A Presence That Should Not Be
The world around them shuddered. The mist thickened into something solid, suffocating. The trees groaned as if they, too, could feel the weight of what had just arrived.
Kieran's entire body locked in place.
His golden eyes—eyes that had always burned with power, defiance, fire—were wide with something far worse than fear.
Dread.
Recognition.
Because he knew.
He knew exactly who stood before them.
The Dark God.
The abyss wasn't just whispering anymore.
It had stepped into the mortal world.
And Zyra, with flames still licking at her palms, could feel the unbearable pull of fate tightening around them.
The figure of shadows—tall, cloaked in unnatural darkness, watching them with amusement—spoke again.
"Did you think I would let you go so easily, little prince?"
Kieran flinched.
His hands fisted at his sides, shaking.
Zyra had never seen him like this.
Never seen him look like he was about to break.
And that terrified her more than anything.
Her fire burned hotter, brighter.
She wouldn't let this happen.
She wouldn't let anything take him.
But before she could move—before she could so much as breathe—Kieran whispered, "Run."
Zyra's fire faltered.
"What?"
His jaw clenched.
"Run, Zyra."
She stared at him. "You can't be serious."
"Oh, but he is."
The Dark God's voice slid through the air like smoke, curling around them, suffocating them.
"Your mate is smarter than he looks."
Zyra turned her glare back to the shadowed figure. "He's not my mate."
The Dark God chuckled. A slow, deep, knowing sound.
"No? Then why do you tremble at the thought of losing him?"
Her pulse stopped.
The air between them coiled tighter.
Kieran took a sharp step forward. "She's not part of this."
The darkness quivered.
"She is now."
Zyra barely had time to react before the ground beneath them cracked open.
---
Falling Into Darkness
One moment, they were standing in the clearing.
The next—they were falling.
The earth split apart like a beast's jaws, swallowing them into the abyss itself.
The mist curled up, up, up, thick as ink. Kieran's fingers snatched for Zyra's wrist just as she reached for him.
The impact was brutal.
They crashed into the depths, hitting the ground hard.
Zyra gasped, rolling onto her side, her ribs screaming in protest.
Kieran landed a few feet away, groaning, struggling to push himself up.
The darkness was alive.
It coiled around them, creeping, twisting, whispering.
"You cannot run from me, Kieran."
Zyra forced herself upright. Her flames roared to life again, casting a dim glow in the endless void.
They weren't in the mortal realm anymore.
They had been pulled into something else.
A world between worlds.
A place where the Dark God ruled.
And Kieran—he wasn't fighting back.
Zyra turned on him. "Get up."
He didn't move.
"Kieran!"
His head lifted. His eyes—black as night, stripped of gold.
No.
No, no, no.
She lunged for him.
---
A Battle for His Soul
Zyra slammed her hands onto Kieran's shoulders, shaking him hard.
"Don't you dare give in to this."
The abyss shuddered.
Kieran's fingers twitched—but his expression was distant, detached.
Like something was pulling him away.
Like something was already winning.
The Dark God's laughter rumbled all around them.
"He was mine before he was ever yours, fire-bringer."
Zyra's breath hitched.
"No."
"Yes."
Kieran's body jerked.
His fingers latched onto Zyra's arms, crushingly tight.
And for a single, frozen moment—she wasn't looking into Kieran's eyes anymore.
She was looking into the abyss itself.
A force older than time, hungrier than death.
The thing that had been waiting for this moment for centuries.
And it had Kieran.
A slow, inhuman smile curled his lips.
"You should have run, little queen."
Dark power exploded from him.
---
The Fire and the Abyss Collide
Zyra didn't let go.
Even as the shadows ripped through the air, trying to tear her away—
Even as the abyss screamed through Kieran's body, twisting his veins black—
She didn't let go.
Because she saw him.
Buried beneath the abyss.
Drowning.
But still fighting.
Somewhere, deep inside, Kieran was still there.
And Zyra refused to let him go.
Her fire exploded.
Not as a weapon.
Not as destruction.
But as light.
A force that burned through the darkness, shattering the abyss's hold for a single, desperate second.
And in that moment—
Kieran's eyes snapped gold again.
His grip on her arms tightened.
And he gasped, voice raw with something broken, something real.
"Zyra."
The abyss howled.
The Dark God's fury rippled through the void.
"You will never be free of me."
Zyra met his gaze—and smiled.
"Watch me."
She tore Kieran from the abyss's grasp.
And the fire consumed them both.
---