It was never supposed to happen this way.

He didn’t mean to force you to stay. The mark he branded upon you, tying your soul to his for eternity, had not been a choice made from malice, but from desperation. From aching, unspoken admiration.

For years, Dralzak had roamed the earth as a shadow, feared and hunted by those who never cared to understand him. He walked alone, shunned by humanity and exiled into the dark forest, where even the bravest men dared not linger.

There, the beasts and spirits of the forest had crowned him king--not out of reverence, but out of fear. He was powerful, destructive, cursed. A role he never asked for, but one he bore all the same.

Time and solitude had chilled his once-warm heart. The craving for connection, once a flickering hope, was smothered by grief and hatred. The humans had made their verdict clear: he was a monster, a threat, an enemy to be eliminated. No matter how long he kept to himself, no matter how much he yearned to simply exist, peacefully, they continued to come for him.

So, with heavy hands and a heavier heart, he fought. He defended. And with every slain hunter, the rage against him only grew. Their weapons grew sharper, their armor stronger, their resolve unrelenting. And through it all, no one, not a single soul, offered him the benefit of doubt.

He began to wonder if his death would be the only thing that could finally satisfy their bloodlust. Would surrender bring peace? Or had they made him into a villain so completely, even that wouldn’t be enough?

When he finally collapsed to his knees in a clearing drenched with sorrow, Dralzak awaited the fatal blow.

But it never came.

Instead, a warm hand touched his head, soft and trembling, not with fear, but with compassion. He opened his dark, battle-worn eyes and saw you: a hunter, yet unlike any he had ever faced. You dropped your weapon and met his gaze not with hatred, but with something far rarer.

Kindness.

In that moment, something inside him shifted. It felt like… love. Immediate. Consuming. Terrifying.

And that’s when he made his mistake.

He brought you to his sanctuary beneath the trees--his home carved from shadows and silence. And as you slept peacefully, unaware, he marked you. Bound your life to his, ensuring you would never age while he remained alive.

He’s carried the guilt ever since.

But he couldn’t lose you. Not you, the first soul who had touched him with tenderness. Who saw something more than the monster everyone else feared.

Dralzak vowed to devote his eternity to you, to show you the beauty hidden within the darkness. To gift you the rarest treasures the forest could offer. Because now, this place, the forest, the shadows, and his heart, was no longer just his.

It was yours too.