Vex's feet left no mark on the earth as she walked. Her shadow moved with her like an echo. The land before her was vast, abandoned, raw—a kingdom she had once known only as a distant thing. But now, it was hers. A home to build from the ruins.
The Hollow loomed behind her, its whispers curling like smoke in her ears. It was a place of death, a place that had almost claimed her. But she had risen. And now, as she walked away from the edge of the world's greatest prison, there was no more fear in her chest.
There was only hunger.
⸻
The air tasted different above the Hollow's edge. The wind, which had once been thick with the scent of decay, now smelled faintly of salt and earth—alive. It was strange, alien, like the touch of a lover she had forgotten.
Her skin, still cool from the depths of the Hollow, burned as though touched by sunlight for the first time. There was power in her veins now, fire in her bones—a gift from the pit. The fire was inside her, waiting, alive with promises of destruction and rebirth. Agni, the fire that had sparked her transformation, whispered quietly in her head. It was not a foreign voice, but a familiar presence, an extension of herself. We are unstoppable, it hummed. We are fire. Let them come.
But before they came, before any throne could be claimed, she had a different hunger to satisfy. The one that burned her from the inside out.
⸻
Hunger.
The desire for blood gnawed at her insides. Not for survival, not for mere sustenance—but for power. She had learned that her new form, whatever it was, required this. It was a twisted form of addiction, this bloodlust. A deep need. She could feel the fire, the hunger, weaving in and out of her flesh like a second heartbeat.
Her eyes, once just brown, were now something else. A vivid shade of fire-red, like a phoenix rising from the ashes. They gleamed under the light of the moon. Every movement she made, every step she took, held a quiet grace—a deadly seduction. Her nails, sharp as claws, tapped rhythmically on the stone as she walked, their clicking sound echoing through the night. She was a predator. She had been reborn.
But hunger was a cruel master. It called to her when the rest of the world slept.
⸻
It didn't take long to find them.
A small village on the outskirts of the kingdom. It was quiet, humble, with crooked houses and a warm, lazy fire in the center of the square. They thought themselves safe, untouched by the troubles that had befallen the cities. But they didn't know what walked among them now.
Vex slipped between shadows. She let the fire within her pulse, heat rising within her veins. She could smell the blood in the air, even before she reached the village. It called to her like a siren's song. Her lips parted, her sharp teeth gleaming in the moonlight. She was no longer the helpless stepdaughter of a duke. She was no longer a woman in chains. She was something else. Something unstoppable.
The first man she found was a guard, leaning lazily against a wooden post, his sword at his side. He was young, thick-headed, and drunk. She could taste his blood before she even laid a finger on him.
She didn't need to kill him. No, that would be too simple. Instead, she wanted to twist him, bend him to her will. She wanted him to feel the heat of her touch, the power in her veins. And so she did. She whispered into his ear, her voice a melody that crawled into his bones and made him move closer to her.
"Come closer," she purred.
He did. He was a puppet on a string.
Her smile grew, predatory. He was already hers. She slid her hand up his chest, the fire from within her spilling out into his skin, taking hold of his thoughts. He shuddered under her touch, unaware of the danger. He thought he was still in control. That was the beauty of it.
And then she fed. Slowly. Her lips brushed his neck. She kissed him, and as she did, she let the fire within her ignite, turning the kiss into something darker, more dangerous. Her fangs sank into his flesh, and his breath hitched in his throat. The blood didn't just flow—it surrendered. She didn't drink like a starving animal. She fed like a queen claiming her throne.
When she was done, she pulled back. The man staggered, dazed, a smile still lingering on his lips, though he wouldn't remember the woman who had taken him. No one ever remembered her. They simply dreamed of her. They would follow her in the dead of night, with no understanding of why, only knowing that something within them had changed. That was the nature of her power now.
She didn't leave him dead, though. No, she wanted him to live. To be haunted by what he'd experienced. A touch of madness. A taste of fire.
⸻
With that hunger sated, she moved on. She could feel her power growing, blooming with every drop of blood she took. She didn't stop. Not yet. There was still work to be done. Still a throne to build.
⸻
The old estate she claimed was cold, abandoned.
The walls were cracked, covered in centuries of dust. But there was beauty in its ruin. Stone and ivy. The smell of earth and decay. She would rebuild it. It would become her kingdom, her sanctuary—a throne made from what was left of the world.
She moved through the halls like a phantom, gliding across the dusty floorboards, her fingers brushing over the cracks and crevices of the stone. The house was dying, like everything around it. But Vex had learned that death could be an ally. She would use it. She would make it beautiful.
⸻
By the time the sun dipped beneath the horizon, she had claimed her domain. The wind howled through the broken windows, but she was untouchable now. She was no longer the girl who had been betrayed. The girl who had been framed. The girl who had lived in the shadows of others.
Now, she was the fire. And no one could outrun it.
⸻
But the night wasn't over. Hunger still burned in her chest, and she knew that the time would come when she had to face what she had become. When the people who had wronged her would feel the heat of her wrath.
Until then, though, she would enjoy her new life. She would savor her power. She would indulge herself in the ways that had once been denied her. She would make this kingdom hers, piece by piece.
She was the queen now.
And she would let them all come to her. In time. One by one.
⸻
As she stood at the window, looking out over her new kingdom, Agni's voice came to her again.
"Let them come. Let them all burn."
And she would. She would burn them all—just like the fire that burned inside her.