The Dark Fairy King

His gaze never wavered, as if he could read my every thought.

Then, unexpectedly, he held out a silver contract—its surface gleaming cold and cruel in the fading light.

"Sign this if you want to live."

The paper hit me like a stone dropped into still water. Instinct screamed to back away, but exhaustion pinned me in place.

"What's this?" I asked, voice shaky, buying time as fear clung bitterly to my tongue.

"A deal forged in dark magic. You need my protection. In exchange, you'll owe me something when the time comes," he said with a casual shrug.

"Simple, really."

Simple? No. Dark Fairy contracts were woven from power—ancient, binding, feral. I was born of that power. I was it.

And this Dark Fairy thinks he can bind me?

Fine. I'd make it work for me—and make him regret it later.

Fates are tangled in every deal.

I smirked despite the weight crushing my chest.

"You want a deal?" My voice was sharp, cold.

"Prove your worth first."

I wouldn't be tethered to some clueless shadow-dweller. Not after everything I'd survived. Certain fates were worse than death—and I wasn't signing my life away under duress.

His gaze froze, turning ice-cold.

"You don't have much choice. Your enemies are closing in," he said, unwavering like storm clouds rolling overhead.

I held my ground.

"Then so be it. I'll die for my beliefs—even if they don't fit the system."

The words tightened around me like a corset—unyielding. I was ready. Let them come.

Something flickered in him then—a crack in the calm.

Desperation? Ego? Need?

He was too composed. Too practiced. But for a moment, his mask slipped.

"Fine," he said with strange finality.

"But after this, you'll sign the deal."

"And what does this deal do to me?" I raised a brow.

He hesitated.

"You'll find out. But for now, let me show you."

His tone grew heavy—like a weight I couldn't place. Uncertain, yet ready to pay the price.

He rose with unnerving grace, as if the ground itself released him. Darkness bled from the soil, spiraling around him in elegant tendrils. The storm above churned, suffocating the sky.

Then the Love Fairy guards shouted—

"Veravos!"

I froze.

No. No. No.

That name hit like a tidal wave.

Veravos. The Hunter of Villains. The boogeyman. A shadow carved into childhood nightmares. The silent hand of vengeance.

And now he was here. Standing beside me.

Worse—he had always been.

My vision tunneled. Memories flickered behind my eyes:

—the silhouette perched silently in the trees at 5 p.m. sharp.

—the subtle shift in the wind as I cast fire, like he breathed in rhythm with me.

—me, drenched in frustration, struggling with fizzled orbs, while someone watched, just beyond the clearing.

—the faintest rustle, the weight of being seen. I called it comfort. I called him my twisted guardian angel.

He had watched me grow stronger. Watched me fall. Watched every failure and secret—the first time I cast a spell too dark to undo.

And he hadn't stopped me.

He'd let it happen. Patiently. Quietly. Waiting.

Waiting to see if I'd fall far enough to strike.

My stomach twisted. He was observing prey.

I was the villain now.

The Hunter had arrived.

If I didn't bind my life to his, I'd be his next meal. I was in no shape to compete with Veravos. He wanted something from me.

It was so clear now—and I'd had the audacity to demand he prove his worth.

Crap.

The chaos he unleashed bought me precious time.

I didn't waste it.

I conjured my orbs, weaving them into the shadow that wrapped us. The thick, poisoned air gave me a moment to breathe.

His terrifying presence had given me one unexpected gift: time. Maybe even… a second chance.

As Veravos closed in on the guards, I felt my power stirring.

Something insidious had awakened inside me. I wasn't sure if it was his darkness or mine.

I murmured, "Yes… destroy their hearts."

Veravos surged upward like a phantom from the abyss, dark wings cloaked in shadow. His ascent warped the air, bending the sky. Tendrils of darkness writhed beneath him—alive, purposeful. They dragged the Love Fairy Guards screaming into the soil, as if the earth had grown tired of their arrogance.

They vanished, dust to dust.

And just like the lores warned, Veravos was real—and everything they feared.

An arrow—a sleek silver streak—hurtled toward his chest.

My hand moved before thought. Fingers flared open; scarlet mist erupted, shattering the arrow midair like brittle glass.

I gasped—not from danger, but relief.

Yes. My powers were coming back.

Veravos had bought me time. Time to breathe. Time to burn. Time to remember I was no fragile flower.

No. I was so much more.

The mist obeyed my call. Scarlet orbs pulsed like molten hearts, spinning into a perfect triangle—then warped into a pentagon. Red mist clung to its edges, pulsing like a heartbeat beneath the surface.

My kind of magic.

And it danced with his.

In the sky, Veravos paused, gaze flicking to me—shock clear in his eyes.

Good. Let him see. Let him understand I was no one to be trifled with. No one disposable.

I had to be powerful. Useful.

If I wanted to matter.

"Stop her!" a guard screamed, clawing at the earth that licked his legs.

"What magic is this?!" an elder bellowed from the distant gates, voice cracking with fear.

I didn't care how long he'd been watching. Didn't care how he got there.

My answer was the same.

"My kind of magic."

I smiled—too wide, too proud, a spark of madness behind my eyes.

"I call it a Love Pentagon."

Think: a toxic romance involving six unwilling parties tearing at their hearts.

Then I let it explode.

The pentagon pulsed once—then surged outward.

Not fire. Not ice. Not brute force.

Something worse. Something deeper.

It wasn't meant to break bodies.

It was meant to break hearts.

The wave sank like needles beneath skin—quiet, sharp, and invisible.

