Chapter 1: When the Chains First Bled
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The night was a wound, bleeding into the earth.
The ruins of Valemire stood in mourning silence, whispering only to the dead. Beneath a decaying arch, where roses once bloomed black with poison, he stood —
Aleron.
His breath was a prayer forgotten by gods. His skin was kissed by the shadows, and in his hands he held nothing but the weight of centuries lost.
The air was heavy, soaked in the scent of damp stone and something more... something human.
Then — like a tear falling onto cursed soil — she appeared.
Selene.
A figure of trembling defiance, her hair clinging to her skin like tendrils of night. Her heartbeat, fragile and frantic, sang a melody that only the cursed could hear.
Aleron's gaze sliced through her like a dagger wrapped in velvet.
He hadn't expected her blood to call out to him.
He hadn't expected desire to chain his own cursed soul.
Their eyes locked — two broken worlds crashing against each other, desperate, furious, helpless.
Selene stepped forward, her voice barely a breath.
"Why do I feel you in my bones?"
Aleron's voice was a funeral drum.
"Because your blood remembers me."
The ruins around them groaned under an invisible weight.
Chains, unseen yet unbearable, slithered from the stones, binding them at the wrists, the throat, the heart.
He reached out — not to touch her — but to shatter the distance fate had cruelly stretched between them.
His fingertips brushed against hers.
The ground wept.
The sky howled.
And the first chain of blood, forged in unbearable yearning, sealed their doom.
Neither heaven nor hell could sever what was born that night —
A love that would bleed, burn, and break the world.
Chapter 2: Hunger Beneath the Skin
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The hunger was ancient. And it was waking.
Selene's veins felt like rivers of fire. Every step she took closer to Aleron made her body betray her — trembling not in fear, but in a craving deeper than the marrow in her bones.
Aleron fought the storm inside him. His fangs, hidden for centuries, ached to break free.
He was no mere man — he was the remnant of a forgotten race, a being sculpted by blood, bound by darkness.
And her scent... her soul... was undoing him.
Selene staggered, clutching her chest.
"What's happening to me?" she gasped, her voice a thread unraveling in the night.
Aleron's jaw tightened.
He wanted to turn away.
He wanted to save her from himself.
But the blood — her blood — was calling him home.
"Your body remembers," he said, stepping forward, voice like thunder wrapped in velvet.
"It remembers what your mind has forgotten: You were born to bind me. To feed me. To burn with me."
Selene shook her head violently, tears slipping from her stormy eyes.
"No... no, I'm human..."
Aleron's laugh was hollow, haunted.
"You were... once."
Without warning, the hunger surged.
Aleron grabbed her, not to hurt her — but because if he didn't anchor himself to her, he would tear the world apart.
His hands seared her skin, his touch a brand of ownership and need.
Selene gasped at the sensation — not pain, but a terrifying ecstasy.
The blood inside her roared, ancient and alive, stitching itself into the chains tightening around them both.
Her fingers found his chest — and when she touched him, the world split in two.
Visions assaulted her mind:
An empire drowning in crimson.
Lovers devouring each other under broken moons.
A crown of bones resting atop a heart that still bled.
She tore herself away, but it was too late.
The hunger was awake.
And it belonged to both of them now.
Aleron's lips hovered over hers, close enough to taste the fear, the want, the madness.
"You can't run from me," he whispered, voice dipped in blood and sorrow.
"Because you are the hunger."
And under the screaming stars, the second chain was forged —
Tighter.
Deadlier.
Inevitable.
Chapter 3: Whispers in the Crimson Fog
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The fog tasted of iron and forgotten screams.
Selene stumbled forward, clutching the mark Aleron had burned into her skin without fire. The ruins seemed to breathe now, the walls pulsing with memories she had never lived — and yet, they felt carved into her soul.
Around her, the world blurred into red mist.
Shapes twisted inside it — faces, hands, lips murmuring secrets only her cursed blood could understand.
Selene gasped as voices slithered into her ears:
"Bind him..."
"Bleed for him..."
"Break with him..."
She spun around, heart hammering against her ribs like a trapped animal.
"Stop it!" she cried into the darkness. "Get out of my head!"
But the fog only thickened.
The whispers turned sweeter, crueler, more seductive.
Behind her, she felt the pull —
Aleron's presence, magnetic and terrifying, drawing her deeper into the nightmare.
When she turned, he was there —
Bathed in mist, his eyes glowed like burning coals submerged under centuries of sorrow.
"You hear them," he said, his voice rough like stone cracking under pressure.
"They are the memories of our blood."
Selene shook her head in disbelief.
"This isn't my blood. This isn't my life!"
Aleron's gaze softened, but his hands clenched at his sides, fighting a war against himself.
