The Love Fairy Guards circled, their eyes scanning every inch of the grassy field for any sign of me. I stayed still, breath shallow, thankful for the shadows that concealed me.
But even in hiding, I knew I wasn't safe. Not with my powers running on fumes.
That's when the real danger hit me. It wasn't just the Love Fairy Guards anymore. It was him. The Dark Fairy.
Yes, I knew he'd been watching me for weeks, but could I trust him? Could I trust anyone right now?
The truth hit me with the force of a falling cedar tree. He wasn't just some rogue. He was part of them—a living reminder that I didn't understand the full picture. Not even close.
But then, nothing could have prepared me for what he said next.
"Listen, Love Fairy, here's what's going to happen," his voice lowered, cold and deliberate. "Either I fight with you, or you'll have to fight me along with them."
Goosebumps crept up my arms. I froze.
"D-Dark Fairy..." I stammered, the weight of it all surging in my chest. My heart hammered. I slapped a hand over my mouth. Too late.
He smirked. Of course, he did.
Dark Fairies were always in mobs. But this one? He was alone. And I knew what that meant.
It meant he didn't need a mob. Dark Fairies ate my kind for breakfast.
I needed a way out. Fast. He was too close. Too confident.
I couldn't show weakness, or I'd be at his mercy.
His gaze never wavered, as if he knew exactly what I was thinking. He held out a silver contract, its surface gleaming cold and cruel in the dimming light.
"Sign this if you want to live."
I stared at the paper, the weight of it pressing on me like a stone dropped into still water. My instincts screamed to back away, but my exhaustion drowned them out.
"What's this?" I asked, my voice a little shaky as I tried to buy time, though the bitter taste of fear clung to my tongue.
"A deal forged in dark magic. You need my protection. In exchange, you'll give me something I want when the time comes," he said with a casual shrug. "Simple, really."
Simple, he says. But it wasn't. Not by a long shot.
Dark Fairy contracts weren't made of ink and parchment. They were made of power—old, feral, binding power. And I knew it. I was born from it. I was it.
And this idiot thought he could bind me?
No. If I played it right, I could bind him back.
I smirked, despite the weight of exhaustion pressing against my chest.
"You want a deal?" I said, my voice sharp and cool. "Prove your worth first." I wasn't going to be tethered to some clueless shadow-dweller. Not after everything I had walked through, everything I had survived.
There were fates worse than death.
His gaze turned to ice.
"You don't have much of a choice. Your enemies are closing in," he said, his tone unwavering, like the storm clouds rolling in above us.
I held my ground. "Then so be it. I'll die for my beliefs, even if they don't fit the system."
The weight of my words pressed against me like a corset—tightening, unrelenting. I was ready to face whatever came. Let them come.
But something shifted in him then. A flicker of something. Was that... desperation?
It didn't fit. He was too composed, too practiced. But for a split second, his expression frayed, a crack in his calm demeanor.
"Fine," he said with strange finality. "But after this, you'll sign the deal."
"And what does a deal do to me?" I asked, one brow raised.
He hesitated, just for a moment.
"You'll find out. But for now, let me show you what I can do."
His tone dropped, almost too heavy with a weight I couldn't place. It was like he wasn't sure what his offer would cost, but was ready to pay it anyway.
He rose with unnerving grace, like the ground itself was releasing him. Darkness bled from the soil, spiraling around him in elegant tendrils. The air thickened. The storm above churned, suffocating the sky.
And then, the Love Fairy guards shouted—
"Veravos!"
I froze.
No. No. No.
That name. It hit me like a tidal wave.
Veravos.
The Hunter of Villains. The name whispered across kingdoms. The shadow carved into childhood nightmares. The silent hand of vengeance for the world's ugliest deeds.
And now he was here. Standing beside me.
And worse—he had always been.
My vision tunneled. Memories flickered behind my eyes.
Flash— the silhouette perched in a tree every evening at 5 p.m. sharp, unmoving, silent.
Flash— the shift in the wind as I cast fire, like he was breathing in rhythm with me.
Flash— me, drenched in frustration, trying to form perfect triangles from orbs that fizzled every time, while someone watched, just beyond the clearing.
Flash— the faintest rustle, the weight of being seen. I had called it comfort. I had called him my twisted guardian angel.
He had watched me. Watched me grow stronger. Watched me fall.
He had seen everything. My failures. My secrets. The first time I used a spell too dark to undo.
And he hadn't stopped me.
He'd let it happen. Patiently. Quietly.
Waiting.
Waiting to see if I would fall far enough for him to strike.
My stomach twisted into knots. He was observing his prey.
I was the villain now.
And the Hunter had arrived.
The chaos he unleashed bought me precious time—time I desperately needed.
I didn't waste a second.
I conjured my orbs, weaving them into the darkness that wrapped around us. The cover of shadow gave me a moment to breathe, even if the air was thick with the stench of poison.
His presence, terrifying as it was, had given me the one thing I didn't expect:
Time.
And maybe, just maybe...
A second chance.