CHAPTER 7: Prince of the Abyss
918 Words
Rene didn’t go to school the next morning.
She sat on her bedroom floor with every book Mira had helped her steal, flipping through old pages while her mark pulsed like a second heartbeat.
The crack in her mirror hadn’t disappeared.
Neither had the ash prints.
And the air inside her room felt like something invisible had rooted itself in the walls. Like it was waiting.
By late afternoon, the sky darkened prematurely. Clouds twisted. Crows circled above the street in eerie spirals. The house grew quiet—unnaturally so.
Rene stood at her window, spine straightening as a familiar pressure pushed against her skin.
The mark.
It sizzled.
And then—
The mirror fractured wider.
Rene barely had time to scream before he stepped through.
Kael.
Alive. Whole. More terrifying than before.
But this time—there was something different.
He wasn’t trying to hide what he was.
His presence flooded the room like smoke and thunder.
Black coat streaked with ash. Eyes smoldering with emberlight. Bare hands glowing faintly with symbols that pulsed the same way her mark did.
“You broke through the mirror,” she whispered.
“I didn’t,” he said, voice deeper than usual. “You did. When you heard your name in the dark, when you felt me... the veil weakened.”
“You said they were coming again.”
“They are.”
“Why?”
His eyes met hers.
“Because I belong to the Abyss, and you... were never meant to survive it.”
She stepped back, spine hitting the edge of her desk.
“Why won’t you tell me the truth?”
“I am,” he said. “But piece by piece. Because if I gave you everything now, Rene, you would lose your mind.”
“Try me.”
He tilted his head.
“You want a name?” he said.
A wave of cold rolled over the room.
“I am Kael Dath’arien Veyr,” he said, voice echoing with something ancient. “Prince of the Abyss. Firstborn of the Court of Flame and Bone. Bearer of the Ash Sigil. Slayer of the Nine.”
Each word struck the air like thunder.
“I am what monsters fear.”
Rene’s breath hitched. But she didn’t move.
Because even though the air felt like fire…
She couldn’t look away.
“You’re a demon.”
“No,” he said. “Demons are what humans call things they don’t understand. I am older than names.”
“Why me?”
Kael’s eyes softened.
“There’s no prophecy without you. No throne. No bridge between worlds. You were born marked because your soul belonged to me before it belonged to your body.”
“That’s insane.”
“That’s fate.”
Silence filled the room.
Then—Kael walked forward.
Slow. Careful.
He didn’t touch her, but stopped inches from her body.
“You’re not just marked,” he said. “You’re awakening. The second flame is near. When it ignites… the bond will start calling.”
“Calling what?”
He leaned closer.
“Me.”
Rene could barely breathe.
His presence wrapped around her like heat, but it wasn’t just physical. It felt like gravity bending. Like every part of her recognized him on a level that didn’t make sense.
And that terrified her.
“I don’t want to belong to anyone,” she whispered.
Kael’s expression shifted—something in it almost hurt.
“I know.”
He pulled back slightly. His voice quieter now.
“That’s why I’ve stayed away. Why I fight it.”
“You feel it too?”
“Every second.”
He turned to the mirror. Placed one hand against the cracked glass. His reflection didn’t match.
It showed him bleeding.
Screaming.
Burning.
Rene stared.
“That’s the past,” he said. “A version of us where I couldn’t save you.”
“You said I died.”
“You chose me,” Kael said, not looking at her. “Even when it killed you.”
She wanted to scream.
To run.
To tell him none of this was real.
But her hand raised—slow, involuntary—and touched the place on her chest where the mark pulsed beneath her shirt.
It throbbed with his heartbeat.
He turned to her again.
“There’s one more thing,” he said.
From his coat, he pulled out a pendant. Small. Silver. Burned black at the edges.
Rene took it. The moment her fingers closed around it, her mark blazed—and a memory not her own flashed in her mind.
Fire.
Kael’s face.
Her voice, whispering:
“Even if I fall, I’ll always find you.”
She staggered.
Kael caught her, steadying her body without holding it too long. “That’s a tether,” he said. “If you ever need to reach me, drop it into flame. I’ll come.”
“You mean appear like this again?”
“No,” he said softly. “I’ll come for real.”
Rene looked at him, unsure whether that terrified her more—or comforted her.
The wind outside howled.
Kael stepped back into the mirror’s reflection, which rippled like black water.
“I won’t force the bond,” he said, just before vanishing. “But the world will.”
Rene sat on her bed long after he left, holding the pendant.
Her mark still pulsed.
And somewhere in her bones, she knew:
The second flame was closer than ever.
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