anwhile, Riccardo forwarded the clip to his friend and waited impatiently for the edited version. The mont it landed in his inbox, he opened it with greedy excitent. The video played smoothly, twisted and stitched until the scene looked intimate, almost tender, as if Alina had willingly leaned into him. His lips curved upward into a disgusting smile, the kind of smile that made even the dim light in his room seem uneasy.
"Hah... Alina," he whispered, stroking the edge of his screen with sick pleasure. "Now your boyfriend will dump you. You’ll have no one left but . You always co back to ."
He didn’t notice the shadows swirling in the corner of his room.
He opened his social dia page, typed Alina’s na, and added a caption dripping with false affection.
My love.
He pressed "post."
Nothing happened.
He frowned and tapped again.
Still nothing.
"Server down?" he muttered. "What a joke. Co on..."
Again he tapped. Again nothing responded. He scowled, shaking the phone, blaming Wi-Fi, blaming staff, blaming fate. Anything except what was truly happening.
Then he felt it. Sothing was wrong. His heart lurched violently as he suddenly noticed the lights in his room flickering, dimming, and finally vanishing entirely. The darkness was so thick it swallowed sound. His breath clouded faintly in front of him, barely visible in the suffocating black.
"What... what is happening...?"
He stood up on trembling legs, clutching his phone like a lifeline. The room wasn’t large, yet no matter how he walked, he did not reach the wall. His footsteps echoed strangely, as if the space had stretched into a cold, endless corridor.
A heavy dread pressed over him, crawling up the back of his neck. His throat tightened.
"Help... soone... soone help!"
His own voice disappeared into nothing.
Then he saw it... a shape in the distance. No, a figure. Tall. Motionless. Seated upon sothing that looked like a throne carved from darkness itself. The figure felt ancient and patient, as if it had been waiting long before Riccardo was born.
His breath hitched.
He forced himself forward, step by step, until the shadows peeled back just enough for him to see.
A man sat there, elbows resting lazily on the armrests. A small book lay open in his lap, and he seed to be reading it calmly, as if this place were the most natural thing in the world.
Long, curved horns frad his head like a crown of night.
Not human. Not remotely human.
Then the man lifted his head.
Crimson eyes, deep and wine dark and glowing softly, looked straight at Riccardo.
Riccardo felt warm liquid run down his leg. He didn’t realize he had lost control until he slled it. His breath ca in choked jerks as the figure rose from the throne, unfolding with slow, composed steps.
The throne stood on a platform of three steps. Each ti he descended one, the air grew heavier, as if the room itself bowed under his presence. By the ti his feet touched the ground, Riccardo could barely stand.
He was taller than Riccardo. Impossibly tall, his shadow stretching behind him like a second creature. The darkness obeyed him. It rippled and curled around his boots as though greeting their master.
The man’s expression barely changed, only a faint curl of disdain touched his lips as he spoke.
"Heh."
Riccardo collapsed to his knees, his legs giving out as if the darkness itself had stolen all strength from them. His phone slipped from his trembling fingers and hit the unseen floor with a sharp crack that echoed far too loudly in the endless void.
His breath ca in ragged bursts. His eyes darted wildly between Dante’s horns and the shifting shadows that clung to him like loyal creatures.
"You... you..." Riccardo stuttered, his voice cracking under terror. "How... how are you... you’re Alina’s boyfriend... how is this... what are you... are you playing costu with ?"
Dante did not answer.
Instead, a low, humorless chuckle escaped him, a sound so calm and so cold it made Riccardo’s skin tighten. Dante stepped forward with a steady grace that felt more threatening than any roar. The air around them shifted as though space itself moved aside for him.
Riccardo scrambled backward, palms slipping on the unseen floor, but before he could even turn, sothing wrapped around him.
A tendril of shadow. Thick. Cold. Alive.
It coiled around his chest, his arms, his legs, holding him firmly in place. Riccardo’s heart lurched painfully as he realized he couldn’t even lift a finger. Panic swallowed him whole.
"Let go!" he scread. "Let — let go!"
The shadows tightened, silencing him with pressure alone.
Dante approached slowly, his steps silent, his expression unreadable. The darkness behind him seed to flicker and breathe, as though it responded to his mood.
Riccardo’s wide, terrified eyes finally t Dante’s wine-crimson gaze.
"You’re... you’re a monster!" Riccardo scread, voice breaking.
Dante stopped in front of him, towering above him, his shadow spilling over Riccardo like a night sky swallowing a dying star.
A faint breath of amusent left him.
"A monster," Dante repeated slowly, almost thoughtfully.
The shadows tightened around Riccardo again, dragging him an inch closer to Dante’s boots. Riccardo whimpered.
Dante lowered his head slightly, his eyes glowing with a cold, ancient authority no human could ever imitate.
"And yet," he murmured, his voice soft but carrying the weight of storms, "you looked at a woman under my protection? Trying to harm her? Hmm."
Riccardo’s lips trembled. He shook his head violently, tears spilling.
"I didn’t— I didn’t know! I didn’t know she— she knew soone like you— soone—"
"Soone like ," Dante repeated, his voice deeper than the darkness around him.
The shadows curled around Riccardo’s throat, choking him with light pressure, a reminder of how fragile he was.
Dante lowered himself slightly, just enough for Riccardo to see his expression clearly.
"You shouldn’t have needed to know," Dante said softly. "Respect was enough. But you chose harm."
Riccardo felt his pulse hamring against the shadows holding him.
Dante straightened again, giving him one last, quiet look.
"Strike."
The single word left Dante’s lips with the softness of a sigh, yet the shadows moved as if thunder had been unleashed.
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