Rheon
The shadow crown
The land twisted beneath our feet like it remembered my blood.
Each step we took sent black dust spiraling into the air, and the sky churned overhead with a storm that had no end.
The girls — Yuna and Minji — stayed close behind me, their steps still shaky.
The barrier of shadows pulsed at my back, shielding them from the miasma’s poison.
I could feel her. Seori.
Faint — like a candle flickering through the void — but she was here. And she was in pain.
My jaw clenched.
Faster.
We crested a ridge, and that’s when they came.
Three demons. Low-bloods by the look of them — warped, hungry things dressed in bone and scavenged armor. They reeked of rot and dust, and the moment they saw us, their snarls split the silence.
One lunged.
Minji raised her dagger. Yuna flared with fae light, but I stepped forward first — and the moment my boot hit the stone, I let the power break free.
My voice was not human when I spoke.
“Stop.”
It wasn’t a command.
It was law.
The demons froze mid-lunge, their limbs locking, eyes widening with instinctive terror. One fell to his knees. The other two followed seconds later, trembling as the truth registered.
Shadow rose around me like smoke, like flame, like fury. My father’s blood, my mother’s will.
“You dare raise a blade before your Crown Prince?” I growled; my voice layered with something ancient something that had once leveled cities.
The leader whimpered.
“W-We didn’t know… Forgive us…”
I stalked forward. My power made the ground quake.
“Then prove your loyalty.”
He looked up, hopeful.
“Where is the girl?” I asked.
“The… girl?”
“The hunter. The one they brought across the border. Where is she?”
They all looked at each other.
Useless silence.
“Where is she?!”
Nothing.
No answer. Just empty eyes and fear.
I smiled coldly.
“Then you’re of no use to me.”
Before any of them could beg, the shadows answered me.
I didn’t lift a finger. They screamed — briefly — before darkness swallowed them whole.
When it cleared, there was only ash.
I turned. Yuna and Minji were staring at me. Neither of them looked away, not even as the last flicker of flame died from the stones.
“I’m not sorry,” I said, my voice low.
“They would’ve slowed us down. And I won’t let anything — anything — keep me from her.”
Minji swallowed.
“We know.”
Yuna nodded once, her eyes glassy.
“Just… don’t forget you’re not alone.”
I held their gazes a beat longer. Then I turned toward the shadows, the scent of her blood burning brighter in my veins.
“Come,” I said. “The real traitors won’t beg.”
And with that, we pressed deeper into the realm where gods once knelt.
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The trail was cold.
Not in temperature — the demon realm never truly cooled — but in energy. The bond between me and Seori still pulsed, but faintly now. Distant. Flickering like a dying ember.
She was slipping away.
“We’re close,” I said, leading Minji and Yuna through the winding, jagged cliff path. “Her blood was here. Recently.”
Minji flinched but said nothing. Yuna, sharp as ever, narrowed her eyes and lifted her head — fae senses twitching. And then, from somewhere below — voices.
I held up a hand.
“Listen.”
The wind carried broken echoes. Sharp. Angry. Familiar.
“You sold her out, Jisoo!” Taeyang’s voice thundered up from the ravine. “You let them take her! You knew it was an ambush!”
“I didn’t have a choice!” Jisoo snapped back, strained. “They were going to kill Minji! I had to make the deal!”
My blood turned to ash.
Yuna sucked in a breath. Minji’s hand flew to her lips.
“You let Seori walk into a curse for her?” Taeyang shouted, disbelief and fury tangled in his voice.
“I didn’t want to!” Jisoo's voice cracked. “You think this didn’t tear me apart? I tried to warn her, I—”
“You held me back, Jisoo,” Taeyang said, quiet now. Devastating. “I could’ve saved her. But you stopped me.”
I didn’t wait. I moved.
Shadows exploded outward as I dropped from the ledge, landing with a force that cracked the stone beneath my boots. My power flared — every whisper of restraint gone.
Both of them turned — startled, then silent.
“You,” I growled, pointing straight at Jisoo, “tell me that isn’t what I just heard.”
Jisoo opened his mouth. No words came.
“You let my mate be taken,” I said, voice shaking with rage. “You chose to save Minji by sacrificing Seori.”
“I couldn’t do it!” Jisoo shouted, finally. “I can't lose what I’ve finally found. It wasn’t supposed to happen like that—”
“Don’t speak her name.” My eyes burned. “You gave her to the Demon King.”
“Rheon—”
“No!” I stepped closer. “I trusted you. You were my brother. And you stood by while she was dragged into hell.”
“I did it for Minji!” he shouted, pain twisting through him. “For the only person who ever saw me after I fell!”
A moment passed. Yuna’s eyes shimmered with fury. Minji looked broken.
But I…
I just looked at Jisoo. And said
“You better pray the King hasn’t touched her. Because if he has, I’ll burn this realm again. And you will be the first to fall.”
Jisoo didn’t answer. Couldn’t.
The silence was enough. I turned to the others.
“We find her. Now. Before that bastard completes the curse.”
Then, quietly, to myself:
“I’ll tear the realm apart if I have to. She’s mine.”