The Yandere Demon Lords & Me

"In the silence of the grave, even the gods hold their breath."

....

They woke together.

But not close.

The fire had died down to embers, and the cold was creeping in—coiling under boots and up spines, clinging to the space between breaths.

Zeraka was the first to move. She always was.

She yawned—loud, toothy—and cracked her neck like she wanted the world to hear it.

Her silver mane stuck out in wild angles, and ash dusted her bare arms like the remnants of a storm she'd claimed credit for.

Then she turned—and saw Rein.

Still asleep.

Still shirtless.

Still marked.

And her expression shifted.

From relaxed to something sharper.

Possessive.

Almost primal.

She knelt beside him slowly, tail flicking once, then twice.

Her clawed finger hovered over the mark on his chest, tracing it in the air.

"Still there," she muttered.

Then grinned.

"Still mine."

Valaithe watched from a few feet away, legs crossed, chin on her hand.

"He's not anyone's yet, you half-feral trophy hoarder."

"But go ahead. Claim him with saliva again. It worked so well last time."

Zeraka shot her a look.

Valaithe winked.

Rein stirred, groaning faintly.

He didn't sit up right away.

Just blinked blearily—eyes heavy, face pale.

The mark still pulsed faintly above his heart.

Not glowing.

Not fading.

Just… present.

Zeraka crouched lower, one hand braced beside him.

"You okay?"

"You smell like nightmares."

He nodded vaguely.

"I dreamed of a throne."

"And chains."

"And someone laughing in the dark."

Iris, kneeling a little apart from the others, finally spoke.

"You dreamed correctly."

Everyone turned.

She hadn't moved. Her veil fluttered lightly in the morning wind, eyes half-shadowed beneath the torn red silk.

"They've started watching through the cracks," she said softly.

"Not through eyes. Through fate."

Elaris, already awake and sharpening her blade nearby, scowled faintly.

"You're being vague again."

"Be less cult."

Iris tilted her head.

"I'm being kind."

"If I said what's coming in detail, you'd stop breathing."

Rein sat up fully now, brushing ash from his lap.

Zeraka immediately moved to sit beside him, draping her arm over his shoulder without asking.

She leaned her head against him—casual in gesture, absolutely intentional in meaning.

Valaithe shifted positions, uncrossing and re-crossing her legs like a courtesan getting comfortable before a kill.

Iris didn't move.

Elaris did.

She stepped closer and handed Rein a cup of heated water she'd brewed over the last of the fire.

"Drink."

"You still look half-dead."

He took it.

"Thanks."

She didn't smile. But her gaze softened.

"You all keep doing this," he said after a moment.

"Hovering. Watching. Holding on."

"Like I'll vanish if you blink."

Zeraka huffed.

"You're ours."

"We should watch."

Valaithe gave a small, mocking sigh.

"We're territorial. Don't judge us for biology."

"Or prophecy. Or jealousy."

She leaned closer, her lips brushing the rim of Rein's cup as he drank.

"Especially jealousy."

He looked at them—really looked.

Then at Iris, still kneeling at a distance.

"But you don't all agree."

"You barely trust each other."

"And I'm the thing in the middle."

No one answered.

He set down the cup.

"You've protected me. Risked everything. Some of you more than once."

"I know that."

"But I'm not a god."

"And I'm not yours."

Zeraka growled—low, throaty.

Elaris's brow furrowed.

Valaithe only grinned.

"Not yet."

Rein sighed, standing slowly.

"Let's move."

"If that mark's not going anywhere, I want it out of this place before something starts answering it again."

The group gathered in silence.

Ash trailed behind him.

The mark pulsed once beneath his tunic, unnoticed by the others.

And though Rein said nothing more…

He didn't push Zeraka's arm away.

He didn't flinch when Valaithe took his hand.

And when Iris passed him by without a glance—

He turned to follow her.

______________

They traveled in a loose knot—like magnets barely aligned.

The terrain shifted beneath them as they walked.

Once-burnt soil turned grey, then black, then something else entirely.

What was once ash became soft, then springy.

Then moist.

And then wrong.

It wasn't rot exactly.

It was... blight.

"This shouldn't be here," Caelia muttered.

She knelt at the edge of the warped field, hand pressed to the soil.

It pulsed once under her touch—like a heartbeat buried in the earth.

Her face hardened.

"This was consecrated land."

"A god once walked here."

Elaris stepped forward, cautious.

"It doesn't feel divine anymore."

"It feels… hungry."

Zeraka just wrinkled her nose and kicked a patch of moss. The moss hissed.

"Smells like wet regrets and dead virgins."

Valaithe twirled a lock of hair around her finger.

"Lovely. A temple that breathes out sin."

Rein crouched at the edge and brushed the ground.

It was soft.

Not like grass.

More like the underside of a tongue.

And warm.

"What happened here?" he asked Caelia.

She didn't answer immediately.

When she finally did, her voice was low.

"This used to be the Temple of Enduring Grace. Dedicated to Oraphiel, God of Patience."

"Pilgrims came here to be healed."

"To beg for time."

"Then one day, it stopped answering prayers."

"And started eating them."

The wind passed.

Even Zeraka didn't crack a joke.

Rein rose.

"We need to pass through, don't we?"

Caelia hesitated.

Then nodded.

"The long route adds days."

"And that mark on your chest? It's like walking with a beacon strapped to your soul."

"Every divine relic within three provinces is probably screaming."

Zeraka grinned.

"Then let's go straight."

"Let the old gods try us."

Elaris stepped in front of her.

"No."

She looked at Rein.

"You decide."

"No pressure," Valaithe added helpfully, lounging on the curve of a fallen stone idol.

"It's only your soul."

"And our increasingly unhinged devotion."

Rein stood at the very edge now.

The blighted land pulsed faintly with each breath he took—like it was syncing with him. A strange pressure built behind his eyes.

Not pain.

Not exactly.

More like something remembering him before he'd ever stepped there.

He turned to the group.

"No camping."

"No delays."

"We move fast. Together."

Caelia nodded.

Zeraka cracked her knuckles.

Valaithe hummed and blew a kiss to a dead god's statue.

Only Iris said nothing.

But as they stepped forward into the corrupted sanctuary, her lips moved with no sound—

And her eyes never left Rein.