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Chapter 6: Phantoms in the Dark
Last Updated:
2025-02-19 15:38:55
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The Howling Throne Chapter 7: Echoes of the Lost
The silence after our escape was almost worse than the whispers.We sat in the cold dirt, catching our breath. The Phantoms hadn’t pursued us past the tree line, but their presence still clung to the air like a curse. My pulse was still erratic, my mind replaying the vision over and over. My mother. Her silver eyes. The sorrow in her voice.It wasn’t real. It couldn’t be.Freya let out a dry laugh, breaking the silence. “Well, that was horrifying.”Bram grunted, running a hand through his sweat-drenched hair. “You don’t say.” He wiped his sword against the ground. “If those things wanted us dead, they could’ve done it already.”Sienna was still watching me. “What did you see, Elior?”I met her gaze but didn’t answer immediately. How could I? Admitting it out loud felt dangerous, like acknowledging it would make it real. But Sienna’s stare was unwavering. She already knew it was something that had shaken me.“My mother.” My voice came out rougher than I intended. “She spoke to me.”Fre
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The silence didn’t last. It shattered like glass as the agony in my veins turned into something else—something alive. My body trembled as waves of cold fire rippled beneath my skin, every nerve burning with raw energy. I gasped, but no sound escaped. I wasn’t in the ruins anymore. Not really.Darkness swallowed the world around me. No walls. No ceiling. Just an endless void, stretching into infinity. And at its center stood a figure.It wasn’t my mother this time.It was me.Or something wearing my form.The other Elior watched me with eyes like frozen embers, his lips curled into something between a smirk and a snarl. When he spoke, his voice was mine—but richer, deeper, carrying the weight of something ancient.“Finally awake, are we?” he murmured. “Took you long enough.”I staggered forward, my limbs sluggish as if I were moving through water. “What is this?”He tilted his head. “A beginning.”Before I could speak, the void shuddered, and I was falling. The darkness rushed past me,
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The silence stretched between us, thick with unspoken fears. My breath came in uneven gasps as my body struggled to recover from the surge of raw energy that had ripped through me inside the ruins. It wasn’t just exhaustion—I felt different, like something deep within me had shifted, altered.Sienna was the first to break the silence. “Elior?” Her voice was sharp, wary.I lifted my gaze to meet hers, but before I could speak, another sensation gripped me. A pulse—no, a heartbeat—throbbed against my skull. My vision blurred, distorting the world around me. One moment I stood in the moonlit clearing outside the ruins; the next, I was somewhere else.A barren wasteland. The sky bled with an eerie red hue, and in the distance, an obsidian throne loomed. Shadows flickered like living creatures, whispering in a language I didn’t understand but felt in my bones.Then, the pain came.My body convulsed as fire licked through my veins, cold and searing at once. I tried to move, to resist, but t
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The night pressed in around us, thick with tension. The mysterious woman’s words still lingered in my head, echoing like a curse."The Crown has chosen its next vessel. But you are unprepared."The others felt it too. No one spoke as we moved through the forest, putting as much distance as we could between us and the ruins.Freya finally broke the silence. “So, are we just going to pretend that didn’t happen?”“No,” Bram muttered. “But I’d love to.”Sienna, walking beside me, shot me a glance. “We need to talk about what’s happening to you.”I exhaled sharply. “Later.”“Later might be too late.”I knew she was right. But I wasn’t ready to face it yet. Not with the weight of something unknown still coiling beneath my skin, waiting for a moment of weakness.“We need to focus on survival first,” I said, scanning the area. “The Bloodfangs won’t just let us walk away.”Bram cursed. “Damn right, they won’t.”Even as he spoke, we heard it—distant howls cutting through the stillness of the fo
