The City Beneath the Chains 🩸⛓️🌊
The Abyssal Prison split beneath their feet, a jagged maw tearing open the earth to swallow the siblings whole. Salt-laden air rushed in, heavy with the scent of rust and ancient decay. Above, the faint rotting light of Hollow Deep vanished into silence. Below, the drowned city of Khalduros awaited—forgotten by time but not by magic.
Kael's POV
I hit the slick marble floor hard, coughing as cold droplets fell from crumbled pillars and shattered statues. My flames sputtered weakly in the damp air—heat a ghost in this drowned tomb.
The scent of salt mixed with sulfur, a sickly reminder that this place breathed in dark secrets and old blood.
I spat blood, gritting my teeth despite the chill gnawing at my bones.
The half-submerged city stretched around us—an eerie cathedral of drowned stone and shattered history. The Drowned Throne, lost beneath centuries of water and silence.
I gave a crooked grin, bitter but unyielding. "Well… if we wanted a fight, this is definitely the perfect place."
Nyra's voice was soft, razor-sharp. "It's not dead. It's waiting."
Aelina's eyes flickered nervously at the shadows, her breath shallow. "Something watches beneath the water. Not gods. Something old. Something hungry."
The stones beneath us pulsed faintly, alive with ancient power—responding to the blood that ran like wildfire in our veins.
Nyra's POV
The silence was alive with whispers—ghosts of wars that no mortal memory could hold.
Whispers of battles before history, of magic older than gods.
The water around us was cold and unforgiving, but the city's gaze was colder still—ancient magic pulsing beneath every stone, waiting.
Suddenly, the air thickened as molten gold erupted from the cracked walls.
The Goldmen marched forth—living statues of liquid metal, their footsteps shaking the drowned streets like thunder.
From the depths rose creatures of nightmare: leviathans with teeth sharper than blades, drowned priestesses whose glowing eyes pierced the gloom.
The battle exploded—a furious tempest of fire and water, steel and magic.
Aelina's POV
I bent gravity itself, wrenching it to crush the Goldmen beneath an unbearable weight.
The earth cracked and groaned beneath their feet, stones splintering into shards like brittle bones.
But then, searing pain lanced through me—a dagger buried deep in my side.
I looked down to see Elairis collapsing beside me, crimson pooling beneath her like spilled rubies.
"No!" I cried, dropping to my knees, trembling hands cradling her fragile body.
Her breaths were shallow, eyes glazed with pain—but fierce even in death.
"I won't make it..." she whispered, voice barely audible.
Tears blurred my vision. "Stay with me. Please."
Her last look was a mixture of defiance and sorrow.
"Be stronger... for us."
Her body went limp in my arms.
Aelina's Wrath
Cold fire ignited in my chest, wild and merciless.
The High Gold Priest—the monster who had ended Elairis's light—stood smug, his eyes alight with cruel satisfaction.
I tore his fingers off, one by agonizing one.
Crushed his tongue beneath my heel.
Seared his eyes with unrelenting black flames.
Drove his own staff through his chest, twisting until his screams shredded the air.
Runes of ancient cruelty burned into his flesh, siphoning life with every pulse of pain.
He begged for mercy.
I gave him none.
Holding Elairis's lifeless body once more, tears drying on my cheeks, I opened my palm.
The Swallowing
A swirling void shimmered in my hand—black, cold, endless.
Slowly, painfully, I swallowed her whole—bone, blood, soul dissolving into the infinite emptiness.
The city shuddered beneath us, acknowledging the unholy bond.
Kael's POV
I fought with everything left, flames roaring against metal and water.
"Hey," I grunted through bloodied teeth, "only died twice this round. Progress?"
Nyra rolled her eyes, but I caught a faint smile behind her cold stare.
Nyra's POV
The Prism Heart pulsed in my palm—gold shifting to rainbow hues—whispering secrets no mortal was meant to hear.
Khalduros trembled beneath our feet, stone and water melding into shapes not meant to exist.
Maevhara's POV (Through the Mirror)
They slip through my grasp.
My monsters outgrow their chains.
The city awakens beneath their bloodline—and with it, something older stirs.
Sahris' POV
Rage coiled inside me like a blade twisting in flesh.
Slya's confession to Kael burned like poison.
He doesn't deserve her.
I will take everything from Kael—his fire, his breath, his life.
Revenge is a hunger that will never be sated.
The Awakening
Beneath the battlefield, cold chains rattled in ancient rhythm.
A figure bound in shadow stirred—ancient wrath sealed for eternity.
Her eyes flared like burning coals, the chains glowing with dark energy that threatened to unravel reality.
You woke me.
Now bleed.
The Aftermath
Khalduros, once lost beneath the waves, rose anew beneath their feet.
The siblings stood victorious—but the price was etched in blood and shadow.
Their spilled blood whispered of wars yet to come.
Next time:
🩸 Blood remembers.
👁️ Secrets bleed through stone.
🔥 Kael laughs at death—again.
💀 Sahris doesn't just want revenge… he wants ruin.
🔮 The Prism Heart whispers.
🐍 And the oldest sin opens its eyes