"Sold," the auctioneer declared, bowing slightly toward him.
Six armored figures flanked him, clad in blackened steel etched with symbols older than scripture. Their weapons were ceremonial, yet honed sharp enough to rend flesh from bone, sharp enough to skin gods. They said nothing like shadows made to flesh.
And he—
He wore a robe of deep obsidian, stitched not with thread but with veins of silver that pulsed faintly, alive in a way that made the skin crawl. Ancient sigils spiraled down the sleeves, indecipherable, incomprehensible. His mask was flawless stone—mirror-dark, featureless.
He sat on a chair that commanded the space, simple yet monumental, a throne by presence alone.
The moment he moved, the hall seemed to shudder. Torches sputtered, chains rattled on hooks unseen, walls inhaled as if holding their breath.
Then the whispers began, low and contagious, curling through every soul in the room:
"Tenebrarum Mortifer."
The name passed from mouth to mouth like smoke, a contagion of fear , undeniable and unstoppable.
Drunk from the skulls of emperors, his presence alone drove angels mad.
He is ranked as the most powerful angel.
Some turned their faces, bowing hastily, while others—dark creatures themselves—slipped away quietly, unwilling to linger in the presence of such power
A few crossed themselves in secret, murmuring spells they barely remembered.
In the back row, a merchant who had nearly shouted his bid now lay collapsed, coughing violently. The price he'd almost offered seemed meaningless as his eyes landed on Tenebrarum. Trembling, he rose carefully and slipped away, silently, like a shadow retreating from the impossible.
The hall remained tense, every heartbeat echoing against the stone, every gaze drawn irresistibly toward the throne of the living legend.
Only a fool would bid against Tenebrarum.
Only a corpse would win.
Gold weighed nothing to him. His kind trafficked in older currencies—souls, blood, oaths sealed beneath the moon.
And now… he had spoken.
A hundred—for Aurelia.
A nobody.
Aurelia felt the air tighten, dense and heavy, as if the very hall itself held its breath.
Tenebrarum Mortifer!!!
she whispered,her teeth clenched together, eyes narrowing as she turned her gaze toward him.
Every instinct screamed danger.
Every nerve whispering to escape.
This was no ordinary demon—he is Tenebrarum Mortifer, a force older than kingdoms, colder than stone, The Demon Prince.
Her pulse slammed against her ribs, to her this was the end of living.
Run!!!!
The instinct hit her so hard her legs moved before her mind could stop them. She turned—fast, desperate—but a pair of hands seized her immediately, dragging her back like she weighed nothing. Her feet scraped against the stone as she fought, breath sharp, fury choking her.
After everything she promised herself… after the confident she planned to have she still ran.
It seemed like all that had exist were all foolishness—but why wouldn't she run?
He wasn't just any random buyer.
It was Tenebrarum.
From the moment he was born, the stories began—stories whispered in temples, in war camps, in the ruins of fallen kingdoms. A child who killed his mother with his first breath. A prince who had no claim to the crown, because King Mortifer had never married the woman who bore him.
His was the illegitimate child,Unwanted,the curse.
But power changes everything.
Tenebrarum had shown the world what he was made of—and the world had bowed.
They said his mind could break a person in seconds.
They said the elements bent to him—air, water, fire—obedient as hounds.
They said his hunger for blood is unmatched, sometime he even killed the ones he loved for power.
But was all that true or he simply lost controls of his powers.
And lies find it's way of spreading faster than the truth.
Aurelia twisted in the guard's grip, chest heaving, eyes burning with disbelief and rising fury.
Of all the monsters in this hall… why him?
Her vision blurred as tears finally escaped, traitorous and wicked against her skin. She clenched her jaw, furious that her body dared betray her now.
To her he wasn't even a creature that belonged to this earth.
He was the demon.
Tenebrarum Mortifer.
The one whose rise had crushed the human kingdoms until no where was a save hiding spot.
He was the target she had sworn to kill even from a young age.
He was the enemy standing between the whole of humanity and extinction.
After the fall of the Wall… After the chaos… she had prepared herself for one final destiny:
Kill Tenebrarum Mortifer.
Yet here she is—
stripped across stone.
Her tears fell harder, not from fear… but from the unbearable humiliation of fate twisting her into his hands.
Unknown to her Tenebrarum didn't care about her at all, to him she was nothing, a fragment of trouble he had inherited from the auction, someone he could dispose with a shout and a single command.
He stepped into an exquisite black carriage and vanished behind its polished doors, leaving her in the hands of his guards.
They fastened chains around her wrists and hooked them to a horse, forcing her forward as they dragged her across the rough ground, each stumble pulling the breath from her chest as they carried her toward Tenebrarum's Villa.
Ahhh!!!
The sound slipped from her before she could cage it, a low breath of pain pressed between her teeth.
Her wrist throbbed still, a cruel reminder of Marcus and his betrayal, the marks he left burning like an old brand she could not wash away.
The guards rode easily on their horses not even caring why she screamed,Their armor clinking, while she struggled to stay upright, her legs shaking beneath her, each step sinking into the wet earth.
The sky darkened and rain began to fall, heavy and cold, soaking through her thin blue dress until the fabric clung to her skin, mud splashing up her legs as the storm swallowed the road, the guards barely glancing back, riding as if nothing had changed, while the cold pressed into her bones and threatened to stop her heart.
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What is my life now, that the gods have stripped me of all I once held
Everything is gone, scattered like dust before the eastern wind, and I stand abandoned by fortune.
Tenebrarum Mortifer—my sworn foe, the shadow I was raised to defy—how could I be handed to him as though I were nothing more than spoil from a conquered city
Why him, why must my chains lead to his house, why must my fate be bound to the one I vowed to bring low.
Perhaps the gods have turned their faces from me, perhaps the threads of my destiny have twisted into something dark, yet I do not claim that death must be my end, only that I stand in a place where I cannot yet see the path forward.
I am weakened, stripped of all that once made me strong, my bow and arrows taken as though they were the heart in my chest
Without them I feel as powerless as a soldier deprived of shield and spear, left to face a tyrant with bare hands.
Is this my destiny, cruel and painful. I can't serve Tenebrarum.
Her thoughts were the only thing keeping her from falling.
The silence thickened as they neared the estate.
Her body felt as though it were cracking with every step, each movement a protest from muscles that had long since surrendered
The chains bit into her ankles, cold and slick with rain, and her white hair clung to her cheeks and throat like strips of wet cloth
Outside—beyond the path—the forest stirred.
Aurelia lifted her head, blinking rain from her lashes, she could see something.
Shadows gliding without sound.
Shapes that slipped from branch to branch like smoke given form.
It looked too swift to be human, Too precise to be any known beast.
These were the estate's true guardians
She felt their attention like cold fingers tracing her spine,she thought this creatures were all fork tales .
But they were real and her eyes couldn't still believe it.
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To be continued...