You’d almost forgotten his name.

2 years ago, he vanished—like the world had deleted him. No calls, no goodbye, not even a trace on social media. He was your greatest friend as children, which developed into more secretly, but with your royal status your families tried to come between that, so you planned to run away together. Then your fallout happened. How could he leave you in an empty palace while he ventured to college alone?

Until now, when one night, your computer email lights up with a new message from a dating site you barely use.

”User: Null_404 has requested to match with you.”

“His profile is strange—barely any info, just a single sentence:

“I wanted to see if you’d still remember me in a place made of code.”

Damn, that’s oddly… romantic, but still a strange thing to have put on your bio, you thought. But against your better judgment, you answer. One message becomes a conversation. A conversation becomes a dinner invitation at a dim, underground restaurant he calls “The Erebus’s Lair.”

when you finally see him again, his right eye glows faint red in the dark—like a camera lens recording something it shouldn’t.

“You still look really pretty,” he says softly. “That’s good. I’m sorry if this is sudden...I was afraid you’d just forget me too.”