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Chapter 9: The Price of Power
Last Updated:
2025-02-20 17:08:07
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The Howling Throne Chapter 10: The Hunt Begins
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
Last Updated : 2025-02-21The Howling Throne Chapter 12: The Trial Begins
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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Darkness swallowed us whole.The entrance to the Temple of the Hollow was a gaping maw in the mountainside, its stone archway carved with symbols worn smooth by time. Mist curled around our feet as we stepped inside, the scent of damp earth and something ancient thick in the air.My breath came in shallow gasps. My muscles still ached from the climb, and the wound on my arm burned like fire. But I couldn’t stop moving. Not with the Revenant still shrieking somewhere in the distance.Rael led the way, their silver eyes gleaming in the dim torchlight. “Keep close,” they murmured. “This place is not as empty as it seems.”I didn’t doubt it.Sienna walked beside me, her expression unreadable. The encounter with the Revenant had shaken all of us, but her silence felt heavier. I wanted to ask her if she was all right, but the words stuck in my throat.Instead, Bram was the one to break the silence. “Well, this is nice. Just casually walking into an ancient, probably haunted death trap.” He
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Elior’s breath came in ragged gasps as he pressed a hand against his side, feeling the warmth of fresh blood seeping through his fingers. The pain was sharp, but it wasn’t what unsettled him most. It was the silence that followed the battle—the eerie, suffocating quiet when death had claimed too many.Rael remained at his side, silver eyes flickering in the dim moonlight. “We need to move. Now.”Freya and Bram stood nearby, their weapons slick with blood. Sienna lingered at the treeline, her gaze darting to the path ahead. The Bloodfangs had retreated, but Elior knew they weren’t done hunting him. They never would be.“We can’t keep running,” Bram muttered, wiping sweat from his brow. “They’ll just keep coming.”Rael shot him a sharp look. “And what do you suggest? We wait until they rip us apart?”Elior barely heard them. His pulse thundered in his ears, whispers from the Crown slithering through his mind. The power was there, waiting. It had abandoned him once. Could he trust it aga
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Elior’s breath hitched as the words echoed through the mist-laden forest.Welcome home.It shouldn’t have been possible. That face—that voice—it belonged to a ghost, to someone long lost in the blood-soaked pages of his past. His pulse thundered as he stepped forward, drawn by something he couldn’t explain, couldn’t fight.Sienna grabbed his wrist. “Elior, don’t.”He barely heard her. The figure in the mist remained still, his features identical to Elior’s. The same sharp jawline, the same storm-gray eyes—except where Elior’s gaze carried the weight of battle and loss, this version of himself stared back with something else. A knowing. A certainty.Rael shifted beside him, one hand on his weapon. “That’s not you.” His voice was firm, unwavering. “It’s something pretending to be.”Elior swallowed hard. “Then why does he know me?”The other Elior—if that’s what it was—tilted his head slightly, the edges of his mouth curving into something that was almost a smile. “Because I am you,” he
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The Howling Throne Chapter 22: The Blooded Path
The journey to Rael’s “place” was nothing short of brutal.Elior had expected trouble, but he hadn’t anticipated the way the land itself seemed to turn against them. The deeper they ventured into the northern woods, the more the air thickened, charged with something unseen yet undeniably present. Even the trees whispered—low, rustling murmurs that sounded too much like voices.“This place feels cursed,” Bram muttered, tightening his grip on the hilt of his dagger.Freya scanned their surroundings, her expression unreadable. “It’s not cursed. It’s old.”Sienna, who had been unnervingly quiet since they left the safehouse, finally spoke. “Old places tend to remember things.”Rael only smirked. “Exactly.”Elior’s jaw tightened. He wasn’t in the mood for Rael’s cryptic nonsense. “Where are you taking us?”Rael cast him a glance over his shoulder. “To someone who knows more about the Crown than any of us.”Elior narrowed his eyes. “And you didn’t think to mention this before?”Rael shrugge
The Howling Throne Chapter 21: Echoes of the Crown
The air still crackled with lingering energy.Elior stood frozen, his heart slamming against his ribs. The Hollow Stalker had fallen, its massive form dissolving into tendrils of darkness that melted into the ground, leaving only a faint scorch where it had once stood. But the true battle—the one within—had only just begun.The Crown’s power still pulsed in his veins, a quiet whisper pressing against his mind. It had responded to him. Obeyed him. Or had it merely let him believe he was in control?The others hadn’t moved.Rael watched him with sharp, assessing eyes. Bram dusted himself off, still muttering curses under his breath. Sienna clutched her arms, avoiding his gaze. And Freya—she was the only one who stepped forward, her dagger still drawn, her blue eyes unreadable.“You shouldn’t have been able to do that,” she murmured.Elior exhaled sharply, forcing himself to step back, to feel the weight of his own body again. “I know.”Rael finally spoke, his voice cold. “The Crown’s po
The Howling Throne Chapter 20: The Chains of Dominion
