The transformation was agony and ecstasy combined, power flooding through Azrael's body in ways that defied every natural law. His form flickered between states of existence—one moment the familiar figure of the Forsaken Flame, the next something that made reality itself recoil in confusion. The forbidden seraph form was trying to manifest, and with it came energies that threatened to tear apart not just his body but the fabric of space-time around him.

Maya scrambled backward as waves of ...