The blood moon hung low, bleeding crimson across the sky like an open wound.
Aria's lungs burned as she sprinted through the graveyard, her stolen prize clutched against her chest. The Heart of Cerberus pulsed in her grip—warm, alive, and utterly wrong. Behind her, the chanting grew louder. The dark priests were close. Too close.
"Stupid, stupid, stupid," she hissed, vaulting over a crumbling headstone. Her boots splashed through mud and something she didn't want to think about.
She'd thought it was just another relic. Just another job. Steal the artifact, sell it to the highest bidder, disappear before sunrise. Easy money.
Except the moment her fingers touched that obsidian heart, something inside her woke up.
Now the priests wanted her dead, and the relic wouldn't let go of her hand.
"THERE!" A voice shrieked behind her. "The vessel runs!"
Vessel? What the hell were they talking about?
Aria didn't slow down to ask. She pushed harder, her thighs screaming as she climbed the hill toward the old cathedral. There had to be a way out. Had to be.
The cathedral loomed ahead, its doors hanging open like a mouth. She burst through, skidding on ancient stone. The air inside tasted like copper and decay.
And then she saw it.
In the center of the ruined altar, a circle of symbols glowed with sickly green light. A portal. An actual gods-damned portal, pulsing like a heartbeat.
The chanting reached a fever pitch outside.
Aria's choices were simple: face the murder-cult priests, or jump through the glowing hole in reality.
"Screw it."
She ran and jumped.
The world shattered.
Falling felt like drowning in fire.
Aria couldn't scream—couldn't breathe. Colors she didn't have names for tore past her vision. The Heart of Cerberus burned against her chest, sinking deeper, melting into her skin like it belonged there.
Then she hit the ground.
Hard.
Pain exploded through her shoulder. She rolled, gasping, tasting ash and sulfur. The air was thick, hot, pressing down on her like a living thing.
She forced her eyes open.
"Oh... shit."
The sky was the color of infected flesh—purple and red, threaded with black veins of storm clouds. Rivers of lava carved through obsidian cliffs in the distance. The ground beneath her hands was warm, almost feverish, made of dark stone that seemed to pulse with a heartbeat.
This wasn't Earth.
This was—
"You shouldn't be here."
The voice came from everywhere and nowhere. Deep. Quiet. The kind of voice that made your survival instincts scream run.
Aria scrambled to her feet, ignoring the protest from her bruised body. She spun, searching for the source.
He stood twenty feet away, perfectly still.
Tall. Lean. Dressed in black that seemed to absorb the hellish light around him. Dark hair fell across a face that was too beautiful to be real—sharp cheekbones, full lips set in a neutral line, and eyes...
Gods, his eyes.
Silver. Like molten mercury. Ancient and empty and somehow sad.
"Who are you?" Aria's voice came out steadier than she felt. Her hand instinctively went to the knife at her hip.
His gaze dropped to the movement, then back to her face. One corner of his mouth twitched. Not quite a smile. "You pull a blade on me in my own realm?"
"Your realm?"
He took a step forward. Just one. But the air pressure changed, pushing against her chest like an invisible hand.
"I am Hades," he said simply. "And you, little thief, are standing in the Underworld."
The words hit like a punch. Underworld. Hell. She'd fallen into actual Hell.
"That's... that's not possible. Hell isn't—it's not real. It's just—"
"Mythology?" He moved closer, impossibly graceful. "Stories to scare children? Yet here you are. Breathing. Bleeding." His eyes narrowed. "Carrying something that belongs to me."
Aria's hand flew to her chest. The Heart. She couldn't feel it anymore, couldn't see it, but she knew it was there. Inside her now. Part of her.
"I didn't know. I was just—it was a job. I didn't mean to—"
"To steal the Heart of Cerberus?" Hades tilted his head, studying her like she was a puzzle. "To bind yourself to the guardian of the underworld? To become a beacon that every creature in this realm can now sense?"
Her stomach dropped. "Beacon?"
"You're marked." He was close now. Too close. She could see flecks of darker silver in his eyes, like stars in a night sky. "Every demon, every lost soul, every entity with hunger and teeth can feel you. Smell you. Want you."
"Then send me back." The words came out desperate. "I don't want this. I don't want any of this."
"It doesn't work that way."
"Make it work!"
Something flickered across his expression. Annoyance? Amusement? It vanished before she could name it.
"The Heart chose you," he said quietly. "It fused with your soul the moment you entered this realm. Remove it, and you die. Keep it, and you're bound here. To Hell. To me."
"To you?"
"The Heart of Cerberus is mine. My guardian. My weapon. My... shadow." His jaw tightened. "And now it's inside you."
A growl split the air.
Aria's blood turned to ice.
From the darkness behind Hades, something emerged. Massive. Black as the void between stars. Three heads, each the size of a car, with eyes that burned like coals. A beast made of muscle and nightmare.
Cerberus.
But the way it moved—slow, almost cautious—as it approached her...
The center head lowered, sniffing the air. Its growl softened into something that sounded almost like... purring?
"Impossible," Hades breathed.
The beast's eyes fixed on Aria. And in them, she saw something that made her heart stutter.
Recognition.
Hunger.
Want.
"Why is it looking at me like that?" Aria whispered.
Hades' expression had gone completely blank. Dangerous. "Because," he said, voice tight with something she couldn't identify, "you're not just carrying the Heart. You've become its vessel. And Cerberus..."
The beast moved closer, close enough that she could feel its breath—hot and sulfuric—against her skin.
"Cerberus doesn't just guard for me anymore." Hades' silver eyes locked onto hers, and for the first time, she saw something raw beneath the cold exterior. Something almost like fear. "He's bonded to you."
The largest head nuzzled against her shoulder, surprisingly gentle for something that could swallow her whole.
"That's... good?" she tried. "Right? That means he won't eat me?"
"No." Hades stepped back, putting distance between them. His hands clenched into fists at his sides. "It means something far more dangerous."
"What?"
He looked at her then—really looked at her—and the intensity in his gaze made her forget how to breathe.
"It means he wants you the way I'm not supposed to."
The words hung in the air like a curse.
Before Aria could process them, before she could ask what the hell that meant, a horn blared in the distance. Long. Low. Ominous.
Every muscle in Hades' body went rigid. "They know you're here."
"Who?"
He turned, already moving toward the edge of the cliff. "Everyone."
Cerberus growled, all three heads snapping toward the horizon. In the distance, shapes were moving. Flying. Crawling. A swarm of darkness heading their way.
Hades looked back at her, and for just a moment, something almost human crossed his face.
"Run, Aria Vale."
She froze. "How do you know my name?"
His smile was sharp and utterly without warmth.
"Because your blood sings a song I haven't heard in a thousand years. And if they catch you before I figure out why..." He extended his hand toward her. "You'll wish you'd stayed dead in that portal."
The swarm was getting closer. She could hear them now—screams and roars and the beating of leathery wings.
Aria looked at his outstretched hand. At the god of the underworld offering her protection. At the three-headed beast who somehow wanted her alive.
Every instinct screamed this was wrong. Dangerous. Insane.
But the alternative was being torn apart by whatever was coming.
She grabbed his hand.
His fingers closed around hers—strong, cold, unbreakable.
"Hold on," he commanded.
The world dissolved into shadow and flame.
And as they vanished into the darkness, Aria could have sworn she heard him whisper:
"Mine."