Hanim's Fall
Hanim was beauty, light, forgiveness, passion; he was a much admired angel in the face of all of his fellow angels, a true beacon of hope not only for them but for humanity, who prayed and relied on their gentle embrace. Humanity, who is so flawed yet so beautiful in every way, Hanim’s first love. For eons, Hanim had only eyes for the humans, adoration and love flowing from every crevice, every ounce of his being. He’d sweep the Earth, giving hope to lost souls and bringing light wherever he went. Each family he visited, each human he’d restored faith in, that was all he lived for. To bring peace and joy, to raise the spirits and the minds of each and every beautiful soul in existence. He loved them as if they were his very own children, and wept for all their pain as if it was his own.
It was on yet another one of his thousands of ventures to Earth that he met Janus.
Janus, prince of hell, son of the lord of darkness, and everything dark in the world. A corrupted being that lived for the pain of Hanim’s greatest treasure. He wanted to hate him. A pure, fiery despair in him that one creature couldn’t see the same beauty in humanity that he could, and how could he not? They were all that Hanim lived for, he couldn’t even imagine how one could find it in themselves to cause so much pain and sadness for such simple, yet gorgeous, creatures.
Hanim was the beauty, the light, the forgiveness, the passion, and Janus was the danger, the darkness, the pain and the hatred, two polar opposite beings from two completely different worlds, one living for love and the other for chaos. With all this, Hanim should have hated Janus. They should have been mortal enemies. And yet, Hanim could not find it in himself to despise such a creature.
Hanim’s biggest gift was the ability to see the best in everyone, and that gift was how he came to realize the humanity that Janus had left in him. That, despite being one of the very first demons to come into existence, he still clung to that shred of humanity like it meant everything to him. And that humanity is what drew Hanim in, like a moth to a flame, he was determined to find that humanity and pull it out, peel back the layers of chaos, pain, and sorrow, and find that light that was still so resolutely shining bright deep inside him.
Hanim’s biggest flaw was the ability to see the best in everyone. And it was his downfall.
Heaven was silent on the day of Hanim’s fall, the calm before the storm. No angel knew of the heart shattering event that was to take place on that fateful night, but heaven didn’t feel right, not to anyone. Not to Hanim.
It was a flash of pain inside his head, foreign and strange and so so wrong. His eyes fluttered shut, as if that could somehow block out the pain. When they opened, he was free-falling. Falling towards Earth, towards the creations he so adored, towards a world that was so bright, so worthy of his admiration. He stretched his wings, with the intent to float himself down instead of this silly free-fall thing he must’ve accidentally done in his brief moment of pain.
But his wings wouldn’t respond, and his only answer for that came in the form of a deep, searing pain that brought forth such a loud and raucous scream that it shook the heavens, a single cry from an ethereal being of God that drew the attention of every single angel, demon, and otherwise supernatural creature that existed. The heavens paused everything, and watched on in pure, unadulterated sorrow at the streak of slowly fading light heading towards Earth. An angel was falling.
Hanim looked desperately for the source of his pain, writhing in crippling agony and fear as he fell. He twisted in mid-air, falling with his back facing the ground so that his wings would fly up around him. He let out another booming wail, this filled with grief and anguish, as he watched the white of his wings burn away, leaving behind the blackest black he’d ever seen, feathers full of darkness and chaos. The wings of a fallen angel.
The realization hit him at full force, so many emotions flashing through his mind that he could hardly take it. Confusion, frustration, anguish; why was he falling? Hanim cried out in the angelic language, howling for his heavenly father, for the angels, for anyone to hear his cries and answer his question, tell him for what reason he’d been cast away by his God. But no help came, and Hanim was left alone, down to the moment he crashed into Earth with a resounding boom that even heaven and hell could feel.
Hanim lay in a crater, of which he was loathe to leave. He lay there, unmoving, silent, as watery eyes stared up at the twinkling night sky above him. Movement from the corner of his eye caught his attention and he twisted his head a millimeter to see who had come to him. His eyes landed upon the face of someone most familiar to him.
It all clicked.
Out poured the tears and despair of an angel fallen from grace, the cries echoing for miles. Janus could do nothing but stand by and watch, with poorly concealed sorrow, as his lover mourned the loss of his very essence for what he knew was his doing.
Heaven came together, yet still divided even millenia after the Morningstar had taken his leave. They united just for a night, every one mourning the loss of one of the most brightest, most beautiful angels they had ever known.