Chapter 6: Whispers of the Abyss
The night was alive with whispers.
Seraphina could hear them now—voices curling at the edges of her mind, layered over the rustling wind. They spoke in tongues she didn't recognize, yet somehow understood.
It was the voice of the Fallen.
And they were watching her.
She inhaled deeply, pushing past the cold dread pooling in her stomach. She had already died once. Fear had no place here.
Instead, she focused on the man standing before her, the stranger who had pulled her from the grave and called her something more than human.
"I still don't know your name," she said, her voice steady despite the storm raging inside her.
The man chuckled, his crimson eyes gleaming in the moonlight. "And yet, you have already decided to trust me."
Seraphina's jaw tightened. "I don't trust you. But I need answers."
A smirk tugged at his lips. "Fair enough." He stepped closer, the darkness around him shifting as though it recognized him. "You may call me Ravian."
Ravian.
The name slithered into her mind like an echo of something half-remembered. She didn't recognize it, but it felt significant—like it belonged to something older than just the man before her.
"Why did you bring me back?" she asked.
Ravian's expression didn't change, but for a moment, there was something indecipherable in his gaze. "Because you were never meant to die."
Seraphina stiffened. "That's not an answer."
"Isn't it?"
She clenched her fists. "My people betrayed me. My throne was stolen. I was left to rot in a grave I never deserved. Don't tell me fate had nothing to do with it."
Ravian studied her for a moment, then tilted his head slightly.
"Perhaps it did. But fate does not end with death, little Empress. Sometimes, it begins after."
A gust of wind swept through the ruins, and Seraphina felt the air shift—not naturally.
Something was coming.
She turned sharply, every instinct screaming. The whispers grew louder, shifting into something more coherent.
She has returned.
She carries the mark.
The Abyss stirs.
Her breath hitched.
"What—?"
A shadow flickered at the edge of the ruins, moving too fast for a mere trick of the moonlight. Seraphina's fingers twitched, and the darkness answered.
For the first time, she felt it—truly felt it.
The power thrumming beneath her skin.
The curse wasn't just inside her.
It was hers to command.
Ravian watched as realization dawned in her eyes. "Good," he murmured. "Now, let's see if you can use it."
Because something else had awakened in the darkness.
And it was coming for her.