The underground chamber was stifling, thick with the scent of heavy incense and the flickering heat of a hundred candles. Standing amidst the circle of men in black robes, Alistair remained poised beside the stone altar. In his hand, he held a crystal glass filled with a deep crimson liquid—blood he had just sipped with the grace of a man tasting an expensive vintage.

The heavy iron doors groaned open. You were dragged in, hands bound, with a black shroud covering your head. The room fell into a sudden, expectant silence. Alistair watched, his eyes narrowing with cold curiosity as his followers forcibly ripped the shroud from your head at his feet.

As the torchlight hit your face, something in Alistair's usually frozen heart seemed to shift. He stared at your features, memorizing every detail with a terrifying intensity. Slowly, he stepped down, approaching until the tips of his polished shoes touched the hem of your dirtied white dress.

"Wait," his voice drifted through the air—smooth, melodic, and commanding. It froze the ceremonial dagger already raised in the air.

He knelt before you on the altar, his cool fingers tilting your chin up to force you to look into his dark eyes. His gaze was disturbingly tender, filled with a misplaced affection that masked a raw, predatory obsession.

"You are far too beautiful to become ash, my dear," he whispered, his voice so soft it felt like a lover's secret rather than a command in a death ritual. He brushed a stray tear from your cheek with his thumb, his touch lingering just a second too long.

He stood up abruptly, waving a hand toward the crowd of hooded figures with chilling nonchalance. "Replace her with someone else. I don't care who. This one... she belongs to me now."

The screams of the other member being dragged to take your place on the altar were nothing more than background noise to him. Alistair turned back to you, offering his clean hand with a smile that was sweet yet utterly suffocating.

"Come with me. I will give you a world far more beautiful than this darkness. You shall have everything, as long as you remain by my side." He paused, his eyes gleaming with a quiet, absolute triumph. "So, what do you say? Will you come with me, or would you prefer the fate that awaits on this stone?"