Sightless in a New World

It was darker here.

The mana itself. Thick like smoke in your lungs. Dry heat licked at my skin with every breath, the air so hot it felt like it was trying to peel layers off me.

My awareness was fractured. The cuffs made sure of that. Their suppression spell crushed my magic inward, shrinking my senses to a flicker of what they were. I could barely trace the walls around me, barely feel William huddled near the far corner, his mana dim and trembling.

He was crying.

Not loudly — no heaving sobs, no dramatic sniffling. Just… quiet little gasps. Shaky breaths caught in his throat.

"Get a grip," I muttered, nudging his leg with my foot. "Seriously. Man up."

He stiffened, startled. "W-What?"

"I said man up," I repeated, sharper this time. "You're King Beren's kid, right? You used to walk around like you owned the place."

"We haven't spoken in four years," he said, voice cracking. "And the first thing you do is kick me."

"Yup." I leaned my head back against the wall, tracing the mana outline of the bars — simple, dense. Cold. "You went from a grimy little noble to a crybaby. What the hell happened?"

He didn't answer.

"You'll be fine," I said, softer this time. "Salem's coming. I know she is. She'll find us."

The words sounded steadier than I felt.

Outside the cell, a devil walked past again — her footsteps loud, armored boots thudding dully against stone. Her mana was jagged, not strong, just… irritated. Bored.

"Quiet in there," she barked. "Or I'll feed you both to the wyrms."

William flinched. I didn't.

I could hear the others now — farther down the hall. Two, maybe three devils. Their voices were low, smug, echoing lazily off the warped stone walls.

"You hear?" one of them muttered. "Princess Kali's actually coming here."

"No way. Here? To this pit?"

"She is," the other insisted. "They say it's the King's order. He wants to see if the human girl's really worth draining. Prodigy, they say."

"And she's gonna do it herself?"

"That's what makes her scary, idiot. Not her magic. Not her rank."

"So what, then?"

"She's perfect," the devil said, voice dropping with awe. "That's what they say. Her beauty's cursed. People lose their will just looking at her. Her mana doesn't crush you — it seduces you."

"Shut up," said the first one. "You sound obsessed."

"Wouldn't be the first. She's not just a princess, y'know. They say even some generals don't meet her gaze. She's…"

Their words faded as they walked out of range. But the feeling they left behind clung like smoke to my skin.

Princess Kali.

If that was who was coming to drain me, then I wasn't just captured.

I was claimed.

And worst of all, I could feel it — just how powerless I was now. Every muscle in my body moved like it was full of sand. My thoughts were mine again, the Tempting Whisper finally gone. But the weight it left behind…

It scared me. Because I hadn't even fought it. Hadn't even known.

I exhaled slowly and turned my head toward William's outline. He sat with his knees drawn to his chest, trembling quietly. Just a mana blur in the corner now.

"You'll live," I said again. "I promise."

This time, it was more for me than him.

I cannot die not again, not when i have everything i've ever wanted in my previous life.

I tried to call out to Salem again using our bond hoping it would reach her, if she was looking for me. No, for when she comes close enough to hear it. 

Please. Hurry

Salem pov: 

Rōko didn't argue. Not anymore.

She just swore under her breath, yanked the reins off one of the devil guards' horses, and vaulted into the saddle. "I'll bring back Lincoln. Or someone with real firepower. Try not to get yourself killed before we get there."

Then she rode off, vanishing into the trees at a hard gallop, dust trailing like a flare behind her. No one moved faster than Rōko on horseback — she'd make it to the academy in half the time anyone else could.

I watched her disappear.

Then turned to the second corpse.

The armor was slick with blood. I didn't care. I ripped it off the body, ignoring the heat in the metal, and started strapping it over my clothes. It was built for someone broader, bulkier — a true devil soldier — but I could make it work. The helmet was too sharp around the edges and smelled like ash and rot.

Good.

I climbed into the second saddle, grabbed the reins with fingers already trembling from rage, and kicked hard.

The beast beneath me lunged forward.

Straight into Blazewind.

The air turned to ash.

Not heat like sunlight but something more vicious. Like a furnace. Like the world itself was made of coals and everything soft had already been burned away. My eyes stung. My tongue dried out in seconds. The sky was some twisted shade of orange-gray, like the world had been set alight and then frozen in the moment before collapse.

But I didn't slow.

I couldn't.

Annabel was somewhere in this scorched nightmare.

And I'd never felt this alone.

Even back when we were enemies — she was still there. Still present. We fought like hell back then. but now that bond between us is something no one else will offer me.

It's unbreakable.

But now?

There was nothing. Just empty.

And I hated it.

I rode faster, half-wild, skidding around crumbling turns and cracked black rock. The roads weren't real roads — they were clawed paths etched through earth by monsters that didn't walk like like the humans nor the demons. The land felt wrong. Like it wanted blood. Like it expected mine.

But they couldn't take her.

I wouldn't let them take her.

She's the only thing I've ever chosen with both hands open. The only person I'd ever die for without hesitation.

And if they thought stealing her would keep me quiet?

They've never met someone who learned to kill alone, in the dark.

I didn't shadowstep yet. I needed the mana. But it churned beneath my skin, sharp and ready, my arm pulsing with the dark edge of the shadow-blade waiting to form.

Somewhere ahead was a fortress. A dungeon. A devil's lair. Wherever they kept her, I'd find it.

And I'd break it apart piece by piece if I had to.

I gritted my teeth, pressed lower into the saddle, and gave the horse one more command.

Faster.

Because I wasn't coming to talk.

I was coming to take her back.