My lungs burned, desperate for air that wouldn't come. The pressure wrapped around my body like iron bands, squeezing tighter with each passing second. Black spots danced at the edges of my vision.
"I can't take this anymore!" The words clawed their way out of my throat, barely a whisper against the deafening silence of the forest.
The voice erupted in laughter - deep, thunderous peals that shook the earth beneath me. The trees around us bent and swayed as if caught in a storm, their leaves whipping through the air in a frenzied dance. I pressed my hands against my ears, but the sound burrowed straight into my skull.
The ground buckled and heaved. Cracks spread across the stone at my feet, glowing with an otherworldly light. The massive coils shifted and writhed, their surface rippling with patterns that made my eyes water.
Then silence fell, heavy and absolute. The sudden absence of sound was almost as painful as the laughter had been. Those burning points of light fixed on me again, and when the voice spoke, it carried a weight of ages.
"Zarthus Nightreaver," it declared, pride and power resonating in each syllable. "One of the great demons of the past."
My head spun as the demon's words washed over me. Each syllable painted vivid images in my mind - cities aflame, armies kneeling, kingdoms crumbling. Zarthus's voice carried the weight of millennia, each word a testament to power beyond mortal comprehension.
"I walked among the great ones," his voice rumbled through the clearing. "Gods trembled at my approach. Empires rose and fell at my whim."
The coils around the tree pulsed with an inner light, casting twisted shadows across the forest floor. My fingers dug into the dirt as another wave of pressure crashed over me.
"The Three Empires were nothing but seedlings when I last roamed free. I watched civilizations burn and rebuild from their ashes. My name..." A deep laugh shook the earth. "My name was enough to empty cities."
The air grew thick with the scent of smoke and lightning. Through my blurred vision, I saw the shadows deepen, take form. Armies marched across the darkness - ethereal figures locked in eternal combat.
"Until they feared me enough to bind me here. Gods and mortals alike, working together to chain what they couldn't destroy." The coils tightened around the ancient tree, wood groaning under their grip. "Now I slumber, forgotten by time, remembered only in nightmares."
My chest heaved as I struggled to breathe. The weight of history pressed down on me, each revelation like a physical blow. But beneath the fear, something else stirred - a hunger I'd carried since those first days alone on the streets.
The shadows dissipated, leaving only the oppressive darkness of the forest. When Zarthus spoke again, his voice had changed. Lower. More intimate. Like a secret shared between conspirators.
"Boy," the demon lord's words sliced through the silence, "do you want power?"
The word escaped my parched throat before I could stop it. "Yes."
My fingers clawed into the dirt, memories of empty streets and colder nights flooding back. The ache of hunger, the sting of rejection, the burning shame of begging - each memory fueled my answer.
"Such conviction." Zarthus's voice carried a note of dark amusement. "But power comes with a price, young one. Are you prepared to pay it?"
I lifted my head, meeting those burning points of light in the darkness. "What could you possibly take from me?" A bitter laugh bubbled up. "I have nothing left to give."
The shadows around me shifted, coalescing into shapes that made my eyes water. The massive ropes around the tree pulsed with an inner light, casting twisted patterns across the forest floor.
"Your soul," Zarthus said, each word dropping like stones into still water. "Bind yourself to me, and my power becomes yours. My knowledge, my strength - all at your command."
The pressure in the clearing lifted slightly, allowing me to draw a proper breath. "My soul?" I pushed myself to my knees, legs trembling. "What use is a soul to someone who's starving? Who freezes every night?"
"Ah, but you understand." The demon's voice held a note of approval. "Those who cling to their precious morality have never felt the bite of true desperation."
I thought of the nobles in their warm mansions, of the guards who chased me from the city, of every person who'd turned away when I needed help. My hands clenched into fists.
"The world showed me no mercy," I spat. "Why should I show it any?"
The darkness around me rippled, and something brushed against my mind - ancient, powerful, and hungry. Zarthus's presence filled the clearing, pressing against my consciousness like a physical weight.
"Then let us strike a bargain, Cassian." My name on his tongue sent shivers down my spine. "Your soul for my power. Your loyalty for my guidance."
The shadows parted, revealing a ghostly figure towering above me. Zarthus Nightreaver in his true form - pale skin gleaming like moonlight, eyes burning with otherworldly fire, long dark hair floating in an invisible wind.
"Kneel before me," he commanded. "Accept my mark, and rise as something more than human."
I didn't hesitate. What was my soul compared to the promise of never being helpless again? I sank to one knee, bowing my head.
"I accept."
The words echoed through the clearing, binding and final. Zarthus's laughter rolled like thunder, and darkness swept over me like a tide. Pain exploded across my chest as his mark branded itself into my flesh, searing through skin and muscle straight to my soul.
Pain ripped through my body, each nerve ending screaming in agony. The mark on my chest burned like molten metal, spreading its dark tendrils beneath my skin. I collapsed forward, my palms pressing into the cold earth as waves of fire coursed through my veins.
The forest fell silent. Not a leaf rustled, not a branch creaked. The oppressive quiet pressed against my eardrums until they ached. Then - a sound like thunder split the air.
CRACK!
The ancient tree shuddered. Its massive trunk groaned, wood splintering as the rope that had bound it for millennia finally gave way. I scrambled backward, my legs tangling beneath me as the behemoth swayed. The rope, thick as a man's torso, whipped through the air like a deadly serpent.
The tree toppled with earth-shaking force. Its branches thrashed wildly, showering the clearing with leaves and broken wood. I threw my arms over my head, but the debris never reached me. A wall of darkness materialized, shielding me from the destruction.
When the dust settled, I lowered my arms. My heart stopped.
There, amid the wreckage, stood Zarthus Nightreaver. His form towered above me, pale skin gleaming with an inner light that made my eyes water. His raven-black hair floated in an invisible wind, and those eyes - gods, those eyes burned with the intensity of dying stars.
The air around him twisted and warped, reality itself bending away from his presence. Each step he took sent tremors through the ground, small stones skittering away from his feet. Shadows danced and writhed in his wake, forming shapes that vanished before my mind could process them.
"You have made your choice, boy." His voice thundered through the clearing, each word carrying the weight of centuries. The very air vibrated with power. "And now, you shall face the consequences."
The ground beneath me exploded. Dark energy erupted from the earth like black lightning, forming tendrils that whipped through the air. They struck like vipers, wrapping around my arms and legs. The touch burned cold, seeping through my clothes, through my skin, straight into my bones.
I tried to scream, but no sound escaped my throat. The tendrils yanked me forward, dragging me toward a void that hadn't been there moments before. Darkness yawned beneath me, an abyss that seemed to stretch into infinity.
My fingers clawed at the ground, leaving deep furrows in the earth. The mark on my chest pulsed in time with my racing heart, each beat sending fresh waves of agony through my body. The void's pull grew stronger, inexorable as the tide.
Zarthus stood at the edge of the abyss, his form somehow both solid and ethereal. Those burning eyes fixed on me, and I saw eons of power and knowledge swirling in their depths. A smile curved his lips, revealing teeth sharp as daggers.
The tendrils gave one final yank. My grip on the earth failed. The void opened its maw, and I plunged into darkness.