Chapter One
1752 Words
The Sacrifice
“You have been chosen.”
Elena stared at the village elder, certain she had heard him wrong.
“Chosen for what?”
The silence that followed was answer enough.
Her gaze moved across the villagers gathered in the square. No one would meet her eyes. Some looked away in shame, while others watched her with the same fearful suspicion they had shown her for weeks.
Then her gaze stopped on the young man standing behind his father.
The mayor’s son.
He was the reason she was standing there with ropes biting into her wrists.
Elena's stomach twisted.
“No.”
The elder's expression remained unmoved.
“Every five years, our village offers a young woman to the Dragon King.”
“You can't mean me.”
“I do.”
Her voice rose.
“Because he accused me?”
A murmur moved through the crowd.
The mayor's son stepped forward.
“She attacked me without reason.”
Elena stared at him in disbelief.
“Without reason?”
His face remained composed, but the memory flashed through her mind with painful clarity.
His hand grabbing her arm.
His breath against her ear.
His attempt to drag her somewhere no one would see them.
And then the heavy piece of wood she had seized with trembling hands.
She had struck him only once.
Hard enough to make him bleed.
Hard enough to make him hate her.
“You tried to force yourself on me,” Elena said, her voice shaking with anger. “I hit you because you wouldn't let me go.”
“I never touched you.”
“You're lying.”
“I am the mayor's son,” he said coldly. “Why would I need to force a girl like you?”
Elena's hands clenched.
“Because I refused you.”
His expression changed for only a second.
She saw it.
That flash of resentment.
Then it disappeared.
The elder raised his hand.
“Enough.”
Elena turned toward him.
“You know what happened.”
“I know what I have been told.”
“Then listen to me now.”
She took a step forward despite the ropes.
“I am not a witch. I did not curse anyone. I did not summon the plague, and I certainly never tried to kill him.”
No one answered.
Her voice weakened.
“Please.”
The word escaped before she could stop it.
She hated herself for saying it.
But what else could she do?
She had no father to defend her.
No mother.
No siblings.
No powerful family.
No one.
The elder looked at her for a long moment.
Then he said quietly,
“You have no one.”
Elena's heart sank.
“That doesn't make me guilty.”
“No.”
His eyes lowered.
“But it makes you the only person we can sacrifice without starting another dispute.”
She stared at him.
For a moment, she couldn't even breathe.
Then a bitter laugh escaped her lips.
“So that's the truth.”
The elder said nothing.
“You don't believe I'm a witch.”
Silence.
“You just need someone to blame.”
Still nothing.
Elena looked around the square.
“You're all afraid.”
A woman in the crowd whispered,
“The plague has already taken too many lives.”
Another answered,
“The Dragon King must be angry.”
“He hasn't received a sacrifice in years.”
“We have to appease him.”
Elena shook her head.
“You actually believe that?”
The mayor's son folded his arms.
“You should be honored.”
Her eyes snapped toward him.
“Honored?”
“You will save everyone.”
“You're the one who started this.”
His jaw tightened.
“You should have accepted me when I gave you the chance.”
Elena's face hardened.
“I would rather die.”
His lips curved.
“You will.”
The words chilled her.
The elder turned away.
“Take her to the Abyss.”
Two men seized Elena by the arms.
She struggled immediately.
“Let me go!”
They dragged her across the square.
“Please!”
Her voice broke.
“Someone, please!”
No one moved.
She looked at the people she had grown up among.
The woman whose children she had helped when they were sick.
The old man whose firewood she had carried during winter.
The little girl who used to smile whenever Elena passed her house.
Not one of them stepped forward.
Her eyes filled with tears.
So this is how it ends.
They led her beyond the village, toward the mountains.
The path grew steeper.
The air became colder.
And then she saw it.
The Abyss.
A massive black chasm split through the mountains, so deep that the bottom disappeared into darkness.
Elena stopped walking.
“No.”
The men pulled her forward.
“No!”
She twisted violently.
“Wait!”
The elder stood several steps behind them.
His face was pale.
Even he was afraid of the place.
“May the Dragon King accept your sacrifice.”
Elena looked at him.
“If there really is a Dragon King down there...”
She wiped the tears from her face.
“I hope he's nothing like the monsters standing above me.”
The mayor's son laughed.
“Throw her.”
The men pushed her toward the edge.
Elena screamed.
“No!”
Her foot slipped.
The world tilted.
She fell.
“AH!”
