---
The forest was not quiet tonight.
It breathed. It watched.
And it hunted.
I ran beside Ravon through the ancient woods, the sky bruised violet above us, the moon veiled behind shifting clouds. Every branch we passed whispered warnings, every root tried to trip us. The leaves trembled with tension—not from wind, but from the weight of something coming.
Something deadly.
> "They're closing in," Ravon said lowly, his voice calm but edged with fire. "Celestus is hunting us."
I stumbled, breath catching. "The temple knight?"
He didn't answer.
He didn't need to.
I remembered what the villagers whispered about him: a holy warrior who slaughtered demons with a silver blade that glowed like a star. A hunter of all unclean things. And Ravon—he was the king of those very shadows Celestus was sworn to erase.
> "Why would he be after me?" I asked. "I'm not a demon."
> "No," Ravon said grimly. "You're worse."
Before I could ask what he meant, he suddenly stopped, yanked me into the cover of a hollow tree, and slammed a hand against my mouth.
Silence.
Then… a faint hum in the air. Not sound—energy. Sacred, ancient, and violent.
A sword passed through the air above us, its light slicing through branches without touching them. The trees bled light. My skin burned just from being near it.
Then it passed.
Ravon didn't move until the last shimmer disappeared into the east.
> "Celestus," he muttered. "He shouldn't have found us this quickly."
> "Why is he after me?" I demanded again, this time louder. "What am I?!"
> "Someone worth killing."
My heart slammed against my chest. I tried to pull away, but his grip only tightened.
> "Don't move. Not yet."
We stayed like that—pressed together, hidden, silent—until even the air stopped trembling.
Only then did he let go.
---
By the time we reached the ruins, my legs were trembling. The world opened into a clearing, and there it stood—half-buried, jagged, overgrown with black vines and shattered stone.
A fortress.
Its towers had long since collapsed, but the bones of it still whispered power. Something ancient and cruel and waiting.
> "What is this place?" I asked.
> "Mine," Ravon said simply. "A long time ago."
He walked through the broken gate without fear. I followed, though my entire body screamed to turn back.
The inside was vast—pillars reaching toward the cracked sky, red vines coiling like veins across the stone. Statues of forgotten gods lined the walls, their faces worn down by time and magic. At the center stood an altar, scorched black.
> "This was a throne," Ravon said. "Before they tore it down. Before they tore me down."
He stood before it like a man seeing a ghost.
Then he turned to me.
> "There's something inside you," he said. "Something that's waking up."
> "You keep saying that," I snapped. "But you won't tell me what it is."
He looked at me for a long moment, eyes glowing faintly like embers.
> "Because the truth will break you."
I laughed bitterly. "And being hunted by demon-killers won't?"
He didn't smile.
> "You're not just a priestess, Seraphina. You're not even fully human."
The words hit me like thunder.
> "What… what do you mean?"
> "Your mother was angel-born. Your father…" he paused, jaw clenched. "He was one of us."
> "A demon?"
> "A king."
My knees buckled. I stumbled back, but he caught me.
> "It's not a curse," he said softly. "It's a crown. One you've forgotten."
I wanted to scream, to run, to deny everything. But deep down… I knew.
That ache in my chest. That burning in my blood. The way fire answered me that night in the cave. I had felt it since I was a child—like I didn't belong in the temple. Like my soul was tied to something darker… and brighter.
> "What does this mean?" I whispered.
> "It means the heavens fear you. And the underworld would kneel to you."
He reached for my hand.
> "Let me show you."
I hesitated. Then gave it to him.
He sliced his palm with a claw, letting his blood drip onto the altar. The stones shuddered. The air thickened with magic.
Red light burst from the ground, encircling us. The symbols lit up—demonic and divine, clashing and dancing. My vision blurred.
Then I fell—
---
[A Vision from the Past]
I stood in the sky, wings outstretched. One white as moonlight. One black as obsidian.
Beneath me, armies clashed—angels, demons, fire, blood, light.
I held a sword of stars in my hand.
Ravon stood beside me, broken, wounded.
> "You have to go," he told me. "They're coming for you."
> "Not without you."
> "Seraphina—"
> "We die together, or not at all."
He smiled then. A real smile.
> "That's why I fell for you."
---
I gasped, collapsing back into the present. My whole body ached. My breath came in ragged sobs.
Ravon caught me again, kneeling beside me on the cold stone floor.
> "You remember now," he said, voice barely above a whisper.
I looked at him—really looked. And for a heartbeat, I saw the man behind the monster. The one who once bled for me. The one I once loved.
> "I remember… everything."
He reached up to wipe a tear from my cheek. His fingers lingered, hot against my skin.
> "I thought I lost you," he murmured.
> "You did," I whispered. "But not forever."
---
Far beyond the trees, a silver blade split the earth in two.
The Celestus Knight stood at the forest's edge, golden eyes fixed on the ruined fortress. His voice rang like judgment.
> "Found you
....