Sword Of The Night

Isabelle Thorne took the Blood Chalice, its shadowy material surprisingly warm against her skin.

Her hands trembled, not from fear, but from the irrevocable nature of her choice. She had been the Sword Saint, a beacon of hope. Now… now she was something else entirely.

She looked up at Ragnar Vhagar, the Vampire Demon King, who watched her with an unnervingly calm intensity.

"No second thoughts?" he asked, a hint of mockery in his tone, but also a sliver of genuine concern. Even he seemed to grasp the magnitude of this moment.

Isabelle shook her head, a bitter smile touching her lips. "My first thoughts led me here. It's time to try something new." She raised the chalice and drank.

The liquid was cold, like iron and old promises, with an undercurrent of something wild and powerful.