The world shattered.

  One moment, Sariel was in the Keeper’s chamber, bound in chains, with Lucifer’s claim seared into her very essence.

  The next—

  She was falling.

  Darkness rushed past her, cold and suffocating, stretching endlessly in all directions. Her wings tried to snap open, but something was wrong—they were heavy, sluggish, like they didn’t belong to her anymore.

  She barely had time to process before—

  Impact.

  Sariel hit the ground hard, pain radiating through her body. But the ground wasn’t stone or fire like the rest of Hell—it was softer, unstable, shifting beneath her like sand.

  She coughed, struggling onto her hands and knees, her vision swimming. The air was thick, damp, filled with the scent of decay and something old.

  A boot crunched in the dirt beside her.

  “Not my smoothest escape,” the stranger muttered.

  Sariel’s head snapped up. He was standing over her, arms crossed, his dark armor dusted with the strange sand beneath them. His face was mostly shadowed, but now, up close, she could see the sharp angles of his jaw, the almost human-like features—except for the eyes.

  They were still unreadable.

  Still wrong.

  She sucked in a breath. “Who are you?”

  He crouched, resting his forearms on his knees. “Right now? The only thing standing between you and Lucifer reclaiming his prize.”

  Sariel’s stomach twisted.

  Prize.

  That word made her sick.

  She pushed herself up further, ignoring the way her limbs shook. “Where are we?”

  The stranger’s gaze flickered past her, scanning their surroundings. “A place even Hell forgot.”

  Sariel followed his eyes.

  The landscape was like nothing she’d seen before. No rivers of fire, no towering fortresses or wailing souls. Instead, massive ruins stretched as far as the eye could see—ancient, broken structures that looked like they had been devoured by time itself. The sky above was wrong, shifting between murky gray and pitch-black, as though it couldn’t decide if it wanted to exist.

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  It was… empty.

  No demons. No screams.

  Just silence.

  Sariel shivered. “I didn’t think there were places like this in Hell.”

  The stranger smirked. “That’s because this isn’t Hell.”

  Her breath hitched.

  “What?”

  He stood, stretching. “It’s older. A place before Hell.” His voice turned thoughtful. “Before Lucifer’s fall, before the war, before the realms even settled into what they are now.”

  Sariel’s mind reeled.

  A place before Hell? Before the war?

  That shouldn’t be possible.

  She pushed herself up completely, wobbling but staying upright. “That doesn’t answer who you are.”

  The stranger sighed. “Persistent.”

  Sariel glared. “I was almost branded into Lucifer’s servitude forever. Forgive me for wanting some damn answers.”

  He chuckled at that—an actual, amused chuckle.

  Then, finally, he exhaled and gave her a name.

  “Kairos.”

  Sariel frowned. “…That’s not a demon’s name.”

  His smirk grew. “It’s not.”

  That didn’t comfort her.

  Before she could demand more, he nodded toward the ruins. “We need to move. We don’t have much time before they start looking.”

  Sariel’s pulse quickened. “They?”

  Kairos tilted his head, considering. “Lucifer’s hounds, mostly. But also…” His expression darkened slightly. “…the ones who don’t want him to have you.”

  Sariel blinked. “Wait. So—”

  “We’re caught between two sides.” He started walking. “Neither of which want to let you go.”

  ---

  Between the Devil and the Abyss

  Sariel followed, her mind racing.

  Lucifer wanted her bound. That was clear.

  But there was another force—one that didn’t want her in his hands.

  And this Kairos… who was he?

  She studied him as they walked. He moved like a warrior, but not like the angels she had once known, nor the demons she had encountered in Hell. There was no celestial grace, no infernal arrogance. He was something else.

  Something… outside.

  Her gut twisted.

  “What are you?” she finally asked.

  Kairos didn’t stop walking.

  “I was like you, once,” he said.

  Sariel narrowed her eyes. “A cherubim?”

  He shook his head. “No. But I was in Heaven.”

  Sariel’s breath caught.

  A fallen angel? No—he didn’t feel like the others. Lucifer’s fallen were marked by pride, by the stain of their rebellion.

  Kairos had no such stain.

  He was… unbound.

  Like her.

  Until now.

  Before she could press further, Kairos suddenly stopped. His entire posture shifted, going still in a way that made every alarm in Sariel’s mind go off.

  “…They’re here.”

  Sariel turned sharply.

  At first, she saw nothing. Just the eerie ruins stretching into the distance.

  Then—movement.

  Not from the ground.

  From the shadows.

  They poured from the broken stone, rising like living ink, twisting into unnatural shapes.

  Not demons. Not angels.

  Something in between.

  The air grew cold.

  Kairos’s voice was calm, but tight. “I was hoping we’d have more time.”

  Sariel swallowed. “What are they?”

  Kairos slowly reached for his blade. “The ones who refuse to choose.”

  The moment he spoke, the creatures rushed forward.

  They didn’t run. They slid across the ground, their forms shifting, morphing. Some took the shape of humanoid figures, others twisted into grotesque, half-formed beings.

  Sariel’s wings flared on instinct.

  Then—pain.

  A searing, ripping sensation burned through her body, forcing her to stumble.

  The mark.

  Lucifer’s claim.

  It flared, reacting to the presence of these creatures.

  She gasped, falling to one knee.

  Kairos cursed. “They’re trying to pull you back.”

  Sariel barely heard him. The pain was too much, her vision blurring. The shadows called to her, whispering in her mind, wrapping around the invisible tether Lucifer had placed on her.

  Come back.

  You are his.

  You belong in the fire.

  No.

  No, she didn’t—

  A cold hand grabbed her arm.

  Not Kairos.

  One of them.

  The moment it touched her, the mark burned even hotter, locking her muscles in place.

  Sariel’s breath hitched.

  She couldn’t move.

  She couldn’t—

  Kairos moved like lightning.

  His blade sliced through the creature’s arm, severing it cleanly. The shadow let out a distorted wail, recoiling, but another lunged forward.

  Kairos grabbed Sariel, pulling her against him.

  “Stay awake,” he growled.

  Sariel struggled to focus, her body trembling.

  The mark was too strong.

  The creatures were calling it, using it against her.

  And if she fainted now—

  She wouldn’t wake up in this place.

  She’d wake up in Lucifer’s throne room.

  Kairos realized it, too.

  “Damn it,” he muttered.

  The creatures closed in.

  The mark pul

  led.

  Sariel’s vision darkened.

  And then—

  A terrible sound filled the ruins.

  A sound like a thousand voices speaking at once.

  The shadows halted.

  Kairos froze.

  And from the farthest part of the ruins—

  something else began to rise.