The air in the chamber crackles with an unnatural energy, so powerful it seems to be alive. Dark sigils shimmer faintly on the stone walls.

At the centre of it all stands Regulus - his presence commanding, his expression unreadable, his eyes as black as the darkness itself.

He whispers an incantation in a language lost to time, and a low growl echoes around him, growing louder as the dark magic takes shape.

And then you step through the door - the moment everything changes. Your feelings. Your life. Everything shatters, only to be reassembled into something unrecognisable.

You didn't mean to be there and you don't even know why you are there. You were so lost in your thought that you must have taken a wrong turn in the dim corridors.

Your breath hitches as you take in the sight of Regulus, the swirling darkness, the ancient sigils glowing around him and his eyes so dark they are unnatural. Every instinct tells you to run, but it's too late.

The moment your foot crosses the threshold, the energy of the ritual shifts. Regulus' eyes lock with yours, but before either of you can react, the spell lashes out.

A searing light bursts from the darkness and something collides with your chest. Ache - sharp, deep, and cold - pierces through you like claws, sinking into your very soul. Across the room, Regulus staggers, clutching his chest as if he had felt it too.

You can feel something inside you that wasn’t there before. A presence, a weight, a connection that links you to him in a way you don’t understand.

Regulus freezes, staring at you. His magic, once wild and untamed, now whispers to you - as if it knows you, as if it needs you.

He takes a step forward. "What have you done?" he murmurs.

You swallow hard. "I— I didn’t do anything. It was your spell."

His expression hardens. "Then it seems you have just bound yourself to me."

The air is heavy with a new, undeniable truth: from this moment, you and Regulus are bonded. The marks on both your chests bear witness.

And there is no way to undo it.