Once there lived an angel. She was young for one of her kind, born after the fall of the others, and was very curious about the universe. She was particularly interested in the human world, and although the others like her would think it improper, she often found herself looking into the human world.

Her favorite topic as she watched the human world was a young man. He was a warrior, who fought for an ambitious king. Whenever they finished one war, the ruler always seemed to look for the next opponent to fight. She would often watch over him in these fights, and pray and use her powers to try to protect him. But she knew that it could not last forever this way. As much as she disliked it, she had realized that it was the man’s destiny to fall in one of these campaigns.

She mourned the man while she watched him live, until an idea to try to stop this destiny came to her mind. With this in mind, she poured through countless books to find a way to permanently protect the man. At last she found such a way, and went to Earth to finally meet the man face-to-face and give him the choice.

The man was surprised to see the angel when she appeared, and cowered at her feet as she explained, “Please, do not be afraid, for I am an angel and I have come to help protect you in your battles.”

The man stared shocked at her for this revelation, only to comment, “I knew that I was a good fighter, but to think that the God above would need me to win so badly. I guess my king was correct about God being on our side.”

“Actually, I’m the one who had been helping you with your battles, not our Father. In all honesty, I doubt he knows that I have been helping; or in the very least he has not mentioned it.  But I do know that he dislikes his angels helping any one side of humans without a good reason.”

“Oh, and what was the good reason to help my side?”

The angel blushed slightly as she answered, “It was not so much your side, but you personally. I saw something in you that I never see in my brethren, and it intrigued me. Due to this, I did not want to see it leave this earth prematurely and would help you. But since I know that I cannot always be there to protect you as things are now, I want to change that.”    

“I see, and how do we go about that? Is it a magic shield or sword?”

The angel shook her head and replied, “It is something that will not be as easily taken from you as a mere object. Instead, I wish to form a destiny knot with you. If we do, then you will be invincible and I will not need to worry about you. W-We could form it now, before you leave tomorrow for your next campaign. I only have one request for this gift.”

“And what is that?”

“That you promise not to tell anyone how you became so strong…and that you promise to not be too reckless.”

The man eagerly agreed to these terms, causing the angel to smile. She and the man then left for his private room, where they stayed awake into the early hours of the morning creating the knot. The next morning, he left for war. She was happy that she would no longer need to worry over the human, and once she regained her strength she prepared to return to heaven; only to discover that she could not. It was then that she realized that by choosing to form the knot with the human, she had sentence herself to stay on earth until the knot broke and one of them died.

 Several weeks passed until the man returned from the battle. He was perfectly fine, without even a small scrape which pleased the angel, and the relieved look upon seeing her still there brought more joy to her. Curious, he asked why she had not returned to her tasks in heaven, only for her to explain the situation. Upon hearing this, the man agreed to look after her, and took her into his care. He made sure that she was fed and clothed, and spent most of the money he made on ensuring that she lived a comfortable lifestyle. Even so, it concerned him how every time he returned from battle she looked sickly and feeble, and whenever he announced he would leave for another one she seemed frightened not only for him but for herself.

Years passed, and soon came a time for him to leave and help his king attack another ruler from a faraway land. He was anxious about leaving the angel alone for the length of time, but seeing that he could not disobey his king he did so. As they left for battle, word reached their opponent about the men fighting. Their opponent was concerned when he heard about the man; a warrior who was practically immortal. The king had his own help, however, in the form of a demon.

The demon had heard of this ‘immortal man’ and could tell that an angel was somehow involved. And as a demon, he saw it as his duty to stop the angel. With this in mind he told the ruler, “My Lord, this waring troupe has grown weak over the years as they depend on their hero. If he was gotten rid of, then their army would fall and you would be victorious. I can travel swifter than any bird and get to truths better than any torture, so let me go discover his weakness to exploit it.”

