The Demon's Path: A New Dawn
*Prologue* : The Curse of Love
They say love is a force more powerful than fire, more binding than chains, and more dangerous than the sharpest blade.
*Pedro* never believed in such foolish words. He had seen love twist men into madmen, turn kingdoms to ruin, and fill the bravest hearts with doubt. He had seen noble warriors reduced to nothing because of the weight of a broken heart. And yet, when love found him, it did not come as a storm, nor as a great reckoning. It came as a whisper—a soft voice, a lingering touch, a pair of dark, enchanting eyes that promised everything and asked for nothing.
Seraphina.
For her, he walked into the abyss. For her, he betrayed his soul. And in the end, for her, he was shattered beyond recognition.
But love, the cruel mistress that it was, was not done with him yet.
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Chapter 1: The Woman Who Lit the Fire
*Pedro* was the son of a blacksmith, born in the crowded lower districts of Eldoria, a kingdom ruled by nobles who saw peasants as dust beneath their boots. He had no illusions of grandeur, no dreams of knighthood or nobility. His world was fire and iron, the sound of a hammer striking metal, the sweat of honest labor.
But he had always longed for more.
And more came in the form of Seraphina.
He saw her first in the bustling marketplace, her presence turning heads like a goddess among mortals. She was not merely beautiful—she was untouchable. Draped in silk, adorned with jeweled rings, she was the daughter of Lord Valcian, a nobleman with enough power to bend the law to his will.
She should have never noticed a commoner like him. And yet, she did.
Their first meeting was an accident—or so he thought. She had brushed against him in the crowded streets, her scent like jasmine and mystery.
"You should be careful," she had said, smiling. "The world is full of thieves."
She took something from him that day.
Not his coin. Not his sword.
His heart.
And in the weeks that followed, she returned, again and again, drawing him deeper into her world.
She whispered promises of a life beyond his station, told him he was different, that he had potential.
"I can show you how to rise," she murmured one night, her lips close to his ear. "But you must be willing to step beyond the rules of this world."
It was the first time she spoke of the Demon's Path.
The first time he ignored the warning in his own soul.