Lena barely slept after his warning.
The Devil's son had vanished as quickly as he had appeared, leaving behind only his words and the weight of his presence still lingering in the air.
"They will come for you."
It echoed in her mind.
She didn't want to believe it. She wanted to pretend that everything was normal—that she was just a regular woman who had made a desperate mistake to save her brother. But deep down, she felt it.
Something had changed.
The air around her seemed different. Shadows clung to the corners of her apartment, darker than before. Every sound in the night felt sharper, more sinister.
And then there was the mark.
She ran her fingers over it, tracing the intricate, swirling patterns that now marred her skin. It was alive, pulsing with a strange heat. Not painful, but ever-present.
A tether.
A brand.
Proof that she was bound to something much darker than she had ever imagined.
Lena exhaled shakily and forced herself out of bed.
She needed answers.
The Library of Forbidden Knowledge
Lena had spent her entire life avoiding things that couldn't be explained.
Ghost stories? Superstitions? Myths about demons and curses? She had always rolled her eyes at them.
But now, she was living one.
And she needed to understand exactly what she had gotten herself into.
So she did what she did best. Research.
The university library was one of the few places she still felt comfortable in. It was old, quiet, filled with the scent of aged paper and ink.
She pulled out her laptop and typed into the search bar:
"Demonic contracts and infernal bonds."
Dozens of results popped up, most of them nonsense—fictional stories, urban legends, religious theories.
But then, buried deep in the search results, she found something different.
A reference to an ancient text.
A book written centuries ago, detailing pacts made with the underworld.
Her pulse quickened as she scanned the information.
According to the text, when someone offered their soul in exchange for a favor, they became bound not only to the demon they had made the deal with, but also to the laws of the Infernal Realm.
She scrolled further, her eyes narrowing.
"Once a soul is marked, the bond is unbreakable. The marked will forever be connected to the Infernal Realm, where their fate is sealed upon death. However, some mortals have claimed to visit the Infernal Realm while still alive, through a tethering link with their demon counterpart."
Lena's breath caught.
"Visit the Infernal Realm while still alive?"
Her mark pulsed again, as if responding to her discovery.
Was that possible?
She leaned forward, heart racing, when suddenly—
"You're looking in the wrong place."
A shiver ran down her spine.
She turned sharply.
And there he was.
Sitting casually across from her, as if he had always been there.
The Devil's son.
His golden eyes flicked toward the laptop screen before meeting hers.
"You won't find the answers you need in human texts," he murmured.
Lena swallowed hard, her fingers tightening around the edge of the table.
"Then tell me the truth," she said.
A slow smirk curved his lips. "Are you sure you're ready for that?"
Crossing the Veil
Lena followed him outside, her pulse unsteady.
The air was thick, charged with something unnatural.
"Where are we going?" she asked as they walked.
He didn't answer right away. Instead, he led her to a secluded alleyway, where the streetlights flickered dimly.
Then, he turned to face her.
"You want to know the secrets of the Infernal Realm?"
Lena hesitated, but then nodded.
"Yes."
His smirk widened.
"Then let's take a little trip."
Before she could react, he reached for her wrist.
The moment his fingers touched the mark, everything shifted.
The world around her blurred, the city fading into shadows.
A rush of heat flooded her senses, and then—
Darkness.
The Infernal Realm
Lena gasped as she stumbled forward, her vision swimming.
The ground beneath her was black stone, cracked and pulsing with veins of molten fire. The air smelled of ash and something metallic—blood, maybe.
When she looked up, her breath caught.
They stood at the edge of a massive, twisted city.
Towering spires of obsidian and bone stretched into the sky, glowing faintly with eerie red light. The sky itself was wrong—not blue, not black, but a deep, endless crimson, swirling with shadows.
And in the distance, she could hear them.
Whispers. Growls. Inhuman voices.
She turned to him, her heart pounding.
"What is this place?"
His golden eyes gleamed.
"This," he said, "is the Infernal Realm."
She shivered.
"You brought me to hell?"
He chuckled. "Not quite. The true hell is much deeper. This is merely… the threshold."
Lena's hands clenched. "Why bring me here?"
His expression darkened slightly.
"Because you need to understand what you've tied yourself to."
He took a step closer, his gaze locking onto hers.
"You are no longer just a mortal, Lena. You are bound to me, which means you are connected to this realm now. It will call to you. And if you are not careful, it will consume you."
A cold dread settled in her chest.
"You mean… I could be trapped here?"
He tilted his head slightly.
"If you're weak, yes."
Lena's stomach twisted.
"Then tell me how to stop it."
He exhaled, his gaze flickering to her wrist.
"The mark is a tether. If it grows too strong, the pull will become unbearable. You will be drawn here—whether you want to be or not."
Lena swallowed hard. "So what do I do?"
He smirked again, but there was something different in his expression this time.
"You learn to control it."
She frowned. "How?"
His gaze darkened.
"By embracing the darkness."
Lena stiffened.
"No," she said immediately.
He raised an eyebrow. "No?"
"I won't become like you."
Something flickered in his eyes—amusement, maybe, or something deeper.
"Then you'll break."
His words sent a chill through her.
"You have two choices, Lena. Fight the bond and let it destroy you, or accept it and learn to wield it."
She shook her head, stepping back.
"I won't lose myself."
He watched her for a long moment before sighing.
"Then you'd better prepare yourself, little mortal," he murmured, "because the Infernal Realm does not let go easily."
The shadows around them shifted, twisting like living things.
Lena's br
eath caught.
And then—the ground vanished.
Darkness swallowed her whole.
And the Infernal Realm whispered her name.