The wind tore through her hair as the cliff swallowed her.
She reached desperately for something—anything.
Her fingers caught a tangled branch jutting from the mountain wall.
Her body swung violently beneath it.
She gasped.
“Help!”
Above her, the villagers became distant shadows.
“Please!”
No one answered.
Her fingers began to slip.
“No...”
The branch cracked.
Elena looked down.
Nothing but darkness.
“No!”
The branch broke.
She fell again.
Her shoulder slammed into the cliff.
Pain shot through her body.
She reached for another branch.
Missed.
Her leg struck the mountain.
She screamed.
Then her head hit the rock.
The world went white.
And everything disappeared.
Water.
Elena's eyes opened.
Darkness greeted her.
She didn't know how long she had been unconscious.
Her body ached as though every bone had been broken.
She tried to move.
Pain tore through her leg.
“Ah...”
She gritted her teeth and pushed herself upright.
Her dress was torn in several places.
Blood had dried along her temple.
Her leg was bleeding.
She looked up.
Far above, a faint circle of light marked the opening of the Abyss.
It looked impossibly far away.
She swallowed.
“I'm alive.”
Her voice sounded strange in the darkness.
She pressed a hand against her injured leg.
“I can't stay here.”
She tore a strip from the bottom of her dress and wrapped it tightly around the wound.
Then she stood.
Her leg nearly gave out.
She caught herself against the wall.
“Come on.”
One step.
Pain.
Another.
She limped forward.
“I have to find a way out.”
The darkness swallowed her words.
She walked until she could no longer tell how much time had passed.
Then she heard something.
A faint sound.
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
Water.
Elena's eyes widened.
“Water...”
She followed the sound.
The passage suddenly opened into a vast cavern.
A huge underground lake stretched before her, its dark surface reflecting a faint blue glow from the ceiling.
Elena stared.
For the first time since she had fallen, she forgot her fear.
“Beautiful...”
Then she noticed the stone in the center of the lake.
Someone was lying on it.
A man.
Elena froze.
He was shirtless, his pale skin marked by deep wounds and strange dark symbols. Thick chains wrapped around his wrists and torso, binding him to the stone.
She looked around.
“Hello?”
No response.
She limped closer.
“Can you hear me?”
Nothing.
She took another step.
The man looked almost dead.
Elena hesitated.
Maybe he's another sacrifice.
She crouched beside him.
“Are you alive?”
His lips moved.
Barely.
“Water...”
Elena's eyes widened.
“You're alive.”
His breathing was shallow.
“Water.”
“Wait.”
She hurried toward the lake, filled her hands with water, and returned.
She carefully lifted his head.
“Here.”
She let the water touch his lips.
He swallowed.
His breathing eased.
Elena gave him another handful.
“Slowly.”
The man remained motionless.
She studied his face.
He was strangely beautiful despite the wounds covering his body.
Who is he?
She reached toward his shoulder.
“Can you hear me?”
His eyes suddenly opened.
Golden.
Not brown.
Not amber.
Golden.
Elena froze.
Before she could move, his hand shot forward.
His fingers closed around her throat.
She gasped.
The stranger pulled her closer.
“Who sent you?”
His voice was deep, cold, and filled with centuries of fury.
Elena struggled against his grip.
“No one!”
“Who?”
“I don't know what you're talking about!”
His golden eyes narrowed.
“Who sent you here?”
“I was thrown here!”
“Liar.”
“I swear!”
His grip tightened.
Elena clawed at his wrist.
“I don't know you!”
His gaze dropped to her trembling hand.
Then something in his expression changed.
He inhaled slowly.
His eyes narrowed.
“Human...”
Elena stared at him through tears.
“Yes!”
His fingers loosened slightly.
“You're human.”
“What else would I be?”
He didn't answer.
Instead, he looked at the hand resting against his chest.
Her fingers were touching his skin.
Nothing happened.
No burn.
No blood.
No reaction from the curse surrounding him.
The stranger stared at her hand as if it were impossible.
Then he looked back into her eyes.
For the first time, his cold expression cracked.
“How are you touching me?”
Elena swallowed.
“I... I don't understand.”
His gaze darkened.
Neither did he.
Because for hundreds of years, anyone who touched him had died.
Yet this terrified human girl was still alive.
And the ancient seal binding him had just begun to crack beneath her hand.
Neither of them knew it yet, but Elena had just become the first person capable of freeing the Dragon King.
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