DARK CAMPUS

Chapter 10

CHAPTER 10: The Beginning of Darkness

The day of the ceremony arrived, and the school itself seemed to wake up differently. The sky

above was a bruised purple rather than its usual blue, and the air hummed with a strange

energy that made the hair on my arms stand on end. When we walked into the great hall that

evening, every student and teacher from the school was already there, standing in a massive

circle around a stone altar that hadn't existed the day before. The walls seemed to breathe,

pulsing with a slow, ancient rhythm, and the torches lining the room burned with blood-red

flame rather than orange. The silence was absolute, heavy with expectation.

Alexander stood before me at the center of the circle, shielding me from the hundreds of eyes

watching us. He looked magnificent and terrifying all at once, his true form partially revealed —

shadows swirling around him like dark smoke, his wings stretching wide behind him, casting the

room into deeper darkness yet somehow illuminating me with a soft, protective glow.

"This ends differently," his voice rang through the hall, amplified and echoing, so powerful that

dust fell from the high ceiling. "She is not a sacrifice to be offered up. She is the Queen of this

realm, and I am her protector. Those who accept this may stay. Those who do not may leave —

but you will not interfere. The old ways ended the moment she walked through my doors."

A murmur rose from the gathered crowd — or from the things pretending to be the crowd —

angry whispers and shifting shadows. But no one stepped forward to challenge him. Not yet.

He reached for my hand, and where our skin touched, golden light erupted — warm and

brilliant, pushing back the shadows at our feet. It didn't come from him alone anymore. It came

from us, together. Light born of darkness itself.

"Are you ready, Iyanna Lucia Forge?" he asked, his voice softer now, just for me. Hope and fear

warring in his expression. "Nothing will ever be the same again. But whatever comes, we face

it... together."

I looked into the eyes of the demon who loved me, seeing the eternity behind them and the

promise of a future we'd build side by side. "Yes, Alexander. Because wherever you are... that is

my home."

He kissed my forehead gently, and as his lips touched my skin, the red flames around us turned

brilliant gold. The world around us faded into darkness glowing with its own beautiful light, and

for the first time in my life, I felt exactly where I was meant to be.

"Love is not always light. Sometimes, it is walking through the dark hand-in-hand, ready to

face every shadow — as long as you are with the one you love."