The moment Elior embraced the Crown’s power, everything changed.The forest, the battle, the fear—none of it mattered. All he could feel was the raw, electric energy coursing through him. It pulsed like a second heartbeat, filling the space around him with silver light. The air crackled as if the very world was reacting to the force he had unleashed.The Hollow Stalker snarled. For the first time, there was hesitation in its movements. The runes on its massive body pulsed erratically, reacting to Elior’s power.It recognized him.That thought sent a cold shiver through Elior’s spine, but he didn’t have time to dwell on it. The beast lunged again, its massive claws slicing through the air.Elior moved instinctively. His enhanced speed carried him forward, his blade glowing with the same eerie energy that hummed beneath his skin. He swung—not to deflect, not to defend, but to strike.The blade met the Hollow Stalker’s thick hide, and the moment of impact sent a shockwave through the cle
The Howling Throne Chapter 19 – The Mark of Kings
The forest was dead silent.No more growls. No more whispers in the wind.Only the echoes of Elior’s power remained, crackling in the air like a storm that had just passed but left destruction in its wake. The others hadn’t moved—not yet. They stood frozen, their expressions shifting between awe and unease.Sienna was the first to break the silence. “Elior…” Her voice was soft, hesitant.He barely heard her.His body still hummed with power, every nerve alight with the force he had just unleashed. The Crown had awakened—and it had answered him.Rael was watching him carefully, his silver eyes unreadable. “You felt it, didn’t you?”Elior clenched his jaw. “I controlled it.”Rael’s lips twitched, not quite a smirk. “Did you?”Elior exhaled sharply. He wanted to say yes, to claim that the power was his, that it had bent to his will and not the other way around. But something about Rael’s tone made him pause. Had he truly commanded the Crown? Or had it simply tested him, letting him belie
The Howling Throne Chapter 18 – A Crown of Shadows
The world felt wrong.Elior could still feel the remnants of the strange power thrumming beneath his skin, something dark and ancient lingering in the air around him. The mist had thinned, but its presence clung to the trees like an unshakable omen. He exhaled sharply, willing his heartbeat to slow.He wasn’t sure how long he had been standing there, staring at the spot where his ghostly reflection had disappeared. The others were waiting—watching.Sienna’s golden eyes held an emotion he couldn’t quite place. Fear? Doubt? He didn’t blame her. What had just happened wasn’t natural.Bram shifted uneasily, gripping his sword. “Someone needs to start talking.”Rael’s silver gaze flicked between them before settling on Elior. “That wasn’t an illusion, was it?”Elior swallowed, his throat dry. “No.”A tense silence followed. The wind carried the scent of damp earth and blood, but something else tainted the air—something old.Freya stepped forward, her fingers still wrapped tightly around th
The Howling Throne Chapter 17 – Echoes of the Past
Elior’s breath hitched as the words echoed through the mist-laden forest.Welcome home.It shouldn’t have been possible. That face—that voice—it belonged to a ghost, to someone long lost in the blood-soaked pages of his past. His pulse thundered as he stepped forward, drawn by something he couldn’t explain, couldn’t fight.Sienna grabbed his wrist. “Elior, don’t.”He barely heard her. The figure in the mist remained still, his features identical to Elior’s. The same sharp jawline, the same storm-gray eyes—except where Elior’s gaze carried the weight of battle and loss, this version of himself stared back with something else. A knowing. A certainty.Rael shifted beside him, one hand on his weapon. “That’s not you.” His voice was firm, unwavering. “It’s something pretending to be.”Elior swallowed hard. “Then why does he know me?”The other Elior—if that’s what it was—tilted his head slightly, the edges of his mouth curving into something that was almost a smile. “Because I am you,” he
The Howling Throne Chapter 16: Her First Escape Attempt
Elior’s breath came in ragged gasps as he pressed a hand against his side, feeling the warmth of fresh blood seeping through his fingers. The pain was sharp, but it wasn’t what unsettled him most. It was the silence that followed the battle—the eerie, suffocating quiet when death had claimed too many.Rael remained at his side, silver eyes flickering in the dim moonlight. “We need to move. Now.”Freya and Bram stood nearby, their weapons slick with blood. Sienna lingered at the treeline, her gaze darting to the path ahead. The Bloodfangs had retreated, but Elior knew they weren’t done hunting him. They never would be.“We can’t keep running,” Bram muttered, wiping sweat from his brow. “They’ll just keep coming.”Rael shot him a sharp look. “And what do you suggest? We wait until they rip us apart?”Elior barely heard them. His pulse thundered in his ears, whispers from the Crown slithering through his mind. The power was there, waiting. It had abandoned him once. Could he trust it aga
The Howling Throne Chapter 15: Whispers of the Hollow
Darkness swallowed us whole.The entrance to the Temple of the Hollow was a gaping maw in the mountainside, its stone archway carved with symbols worn smooth by time. Mist curled around our feet as we stepped inside, the scent of damp earth and something ancient thick in the air.My breath came in shallow gasps. My muscles still ached from the climb, and the wound on my arm burned like fire. But I couldn’t stop moving. Not with the Revenant still shrieking somewhere in the distance.Rael led the way, their silver eyes gleaming in the dim torchlight. “Keep close,” they murmured. “This place is not as empty as it seems.”I didn’t doubt it.Sienna walked beside me, her expression unreadable. The encounter with the Revenant had shaken all of us, but her silence felt heavier. I wanted to ask her if she was all right, but the words stuck in my throat.Instead, Bram was the one to break the silence. “Well, this is nice. Just casually walking into an ancient, probably haunted death trap.” He
The Howling Throne Chapter 14: The Path of Echoes
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