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The forest stretched endlessly before us, a maze of shadows and whispering leaves. Rael moved ahead without hesitation, weaving through the trees like someone who had walked these paths a thousand times before. The rest of us followed, our breaths uneven, our muscles tense. The weight of the Reaper’s attack still clung to the air, thick and unshakable.“What exactly are you?” Bram asked, keeping his hand close to his sword as he eyed Rael suspiciously.“A hunter,” Rael answered without looking back. “And the only reason you’re still breathing.”Freya scoffed. “That doesn’t really answer the question.”Sienna, walking beside me, lowered her voice. “Elior, you felt it, didn’t you?”I knew what she meant. The moment the Reaper had spoken, something inside me had stirred, dark and ancient. A whisper beneath my skin, clawing to be heard.“The Crown has chosen its next vessel.”I swallowed the unease creeping up my throat. “I don’t know what’s happening to me.”Rael suddenly stopped, and we
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Dawn arrived shrouded in mist, the sky painted in muted grays. The outpost stirred to life as hunters moved with silent efficiency, preparing for the day ahead. I stood at the edge of the training grounds, my muscles taut with unease. Today, I would begin to understand what the Crown had done to me.Rael approached, their silver eyes unreadable. "We don’t have time for slow progress, Elior. If you’re going to survive, we need to push you to your limits."Bram crossed his arms. "Great. Just what we need—more ways for him to get himself killed."Rael ignored him and gestured for me to step forward. "The Crown’s power doesn’t just linger—it consumes. The more you use it, the more it will demand. You need to learn restraint."I swallowed hard. "And if I can’t?"Rael’s expression darkened. "Then it will consume you."No pressure.The training began immediately. Rael pushed me relentlessly, forcing me to summon the shadows that had begun to coil within me. It wasn’t just about wielding them
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Pain was the first thing I felt.A slow, crawling agony that pulsed through my body like poison, sinking into my bones. My mind wavered between consciousness and the abyss, each breath a battle. Voices murmured around me—distant, distorted, like echoes in water.Then, a sharp pressure against my side. Fire bloomed beneath my skin.I gasped, jerking upright. Hands pushed me down.“Stay still, you idiot,” Bram growled.My vision swam before sharpening into focus. We weren’t at the outpost anymore. A flickering fire illuminated a cave’s jagged walls, its warmth doing little to chase away the damp cold seeping into my skin. My shirt was torn, my side wrapped in crude bandages, blood seeping through.Sienna sat beside me, her eyes shadowed with exhaustion. Her hands glowed faintly with residual embers, the telltale sign she’d used her flames to cauterize my wound.“You nearly got yourself killed,” she muttered.I tried to speak, but my throat was dry as sandpaper. Freya handed me a flask,
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The wind howled through the mountain pass, biting through our cloaks like unseen claws. Dawn had barely touched the horizon when we set out, the remnants of sleep clinging to our limbs like chains. The Temple of the Hollow lay far beyond the valleys, nestled in the heart of a cursed land where even the most fearless hunters dared not tread.I walked at the front, my body sore, my mind heavier than ever. The weight of the Crown’s power still clung to me, whispering just beneath my skin. The voice I had heard during the battle echoed in my skull—The vessel must feed.I shivered.Sienna walked beside me, her keen eyes scanning the treeline. She hadn’t said much since we left the cave, but I felt her presence like an anchor, grounding me in a way I couldn’t explain.Bram grumbled behind us. “So let me get this straight—we’re heading to a cursed temple that no one has set foot in for centuries, where the last mad king to wear the Crown was buried, all based on a legend?”Rael didn’t even l
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The Howling Throne Chapter 60: Echoes of the Hollow
