The morning air felt perfect, but Silus couldn't shake the cold chill from his vision in the temple. He tried to ignore it, focusing on the second half of his birthday celebration. He looked everywhere for Elena, his heart racing until she finally appeared. She was a vision in white, her long dress flowing behind her like a cloud. Silus was breathless; he pulled her aside, kissed her, and for a moment, the world felt safe again.
They spent hours on the highest balcony, talking about a future where there were no demons and no wars. "I will protect this smile forever," Silus promised. Elena only smiled back—a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.
"Let's go down," she whispered. "The party is waiting."
But when they stepped off the grand staircase, the music had stopped. The smell of jasmine had been replaced by the thick, metallic scent of blood.
Silus froze. The Great Hall was a graveyard. Guards, servants, and noble guests lay in heaps. In the center of the room, King Alaric and Queen Silvia lay motionless, their royal robes stained crimson. They were gone.
A roar of pure, god-like fury began to build in Silus's throat. His golden aura flared so violently it began to crack the castle foundations. "I will burn this world to ash!" he screamed, his eyes turning a terrifying, molten gold.
But before he could unleash his power, he felt a cold, empty sensation in his chest. A set of obsidian shackles—the Void Bindings—snapped onto his wrists and neck. This wasn't demon magic; it was a cage forged by the Gods themselves, designed to imprison beings capable of destroying universes.
Silus spun around, expecting a demon. Instead, he saw Elena. She was standing calmly, her white dress untouched by blood, holding the control seal for the Void.
"Why?" Silus gasped, the ice of the Void freezing his very soul. Tears streamed down his face. "Elena... why?"
She looked down at him, her face cold and beautiful. "Power like yours doesn't belong to a boy, Silus. It belongs to a King who knows how to use it."
Augustus, the Demon Lord, stepped out from the shadows, placing a hand on Elena's shoulder. He laughed as the Void Bindings dragged Silus into a portal of endless darkness. "Sleep now, Little Prince," Augustus sneered. "Your kingdom has a new master."
The Dark Reign
With Silus imprisoned in a secret, anti-magic dimension deep within the Demon Realm, Augustus began his conquest. One by one, the Supernatural Rulers fell. Some surrendered in fear, but Queen Luminara refused to kneel.
In a final, desperate stand at the Elven Borders, Luminara fought Augustus. Even with her obsidian scythe, she was no match for a Demon Lord backed by the power of a traitorous Goddess-in-training. As Augustus's blade pierced her heart, she used the last of her life force to whisper a command to her most trusted disciple, a young shadow-elf named Kael.
"Go," she coughed, blood spilling over her lips. "The Void is not eternal. Find the Prince. Break the seal. Tell him... the world is waiting for its King."
As Luminara fell, Kael vanished into the mists, a ghost in the wind. The Demon Lord's empire was absolute, and the world fell into a thousand years of darkness—waiting for a boy with golden eyes to wake up and seek his revenge.