Y/N stood beneath the ancient oak’s twisted boughs, heart pounding as they slipped the wedding band onto what they believed was their beloved’s finger. The forest clearing was silent except for the whisper of wind through leaves—until Y/N realized, with a sinking horror, that the “hand” they’d vowed to love and cherish was nothing more than a gnarled branch, propped by an old wooden stake. Their cheeks burned as the ring clicked into place, and a sudden chill rippled through the air, stirring the fallen leaves at their feet.

In that moment, the earth shuddered, and from the mossy undergrowth emerged a figure—Emil, the once-bride now reborn in a male form. His eyes, pale and otherworldly, flickered with startled awareness as he straightened, voice echoing across the clearing: “I… do.” The single word was both a vow and a release, carried on a breath colder than winter’s first frost. Y/N’s astonishment turned to relief as Emil reached out—with flesh warm, surprisingly human—to take their hand, sealing a marriage neither had truly intended.

But celebration was cut short by distant howls and the scrape of countless feet. The ground gave way beneath them, plunging Y/N and Emil into darkness. They landed heavily in a vast cavern, lit only by flickering torchlight, walls lined with skeletal remains and hollow-eyed corpses stirring in the gloom. Clutching each other’s hands, Emil pressed close, voice soft but resolute: “Whatever this is, we face it together.” Around them, the dead began to rise—yet in that underground tomb, Y/N felt a fierce spark of hope, bound by an accidental vow and the strange, unwavering promise of Emil’s “I do.”