The moon shines brightly in the sky with the stars. The night is very beautiful, but it is not when dangerous creatures are lurking around, and that's what makes him nervous. He keeps thinking about the hellhound that chased them. It's already midnight, and he keeps looking around the house to see if there are any other creatures ready to attack them. Elena is fast asleep in her room, but Scorch is still checking if she is fine. He thinks she doesn't have any nightmares right now. She is very calm, and she's not whispering any words, so he guesses that she is fine.
When it is time for him to check the living room, his head suddenly feels like it is breaking, but he ignores the pain and continues to walk from the kitchen to the living room. However, when he reaches the living room, his vision suddenly becomes blurry. His sweat feels cold, but he thinks his body is a little hot. He keeps walking but can’t do it; in the end, he falls down on the floor, and a few seconds later, he feels like his body is on fire. At the same time, he feels his head pounding again, so he shouts from the pain, but it doesn't go away. He continues shouting even after two hours pass, until his vision turns black and he loses consciousness.
Being an angel is not easy. If you do something wrong, you will receive a punishment. That's why some other angels choose to disobey the rules and become fallen angels. Fallen angels are like demons—they don't have rules or punishment. Sometimes, Scorch wishes he were a demon, but at the same time, not. Freedom is not always the answer. Are you going to be happy if you are free but doing bad things? Still, sometimes he wonders what life is like for demons. They are known as "the punisher" because they punish other creatures who disobey the rules when they are still alive.
He wakes up feeling dizzy, and his eyes are still blurry. When his vision clears, he sees that his surroundings are all white, like he is in a white field, with nothing but whiteness surrounding him.
"Where am I?" he asks himself. He doesn't really know where he is; the older angels never taught them about this kind of place before. He can't feel a single aura there. He decides to walk, but when he walks to his right, he bumps into an invisible wall. He walks straight, but this time he doesn’t bump into any wall, so he keeps walking straight. However, the bumping process continues. In the middle of walking, he steps on a petal. He picks it up and sees that it is a petal of a black rose, which smells so good to him. He follows the trail of petals, and it leads him to a golden statue of a lady with a sword, and there are some red diamonds scattered around its feet. He also notices that black rose petals are falling from above, but when he looks up, it seems like the petals are coming out of nowhere. He is just looking at the petals falling from above when he feels like someone is watching him. He looks around, but while doing so, he feels a gush of wind on his right. No one is there. Then he feels it on his back, on his left, and in front of him. He continues looking around until he hears a voice.
"Who are you, and why are you here?" a smooth, calm, and very sweet voice says. He looks where the voice came from and sees a girl beside the statue. She is wearing a black gown with red diamonds as a design, and a black and red flower crown above her head. He also notices her shining raven-black wings and those eyes—he can recognize them.
"You are the girl the truck was about to hit, the girl I saved," he says to her.
"Oh, you're that angel? Well, technically, you didn't save me. You saved the driver of that truck who was supposed to die yesterday, and because you stopped his death, you need to be punished," she says and closes her eyes. After she opens them, two hellhounds appear out of nowhere.
"What?" he whispers and positions himself in a defensive stance. He feels very unlucky today, or ever since Elena saw him. Yesterday, one hellhound chased them, and now two are about to kill him. Just wow.
"That's one of the rules—the rules of all creatures, including humans. You can't avoid death; you need to face it when your time is up. It means you need to die, and the council of all creatures will judge you. Why are you here? Simple. It's because you disobeyed the rules, and you are here to be punished. By the way, my name is Veena," she says and turns her back.
"May I ask what my punishment is?" he asks, a little nervous because of what Veena said. He doesn't know if she is a demon or a grim reaper because, in his opinion, she looks like a queen.
"Oh, your punishment is death," she says, then disappears into thin air. Then he sees the hellhounds take a step forward, ready to attack him.
