It’s a time when the earth is still new, and cries of wicked sexual immorality reach His ears. And so, an angel is told to assume human female form and descend to the people. My name is Casriel.

Raindrops begin falling as a family of five huddles against the stone wall with parched mouths and empty bellies. A man bites into the end of a large bread loaf as he hurries past them without even tossing a breadcrumb in their direction. 

I swallow hard several times as something foreign to me tries to bubble up in my throat. An ache makes me want to kneel beside them and satisfy their needs, but I have nothing to give. Is this what pain feels like to humans? It frightens me. It’s quite different from simply observing it in my immortal form. But this isn’t the anguish Heaven has sent me to witness.

I hear laughter from the other direction. Two men call to a woman, who pads toward them. The woman quickly loosens the belt on her tunic and sheds it, unashamed, as if it is the most natural thing. The men walk her backward, pressing her against the stone wall, and she cries out as they fondle her swollen breasts and the most intimate part of her. But her cries are… joyful. I witness no fear upon her face. Not once does the woman call for deliverance from evil; instead, she begs for more. 

The rain falls harder, and their outlines blur; grunts muffle. I step closer, wanting to see more. For this does not resemble the sin described to me. 

A warm hand gently catches my wrist. I turn to see a man much larger than myself standing behind me. The water has plastered his dark hair to his head and drips from his beard.

“I’m Daniel,” he says, “Come. You’ll drown out here.”

My flesh goosebumps from his touch. Despite the whispered reminders of why I’m here, I accept his hand and go with him. 

Daniel’s home is modest—one room with a bed, table, and two chairs. I stand, dripping and shivering in the wet tunic. Before he can offer me a blanket, I raise the soaked wool up my body and over my head of long, golden locks.

The uninhibited woman in the street has affected me—encouraging me to try such pleasures myself.

Daniel hangs my clothes by the hearth before swiftly removing his own. Here we stand naked before one another, like Adam and Eve in the beginning without feelings of modesty. 

I have seen the male form before, but this intimacy is unfamiliar to me. Something unknown is awakening in my lower belly. It’s spreading outward in circles, circles that warm me. I’ve become aware of the thumping heart beneath my breast. I look down and color slowly spreads across my skin. It’s quite beautiful. Quite different from my immortal form which has no pulse. It’s impossible for beings who have never inhabited flesh to comprehend these sensations and their power.

He takes my hand and leads me to the bed. Here we lie together, facing one another. His fingers barely graze my cheek, yet I desire his touches on the rest of me.  

I’d watched Eve grasp the forbidden fruit, and didn’t understand its pull until now. I don’t feel the weakness I expected temptation to bring. It’s more about my curiosity of Daniel. Longing, too, I decide. 

Daniel’s body responds as I reach to touch the dark, soft curls upon his chest. His small nipples darken. His cock twitches. I’d liken it to how serpents coil before striking in Eden’s gardens, but this is different… very different. As it lengthens towards me, I’m not afraid.

I touch it.

It’s warm, with a strong pulse beating against my palm, as if begging my hand to move. So this is the pleasure of the flesh!  And his flesh calls to me.

I mold my soft parts into his hard body and open myself up to him. When he enters me, I feel the rapture in my soul. In my soul! This can’t be the sin that has been spoken about. No, it can’t be; it feels too much like light.

I welcome the heated joining of bodies as the storm rages outside. We’re no longer two, but move as one powerful being. Lightning punctuates his hardest thrusts. The friction has me crying to Heaven. Maybe if He hears my voice among the others, He’ll understand this joy has to be a form of love… and therefore righteous.

My flesh pulses with life. It throbs. Propels me along a path toward something more powerful than…

Oh my God!

I come with Daniel.

He kisses me ever so sweetly as our breathing settles. I wonder if I’m glowing, so full of peace. Bodies that have been heated now feel cool to the touch. My longing is sated. I think back to the starving family on the street. Daniel has fed something different inside of me—passion. This can’t be a sin, I decide.

The rain suddenly stops. The wind ceases blowing through the cracks around the wooden door. I jump from the bed, afraid of the silence. Daniel feels the change also and sits upright.

He whispers, “Do you hear—”

The sky breaks open, cutting off his question. Brimstone tears through the roof with a roar, obliterating everything in its path. As burning fire sears Daniel’s flesh, he sees my true form, but still his hands reach for me as they turn to ash. I blink and he’s gone.

Eyes burning from smoke and tears, I look toward the skies and scream, “You judge this as sin?! Then you have not felt what I have felt!”

The flames only grew bolder.

My wings remain and flap wide, but my form returns to the female body. I rise through the flying embers, but the skies close to me. 

Heaven becomes unreachable.

Only the light of the moon does not turn its back, so I drift toward it, take refuge, and curl up within its potent energy. If Heaven’s denying me, I’ll stay with the one light that still welcomes me. 

Although the cries from the people were brief, my protest will not be. 

From this night forward, whenever the full moon appears, ancient cravings will stir within the people. Humanity will lose all inhibitions and remember what Heaven fails to understand—flesh is created to feel and be felt.