The storm above the Veiled Throne howled like a wounded beast, ripping through the divine skies with claws of lightning and teeth of thunder.
I stood at the edge of the balcony, silver hair flying wild behind me, moonlight pulsing through my veins. My hands trembled—not from fear, but fury. My eyes glowed with the twin eclipses of power I'd carried since creation. Below, the sacred grounds of the god realm shook, groaning under pressure.
Something old was pressing in again.
That fucking thing.
That crawling, writhing, ancient rot that slithered through time like it owned the damn void. I felt him, every time. A chill beneath my ribs. A whisper in the bones of the stars. He was always watching, always reaching.
But never fucking showing himself.
"Come on then," I growled into the wind. "Show yourself, coward."
Only thunder answered. Always fucking thunder.
I lifted my hand, summoning pure celestial flame. It should've blazed like holy fire. But this time… it flickered. Unsteady. Wrong.
"He's masking again," I hissed. "Slippery bastard."
My power surged, unstable. My scream ripped from my throat and shattered the sky. Lightning cracked down in a dozen places, tearing through divine forest and mountain alike. The veil between realms shimmered like a torn curtain. He was pushing harder than ever.
Behind me, the Guardians assembled—phoenix riders, serpent kin, timewalkers, flameborn immortals. My inner circle. My divine kin. My family. Together, we began the ancient rites, voices weaving into a protective song so old the stars still remembered it.
But it wasn't enough.
The Entity surged forward, blotting out the constellations with his monstrous presence. His laugh—a sound I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy—echoed across realms. It scraped through the veil like claws on bone.
So close.
So fucking close.
I felt his shadow wrap around my heart. He pressed everything he had against the barrier. Madness. Hunger. Hate.
But he didn't break through.
We held.
Just barely.
He howled, furious, denied once again. His rage curdled the air, ripping one of my Guardians to ash where they stood. Another screamed as shadow worms chewed through his soul before I could pull him back.
"NO!" I roared, falling to one knee as the backlash hit me. I gasped, clutching my chest. Pain. Grief. Divine exhaustion.
I wanted to burn the whole fucking void down.
He retreated—this time—but I knew he'd be back. Stronger. Bolder.
More desperate.
I bowed my head, letting a few tears slip free. I never let them see me break. But tonight? Fuck it. Tonight, I mourned.
"I can't hold him much longer," I whispered to the stars. "He's too deep. Too far in."
The mortal realm wasn't ready.
But she had to be.
I closed my eyes and focused everything I had, channeling light across the realms—straight to the one soul still fighting for us all. The demon mate. The one caught between corruption and salvation. My daughter's. Final. Piece.
I whispered into his bones, pouring in strength and memory and fire. I needed him to hold on. To fight. To love her.
Because the pentacle had to be completed.
And if it wasn't?
Everything would fucking fall.
HELL REALM – THE PIT OF SPIRES
Entity POV
Rage isn't a strong enough word.
I was rage. A walking, howling storm of fury, teeth, and ruin.
I tore through my fortress like a goddamned hurricane, walls shattering, shadows scattering, my wrath pulsing through every cursed stone like a heartbeat made of hellfire. Two of my lesser demons got in my path. I ripped them in half with my bare claws, relishing the crunch of bone and the wet slap of their screams. Their blood painted the walls. Pretty little ornaments. The tortured souls lining the corridor sang in fear.
Good. Let them remember what I am.
"USELESS!" I roared, voice shattering the floor beneath me. The stones cracked. Chains snapped. Fire bled from the ceiling.
They had failed me.
I would never admit I had underestimated the gods. That it had been my strategy that faltered. No. I would not carry that shame. So I fed it to my slaves instead. Let them choke on my disappointment.
They scattered, cowards, crawling back into their pits like vermin.
I stormed into the Chamber of Chains, and there he was.
My little project.
The Demon Prince. Sable.
Bound in obsidian cuffs, chained inside a burning sigil, sweat rolling down his chest in rivulets of agony. Red rimmed eyes full of hate. He still had his teeth. I'd fix that later.
He laughed when he saw me.
Laughed.
"Didn't make it through the veil, did you?" he sneered, blood drying on his lip. "I heard you screaming from here."
Arrogant fuck. I liked that about him.
I circled him slowly, like a serpent around prey too stubborn to die. "Still resisting?" I hissed. "Brave. But foolish."
I leaned in close, letting the smoke of my breath curl into his mouth like poison. "I own you. Body. Mind. Soul."
He met my gaze and spit at my feet. "You'll never have my soul. My heart belongs to her. I'd rather die."
And that... that made me smile.
He didn't understand. Not yet.
"You're already mine," I growled, backhanding him so hard his head snapped sideways and blood sprayed across the sigil. "You just haven't broken properly."
The chains flared, sigil pulsing with searing power. He screamed. Oh, that sound...I wanted to bottle it. Pour it over the gods like acid.
But the bastard held on.
Even in agony, he clung to something. Someone.
I felt it.
The bond.
Her.
Rhiannan.
Even now, her name sickened me. The way she called to him through the veil. Whispering to him in that celestial voice like moonlight and starlight and pathetic hope.
"Find me," she said again.
And I watched as he trembled, not from fear. No, no. This one was angry. Fighting me with every ounce of himself. That made him dangerous.
He threw his head back and roared so hard the chains rattled. "GET OUT OF MY FUCKING HEAD!"
I laughed darkly. Oh, if only he knew.
I stepped in close, letting my smoke crawl over his skin, into his mouth, down his throat like sin.
"Oh, sweet beast," I purred, "I'm not in your head. I'm in your soul. And I will use that soul to gut her."
His eyes blazed. He trembled. Not in surrender.
In resistance.
Interesting.
He still wasn't broken.
And then I felt it.
A crack.
Tiny. Fragile. But there.
A fracture in the sigil's hold. A flicker of strength. From her, no doubt. That bitch goddess must've pushed him a thread of power.
"Hmm…" I muttered, pacing. "So that's how it is."
I turned to the shadows, whispering, "If he breaks the chain, we lose him. Bind him tighter. Bleed him if you have to. He is mine."
A hiss echoed through the chamber. From the far corner, something stirred.
My beautiful pet.
A wraith creature of smoke and razors slithered forward, wings slicing the air like bone saws. I lifted my hand, and it lunged for him, straight into his chest, fangs first.
Sable screamed.
The kind of scream that split dimensions.
It echoed through the Pit. Through every cavern. Every chamber.
And I closed my eyes and breathed it in.
Delicious.
But deep down?
I knew I was running out of time.
She was coming.
And she was bringing hell with her.