THE DEVIL'S BRIDE
Episode 21: Beneath the Queen's Shadows
By Rapwizzy Debaron
The boy was gone.
Evelyn screamed into the sky, her power shattering the swamp's edge, lightning dancing across her skin in wild, grieving bursts.
Lucien caught her before she collapsed, smoke rising from her fingertips.
"Kael…" she whispered, her voice raw and broken.
"We'll get him back," Lucien promised.
But even he didn't sound certain.
---
Seraphina's escape had left behind nothing but ash and a sigil — a twisted symbol of her dominion.
Lucien examined it while Evelyn tried to breathe past the guilt clawing up her throat.
"She didn't just vanish," he said. "She took him somewhere deep. A prison between realms."
Evelyn looked up. "Can you find it?"
"I can try."
---
Hours later, they stood before the Well of Eyes, an ancient oracle sealed beneath the ruined cathedral of Elaren.
To open it, Evelyn had to bleed.
She didn't hesitate.
The moment her blood touched the stone, a hundred whispering eyes opened across the surface.
"Speak," they hissed. "And pay the price."
"I want to find the boy Seraphina took," Evelyn said.
The eyes blinked — and a portal opened.
A scream echoed from within.
Kael's scream.
---
She ran through it before Lucien could stop her.
The realm she entered was pure shadow — a prison of forgotten dreams and tortured echoes.
Chains hung from the sky.
Voices cried from the ground.
And there, in the center, Kael floated — wrapped in silver vines that pulsed with dark energy.
"Evelyn!" he cried.
She rushed forward—
And was thrown back by an invisible force.
---
From the shadows stepped a figure.
Not Seraphina…
But a man.
Tall. Regal. With eyes like cold gold.
"You trespass," he said, voice like crumbling stone.
Evelyn gasped. "Who are you?"
"I am the Watcher of the Veil. The guardian of what should not be touched."
"He's just a boy!"
"He is marked by fate," the Watcher replied. "And you are unraveling destiny."
---
Evelyn raised her hands, power surging. "Then I'll fight fate."
The Watcher didn't move.
Instead, the vines tightened around Kael.
He screamed.
"No!" Evelyn shouted.
"Then kneel," the Watcher said. "Submit… or the boy dies now."
---
Lucien stepped through the portal at that moment, rage crackling in his aura.
Evelyn turned. "He'll kill Kael!"
Lucien looked at the Watcher, then at the boy, then back at her.
"We can't win this fight," he said. "Not yet."
Tears burned Evelyn's eyes.
Slowly… she dropped to one knee.
"I kneel. For Kael."
The Watcher smiled.
And the chains holding Kael fell.
---
But as the boy collapsed into Evelyn's arms, the Watcher leaned close.
"You've opened a door, child of lightning. And now… the storm must pay."
---
To be continued…
A boy freed.
A power bowed.
And the devil's debt begins to collect.
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Comment: What do you think th
e Watcher meant? What price will Evelyn pay next?
Follow @RapwizzyDebaron — Episode 22 unlocks the secrets of fate, flame, and forbidden truth.