LOGINThe city light shimmered like scattered stars as the car came to a smooth halt in front of the mansion's gate. The night had been different. For once since Selene's return, there had been no tension clinging to Lucas's shoulders, no shadows lurking around his gaze. The plan had been to distract Aria, and take her mind off the weird thoughts that were creeping all over her, but it had worked for Lucas too. Sitting there while watching Aria eat, he had realized that he infact needed the distraction more. Before Aria found him at the window, he was long gone. Dragged into the abyss of his past, where no warmth existed. The dinner had been elegant, quiet, almost unreal_soft music, warm lighting, and the kind of attention that made Aria feel like she was the only person in the world. The whole time, Lucas watched her. Like a man who had lost his soul, but only found it when she was with him. Like a man, undeserving of her pureness. Her love. Like a man who had decided for a momen
The night rested quietly over the mansion, draping the walls in a soft, silver hush. Beyond the tall glass windows, the garden stretched endlessly, bathed in moonlight. The trees stood still, their shadows long and watchful, while the faint rustle of leaves whispered secrets only the darkness understood. Lucas stood before the window, unmoving. One hand rested lightly against the cool glasses, his gaze fixed somewhere beyond the garden_far past the trimmed hedges, past the iron gates, past glass, but even that seemed distant, as though the man staring back at him belonged to another time. His expression was unreadable. But his eyes... his eyes carried something heavier. A storm that had long passed, but somehow never left. Fragments of memory drifted through his mind like echoes refusing to fade. A voice. A laugh. A word that had once crafted itself into him. A word that had changed his entire being. WEAK. His jaw tightened slightly. For a moment, the silence around him fe
The night hung heavy over the barren plains of the Lower Realm, where the faint glow of distant lava rivers cast long, jagged shadows across the cracked, blackened earth. The air smelled of sulfur and iron, and the distant wails of the tormented, echoed like whispers from the void.Lucas walked side by side with Selene, his boots leaving dark impressions on the scorched soil. "Why do you walk like you own nothing?" Selene asked, her voice cutting through the night. "Do you think the realm would learn to fear you if you keep walking like that?"Lucas lowered his head, jaw tight. He didn't reply."Keep your head up." Selene continued, circling him like a panther. "You still doubt yourself... you don't think you are strong enough_but Lucas, I've seen you. You have the power of a legion combined, and that power cannot be hidden any longer." She paused and held his shoulders, forcing him to meet her gaze. "We are here to rewrite your destiny. You must not hesitate. The moment you do that,
The massive gates of the throne room closed behind Lucas with a thunderous boom that echoed through the dark corridors of Hell.For a moment, he simply stood there.His chest burned where Lucifer's power had crushed the air from his lungs. The pain in his ribs throbbed with every breath he took, but the physical pain was nothing compared to the humiliation clawing at his mind.WEAKThe word echoed over and over again in his thoughts.Lucifer's voice had carried no anger when he said it. Only certainty.And regret, as though he had truly acknowledged Lucas to be his mistake.Lucas began walking.The corridors of the infernal palace stretched endlessly in every direction, carved from dark volcanic stone that seemed to drink in the red glow in the surrounding lava rivers. Shadows crawled around the walls like living things.Lucas barely noticed them.In his mind, the scene replayed again and again.The invisible hand squeezing the life out of him.The laughter.The mockery.The moment t
The throne room of Hell was vast enough to swallow enemies.It had been built to intimidate_with black stone pillars that rose like jagged teeth toward a ceiling lost in darkness. Their surfaces veined with faint crimson light that pulsed like a slow heartbeat. Rivers of molten fire crawled through channels carved into the floor, filling the chamber with a dull, suffocating heat. Despite the constant oppressing heat, the vast chamber still felt cold.At the far end of the hall sat the throne.Carved from jagged obsidian and bones of fallen creatures, it rose like a monument to cruelty. No mortal craftsman could have created something so terrible, but yet magnificent.And seated upon it was the great ruler of hell.Lucifer.He lounged lazily across the throne as though the infernal kingdom around him were nothing more than a personal amusement. One arm rested along the side of the throne, his fingers tapping idly against the stone.Lucas stood several steps away from the throne, his h
In the absence of the goddess, Lucas' mansion forgot what heaviness felt like. The corridors that once dimmed and echoed with nothing but the quiet hum of restrained power, had softened. Sunlight filtered through curtains that had remained drawn for decades, warming marble floors that had only ever known shadows. The chandeliers no longer cast cold, ceremonial light, they glowed warmly in the evenings, like the house itself had learned how to breathe.There was no silence of abandonment.The usual suffocating stillness that used to follow Lucas after a bloodbath, was gone also.Everything felt different.The estate had always been magnificent_imposing, eternal.But for two weeks, it had been... alive.There had been laughter.Soft and fleeting, but real.Footsteps that didn't carry fear.Doors that closed gently instead of with force.Even the staffs, despite being demons, now moved differently too.Quieter. Not out of fear, but out of respect for the peace that had settled over thei
Aria felt it before she heard anything_the suffocating presence of Selene. She didn't need to be told before she knew that the goddess was back from the witch haunt. She stepped out of the room to see her walking down the corridor like a storm that had learned how to wear skin. There was a wild spl
The chamber was unnervingly silent. The kind of silence that presses against your chest and makes every heartbeat feel like a warning. Lucas stood by the tall arched window, his back rigid, shoulders tensed. Moonlight poured in, painting his form in silver, and shadows highlighting the taut muscles
Aria lay on the cold Earth long after Venice walked away. The woods had gone eerily silent, as though even nature itself was afraid to breathe in the presence of the witches of the red order. The red candles burned steadily, their flames unmoved by the wind, casting twisted shadows that crawled o
Aria laid curled up in bed, the quilt soft beneath her, with the muted glow of streetlights seeping through the thin curtains. The night was quiet. She closed her eyes, and let herself drift_reminiscing on the good old days when her life was still meaningful. Back then, though her life wasn't perf







