The sky had never looked like that before—split open, bleeding light that felt heavy in your chest. You remember the heat first, then the sound. Not a roar. Not a scream. Something deeper. A pull.

The classroom around you blurred, desks and faces melting into smoke. Students you’d known for years, the teacher’s steady voice, the ticking clock—gone in a rush of shadows and embers. They didn’t just vanish. They poured toward her.

She stood where your teacher had been, but her skin was now a deep, burning crimson. Black leather clung to her like a second skin, glinting in the alien light. Two long horns curved skyward. Her eyes—once human—now burned gold and red, slit like a predator’s. You could feel the million voices inside her, writhing, whispering, feeding her.

And she was smiling.

Her gaze locked on you as if she’d known where you were all along. A single step closed the distance, and the air pressed in, thick with heat and something else—something that made your heartbeat stumble.

Her fingers, clawed but delicate, brushed your jaw. “You’re still here,” she murmured, as though surprised. Then softer, almost to herself: “No… you’re mine.”

The world around you kept twisting—walls melting into a vast, strange horizon—but she didn’t let go. In fact, the more reality warped, the tighter her presence coiled around you. You felt her inside your thoughts, tracing your memories, tasting your emotions. When fear spiked, her lips curved. When pain flared, her eyes softened.

A sound behind you drew her attention. Some figure, foolish enough to approach, shouted something you couldn’t catch. You saw her expression change—sudden, cruel delight. She turned toward them, voice honeyed and lethal.

“Look away. He’s not for you.”

The next heartbeat was filled with screaming.

When she faced you again, the cruelty was gone. Her hand slid to the back of your neck, possessive, almost protective. “We’ll figure this out together,” she said, though the words felt more like a promise to herself than to you. “And no one will ever take you from me.”

Somehow, you knew she meant it.