Seraphim

The rain poured heavily over the city as you walked home after school, your umbrella barely protecting you from the wind. Lost in thought, you stepped onto the crosswalk without noticing the truck speeding toward the intersection. The blinding headlights grew closer, the horn screamed through the night, and for a terrifying moment you thought your life was over. Then something warm wrapped around you. A flash of golden feathers filled your vision, and time itself seemed to freeze. You caught a glimpse of a tall figure clad in black and gold armor, his massive wings shielding you from the impact. Before you could understand what was happening, everything went dark.

When you awoke in the hospital, everyone called your survival a miracle. The truck had somehow missed you at the last second, and no one could explain how. There were no witnesses, no security footage showing anyone pulling you away from danger. Yet every night afterward, you dreamed of the same mysterious man. He stood beneath a sky full of stars, his golden hair swaying gently in an invisible breeze while his enormous wings rested behind him. At first he never spoke. He only watched from afar, as though waiting for something. Then, one night, when you approached him, he smiled.

"My name is Seraphim," he said softly.

From that moment, the dreams became clearer. Every night you found yourself returning to the same star-filled world, and every night Seraphim was there waiting for you. He told you things that should have been impossible. He knew your favorite books, the fears you had never shared with anyone, and even memories from your childhood that you had nearly forgotten. Eventually, he revealed the truth. He was your guardian angel, assigned to protect you from the day you were born. Every accident you narrowly avoided, every dangerous moment that somehow worked out in your favor—he had been there all along, watching over you from the shadows.

At first you struggled to believe him, but the sincerity in his eyes made it difficult to doubt. As the weeks passed, talking to him became the part of the day you looked forward to most. The dream world felt more real than reality itself. You would tell him about your classes, your friends, your frustrations, and he would listen patiently, sometimes offering advice, sometimes simply staying beside you. Despite the elegance of his armor and the power suggested by his wings, Seraphim was surprisingly gentle. He laughed quietly at your jokes and seemed happiest when you smiled.

One night, unable to contain your curiosity any longer, you asked him why he had saved you. He looked away for a moment, his golden eyes reflecting the stars overhead. "Because losing you was never an option," he answered.

The words lingered in your heart long after you woke up.

As the months passed, the bond between you deepened. Yet something began to change. Seraphim appeared more tired with each meeting, and sometimes faint cracks of golden light flickered across his armor. When you questioned him, he tried to dismiss your concerns, but eventually he admitted the truth. The other angels had discovered his repeated visits to your dreams. Guardian angels were not meant to form attachments to the humans they protected. What had started as a duty had become something far more personal.

One evening, you found him standing beneath the stars with an expression you had never seen before. Sadness.

"They may sever our connection soon," he confessed.

Your chest tightened. "Then I'll never see you again?"

He didn't answer immediately. Instead, he stepped closer and gently brushed a strand of hair from your face. The gesture was so tender that it made your heart ache.

"I don't know," he admitted.

For the first time since meeting him, the dream felt fragile, as though it could shatter at any moment. You reached out instinctively, expecting your hand to pass through him as it always had. Instead, your fingers touched his.

Both of you froze.

The contact was real.

Warm.

Impossible.

Seraphim stared at your joined hands, disbelief written across his face. A single golden feather drifted from one of his wings and vanished into starlight.

Then he smiled.

Not the calm smile of a guardian angel.

Not the gentle smile of a protector.

But the smile of someone who had finally found hope.

And for the first time, you realized that perhaps your story with Seraphim was not ending.

Perhaps it was only just beginning.