Chapter 1: Debt to be paid
“Father, he’s coming,” Yona whispered.
Just then, the ground began to shake thunderously, causing the pristine wood floor of their brand-new house to splinter. Thick, slow grey waves of smoke floated just above the grass outside and seeped into the fresh cracks webbed across the room. As their eyes adjusted to the sudden gloom, a massive shadow materialized.
Then, his voice echoed in their ears.
“I believe you know why I’m here. I have come to collect the debt that weighs over your family’s head. You asked -no, begged for financial security and protection, which has been provided. All that’s asked in return is to pay what is owed when due. So don’t waste my time. Hand it here,” he sneered, his impatience vibrating through the walls.
“I... I don’t have it,” her father stuttered, lowering his head.
“Then you must pay with your life, and your family shall suffer for your ignorance!”
Yona stepped forward, placing herself directly in front of her mother, father, and younger sister, Esther. With her arms stretched out like a protective shield, she spoke with a confidence she didn’t entirely feel. “I offer myself. Take me as collateral in exchange for my family’s safety. Let them remain here, taken care of. I’ll clean, cook, hunt—”
The figure loomed over Yona, easily towering at seven and a half feet tall.
“Enough! You must take me for a gracious and kind beast. I am anything but! My name is Orkane, God of the Undead, and I will hunt, torment, and drain any trace of life in you that brings you hope. What makes you think you can survive working by my side in the underworld?”
The air in the room grew ice cold, smelling of smoke and dead leaves, but Yona didn't flinch. She swallowed the lump of terror in her throat and looked up, meeting the dark abyss of his gaze.
"Because you cannot take what is already gone," she said, her voice steady despite the trembling of her hands. "I have already endured enough pain in this life to know it cannot break me. Torment me all you want, God of the Undead. You won't find any hope left in me to drain."
For a heartbeat, the room fell into a suffocating silence. Then, a low, rumbling sound vibrated from deep within Orkane’s chest.
He was laughing. It was a cold, humorless sound that sent a chill straight down Yona's spine.
"We shall see about that, fragile mortal," Orkane sneered, his eyes gleaming with a dangerous curiosity.
He took a heavy step forward, the shadows around his feet stretching and bleeding into the room. "Bid farewell to your flesh and blood. You will not be seeing them for a very long time."
Yona’s heart hammered against her ribs as the reality of her choice set in. She turned her head back toward her terrified parents and weeping sister.
"Goodbye, my family," she managed to choke out.
Before the final word could even leave her lips, the darkness in the room came alive. Thick, icy tendrils of shadow surged upward from the floorboards, wrapping violently around Yona and Orkane. Her mother screamed out her name, and her father lunged forward, hands outstretched -but his fingers caught nothing but empty, freezing air.
With a sudden, deafening snap, the shadows collapsed in on themselves, vanishing into nothingness.
Yona and the God of the Undead were gone, leaving behind only a ruined house and a silent, broken family.
