LENORA'S POV
"The... horns... they were real?" I whispered more to myself in disbelief.
My mind was scrambled.
I had been plucked from my world, dragged into this nightmare, and now I was face-to-face with a being that shouldn't exist.
"Why am I here?! Why did you bring me here against my will? This is... this is kidnapping! A crime!" My body writhed, every fiber of me screaming to escape, but he didn't budge.
He tilted his head, as if he was considering me, his crimson eyes watching my panic like it was... fascinating.
"Relax, Dove. No kidnapping happened," he said smoothly, voice low and teasing, as if he enjoyed the fear curling inside me.
"If I wanted to, I could've simply stopped time at the party and taken you without you noticing. But I didn't. I wanted you to come....willingly."
Stop time? The word echoed in my head but I didn't have time to think about what he could possibly mean by that, for I have important things to reason,
My escape.
"Willingly?" I asked incredulously with my pulse hammering in my ears. "I didn't agree to this!"
"Not here, not now. But you're here. And resistance... will only make things harder."
His thumb pressed lightly against my wrist, feeling like a silent warning towards me. "And I do enjoy a challenge, Dove... when it's worthy."
I bit my lip, forcing myself not to cry, even as a hot knot of fear and defiance twisted in my stomach, I would not go quietly.
I would not allow myself to be treated like a pawn, no matter how terrifying he was.
My hands strained against him, legs braced. "I don't care how powerful you are! I will find my way back! You can't keep me here!"
Zephyr hummed at my defiance, amusement flickering across his features. "You are... spirited. I like that." His grip didn't loosen, but he didn't step back either. "But this isn't a game, Dove. You're not in your world anymore. Running... hiding... won't help. And I... don't let people run from me."
I refused to look defeated. I couldn't. "I won't stay!" My voice shook, my tears threatening to spill, but I swallowed them down. I had to sound brave, even if I felt like I was trembling on the inside.
"Fear is natural. Defiance... admirable. But you must understand the rules of this realm, Dove. You are not like the others here, and they are not like you. Strength, obedience, survival... everything works differently here."
I clenched my fists, feeling heat rise in my chest, a mixture of rage and fear. "I don't care about your rules! I didn't ask to be here. I shouldn't be here!" I screamed, my voice breaking.
The words echoed in the massive, cold room, bouncing off the stone walls and empty spaces.
Zephyr tilted his head, studying me, with his crimson eyes glinting with a possessive fire. "No one asks, Dove. Life is rarely fair, even for mortals." His tone was absolute. "You survived in your world because you are clever, quick... but cleverness alone won't save you here."
I bit back a sob, my defiance mixing with the panic curling in my stomach. "Then what am I supposed to do? Just stay here and accept it?" My voice wavered, but the challenge remained.
I refused to give him the satisfaction of seeing me broken.
"You will adapt, eventually," he said, releasing one of my wrists just slightly, enough to let me know he could crush it if he misstepped. "For now, you are a guest of Hell. And as long as you are here, I am responsible for you."
"Responsible?" I scoffed, shaking my head in disbelief. "Responsible for kidnapping me? For taking away my freedom?"
He ignored my remark. "And your question as to why you're here..." Zephyr's expression softened slightly, but only for a heartbeat. "I won't be the one to explain that, Dove. Once Alaric is ready, he will tell you."
I felt my stomach drop, fury spiking into confusion and terror. "Who the fuck is Alaric?!" My voice was sharp, trembling with desperation and suspicion. "Another crazy psychotic creature."
He chuckled darkly, lips curling into a teasing smirk. "Crazy psychotic creature?" He paused, considering me. "He's my older brother," Zephyr said,"The silver haired man you met."
I swallowed, the name resonating faintly in my mind, triggering an echo of the brief vision I'd seen when I first fell into this place. That figure, the one I'd glimpsed in Hell, just before he magically disappeared—was him.
Fear made my limbs tense, my mind spinning. What had I stumbled into? What had I done that drew them to me?
