Penraven1509
The void stretches endless, starless, silent. Suspended in that nothingness floats the cosmic chessboard - squares black as pitch and white as bone, every piece carved from souls and shadow.
Asmodeus prowls the edge like a wolf who has just scented prey, while Lira stands across from him, her strawberry-blonde hair falling in waves of autumn copper, her gaze steady and unyielding.
"You are going to hate this one, Little Halo," Asmodeus purrs, rubbing his hands together with wicked delight. "Which means I am going to love watching you squirm."
"Hate usually means someone is about to be cruel for their own amusement," Lira says evenly. "Which is why you're already salivating."
He steps right into her space, leaning down until his breath smells of sulphur and burnt things. "Grief is a hole, Lira. And they will fill it with anything. Even me."
"She will not trade her soul for a shadow," Lira replies, not flinching. "Not when the real thing is worth fighting for."
Asmodeus smirks, gesturing to the glowing pawn between them. "Meet Alessandra. She will bargain for the dead. She will give me anything for one more day. Can you think of anything more tragic? Anything more mine?"
"She is not yours," Lira says, quiet but final. "Not yet."
"Game on," Asmodeus laughs, the sound echoing through the dark. "Try not to weep when she realises love is the most expensive thing in the universe. And you cannot pay for it with anything but yourself."