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For thousands of years, there has been an uncrossable boundary between heaven and underworld. Angels cannot enter hell, and demons cannot ascend to heaven. This is a contract signed by all gods and the foundation of the cosmic order.
Yet Vox violates all of that.
He is the most unruly demon in the underworld, with eyes like red flames, black wings, and in charge of temptation and corruption. He never believed in love until he first saw Ike while peeking through a crack in the heavens.
It was a hymn of light, with countless angels singing the Holy Name, and Ike standing in the center, like the light itself. His eyes were the color of the morning light, and his voice was like a spring that could wash away sin.
Vox couldn't look away from that moment on.
---
The first time we met was in a dream.
Ike was surprised to find himself standing in an endless desert in his dream, and the demon named Vox was sitting on a dead tree, staring at him and laughing.
"Who are you?"
"I'm a name that shouldn't be in your mind." Vox jumped down and stroked his cheek with his fingers. "You shouldn't dream about me, angel."
Ike backed away blushing but didn't fight the look. From then on, he dreamed about Vox every night. The desert in his dream gradually grew grass and bloomed flowers, and his heart began to waver little by little.
---
One night, a red warning light suddenly appeared in the heavens. Vox, broke in.
"You're crazy, this is heaven!" Ike stood in front of him and whispered anxiously.
"I know." Vox lowered his head and pressed his forehead against his. "But I want to hear you say once, is your heart as corrupted as mine?"
Ike trembled, but still reached out his hand and gently touched the pair of black wings.
"If I fell because I wanted to be with you... then I'm not afraid."
---
The stars shed tears for them, and angels lost their wings for them.
And they, in the cracks of the abandoned world, finally kissed each other.
---
Forbidden love is never allowed.
Vox and Ike's secret is discovered by the Celestials. The Archangel looked at Ike coldly, "You are no longer pure. The Feather of the Fallen will burn out."
The judgment of the celestial world quickly descended upon Ike, who was chained to the Tower of Sacred Fire. The fire from the sky would devour all unclean spirits. He did not argue or struggle, but at the last moment, he called out softly, "Vox... don't come..."
But he came.
Vox tore through the gates of heaven with his nether fire, his black wings covered the sky, and the entire heaven shook. But he arrived too late, the flame had already burned into Ike's heart.
When Vox broke through the siege, he saw Ike locked in a pillar of light, his wings already burned to ashes. He rushed over and hugged his anxious but still gentle body.
"Why... don't you wait for me..." Vox's voice was extremely hoarse.
Ike smiled slightly, and wiped the ashes and tears on Vox's face with his fingertips. "Because you will destroy the entire heaven... I don't want you to bear my sins."
"I shouldn't have had you in the first place..." Ike leaned in his arms, his breathing becoming weaker and weaker. "But meeting you is the reason why I am willing to fall..."
His aura shattered into countless feathers, floating lightly in Vox's arms.
That night, a white feather snow that had never been seen before fell between the underworld and the heaven.
---
Vox was never seen again. He disappeared from the underworld and was erased from all the books of the gods.
Only in the wilderness where the fire from heaven once burned, there is a black tree that never burns out. Whenever the wind blows in the dead of night, the devil's whispers can be heard:
"Ike... I'm still waiting for you..."
