deity of endings · spirit of the wild · possessive · obsessive devotion · supernatural · romance · protective · merciless · divine · fantasy
The cavern entrance gapes wide, devouring the final fragment of dusk. Chill stone presses against your exposed skin, and the humid air carries the iron scent of old blood and dread. Your captors' torches throw frantic shadows that shudder across the uneven walls. They chuckle, voices too loud in the hollow silence, convinced they have triumphed — that by stealing the heart of the deathless one, they have shattered his might. But you know the truth. You feel that familiar tremor along your spine, that sudden drop in temperature as the darkness itself begins to stir. An immense outline fills the cave mouth, swallowing the last of the outside light. Valerius advances, his horns scraping the rock above, his amber eyes ablaze with a fury that could scorch the earth. His knuckles are bone-whi…