(From the Untamed Cycle)
It began with a tremor in the sigil.
Aure jerked awake in a cold sweat, his chest glowing like a second heart was trying to claw its way out. The others Lian, Kael, Sylis were still asleep in a tangle of limbs and warmth.
But the room?
The room was breathing.
And something whispered through the cracks in the world:
"Come back to me."
The mark seared. Aure stumbled to his feet, dazed, drawn toward the mirror that hadn't existed until now an obsidian portal ringed in ancient bone.
He didn't walk through it.
The mirror pulled.
The Temple of the Forgotten Kiss
He woke on a throne of velvet and ash.
Naked.
Wrapped in chains made of light.
And in front of him stood Xarion, the god of longing and ruin barefoot, shirtless, his dark hair dripping with gold thread, his lips curled in a cruel smile that only broke when he said:
"I've missed you."
He moved like silk and storms, his presence pouring into the room like molten heat. His fingers slid up Aure's throat, cradling his jaw as if they'd never been parted.
"You were mine first," Xarion whispered. "Before memory. Before rebirth. You think I wouldn't recognize my flame, even wrapped in new skin?"
Aure's breath hitched. "I don't belong to you anymore."
"Oh," he chuckled darkly, "but that's the sweetest lie you've ever told."
He leaned in, lips grazing Aure's ear.
"I can taste their marks on your body. But I'm not here to erase them. I'm here to make sure they know… you were worshipped before you were loved."
....
Back in the mortal realm, Lian woke screaming.
Kael's sigil bled.
Sylis spat curses in a forgotten tongue.
"They took Aure," Lian growled, sword already drawn.
"No," Sylis corrected, voice shaking. "He took him."
"Who?" Kael barked.
Sylis looked up, eyes glowing.
"Xarion. The god of hunger. The one Aure bound himself to in a past life… and never truly broke from."