The world didn't mourn his death.
No headlines. No candles. No weeping parents or grieving friends.
Just a cold street, a broken body, and the faint scent of instant ramen clinging to a crumpled receipt.
Azrael died at 17, hit by a truck in the early hours of dawn—just a few steps away from his apartment, snack bag crushed under his limp fingers.
His last thoughts weren't of glory. Or revenge. Or unfinished business.
"Heh. So this is it. Guess I died a virgin after all."
---
He had no family—an orphan shuffled through the system until he aged out. No lover. No best friend. The few who knew his name barely remembered his face.
But Azrael? He didn't resent it.
He lived as best he could: a quiet loner with a sharp mind, top of his class, hidden behind a lazy grin and dark humor. A genius who laughed at trash anime and secretly solved math equations for fun. A guy who dreamed of fantasy worlds not because he hated life—but because he understood it all too well.
And in the end, he had no regrets.
No apologies to make.
No tears to shed.
Just… silence.
---
When he opened his eyes again, he wasn't in a hospital.
He wasn't even sure he had eyes anymore.
He floated in an endless void painted with swirling galaxies, stars blinking like ancient eyes.
"You're calm for someone who just died."
The voice came from an old man—bearded, robed, kind-eyed, and impossibly tall. He didn't glow or crackle with power. He just… existed. Like he belonged everywhere and nowhere at once.
Azrael blinked. "...So I did die. Figured."
"You took it better than most," the old man chuckled, stroking his beard. "No screaming. No begging. No drama."
"I mean, what's the point? It's over. No point crying about a game I already finished."
"Even if you never really played it?"
That made Azrael pause.
"...Tch. You hit where it hurts, old man."
The being only smiled.
"Azrael. You were born into a world that never cared for you. And yet, you never cursed it. You made peace with it. That… matters."
The cosmos rippled around them.
"So I've decided to give you another life. No tricks. No trials. A new beginning. Do with it what you will."
Azrael stared at him, really stared, and for the first time, something sparked behind his calm eyes.
"A new life, huh?"
He chuckled softly, then smirked.
"Alright. Let's see what this new game has to offer."
The void answered with light.
And a throne awaited its future king.