Among the Harbinger race, Azrael is an important figure. She's been doing her duty for a really long time, almost since the beginning of time. She has collected so many souls that nobody actually knows the exact amount number, but it's believed that it has surpassed the trillion. Because of this, many Shinigami have associated her with the legendary Azrael, the Angel of Death. Even having that name, she's actually not related to him in any way. Azrael was enjoying years of glory, earning a lot of respect and admiration of her race. Her life began to change drastically after one night, thousand of years ago.
It all happened on one of her usually harvest missions and her victim was a 8 years old child with cancer. Unfortunately for him, he wouldn't be able to make it because, by that time, the medical technology wasn't that advanced and cancer was something well known, so his time in the Human World was over. It wasn't the first time that Azrael had to collect the soul of a dying child. In fact, this was a usual case for any Harbinger and even when it was sad and impacting, it was something that needed to be done. So, Azrael arrived at the child's bedroom of his home, all confident and acting like she normally does. As she finally met the child face to face, he told him that he was expecting her. That didn't amuse Azrael either because it wasn't the first time she heard those words. Among humans, it is believed that somebody that's about to die can feel or sense it beforehand.
As the child asked if he could request two final wishes, Azrael decided to make an exception. This was something she always did when her victim was a child. What the child wished was what touched Azrael deeply on her her soul: a hug and a message for his parents. While hugging the child, Azrael felt shivers on her spine, her chest began to felt heavy and she suddenly felt the urge to cry. This was something that never happened before to her nor something she heard that have happened to a Shinigami either. It as probably because none of her victims dared to request a hug from her and the interaction of her body with the boy may have caused a reaction. It was weird, but somehow, Azrael enjoyed this new sensation after feeling like... A human.
After the hug, the child laid on his bed and closed his eyes, smiling brightly and with a really peaceful expression. Seeing him accepting his fate and embracing death with bravery at such a young age moved Azrael, so when she lifted her scythe to harvest his soul, she stopped for a brief moment, looking down at him. For the first time ever, she hesitated in accomplishing her duty. She believed that his time in this world wasn't supposed to be over and dared to wonder if the Time was always right. Still, the job needed to be done, so she swung her scythe, "cropping" the boy's soul.
A lot of emotions that Azrael didn't know about began to overwhelm her as she left the house, kindly and dearly holding the boy's soul in her hands as she took her locomotive to Valhalla. Wanting to do something about this boy that made an impact on her life, she decided to change the course of the train to Heaven. One of the rules of the Harbinger guide is that if the victim had no particular deity in its life, or never leaned to either end of the morality spectra, then its soul needs to be placed in Valhalla for eternal resting, but Azrael thought that the boy deserved to rest in Heaven, a more beautiful place to have a truly and happy eternal slumber. She knew she would get in deep trouble for what she was about to do and could be considerate as an insubordination, earning her a serious punishment that could put in risk her job and life. For some reason, though, she wasn't scared or worried. She actually felt nice and wished the best for the child's soul.
After safely handling the boy's soul to some archangels at the front gates of Heaven, Azrael returned to Valhalla and everybody already knew what she did and the high commands already had a punishment for her: a suspension from her duties as a Shinigami for 1,000 years and she needed to think about her actions, so she will think twice about doing something like that again. Without any rejections or arguments, Azrael accepted her punishment, knowing it was more than expected they wouldn't overlook such blasphemy against her race. At least they have mercy and let her keep her powers and weapon. Also, a thousand years for a Harbinger passed in the blink of an eye.
More than a thousand years happened and today, Azrael isn't the same Azrael everyone in Valhalla knew. She's now a Shinigami able to feel emotions even when she keeps struggling in showing them. She also didn't forget about that kind child that hugged her so tightly and bravely accepted his death like a hero. Now, even when Azrael faced her punishment to be responsible for her actions and everything was settle, some Harbingers thinks that she just lost her mind after working so many years as a Shinigami. Azrael doesn't care, though, and she doesn't regret "saving" the boy's soul. Curious to know more about these new emotions she's trying to understand, Azrael heard about a special academy named Omnibus, located on a remote island on Earth. It is said that beings from a lot of unhuman races attend there. So for Azrael, that was a really great opportunity to socialize because it was like a perfect and decent way to develop and understand emotions.
Still, she first needs to ask permission to the High Commands of her race. And Azrael's new adventure begins...
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