified, and healed by Zuriel’s light, except he cannot wake me. After trying fruitlessly he stumbles, his body stiffening. It starts with his fingers and toes as he struggles against unyielding joints.
“What’s happening?” I whimper.
“His work is done. He is retiring, becoming stone.”
“What?” I gasp. “That’s his reward? After everything? Because he accomplished his purpose?”
“Human, it is not your role to question.”
Zuriel wraps me in a blanket, setting me tenderly at the base of the stairs. Every moment seems to cost him pain as his body grows increasingly rigid. Finally, he kisses my brow. Slowly, he trudges upstairs, placing himself as he has always stood, positioned to watch my back as I work the front desk.
Cuts vanishing, tail reforming, he claims his post. He freezes, becoming stone. Forever.
When it’s done, there is only silence.
I clench my fists, shaking as a new wave of tears streams down my face.
A hand lifts my chin. “So much bravery, from one little human.”
“I loved him.”
“I see that.”
“And now, because we succeeded, he’s gone.”
“A gargoyle is never meant to find meaning beyond their appointment—”
“But he did! We did… have meaning. Our success depended on that meaning.”
“No gargoyle has successfully defeated a demon before.”
“I thought—”
