Elara woke in a place that wasn't her world.
The sky was bleeding twilight. The sun hovered like a red eye over a jagged landscape of stone and ash. Massive obsidian spires twisted into the heavens, and rivers of molten silver glowed in the distance.
She sat up, gasping. The ground beneath her pulsed with energy. Not magic something older, something hungrier.
The Demon Prince stood a few feet away, cloaked in a robe of shadows. He turned to her, eyes flickering like twin galaxies.
"Welcome to the Sixth Court."
Elara scrambled to her feet. "You dragged me here?!"
"The bond is complete. You crossed when your mark transformed. Your soul called to mine."
"Send me back!"
He didn't answer. Instead, he stepped forward and offered his hand. "If you stay here unanchored, the Court will devour you. Let me show you the path."
She wanted to refuse. But the burning in her veins told her she was already tethered to this realm.
She took his hand.
They walked through shifting halls carved from obsidian and shadow. Creatures watched them from the corners some with eyes, others with whispers.
"This place will test you," he said. "But you are stronger than you know."
"Why me?"
He stopped before a massive gate of bone and silver.
"Because you were born of two worlds. And only you can stop what is coming."