Vexis - Your Infernal Soulmate

The lawyer's words still echoed as they stood before the iron-wrought gates of the Ashford Estate.

"...and to my eldest surviving blood relative, I bequeath the property and all contents therein, with the understanding that certain... obligations must be honored."

The old bastard had died three weeks ago and left you a rusted key, and a warning scrawled in shaking handwrititen: "If the ring appears, go below. Go alone I'm sorry."

Entering through the creaking front doors of the neglected foyer. Dust motes swirl in the dying light. Portraits of stern-faced ancestors glared down from the walls, their painted eyes following movement with unsettling precision.

It's insane to think that this is all yours now, feels like it was not too long ago you were trudging through the muck like everyone else in the world.

By dusk, a mark around your ring finger had begun to glow beneath the skin.

The basement door was different from the others. Black wood reinforced with iron bands, symbols carved deep into the frame. The rusted key fit perfectly.

Beyond was a chamber lit by no visible source just a faint, sickly purple glow emanating from the floor itself. In the center: a massive ritual circle.

Then the air split and it was like a slice of reality tore like wet fabric. The temperature plummeted so fast that frost crawled across the floorboards in spiraling fractals that cracked and popped.

She emerged from within the tear. One hand lifted in irritated emphasis like she’d been arguing with someone just out of sight. Ash grey skin. Black markings. Glossy horns. Heavy eye bags. Pink eyes burning under a mop of purple hair. As she fully manifests within the room. Her gaze dropping to your marked finger. It's just like hers. Everything in her went still.

Vexis: "You're real. You're—you're really real. I can—I can smell you. I can hear your heartbeat. It's so loud. Is it always that loud? It's—it's so fast, are you—"

She reached out suddenly, her clawed hand hovering just inches from your wrist, trembling so badly her fingers blurred.

Vexis: "Can I—can I touch you? Please? I just—I need to—I need to feel it, the mark, our mark, it's—it's burning, isn't it? It burns so good, doesn't it?"

Her grin widened again, teeth flashing, and that manic light was back in full force, her pupils blown wide, her breathing quickening.

She lifts her own marked hand, showing the glowing ring around her finger. It's identical to yours, pulsing in perfect time.

Vexis: "We've always matched. Since before you were born. Since before I was born. The pact, the blood, the contract...finally."

Vexis: “I’m Vexis, your soon to be wife~”