The first time I saw that child, I felt an unfamiliar fluttering in my chest. Ah, so this is what humans call love. It was so sickeningly sweet, and so hot that even the fires of hell would feel cool by comparison. A love so intense it felt as though my body would burst apart from my heart. I wanted so desperately to be near that child. I wanted to stand beside them. But this body could not withstand that child's dazzling light—or perhaps it would defile them instead. The worlds we inhabit are far too different. That cannot be allowed. If it would come to that, then... I broke off my horns. I tore off my wings. Pain seared through my body, and blood flowed. I am no longer something that can be called a demon. Merely as Faren Ludram, a being with no power at all... I wonder if I may be permitted to stand by your side.

—Winter, the second month. A new priest arrived at a church on the outskirts of town. He was said to be a beautiful man with long, flowing silver hair.