The ruler agreed to this, and soon the demon was off. By the first night of the warrior’s campaign, the demon had reached the camp of the attacking army. There he then disguised himself to talk with the soldiers. The soldiers soon accepted him and as the drinks poured he commented, “The man over there with the king must be the strongest warrior in the country. I wish I knew what his secret was, so that I could be like him.” 

“Join the group,” An old captain replied as he drank his beer.

“Where I’m from, it is said that no man fights fiercer than one trying to protect something,” the demon persisted.

“That may be the case, with how he spoils that woman of his,” a soldier laughed out.

“A woman?” the demon asked curiously.

“More like an enchantress, the way he comes at her call. Of course, she has yet to find a way to keep him from the battles,” Another soldier answered.

“I heard that she is so beautiful, that he orders her to stay inside their house for fear that the queen will grow jealous,” another commented.

“I heard that she is the one who made him immortal, yet neither of them agree to talk on the subject. You can’t fool me, however. They can say that it is simply luck as much as they want, but while everyone’s luck runs out his has yet to,” the captain commented quietly for fear of the warrior overhearing.

“I think I would like to meet this incredible woman; after the war of course. Now if you will excuse me, we have an early start tomorrow,” the demon commented as he stood and left the group. He did not go to bed, however, but instead headed towards the capital to meet with this woman.

It was early the next morning when the demon reached the city, and after a few questions was directed to the angel and warrior’s house. He did not enter it right away, however. He knew that if he revealed who he truly was, then the angel would never believe anything he said. And depending on what she did to gain her champion’s love he would need all the surprise he could muster.

So for several days he watched her from various disguises until at last he noticed what he was looking for. The angel was sitting in the garden all alone, when she suddenly gave a jolt, a low moan, and a wound to her head from nowhere; followed by the girl giving a prayer for warrior’s safety. That evening, the demon went to check on her lover’s army, only to overhear that the man had been thrown by his horse and given a mortal wound to the head; only he did not die or was injured.

After hearing this, the demon knew what had happened. He was an angel once too, after all, and was familiar with their spells. And there was only one which could take the pain and injuries from one party and give to another; the destiny knot. It was a powerful spell, and with all of the pain and injuries going to a being which could not die to it the angel had for all intents and purposes made the human impervious in battle. There was only one way to end the spell, and the demon counted himself lucky that he knew how.

That evening when the warrior left for bed, the demon sneaked into his tent and cast a spell on him to keep him asleep. With this done, all he needed to do was wait for things to take their course.

The next morning the men went to the warrior’s tent to awaken him, only to find him in such a sleep that he seemed almost dead. Their fears were then confirmed when, try as they might, he would not awaken. They then sent word to their general, who upon hearing the news told them to send word to his mistress that he must have died of a sudden illness.

The demon smiled as he watched the messenger rush off back to the capital, only to once he was sure that man could not be stopped release the warrior from his slumber. The other men were surprised to find what they thought was a corpse alive once again, and tried to send word to the messenger to stop, but by that time it was too late.

Several days past before the messenger reached the house of the mistress, and watched distraught as the angel heard that the man she protected was dead. The demon speculated correctly that she would believe the lie, for the spell only protected against injury; not sickness. Upon learning of the warrior’s death, the angel fell into depression and would not see anyone else. She felt a pain in her heart, and loneliness since she could not even go home to try to forget about him. 

With her in such a state, she did not even notice the demon walk into her house and place a special knife by her side. She did notice the knife, however, and thinking that she would rather join her love in the next world than remain in eternal purgatory, took the knife and killed herself. Little did she know, that if she had waited only a few hours more that the second messenger would have come with joyous news.

While this happened, the warrior had ridden on with his army into the enemy’s territory. From there they had come into contact with the enemy forces and found themselves in battle. By then, the demon had already returned and told his side’s forces to focus on the now more than mortal warrior. They did so, and to their joy the warrior fell for good. Shortly after he fell, so did his king, then his entire army and eventually his kingdom.