In a hidden realm where light dared not tread and darkness clung to every stone, a vast chamber pulsed with arcane power. Ancient black pillars loomed, etched with runes in a language long forgotten by mortal tongues. At the center, a battered and bloodied demon knelt on the cold stone floor.
Rael.
His head hung low in shame beneath the gaze of a cloaked figure standing before him. The figure's face was obscured by shadows, his very presence distorting the air, as if the world itself recoiled from him.
"What did you say to me before you left, Rael?" The voice was calm—calm in the way of a blade being drawn. "You said everything was under control."
Rael trembled. "F-forgive me… Great One. I didn't anticipate the intervention of a sage. A human—"
"A human?" The figure stepped forward slowly. Each footfall echoed like a death knell. "And you, an officer of the dark host, couldn't handle a single aging mortal? You let the girl slip through your fingers."
Rael's voice failed him.
"My plan," the figure continued, "was flawless. Years of preparation. Perfect positioning. And now… I'm forced to clean up after you."
The pressure in the room intensified, the shadows thickening like smoke. Rael gasped for air.
"I should erase you for this. But unfortunately, you still have... marginal use."
With a flick of the figure's hand, dark tendrils shot from the floor, coiling around Rael's limbs and hoisting him into the air like a rag doll. Rael screamed, but the tendrils silenced him as they hurled him toward a shadowy wall—morphing it into bars of void-black prison.
"You'll stay there. A prison of shadow, until I decide whether you deserve worse."
The figure turned, ignoring Rael's muffled screams behind the veil of darkness. His gaze shifted toward a massive pillar, resting one gloved hand against the carved runes.
"What troubles me most," he muttered, "is not your failure. It's the possibility that this incident draws the attention of the All-Seeing Eye."
The title hung in the air like poison.
"The All-Knowing One must not suspect my involvement. Not yet. If He learns that the girl was targeted… all is lost."
He stepped to the center of the room and raised his hand. A glowing illusion formed in the air—an ethereal map of the continent. He pointed to a barely visible mark: the remote village where Elara and Sylveras had grown up.
"Such a small, insignificant place. Hidden from most of the divine gaze. But if the All-Seeing Eye learns what happened there, the gods will descend upon it like carrion birds."
The figure traced intricate sigils through the air, weaving a veil of deceptive magic.
"I'll rewrite the scene. Let them believe it was a natural disaster—a landslide, a rogue mana surge. Anything but what truly happened."
Dark mist flowed outward, conjuring illusions to mask the demonic presence, erase magical traces, and fabricate a false history of the destruction.
"All because you couldn't retrieve one girl," he muttered bitterly.
He placed a hand against the pillar, and the runes responded with a faint hum.
"The girl must remain unaware. Her awakening must come at the right moment—when it's too late for them to stop us."
A low laugh escaped his lips. Quiet, venomous, and full of certainty.