The transition from life to the afterlife felt like drowning in ice.
When Zaliyah's eyes finally flickered open, the world was wrong.
The ceiling above him wasn't the painted wood of the Ruo Han manor or the shifting leaves of the park it was a vaulted expanse of lava stones, veins of purple crystals pulsing like slow, dying hearts.
The air was heavy, It smelled of ancient dust and a sickly-sweet metallic scent that made his lungs hurt.
He sat up with a gasp, his fingers instantly flying to his lips. He could still taste it the copper, salty heat of Karas's blood.
He looked down at his body and let out a choked sound. His blood-stained silks were gone. In their place, he wore robes of charcoal gauze that felt like spiderwebs against his skin, fastened with silver pins shaped like thorns.
"Karas..." he whispered, his voice cracking.
The memory hit him like a physical blow. Karas's hand falling from his hair, the light vanishing from those blue eyes.
Zaliyah scrambled off the bed, his bare feet hitting the freezing stone floor.
He lunged for the massive, iron-bound door, throwing his weight against it. It didn't budge. He began to scream, a loud raw, sound of pure panic.
"Let me out! , please let me out, I..... I have to go to Karas!."
He hammered his fists against the wood , banging on the door until his knuckles bled, his tears hot and blurring his vision.
He felt like a trapped bird in a mountain of shadows. He didn't know he was in a hidden chamber deep within the Demon Realm, a place where the sun never rose and the silence was a physical weight.
Miles away, in a hall of towering lava glass, Malachi sat at the head of a long table surrounded by ancient, grey-skinned generals. It was an important briefing on the border skirmishes of the different territories, but Malachi's mind was elsewhere.
Suddenly, he stiffened. A faint vibration hummed in his chest, a tether of spiritual energy that linked him to the hidden chamber.
He could feel Zaliyah's terror he could hear the echo of those screams in his very marrow. A dark, amused smirk played on his lips, distracting him entirely from the map on the table.
He vanished in a swirl of violet smoke, leaving his generals in stunned silence.
In the chamber, Zaliyah was still banging on the door, his breath coming in rough gasps. He didn't hear the air shimmer behind him.
He only felt the sudden, suffocating presence of someone standing in his shadow.
Zaliyah spun around. Malachi stood there, looking every inch the King his horns were fully visible, dark and lethal, and he wore armor of midnight steel. His arms were crossed over his broad chest.
"What are you doing, little bird?"
Malachi's voice was a low, dangerous rumble.
Zaliyah didn't flinch. He rushed toward him, grabbing Malachi's armored forearms with desperate, trembling hands. "Karas... where is he? You promised! You said you knew a way!"
Malachi stared down at him, his golden eyes unreadable. He leaned down, his face so close Zaliyah could feel the heat radiating from his skin.
"He is in the stasis chamber," Malachi murmured.
"Then take me to him! Let me see him!, I want to see him "
"His heart isn't beating, Zaliyah," Malachi said, his voice devoid of pity. "His soul is pinned to his body by my power alone. He is a living statue. A puppet held by silver threads."
Zaliyah's hands fell away. He looked helpless, his mind struggling to process the horror. "What... what did you just say? I want him alive! I want him blooming and breathing like the Karas I used to know! I never wanted... a statue!"
"Complete the rituals," Malachi said, his voice turning cold as he stood back up to his full height. "And the boy will be brought back to life."
Zaliyah shook his head, his white hair wild around his pale face. "What are you talking about? What rituals?"
Malachi let out a short, sarcastic laugh that echoed off the stone walls.
He reached out, wrapping his fingers into Zaliyah's hair and pulling his head back with a sharp tug. "Do you take me for a fool, boy? Do you think I forget the promises made in blood?"
"Let go! You're hurting me!" Zaliyah hissed, clawing at Malachi's hand.
But as he looked into Malachi's eyes, the memory of the park flooded back the blood-pact, the words 'Become my bride,' and his own desperate, insane 'Yes.' His face went deathly pale. He had sold himself to a monster.
Malachi grinned, a flash of white teeth in the gloom. "Now. Follow me."
The walk to the stasis chamber felt like a funeral procession. The hallways were lined with silent, hooded guards and statues of weeping demons.
When the doors opened, the air turned freezing. In the center of the room, on a dais of ice, lay Karas. He looked peaceful, his face a marble mask of the man he once was.
He was surrounded by a circle of ancient sorceresses, their hands glowing with a sickly green light as they hummed a low, vibrating chant that kept the soul from drifting away.
Zaliyah's heart broke all over again. He walked slowly toward the ice, his breath hitching. "How is this possible?" he whispered. "How can he live if his heart was pierced?"
"The price of life is life, Zaliyah," Malachi said, standing behind him like a dark god. "If you accept to continue the marital rituals to truly become mine my sorceresses will hunt for another human.
A human with a long, healthy life to spare. They will tear the life-force from that vessel and replace Karas's lost years with theirs."
Zaliyah's blood ran cold. A life for a life. He reached out, his fingers tracing Karas's pale, frozen cheek. He thought of the world he left behind. He thought of Riru clutching the handfan, waiting for a brother who would never come. He thought of Riosuka's tearful eyes.
They would never forgive him if he let Karas rot, but would they forgive him for the path he was about to take?
The misery of the Ruo Han family without their "Priced Jade" was a weight he couldn't bear. He leaned down, pressing a soft, lingering kiss to Karas's frozen forehead. His tears fell, turning into tiny crystals of ice as they hit the dais.
Zaliyah stood up, his eyes turning hard and vacant. He wiped his face with the sleeve of his charcoal robe and turned to face the Demon sovereign.
"I will do it," Zaliyah said, his voice flat and dead. "I would marry you."
Malachi's grin widened, the triumph in his eyes bright enough to burn. He reached out, his gloved hand covering Zaliyah's silver-scarred palm. "Excellent. Let the preparations begin."