Рrologue
St. Agatha’s Abbey: Two Centuries Ago
An unnatural silence hung over the abbey. Even the wind, which had raged through the cedar branches just an hour before, had vanished, as if the very world held its breath. Only the church candles continued their silent dance, flickering with an unseen premonition.
Alexei held her in his arms. Her hair, dark as a moonless lake, spilled across his fingers, and her lips had already lost their color. She was feather-light, not just because life was leaving her, but because he loved her more than himself.
“Sophia...” His voice was torn by a pain that even an immortal couldn’t contain.
But he was still mortal.
The blood on her chest gleamed in the light of the stained-glass windows, which had seemed sacred that morning. Now, the colored glass cast reflections onto the marble tiles, like the fires of hell.
“This shouldn’t have happened. I was supposed to protect you...”
He didn’t see the boundaries between worlds slowly dissolving around them. Cracks began to appear in the temple walls – not stone fissures, but dark, living, breathing chasms. And from these cracks, shadows poured forth.
As her body finally grew still, he whispered a spell – ancient, forbidden, passed down through his lineage since time immemorial. The words ripped through the air like lightning, and the silence shattered into sound.
A hum. A pressure. A whisper.
And then – It.
Something tall and lithe burst from the sanctuary, with eyes that blazed crimson. A shadow in the shape of a man, but with a distorted face, a grotesque mosaic of all the sins of Alexei’s ancestors.
“Finally...” the demon rasped, standing before him. “Your blood has called me for centuries. It’s free. And I am free.”
“What are you?”
“You. But after the choice. After love. After pain.” The demon leaned close to Alexei’s face. “Now we are bound. Your soul is locked with mine. You will not live. You will not die. You will wait.”
“For what?” Alexei whispered.
The demon smiled, and the very earth trembled.
“She who illuminates the Shadow will come. The choice will be pain— Either light or eternal darkness.”
The abbey exploded with light. When it faded, Alexei knelt among the ruins. Sophia was gone. Her body had vanished – along with his heart.
In the sky, the wind howled once more.
And he remained.
Without time. Without death. Without forgiveness.
With the demon – in his blood.
