Seori
To love is to fall
The air was filled with smoke and magic. I stood frozen, the last of the ritual light flickering around my hands, slowly fading. My voice was gone — not from silence, but from screaming inside. Screaming to stop. Screaming to choose something, anything else.
But none of them could hear me.
The throne room was chaos — Rheon’s power roared like a storm. Jisoo and Taeyang were fighting at his sides, cutting through darkness and claw and flame. And in the middle of it all stood him — the Demon King.
He looked at me. Just once. And his voice — that damned voice — echoed like poison in my mind:
“Kill me, and the curse remains. No matter what.”
Rheon was going to do it.
He had to — I knew he did.
But I also knew… he didn’t know what I did.
He didn’t know what it would cost.
If the king died now, the curse would bind forever. Rheon would live eternal… hollow… aching… never able to be free. I could feel the truth of it crack in my chest like thunder.
“No,” I whispered. Then louder. “No!”
But no one heard me.
The bond between us burned hot — wild — panicked. Rheon’s fury fueled it. He was preparing for the final strike. His blade shimmered black with shadow and gold with light.
He was going to kill him.
I ran.
I ran through the chaos, through the wreckage, my bare feet skidding across the cracked marble. My lungs burned. My heart broke.
Please don’t let me be too late.
Rheon raised the blade. I screamed his name. He didn’t hear me. He lunged. And I jumped. Straight into his arms.
Straight into the arc of his blade.
His sword pierced through my side.
The pain was a frozen scream — a white-hot flash that ripped through every nerve. My body jerked forward into him, our bond snapping taut like a whip. Rheon’s eyes widened in horror.
His blade dropped.
His hands caught me as I collapsed against him.
“Seori,” he choked, voice already breaking. “No—no, no, no, what did you—why would you—”
I coughed. Blood stained my lips. My fingers trembled as they clutched the collar of his shirt.
“To… break the curse,” I whispered. “It had to be you. It always had to be you.”
His hands shook as he cradled me to his chest.
“I would’ve found another way. I would’ve died before hurting you—”
“You were always… my choice,” I breathed, forehead resting against his. “You never ruined me. You saved me.”
The bond flared bright between us — blinding. Burning. A heartbeat. A memory. A vow.
And then…
Darkness.