He stepped closer, fog curling around him like a living thing.
"It is now," he whispered.
Selene backed away until her spine hit the cold stone wall.
The whispers grew louder, forming shapes in the mist —
Two figures chained together, bleeding into each other, unable to pull apart.
Tears burned her eyes as her body betrayed her again, reaching toward him, even as her mind screamed to flee.
Aleron caught her hand, pressing her palm flat against his chest.
She felt it —
Not a heartbeat.
Something older, something darker, something alive.
The whispers fell silent.
For one endless second, there was only the two of them — tangled in hunger, blood, destiny.
"You are mine, Selene," he said, forehead resting against hers.
"You always were."
And with that surrender, another unseen chain tightened, wrapping around their souls, dragging them into a fate neither could survive — yet neither wanted to escape.
The Crimson Fog swallowed them whole.
Chapter 4: Kisses Carved in Pain
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Some loves are not written with ink — they are carved into flesh and bone.
Selene's back slammed against the stone wall, the cold slicing through her thin skin. She barely registered the sting — the real fire burned inside her, in the hollow spaces where fear and desire had fused into something monstrous.
Aleron hovered over her, every inch of him a creature molded by agony and longing.
The mist curled around their bodies like desperate fingers, hungry to bind, to choke, to brand.
His hands — rough, trembling, aching — caged her in.
Not to trap her... but because he was drowning, and she was the only thing that kept him human.
"You should hate me," he growled, voice thick with centuries of regret.
"You should run..."
Selene, breathing hard, stared up into his broken soul.
She should have run. She should have screamed.
But when he leaned in, when his breath kissed her lips with trembling devastation, she tilted her chin higher — offering herself like a prayer to a god she knew would devour her.
Aleron's mouth crashed into hers — not gentle, not asking — taking.
Pain bloomed where their lips met, like knives dipped in honey. His kiss was a wound, and she opened herself to it willingly.
She tasted blood — his, hers, she couldn't tell.
Their agony mixed, a shared chalice of suffering they both drank from without mercy.
Chains, invisible but merciless, tightened around their bodies, binding rib to rib, heart to heart.
Her nails raked down his chest, tearing through cloth and skin alike, desperate to feel him, to anchor herself to the ruin he was dragging her into.
Aleron broke the kiss, gasping against her mouth, forehead pressed to hers.
"You're bleeding," he whispered, voice hoarse, reverent.
Selene smiled — a broken, beautiful thing.
"So are you."
The mist around them shrieked, the stones cracked under their feet, and somewhere deep in the belly of the earth, something ancient stirred — awakened by the blood kiss of two damned souls.
In the ruins of Valemire, pain had become their language.
And love...
Love was now a knife they wielded against each other — and against fate itself.
Chapter 5: The Hollow Oath
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A promise made in blood is never unbroken — no matter how much it costs.
The air crackled with tension, as thick as the fog that surrounded them, closing in like a shroud. Selene stood at the edge of the ruins, the ground beneath her feet trembling, as if the earth itself felt the weight of what was coming.
Aleron was behind her, but the distance between them felt endless. His presence was a dark pulse — so close, yet so far away.
"You said we were bound." Her voice was a whisper, hoarse, raw from the kiss that still burned on her lips.
"We are," Aleron answered, his tone cold, but there was an ache in it — a pain that matched her own.
She turned to face him, eyes brimming with something she couldn't name. Fear? Longing? Or something worse... something she couldn't control.
"Then why does it feel like you're slipping away?"
His jaw clenched.
He took a step toward her, but his movements were slow, deliberate, as if he feared she might break apart under the weight of his gaze.
"You don't understand," he said, voice strained. "This is a curse we wear, not a gift. And I... I never wanted you to wear it."
The words stung, like salt on an open wound.
Selene stepped back, her hands trembling at her sides.
"Then why did you choose me?" she demanded, her voice rising with the agony that threatened to consume her.
Aleron's eyes flickered, and for a moment, his mask of cold detachment faltered. He reached out, but she recoiled, shaking her head.
"Tell me," she begged, her voice breaking. "Tell me why I can't escape you. Why I can't leave. Why your touch feels like fire... and I still want it."
Aleron's gaze darkened, and in that moment, the centuries of torment that had shaped him bled through.
"Because your blood was always mine."
The words shattered her. She felt them, deep inside her veins, crawling beneath her skin like ice and flame at the same time. She had no choice. She couldn't escape this — this bond, this curse. The hunger that had ignited between them burned too bright, too fierce.
But it was more than desire. It was an oath — one that neither of them had chosen, but both of them were bound to keep.
Selene took a step toward him, her hand reaching out, trembling with both fear and longing.
"Then why do I feel like I'm losing myself?"