Elior gasped as the weight of the Hollow Realm collapsed around him, his body reeling from the choice he had made. He had reached for the throne, felt the raw power surge through his veins, and then, nothing. The world had shattered like fragile glass, reforming in an instant, yet something was wrong.He opened his eyes to a sky that was neither fractured nor whole. It stretched infinitely in all directions, a swirling expanse of color and shadow, like a dream caught between waking and oblivion. The air was thick, humming with a pulse that resonated through his bones.Where was he?He turned sharply, his gaze searching for the others. They were there, Rael, Myrra, Bram, and Sienna, all suspended in the strange, shifting void, their bodies grounded but their outlines flickering like candle flames.Rael was the first to stir. “Elior?” His voice was distant, as if carried by a wind that didn’t exist. “What… what just happened?”Myrra pressed a hand to her temple, eyes narrowed. “We were
The Howling Throne Chapter 59: The Price of Rebirth
The Hollow Realm trembled.The jagged ground beneath Elior’s feet cracked further, pieces of stone breaking away into the abyss below. The fractured sky above twisted, dawn and night swirling like an unsteady reflection in shattered glass. The throne loomed behind him, an ancient, unfinished thing waiting for its new ruler.And Sienna stood before him, power crackling at her fingertips, her silver eyes unreadable.“I won’t let you take the throne,” she said.Rael’s sword was already in his hands, but Myrra placed a hand on his shoulder, silently urging caution. Bram stood rigid, gripping his greatsword, his muscles tense with restrained fury.Elior stepped forward. “Sienna, this isn’t the way.”She shook her head, a bitter smile playing on her lips. “Isn’t it? Look at this place, Elior. It’s broken, just like our world. The Crowns were never meant to exist, and yet we fought for them. Killed for them. And for what?”“To free the world from Erythos,” Myrra said.Sienna’s expression dar
The Howling Throne Chapter 58: The Fractured Throne
Elior’s breath came shallow as he stared at Sienna, standing against the fractured backdrop of the Hollow Realm. The power emanating from her was suffocating, pressing against his skin like a storm about to break. Her silver eyes gleamed, not with malice, but with something far more dangerous: certainty.“Sienna,” he said carefully, gripping his sword. “What have you done?”She tilted her head slightly, as if surprised by the question. “I’ve accepted the truth.” Her voice was calm, unwavering. “The world as we knew it is gone. The Crowns were never salvation. They were shackles. Now, we have the chance to build something new.”Rael stepped forward, his knuckles white around the hilt of his sword. “And what exactly do you mean by ‘we’? You abandoned us.”Sienna let out a quiet sigh. “You think too small, Rael. This isn’t about us. This is about what comes next.” She turned her gaze to the ruined throne behind them. “The Hollow Realm exists because the world was built on a flawed founda
The Howling Throne Chapter 57: A Choice
Elior kept his grip firm on his sword as they trudged through the Hollow Realm. The fractured sky above them shifted unpredictably, dawn and dusk colliding in strange, swirling mosaics of light. The ground beneath their feet was unsteady, floating shards of stone and earth reforming with each step. Every breath felt heavy, laden with the remnants of magic that had been torn apart.No one spoke for a while. Even Bram, usually quick to fill silence with his dry humor, kept his eyes scanning the horizon warily. Myrra walked with purpose, but Elior could see the way her fingers twitched over her staff, her grip uncertain. Rael, his expression tight, kept glancing over his shoulder, as if expecting something, or someone, to appear.Elior exhaled sharply. "We need to figure out what this path of the First actually means."Myrra nodded. "The First King was the only one who ever spoke of destroying the Throne. If this place exists because we broke the Crowns, maybe he knew what would happen a
The Howling Throne Chapter 56: Echoes of the Broken World
Elior gasped as he awoke, choking on dust and the taste of iron. His entire body ached as if he had been torn apart and pieced back together in a way that no longer fit. The air around him was thick with silence, an unnatural, suffocating quiet that made his skin crawl.Where was he?He forced his eyes open. The sky above him was wrong. It wasn’t the deep, endless blue he had known, nor was it the swirling darkness that had heralded Erythos’s return. Instead, it was fractured, shattered into shifting plates of sky, some showing the golden glow of dawn, others the eerie, endless black of night. It was as if the heavens themselves had splintered, caught between worlds.Elior pushed himself up, wincing as his muscles protested. The Hall of Kings was gone. In its place was an expanse of jagged rock and floating debris, pieces of stone and earth suspended midair as if gravity itself had forgotten its purpose. The air smelled of burnt magic, sharp and electric.His mind raced. The Crown had
