Serina's POV
My legs pump hard against the dirt road. Behind me, the guards shout.
"She's running! After her!"
I don't look back. Can't look back. The Forbidden Shrine is somewhere in the forest ahead. Mother told me about it once, years ago. She said it sat at the border between the city and the wild lands. A place of stone and shadow where ancient things sleep.
A place where desperate fools go to die.
Footsteps thunder behind me. The guards are faster. Stronger. They'll catch me in seconds.
But then something amazing happens.
An arrow whistles past my head and slams into a tree. The guards stop running. They're not allowed to enter the forest—it's outside city limits. Outside their power.
I crash through the tree line and keep going. Branches scratch my arms. Roots try to trip me. My lungs burn like fire.
But I don't stop.
"Kai," I gasp with each step. "For Kai. For Kai."
The forest grows darker. Thicker. The trees here are old and twisted. Their branches block out the sun. I've never been this far from the city before.
I'm lost.
No. Not lost. I just need to find the shrine. It has to be here somewhere.
My foot catches on a root. I fall hard, scraping my hands on sharp rocks. Blood drips from my palms. For a moment, I just lie there, wanting to give up.
Then I see it.
Through the trees, barely visible in the shadows—stone pillars. Ancient and crumbling. Covered in symbols that hurt my eyes to look at.
The Forbidden Shrine.
I drag myself to my feet and stumble toward it. Up close, it's terrifying. The pillars form a circle around a raised platform. In the center sits a stone altar stained dark with old blood. The air feels heavy here. Wrong.
Everything in my body screams at me to run away.
But I think of Kai. His thin face. His weak cough. The way he smiled at me this morning and said, "Don't worry, Rina. I feel better today."
He was lying to make me feel better. We both knew it.
I step into the circle of pillars.
The moment my foot crosses the threshold, the world changes. The forest sounds disappear. No birds. No wind. Just silence so complete it presses against my ears.
"Hello?" My voice sounds tiny. "Is anyone here?"
Nothing answers.
I walk to the altar. This close, I can see the symbols carved into it. They're not words exactly, but I understand them anyway. They speak of bargains. Exchanges. Blood for power. Life for life.
"I need help," I say to the empty air. "Please. My brother is dying. I'll give anything to save him. Anything."
Still nothing.
Maybe this was stupid. Maybe the stories were just stories. Maybe I'm talking to empty stone while Kai dies and the guards search for me.
Anger floods through me. Hot and sharp.
"I SAID I NEED HELP!" I scream. My voice echoes off the pillars. "Isn't that what this place is for? Making deals? Trading? Fine! I'll trade! My life for his! My soul! Whatever you want! Just SAVE MY BROTHER!"
Silence.
Then, so quiet I almost miss it: "Anything, little human?"
The voice doesn't come from any direction. It just... exists. Deep like thunder. Smooth like silk. Old beyond imagining.
My heart nearly stops.
"Y-yes," I stammer. "Anything."
"Even your freedom?"
"Yes."
"Even your humanity?"
I hesitate for only a second. "Yes."
"Even your heart?"
I don't understand what that means, but I don't care. "Yes! Take it all! Just save Kai!"
The voice goes quiet for a long moment. Then: "You do not fear death. Interesting. Most who come here are cowards seeking power. But you... you seek to give your life away. Why?"
"Because he's my brother," I say simply. "He's all I have left. He's good and kind and he deserves to live. I don't."
"You think yourself worthless?"
Tears burn my eyes. "Everyone else does. Why shouldn't I?"
Another long pause. The air grows warmer. The symbols on the altar begin to glow with red light.
"I have been waiting a very long time," the voice says slowly, "for someone like you. Someone willing to sacrifice everything for another. Someone with the strength to give rather than take."
The red light grows brighter. It spreads from the altar to the pillars. The whole shrine burns with crimson fire that doesn't hurt.
"If you truly wish to make this bargain," the voice continues, "then seal it in blood. Cut your palm on the altar's edge. Let your blood touch the stone. And I will grant your wish."
I don't hesitate. I drag my hand across the sharp edge of the altar. Pain flares. Blood wells up and drips onto the ancient stone.
The moment my blood touches the altar, everything explodes.
Red light erupts in a column that shoots into the sky. The ground shakes. The pillars crack. Wind howls from nowhere, whipping my hair around my face.
And the voice—the voice becomes thunder itself.
"THE CONTRACT IS SEALED. THE DEBT IS PAID. THE BOND IS FORGED."
Power slams into me like a wave. It's too much. Too big. My body can't hold it. I'm going to burst apart.
I scream.
The world tilts. I'm falling. Not down—sideways. Through reality itself. The shrine tears away like paper. The forest disappears.
I fall through red light and shadow and fire.
Then I hit something solid. Hard stone. My head cracks against it and stars burst behind my eyes.
For a moment, I just lie there, gasping. Trying to understand what happened.
Slowly, the world comes back into focus.
I'm not in the shrine anymore. I'm not in the forest. I'm not even sure I'm in my world anymore.
I'm lying on a floor made of black stone shot through with veins of glowing red. The floor is warm. Heat rises from it like it's alive.
I push myself up and look around.
My breath catches.
I'm in a throne room. Massive. The ceiling stretches up so high I can't see it. The walls are carved with dragons—hundreds of them, writhing and fighting and breathing fire. Rivers of actual lava flow in channels along the edges of the room, lighting everything with an orange glow.
And at the far end of the room, sitting on a throne made of black crystal and dragon bones...
A man.
No. Not a man. Something that looks like a man but isn't.
He's tall. Impossibly tall. His hair is black as midnight and falls past his shoulders. His skin is pale. But his eyes—
His eyes are molten gold. They glow with inner fire. They see everything. They pin me in place like I'm a butterfly on a board.
He stands up from his throne. Even that simple movement is graceful. Dangerous. Like watching a tiger stretch.
"Finally," he says. His voice is the same one from the shrine. Thunder and silk. "After three thousand years of waiting... you've come."
He starts walking toward me. Each step echoes in the massive room.
"W-who are you?" I manage to whisper.
He stops a few feet away. Up close, he's even more terrifying. More beautiful. He radiates power that makes my teeth ache.
A slow smile spreads across his face. Sharp teeth flash in the firelight.
"I am Draeven," he says. "The World-End Dragon. The Calamity. The one your people sealed away and tried to forget."
My heart stops.
The World-End Dragon. The monster from every scary story. The beast that almost destroyed civilization three thousand years ago.
I just made a deal with him.
"And you," Draeven continues, his golden eyes burning into mine, "are my contractor. My key. My anchor to your world."
He reaches out one hand toward me. "Welcome to eternity, little flame. I hope you survive it."