"You... you're all monsters," I whispered, trembling, my chest heaving. Fear and defiance warred inside me as the chaos of this place pressed down like a vice.
"No, Dove," he murmured, his voice dropping octaves lower in a dangerous type of way. He leaned closer, brushing against my ear before whispering in a way that made my skin tingle.
"Monsters are pathetic, and hideous... look at me."
I froze while staring at him, trying to make sense of the words he had just said. But there was something, something strange about his stance, the way his shoulders shifted, the subtle folding of shadows along his back. My eyes flicked, trying to catch the difference, the anomaly I couldn't name.
"What... what are you?" I asked, my voice barely audible, as fear began to tighten around my throat.
Zephyr didn't answer immediately. He just tilted his head, the slightest smirk tugging at his lips. The shadows around him seemed to bend and twitch as if alive. I felt it—an energy shift, it was subtle but undeniable, and radiated dominance.
My gaze dropped involuntarily to his back. A strange ripple coursed along his shoulder blades, like something was forming, something enormous. My heart lurched in my chest.
No,
It couldn't be what I'm thinking.
I blinked, certain I was imagining it, but the ripples persisted, more defined, stretching and folding in a way that mocked understanding.
I stumbled back a step, my defiance faltering as raw, icy fear replaced it. My hands throbbed where they were cuffed; my chest felt tight.
I was a mortal.
They were creatures of power beyond comprehension. And I had—what? Crossed paths with them at a party? Danced? Laughed? Kissed? And eventually led me to this?
I tried to draw back, tried to gather my defiance, but it faltered in the face of what I was seeing. The movement along his back intensified and my heart refused to accept what I was seeing.
The vision before me spread slowly, elegantly, as if unfurling from another dimension entirely.
Crimson red, deep and luminous, catching the firelight in a way that made them look almost alive. The sheer size of them, the perfect symmetry, made me feel like a trapped insect, pinned by the enormity of what I was facing.
My pulse raced, and my breath hitched.
Everything I had thought I knew about reality, about the human world, the mundane, the rules of life and death all shattered before me. These were no tricks. No illusions.
I stared, frozen, my voice lost somewhere between awe and sheer terror. My hands ached in their restraints. My mind raced with question I couldn't give answers to. Why me? What did I do to deserve this?
I couldn't move, couldn't speak.
The wings... his wings. I whispered in disbelief, almost to myself.
He gave a small, approving tilt of his head, "I'm a demon," he said with finality, pride, and power in the declaration.
One line.
One truth.
That was all I needed and all I dared acknowledge.
I sank to the floor slightly, my body trembling, finally understanding the hopelessness of my situation.
No more defiance, only fear.
Only a desperate human realization of just how powerless I truly was. Mortality clashed violently with immortality and I had no anchor, no guide, no plan to escape the realm of demons.
The firelight reflected off his crimson wings, painting shadows across the room like living scarlet specters.
What had I done to cross paths with them? The question echoed in my mind, unanswered, terrifying in its uncertainty.
And there, in that moment of silent dread, I realized I had no choice but to wait. To survive. To understand... when I could.
"Wings," I whispered again, barely audible.
Zephyrus' lips curved in the faintest of smiles, possessive, and yet teasing. "We are demons," he stated once, and the words sealed the truth, heavy as chains, undeniable as fate itself.
I could do nothing. Not now. Not ever... maybe.
The room remained silent, save for the faint crackle of the torches, and the crimson wings which loomed behind him like living fire.
The mortal world, my life, my choices, all of it was gone, eclipsed by the shadow of this one being and the power that radiated from him.
I didn't scream. I didn't fight. My defiance was gone, replaced with the raw paralyzing knowledge that I had stumbled into a world of immortal power far beyond human comprehension. And my place in it was uncertain, fragile, and terrifying.
The wings stretched silently behind him, magnificent and deadly, a reminder that I was no longer in control.
And as I whispered the single word again, my voice barely audible above my own heartbeat, the word felt heavy with awe and terror.
"Wings."