Aleron's hand closed over hers, his grip tight and possessive.
"Because we are not just bound by blood. We are bound by fate. And fate... fate is a cruel, twisted thing."
He pulled her toward him, his mouth hovering just above hers, breathing in the air between them. His lips brushed her ear as he whispered:
"But I will never let you go."
And in that moment, everything — the blood, the hunger, the chains — seemed to stop. The world held its breath.
Selene whispered back, her words trembling with the weight of a promise she couldn't escape, no matter how much she wanted to:
"I won't let you go either."
The oath was made. Hollow, empty, but it was forged in their blood — and nothing could break it.
Chapter 6: Chains Tighten Under Moonlight
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The moonlight was the only thing they could trust.
Selene walked through the ruins, her mind clouded by the recent revelations. The blood that had once seemed like a gift now felt like a curse, sinking deeper into her veins with each passing day.
Aleron had disappeared, leaving behind only the hollow echo of his words.
"You are mine... and I am yours."
But the world was different now. The chains between them had tightened — and with them, something darker had awakened.
She stopped at the altar where it all began. The stones were cold, their surfaces etched with ancient symbols that pulsed with life, as though waiting for her to unlock their meaning.
The fog rolled in, thick and suffocating. And then, she heard it.
A whisper.
A name.
Her name.
"Selene..."
She turned. But no one was there.
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Chapter 7: The Unseen Hand
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The shadows had learned how to touch.
Selene's breath caught in her throat. Every step she took felt like it was leading her closer to something she couldn't understand. The blood bond — the pull between her and Aleron — had only grown stronger, more suffocating.
Her heart beat faster, quicker, until it was a frantic drum in her chest.
"Come back," she whispered into the night. "Please, come back."
But the darkness didn't answer. It only whispered in return, the voices becoming louder, more desperate.
"Come to us, Selene..."
Her skin prickled. Something was there, something watching, waiting for her to fall into its grasp.
The unseen hand brushed against her cheek, cold and sharp like the edge of a blade. She jerked back, her eyes wide with terror, but there was no one to see.
The bond was calling her. To him. To Aleron.
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Chapter 8: Blood and Ashes
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The past was alive in their veins.
Aleron's voice echoed in her mind, the only thing she could hear over the rising storm within her. She remembered the way he had kissed her, the way his blood had mingled with hers. Their bond was more than love — it was the thread tying them to an ancient fate, one that would not be denied.
Selene staggered forward, her eyes wild. "Why? Why him?" she whispered, her hands gripping the ground beneath her.
She had always known that Aleron was dangerous. But this... this was something different. This was not love. It was a reckoning.
Her fingers brushed the ground, and for the first time, she felt something solid beneath her — a shard of bone, sharp and covered in ash.
She pulled it up, staring at it. It was a relic of the past, something she didn't understand but knew was tied to her — to them.
"Blood and ashes," she whispered, the words tasting like a curse on her tongue.
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Chapter 9: The Forbidden Kiss
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There was no escape from the darkness.
The fog thickened, swirling around her like a living thing. Selene felt a pull, an invisible force dragging her deeper into the ruins. Her breath caught in her throat as the air grew colder, heavier.
And then, she saw him.
Aleron.
He stood before her, his presence both terrifying and magnetic. His eyes glowed with an ancient hunger, and the air around them crackled with power.
"You can't escape me," he said, his voice low, dark. "Not now. Not ever."
Selene stepped back, her heart pounding. "Why did you leave me?"
His expression faltered for a brief moment, and for the first time, she saw something other than hunger in his eyes — something broken.
"Because I am not who you think I am," he whispered.
Her pulse quickened as he stepped closer, closing the distance between them. His lips hovered above hers, the scent of blood and smoke mixing in the air.
"But you are mine, Selene," he breathed, before kissing her.
The kiss was like fire and ice, pain and pleasure, a forbidden thing that should never have existed. She moaned into it, her body betraying her as it responded to him, even as her mind screamed to stop.
The chains tightened.
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Chapter 10: The Heart of Darkness
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They had fallen too far.
Selene stood in the heart of the ruins, her heart beating with the rhythm of the curse that bound her to Aleron. The darkness swirled around her, a living thing that fed on their bond, their pain, their desire.
The chains were no longer just metaphors. They were real — and they were pulling her down into the abyss.
Aleron stood beside her, his face unreadable.
"There is no going back," he said, his voice a grave whisper. "We are bound. Always."
Selene looked at him, her eyes filled with something she couldn't name — sorrow, fear, love. "Then let us face it together."
The darkness roared.
And as the fog closed in, the chains that bound them began to shift, to twist, to consume.
Their hearts beat as one. The blood flowed, endless and eternal.
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