The night did not end when Li Wei closed her eyes.
It stretched endlessly, heavy as the shadows that coiled around the citadel like serpents of smoke. Somewhere beyond the glassless windows, thunder rolled through the Abyssal sky.
She lay awake in a vast chamber carved from crimson stone, a place too cold to ever belong to the living. The walls pulsed faintly with ancient energy—like the slow beat of a sleeping heart.
The Demon Lord's heart.
The thought made her breath hitch. His power lingered everywhere—in the flicker of the dark torches, in the scent of iron and frost that clung to her robe, in the way the air itself seemed to bend to an unseen will.
She turned toward the tall archway where she had last seen him. There was no sign of Kael Dravon now. Only the echo of his voice remained.
A vow made in a tone too calm for a creature of ruin.
> "From this night forth, you belong to me. But not as a slave... not as an offering. As something neither the heavens nor hell will dare claim."
She hadn't understood it then. She barely did now.
Li Wei pressed a trembling hand to her chest, where a faint red mark glowed just beneath her skin—a sigil of intricate lines, like a blooming lotus formed of embers. It hadn't hurt when he marked her. But it burned now, with every beat of her heart.
She didn't know if it was a curse or protection.
When dawn came, it did not come with light. The Abyss had no sun—only a pale haze that softened the edges of the endless void outside. Her chamber door creaked open soundlessly, and a figure in silver robes stepped in, bowing low.
"Lady Li Wei," the attendant murmured. "His Majesty commands your presence in the Throne Hall."
Her throat tightened. "Now?"
"The Demon Lord does not repeat himself."
---
The walk to the throne room felt like descending into another realm entirely. The citadel stretched downward instead of upward—spiraling halls carved from obsidian and fireglass, lit by rivers of molten gold that flowed in narrow channels along the floors.
Each step carried the faint echo of ancient power, whispering of wars and vows long forgotten. She felt it tugging at her—like invisible threads winding tighter around her soul.
When she entered the grand hall, she almost faltered.
Kael sat upon his throne of stone and bone, his form cloaked in dark armor that shimmered faintly with crimson sigils. Behind him, the Abyss rippled like a living storm.
His eyes met hers—cold, ancient, and yet not entirely cruel.
"You did not sleep," he said. It wasn't a question.
Li Wei bowed stiffly. "I could not."
"Because you fear me."
"I fear what I don't understand."
A faint curve touched his lips—not quite a smile, but something dangerously close. "You will, soon enough."
He rose, and the motion alone made the torches dim. He descended the steps until he stood before her, tall enough that the shadows bent at his feet. His hand lifted, stopping inches from her cheek.
She flinched, but he did not touch her.
"The mark burns, doesn't it?" he murmured.
"Yes." Her voice trembled. "What have you done to me?"
His gaze darkened. "I have bound your soul to mine. A seal that ensures no god or mortal may take you from me. Not even death."
Li Wei's heart pounded. "You had no right—"
"I had every right," he said softly, the words edged with centuries of pain. "You were offered to me as tribute. I merely rewrote the terms."
His nearness stole her breath. There was power in it—like standing too close to a lightning storm, a wild force restrained by sheer will.
"Why me?" she whispered. "There must have been others."
Kael's eyes glowed faintly crimson. "There were. They all died."
She froze.
His expression did not change. "You're still breathing. That makes you different."
The silence stretched, thick and alive. For a heartbeat, she thought she saw something behind his coldness—loneliness, perhaps, or the shadow of regret.
Then he turned away.
"Your chambers will be guarded," he said. "No one enters without my command. Not even the High Priests. The Abyss will recognize you as mine soon enough."
"I don't want it to," she said before she could stop herself.
Kael's hand paused midair, as though the words had struck him. He glanced back, and his voice lowered to a tone that brushed against her nerves like velvet and fire.
"You think this place will let you decide what you want?"
Li Wei swallowed hard. "Then why not kill me?"
He stepped closer until her reflection shimmered in his eyes. "Because you carry something the heavens stole from me long ago. A fragment of what I lost. Destroying you would destroy what little remains of it."
"I don't understand."
"You don't need to," he said, turning away again. "Not yet."
---
That night, Li Wei could not keep still. The mark on her chest pulsed like a heartbeat not her own. She could feel Kael's presence—distant but steady, like a shadow watching from behind the walls.
Each time she closed her eyes, she saw flashes of something that wasn't memory.
A battlefield drenched in crimson rain.
A pair of eyes that looked like his but were filled with light instead of darkness.
A promise whispered beneath falling stars.
And then—
> "Find me when the worlds collapse."
The voice was hers. Yet not.
She woke with a gasp, clutching her chest. The mark flared brightly, filling the room with a crimson glow.
Suddenly, the door opened.
Kael stood there, unarmored this time, his long hair loose around his shoulders, dark as the void itself. His eyes fixed on her glowing mark.
"You dreamt it," he said quietly.
She blinked in confusion. "You saw—?"
"I felt it." His tone softened, barely audible. "The seal links our dreams as well as our souls. I told you—our fates are entwined."
Li Wei's pulse raced. "Then tell me what this bond truly is."
Kael hesitated. For the first time, he looked almost human.
"It is an oath made long before your birth," he said finally. "A vow that cost me my wings... and perhaps my salvation."
She rose to her feet, trembling but unafraid now. "And you think binding me will undo your curse?"
His lips curved faintly. "No. But it might remind me why I accepted it."
Their eyes locked, and something inside her shifted—a recognition that made no sense yet felt inevitable.
The air thickened, pulsing with quiet energy. Neither moved, but the silence spoke louder than words.
When he finally stepped closer, his voice was almost a whisper.
"Sleep, Li Wei. The mark will stop burning soon. I've lessened its pull."
She stared up at him, searching his expression. "Why do you help me if you claim me as your prisoner?"
Kael's gaze softened, only for a heartbeat. "Because I remember what it was like to be human."
He turned and left, the door closing behind him without a sound.
---
Li Wei stood in the dim light long after he was gone, her heart still echoing his words.
Because I remember what it was like to be human.
She pressed her hand over the mark again. The warmth had faded, replaced by something softer—a hum that resonated deep within her chest.
When she finally lay down, exhaustion overtook her.
But this time, when she dreamed, she did not see blood or ruin. She saw Kael—standing beneath a sky of burning stars, wings once pure, now drenched in crimson light.
And in that dream, he reached out not as a demon, but as a man who had once loved and lost everything to the heavens.
---
When she awoke, the mark no longer burned. But on the inside of her wrist, a faint red thread now shimmered—connecting her to an unseen line that pulsed faintly toward the throne hall.
Her bond to him had deepened overnight.
And somewhere far below, in the depths of the Crimson Citadel, Kael Dravon opened his eyes with a start—his own wrist burning with the same mark.
A smile ghosted across his lips, both dangerous and sorrowful.
> "So the prophecy begins again."