The Howling Throne Chapter 55: Fractured Fate
Elior’s heart pounded as Erythos’s words settled over them like a shroud. Destroy the Crowns, and Erythos would fall, but so would the world they were trying to save.Silence stretched in the Hall of Kings, heavy with the weight of the impossible choice before them. The flickering torchlight cast deep shadows across the ancient stone, twisting the unreadable expressions on his companions' faces.Bram was the first to break the silence. “There has to be another way,” he said, voice rough with exhaustion. He was still gripping his greatsword, but the force of Erythos’s attack had left his arm trembling. “Some way to bind him again.”Myrra, her eyes locked on the inscriptions at the altar’s base, shook her head. “The Veil is broken. We can’t undo that.” She turned to Elior, her gaze intense. “But we still have the Crowns. If we act now, we control what happens next.”Sienna stood apart from the group, her face unreadable. “Destroying the Crowns would collapse the very forces holding the
The Howling Throne Chapter 54: The Howl of Shadows
The first clash of steel shattered the silence. Elior barely had time to parry as the scarred man lunged, his curved blade a blur of motion. Sparks flew as their swords met, and the force of the impact sent tremors up Elior’s arms.Behind him, the others had already engaged the Forgotten Hand. Myrra struck first, slamming her staff into the ground. A ripple of force sent one of their enemies stumbling, but another darted in, daggers flashing. She twisted away, deflecting the strike with a muttered incantation.Sienna danced through the fray, knives glinting like fangs in the firelight. She moved with deadly precision, slashing a robed figure across the thigh before pivoting to hurl a dagger into another’s throat. A choked gurgle, and the assassin collapsed.Bram fought like a battering ram, plowing through opponents with sheer brute force. His greatsword cleaved through the air, scattering foes like brittle kindling.Rael fought at his side, his movements swift but methodical. Unlike
The Howling Throne Chapter 53: The Shattered Veil
The silence after the explosion of power was suffocating. Elior forced himself to stand, his limbs heavy with the weight of what had just happened. The key was gone. The Veil was broken. And Erythos,No. Not yet. But soon.The sky overhead still churned, a swirl of distorted stars and inky voids where the heavens had been torn asunder. Myrra gripped her staff tightly, her knuckles white. Bram groaned from where he had landed, shaking debris from his shoulders.Sienna was the first to move toward the shattered pedestal. The woman in the dark robes, the one who had touched the key, was gone. Vanished. Either swallowed by the surge of magic or transported elsewhere by its power. But her words remained, echoing in the space Erythos would soon claim.Elior clenched his fists. "We need to get back to Dawnfire. Now."Rael, still breathing hard, nodded. "If the Veil has been broken, the council needs to know. They need to start preparing."They mounted their horses without hesitation, spurrin
The Howling Throne Chapter 52: The Key to the Veil
The pulse of shadow had barely faded before Elior broke into a run. The others followed, the weight of their discovery pressing them forward, their footsteps quick against the stone streets of Dawnfire. The sky above them still rippled from the disturbance, the stars quivering as if the heavens themselves were recoiling from what had just transpired.Myrra kept close to Elior’s side, her breath quickened. "We need to find out what that was.""We already know," Sienna said grimly. "The Veil is breaking. That was its cry."Elior tightened his grip around the Second Crown, his mind racing. The Hall of Kings had given them an answer, but not a solution. The First King had locked something away with the Crowns, but the key. The key was still missing.No. Not missing. Stolen."The Forgotten Hand took the key," he muttered. "Back in Dawnfire. They knew before we did. They’ve had it all this time."Rael exhaled sharply. "And now, they're using it."Bram cursed under his breath. "Then we need