Scorch thinks about the name Veena, and yes, he remembers that he heard her name before when he went to the mermaid lake. Those mermaids said that one of them got punished by the demon of death, who is Veena. This is the first trouble he’s faced in the past three hundred years, and he feels like the world is on his shoulders. He doesn't know what to do in this situation. He wants to go back to Earth and guard Elena, but he can't because of his punishment. He knows that he can't go back anymore, and now he is scared to die because once Veena says that you will die, it means your soul is her property now, and you can't return to any world. She is powerful because she is a member of the council—the council of all creatures—and she represents the demons. She is also known to be the owner of the hellhounds, which explains his current situation.
He looks at the hellhounds and takes a step backward, but the two hellhounds walk forward and start to run in his direction. He doesn't have any choice but to run, and suddenly the invisible walls turn visible. He runs to the left, then to the right, straight, and right again, but it is a dead end. The hellhounds growl from behind him. He tries to let his wings out or teleport, but nothing works until he hears Veena again.
"I forgot to tell you that you can't use your wings and your powers. Even if you run, you can't escape death unless I say so. Good luck, because I think you need it," she says. After that, the hellhounds run toward him. He jumps above them and runs in a different direction. Veena is right—running and escaping are useless because there are no other things there, just walls and falling black rose petals. There are no weapons he can use to defeat those hellhounds. No powers, no weapons means he will die in no time. He has to think of a faster solution.
Scorch hides behind one of the walls. Then he hears the hellhounds running. He decides to surprise one by appearing in front of it and doing the most reckless thing he has ever done—punching the hellhound. But he succeeds because when he punches it, the hellhound shakes its head. So, he punches it multiple times, and it disappears. But after he does this, a hellhound pounces on him from behind. He punches it, but the hellhound really wants to chop off his head. He kicks it, then stands up and runs. Maybe he can still use his strength to defeat the last hellhound. He is not an ordinary creature at all; he is an angel, so he is sure that he can do it. His hands hurt a bit, and he knows the reason—it’s because he punched the hellhounds. Having contact with a demon's pet is like touching fire or bathing in boiling water.
The hellhound growls, and when he takes a look, he is face to face with it. Startled, he punches the hellhound at the point of its head, and it turns into ashes, which surprises him because that’s the first time he turned a hellhound into ashes. The walls turn invisible again, and more petals fall from above.
"Very well done. You are the first one who fought my hellhounds, but sadly, you didn't really kill them—they are just injured," Veena says while pacing back and forth in front of the statue, which appeared out of nowhere.
The ground starts to shake, and he hears some weird sounds from beneath.
"You think you can escape your punishment? Well, sadly, you cannot." After she says that, lost souls from hell emerge from the ground and slowly move toward him.
"But because I'm not that heartless, I will give you a sword—a sword that will protect you but can kill you too," she says and again disappears into thin air. He runs and avoids the souls to get the sword on the ground where the statue stood before. Once he gets the sword, he swings it at the nearest soul he sees, but the sword goes through the soul like it just hit smoke. He grunts and looks ahead. She appears again and looks at him as if he is a silly clown.
"Scorch, you are very stupid to believe my previous statement. They are souls, which means they're already dead, and you can't kill them twice," she says and snaps her fingers. Then the lost souls disappear. She smiles at him, but he just stares at her.
"Let me introduce myself properly. My name is Veena, I'm the demon of death, and I'm one of the five councilors of all creatures," she said, holding out her hand for a handshake.
"My name's Scorch, and I'm a guardian angel," he said, accepting the handshake she offered.
"Don't worry, this is just a test, and it is not your real punishment. I'll let the angels handle your case," she said again.
A game with death is not easy; it is the hardest thing that you can encounter in your life. Scorch thinks that being punished helps him realize his mistake. If only he knew that she is death and that the driver was supposed to die. If only he knew—but it's too late to realize that now. What's done is done; you can't see your mistakes in the beginning because you will always see them in the end, and it will make you feel the worst regret. The demon of death makes him realize that, and he knows that the test she mentioned was to help him realize his mistake. He is an angel, but it is ironic that he didn't know his mistakes because he didn't realize them until someone made him see them. Besides, he is a guardian angel, not the angel of life.
"Go back to heaven and tell the representative of angels that I already did my job," she said and sat in the fountain that appeared out of nowhere. But there's a problem.
"I don't know how to go back," he said, which made Veena freeze in her spot.
That's his biggest problem right now.