Affair with the Devil

art. His grip on my hand was firm, and even though every rational part of me screamed to pull away, to

in, whispering secrets I wasn't meant to hear. The wind howled through the empty streets, stirring the scent of damp ear

asked, my voice barely

, unreadable eyes. "It's older than anything you know," he said fi

ings, their windows like hollow eyes watching our

simply, as if that e

d once been a church, now long abandoned. Its walls were covered in creeping vines, and the wooden d

the boundaries between worlds are

nfused. "What

That pull, that darkness that's always lingered at the edges of your life. That

I had felt it, that constant shadow trailing behind me, the feeling that

istent. "This place is a gateway, Lucia. A pl

I felt the cold press of fear cr

st my cheek, and I shivered at the touch.

my mind racing.

en with a creak that echoed through the night. Inside, the air was thick and heavy,

ws cast fragments of color on the cracked stone walls. At the far end, an altar stood, draped in shadows. But there

ltar, I noticed symbols carved into the stone, symbols that seemed to shift

I whispered, my

e altar, "is where the veil thins. W

serious. "But you must choose, L

uickened.

s hand brushing again

mind spinning with fear and confusion. "I don

a whisper in the wind. "To let go of the life you've known. T

tened. "And wh

eye, something deeper, more dangerous. "Then you will remain trapped,

ack, my heart r

low and steady, "you were bo

his words pressing down on me.

of something I couldn't name. "You are m

ck. But something in Damian's words, in the way he looked at me, made me hesitate. What if h

been running fro

t to touch the cold stone. As my fingers brushed against it, I felt a surge of

y, his eyes never leavin

ent settle over me. This was it. The moment of

d, my voice tremb

the darkness sw

crevice of my mind. I gasped for breath, my lungs burning as if I were drowning in it, but there was no air

t as suddenly

ugh the night. My body, which had felt weightless in the void, found solid ground beneath my feet. The air

ts vastness stretching far beyond anything I could comprehend. Tall, ornate columns lined the walls, each one carved with intricate symbols that gl

tiful. And

off the walls, small and uncertain

he surveyed the hall. "This is the place between," he

l racing from the sensation of

ng far ahead in the distance. "Between the world of the

pine. "The damned?" I repeated, m

the darkness that lingered in the depths of his gaze, no denying the otherworldly power that radiated from hi

to make sense of it all

s once like you," he said. "Mortal. Fragile. But

n swirling in my mind. "W

se quicken. "Because you're more than you know, Lucia. There's something inside you,

. "I'm just, I'm just a person. An o

d with a strange kind of reverence. "You were born for this. Y

ning with fear. "No... no, I can'

ing different about me, something that had never quite fit into the ordinary life I had tried so hard to l

d grounding. "You don't have to be afraid, Lu

ething beyond human, and yet... there was a part of me that already did. A

ng a shaky breath. "Wh

remain in the world of the living, blind to what lies beneath. But once you've seen what I've sh

eniable. I could stay in the life I knew, safe and ignorant, or I cou

n do this," I whisper

his voice steady and cal

deception there, no malice. Just the truth, raw and unden

ep breath

ow

in his expression. He raised his other hand, and as he did, the air around us seeme

descent begin,

lined the hall dissolved into smoke, the ceiling above us cracked open, revealing a swirling abyss of

ic surging through me, but hi

ice calm amid the chaos. "

world around us collapsed, and we pl