The guards' faces twisted as the spell coiled in their minds.

Suddenly, they turned on one another: fighting, sobbing, clinging, laughing hysterically.

One screamed a confession. Another begged forgiveness. Two clashed, overcome by jealousy. One shouted a lover's name as if it could save them.

Chaos bloomed in the cracks of their discipline.

Veravos?

He watched. His own half-cast spell dissolved.

His lips parted—not to speak, but in silent awe.

He didn't interfere. Didn't need to.

I needed him to save his strength.

Because I knew this wasn't over. Not yet.

The few surviving guards fled toward the Kingdom.

"We need backup!" their cries vanished in the curling mist.

Veravos descended—calm, elegant, deadly. His cloak billowed like smoke from wildfire.

He landed softly, as if the earth chose not to resist him.

He looked at me with eyes like ink and steel—intense, unreadable.

Then he pulled out the silver contract again, colder than before.

"I've proven my worth now, Love Fairy," he said, voice curled with smugness.

"Your move. What will it be?"

Of course, he was arrogant. He was Veravos.

But I wasn't just a wilting Love Fairy anymore.

I had faced his challenge.

I had thrived.

Still… he had earned it.

His dark magic amplified mine. He moved like shadow behind my flame—dangerous and effortless.

The kind of partner you don't reject lightly.

I took the contract.

And signed.

The ink shimmered—binding, ancient, absolute. A silent knot between us.

Yes, it meant I was forever tethered magically to him until he decided to end it.

It meant I would never be able to harm him magically and would need to follow his lead.

Failure to comply would either make me his next meal or corrode my magic existentially.

Either way, I was now with him.

"Scarlet?" he read my signature, uncertain.

"It's Scarlette…" I corrected, voice faint as he smirked.

Then the world tilted.

Pain stabbed behind my eyes.

The fight. The spell. The truth.

It all rushed in like water into sinking lungs.

My hand trembled.

The emerald slipped from my fingers.

Clink.

It hit the stone—soft, cruel, final.

Then everything went black.

As the world faded to black, the last thing I felt was the weight of my body slumping over broad shoulders.

Boots pounded the earth—a steady rhythm tethering me to a reality slipping away.

My head bumped loosely against Veravos's back with every stride.

The frantic shouts of the guards grew distant, swallowed by creeping darkness.

The mangrove forest loomed ahead—the cursed woods where Edna died.

Her scream sliced through my thoughts like a jagged shard. But I couldn't hold it.

The darkness pressed down on my chest—thick, suffocating—pulling me further from myself.

"Murderer."

Doverel's voice echoed sharp and unforgiving inside my mind, louder than any footsteps.

The word repeated over and over, becoming a sickening mantra I couldn't escape.

I was stained. Blood on my hands no water could wash away.

But sadness? I felt none.

Doverel had died in a stampede, but her soul shattered long before that—the day she chose obedience over truth.

Edna's body had been twisted beyond recognition, her life snuffed out in an instant.

I watched it all—powerless. Helpless. My magic turned cold and useless—a distant memory fading fast.

Now, carried deeper into the woods by Veravos's steady pace, shame gnawed at me—a constant reminder of my weakness.

I wasn't a hero. I wasn't even pretending to be.

Just a girl running from consequences, caught in a cycle of fear and guilt.

His hands gripped me tightly—a reminder of my helplessness.

Yet even as my strength failed, my will to survive burned bright.

I refused to be the next meal for Veravos, the Villain Hunter.

Had I made a mistake binding myself to him through that contract? Only time would tell.

But for now, I was still running. Still escaping.

I only knew my odds were better with him.

Him wanting a contract with me was already a conditional win. I did not want to be on the menu for the boogeyman.

Our fates were chained, an invisible bond neither of us could break.

Doom or salvation—I didn't know which.

But I would fight. Survive. Be more than a fragile thing waiting to be saved.

I still had power, buried beneath layers of guilt and fear.

Even if I couldn't feel it now, it was there.

The air grew colder, the suffocating pressure on my chest easing ever so slightly.

Though I couldn't see, I sensed Veravos's presence nearby—looming like a storm on the horizon.

His magic intertwined with mine—two forces tangled together, whether I wanted it or not.

I was tethered to him. That was my life now.

Fainting? Yeah, I know—it's very damsel in distress.

But here's the truth: the moment I lost consciousness, I had already won.

Don't get it twisted—the story had just begun.

My world collided with Veravos that day, and nothing was ever the same.

Over time, I realized he wasn't just another dark fairy lurking in the shadows.

No, he was going to be my partner in chaos. And chaos? Well, it was something I knew all too well.

Fate—twisted, cunning Fate—had a plan when it brought us together.

It wasn't coincidence. It never was.

In a world ruled by corrupt monarchs and bloated ideals, we'd both spent too long clawing through darkness alone.

But together? Together, we became something else entirely.

Veravos understood what it was like to be an outcast—to be mocked, to stand trial before your own kin for daring to be different.

He understood the ache beneath my rage.

He never asked me to explain my scars. He saw them—and in them, he recognized something familiar. Something matched.

We were cut from the same cloth—rebellious, unyielding.

Shoulder to shoulder, we faced everything the world threw at us—against the grain, against the tide, against everything we were told to be.

Two monsters meeting, deciding to carry each other to the finish line.

Secrets take time to unravel. Mysteries are worth uncovering layer by layer.

I am Scarlette. This was my life before I met Veravos.

This is my beginning.

But it will not define my end.

Let Veravos tell you the next part. He sees things differently. He always has.

The End.