The darkness was suffocating. A thick, oppressive blackness that clung to her skin, filled her lungs, and twisted her thoughts. It was all-consuming. Selene couldn't even tell if her eyes were open or closed. The world around her felt distant, like a dream, but she could still feel the tremors in her bones, the heat in her veins. The pull of something undeniable.
It was him.
She could feel Alaric's presence, even in the darkness. It was like an ember glowing in the pit of her stomach, simmering, scorching. She couldn't escape him. Not now, not ever. He had burned his mark into her soul, and there was no way out.
Her breaths came in short, panicked gasps, but it was hard to tell if the pressure in her chest was from fear or the weight of something much more profound.
Suddenly, she was yanked from the suffocating dark and thrust into the harsh light of reality.
The ground beneath her was solid again, but the air— thick, acrid— tasted of sulfur. She blinked, adjusting to the blinding light that cut through the remnants of smoke and ash. The remnants of the battle. The creature was gone.
But the scars it left behind were everywhere.
The rift in the earth stretched out before her like an open wound. Deep cracks marked the ground, seeping with liquid fire. Her ears rang from the clash of energy, the scream of the beast. And there, standing on the edge of that abyss, was Alaric. He was unscathed, his features barely touched by the chaos. His eyes were blackened with something dark, something ancient.
"Selene," he said, his voice so calm it sent a chill down her spine. "You've seen it now. You've felt it."
She opened her mouth to speak, but her words were trapped in her throat. He was right. She had seen it. Felt it. She'd seen the beast, but that wasn't what haunted her. It was him. What he had done. What he had unleashed.
"You... summoned that thing?" Her voice trembled despite herself.
His lips curled into a smile, half wicked, half weary. "I didn't summon it, Selene. I called it. I called it because it has always been waiting. Just like you."
There it was again waiting. The word that haunted her every step. The truth she didn't want to face. It was as if her entire existence had been a build-up to this moment, this truth she was too afraid to acknowledge.
She took a step back, away from him, instinctively moving toward the crumbling remains of the city, where survivors huddled together, their faces twisted with fear, confusion.
But they didn't matter. Not anymore.
"You need to leave, Alaric. Whatever this is... it's not me. I'm not part of it."
His gaze softened, an emotion she didn't recognize flickering beneath the steel mask he wore. "You can't run, Selene. Not from what we are. Not from what I've made you."
The words landed like a slap, and Selene's heart stopped. She couldn't breathe. What had he made her?
"I never asked for this," she whispered, her voice barely audible. "You think I wanted this? This chaos? This—this monster?"
Alaric took a step closer. Just one step, but it felt like the world was crashing in on her, the space between them closing in on something inevitable. Something she couldn't escape.
"You didn't have to ask for it," he murmured, his voice a smooth, dangerous lull. "It was always inside you. You just needed to open your eyes. You needed to see it for yourself. For both of us."
There was something in the way he said those words, something in the way his eyes held hers something that made her heart flutter despite herself. She wanted to hate him. She wanted to run.
But she couldn't.
"You're wrong," she said, her voice faltering. "I don't belong to this... whatever this is. Whatever you're planning... I won't be a part of it."
Alaric was silent for a long moment, the look in his eyes unreadable. It was as if he was considering something weighing the cost of the next words he was about to speak.
Then, with a sharp exhale, he shook his head. "You already are. It's too late. We're too far in."
His words were like poison, seeping into her veins, slowly turning everything she thought she knew upside down. How could she have been this blind? How could she have been so naïve to think she had a choice?
Before she could respond, a voice interrupted.
"Alaric!" Viktor's voice cut through the tension like a knife. His figure appeared in the distance, moving quickly through the ruins, his face tight with urgency.
Alaric didn't look at him. He didn't even acknowledge Viktor's presence, his eyes still locked on Selene with that predatory gaze that sent a shiver down her spine.
Viktor's expression faltered as he came to a halt beside them, noticing the way Selene was looking at Alaric. He took a quick glance at the rift, at the cracks in the earth, and then back at her. "What the hell happened here?"
Alaric finally turned toward Viktor, his posture relaxed, almost too relaxed. "It's done," he said, as though it were nothing. "The rift is open, and the path is set."
Selene's heart pounded in her chest, her blood running cold. "What do you mean the path is set?" Her voice was hoarse with fear.
Alaric's lips twisted into a smile, a knowing, dangerous smile. "The storm is just beginning, Selene. We're not running anymore. This is our world now. My world. And you? You're a part of it."
Her legs nearly gave out beneath her. She hadn't known what she expected from him, but this, this was worse. This was worse than anything she could have imagined.
The ground shook beneath their feet once more, this time more violently than before. The earth groaned as if it, too, was in agony. The city behind them crumbled in the distance, and the screams of the remaining survivors echoed through the air.
It was only just starting.
But for some reason, all Selene could think of was the way Alaric's gaze held hers, how he spoke of her like she was an inevitability.
She was trapped.
She was trapped, and worse still, a part of her was beginning to understand why she couldn't walk away.
Alaric stepped toward her, his voice low and dangerous. "Don't fight it, Selene. You're mine now. And there's no turning back."