This is a story of a time long past, when men had not walked the earth enough to mar its original perfection very much. In order to keep track of all the children of Adam, God scattered a host of angels across the sky to look down and watch from afar. This was a great honor for the angels, who were dubbed Grigori, which meant, appropriately, the Watchers.

Observing the human race was a lonely task, for while the Watchers could see as much detail on earth as they wanted from their starry bastions, the humans could not see them in turn. Adam's children, in fact, had no idea they were being observed, and the Watchers were forbidden to speak to them or reveal their presence. When they looked up at the night sky, the human race saw only twinkling lights, not the faces of the Watchers looking down.

Now, the Grigori might have grown restless in their endless Watching if not for two things. First, they were angels, and it is not in an angel’s nature to chafe against a task God has appointed, and second, while watching mortals might have been a lonely task, it was not a boring one. Humans were bewildering creatures, full of uncontrollable passions and bursting with the unique trait that is free will. Such fire of spirit is entrancing to a being that knows only obedience to divine will. The children of Adam were beautiful in the eyes of the angels.

And so it came to be that a Watcher fell in love, and a great tragedy unfolded.