All Chapters of THE HIDDEN FLAME OF LUTHERCHRIS: Chapter 81
- Chapter 90
149 chapters
CHAPTER 81 — THE SHADOW THAT WATCHES
The night beyond the shattered ridge was darker than any Collins had ever seen. Not the ordinary darkness of an unlit sky — this was a thick, heavy blackness that felt alive, as if something inside it was breathing. Watching. Waiting.Collins stood at the cliff’s edge with Elyndra and Kael behind him, the cold wind tugging at their cloaks. Far below, the ruins of the old fortress stretched out like a broken skeleton, crowned by faint lights that flickered unnaturally — not torches, not magic flames, but something colder.Something wrong.Kael swallowed hard. “Whatever lives down there… it doesn’t want visitors.”Elyndra didn’t respond. She was staring at the ruins, brows knitted, her hand hovering near her staff. Her aura was tense — too tense, even for her.Collins noticed.“What are you sensing?” he asked quietly.Elyndra hesitated. “Not sensing… remembering.”That made Collins turn fully toward her. Elyndra never hesitated. She was a spirit seer; memory was as sharp to her as sight
CHAPTER 82 — THE OTHER FLAME
The air around the ruins quivered with heat, yet the night remained cold. Collins could feel the flames rising from the cracked torches, swirling in spirals that obeyed no wind. They bent toward the strange boy — the boy who wore his face, carried his aura, and bore the same flame mark he had believed belonged only to him.The boy watched him with eyes too calm for someone surrounded by chaos.Elyndra tightened her grip on Collins’ arm. “Don’t move. Not yet.”Collins swallowed. “Elyndra… who is he?”She shook her head slowly, eyes fixed on the double. “Not who. What.”Kael was less patient. “I don’t care what he is. If he tries anything—”The boy raised a hand, not in threat but in quiet plea.“I don’t want to fight,” he said softly. “You’ve misunderstood me.”Collins’ heart hammered. The voice was his voice — not perfectly, but close enough to stir an uneasy feeling in his bones.“Then explain,” Collins demanded. “You said you’re something my parents left behind. How is that possible
CHAPTER 83 — THE ARRIVAL OF THE SOVEREIGN’S SHADOW
The ruins shuddered like a living creature awakened from a nightmare. Dust rained from the broken ceiling. Cracks slithered along the ground. And the cold darkness at the far end of the hall thickened until it felt like the night itself was folding inward.Collins could feel a pressure in the air — a pressure that squeezed his lungs and tightened around his heart.It felt like he was being watched.No… claimed.The boy who shared his face — his other half — stepped back, fear flickering across his expression for the first time.“He’s here,” the boy whispered. “The Sovereign’s Shadow.”Kael swung his sword up immediately. “What do you mean shadow? Where’s the actual Sovereign?”The boy shook his head. “The Sovereign doesn’t come in person. He sends only an echo. A small piece of his presence. It’s enough to destroy everything.”A cold wind blasted through the ruins, extinguishing every unnatural flame except the ones flickering on Collins’ wrist and the boy’s.Elyndra stepped forward,
CHAPTER 83 — THE ARRIVAL OF THE SOVEREIGN’S SHADOW
The ruins shuddered like a living creature awakened from a nightmare. Dust rained from the broken ceiling. Cracks slithered along the ground. And the cold darkness at the far end of the hall thickened until it felt like the night itself was folding inward.Collins could feel a pressure in the air — a pressure that squeezed his lungs and tightened around his heart.It felt like he was being watched.No… claimed.The boy who shared his face — his other half — stepped back, fear flickering across his expression for the first time.“He’s here,” the boy whispered. “The Sovereign’s Shadow.”Kael swung his sword up immediately. “What do you mean shadow? Where’s the actual Sovereign?”The boy shook his head. “The Sovereign doesn’t come in person. He sends only an echo. A small piece of his presence. It’s enough to destroy everything.”A cold wind blasted through the ruins, extinguishing every unnatural flame except the ones flickering on Collins’ wrist and the boy’s.Elyndra stepped forward,
CHAPTER 84
Beneath the Ancient Vault
The entire vaulted chamber trembled as Collins stepped deeper inside, each footstep echoing like a heartbeat against the timeless stone. The air was different here—heavier, colder, dense with a pressure that made his skin prickle. It was as if the vault itself was alive and watching him.Behind him, Seraphine closed her eyes, fingertips glowing faintly as she scanned the chamber with her Spirit Sight.“Collins,” she whispered, “there’s something wrong with this place. The energy… it dips and rises like something breathing.”Dareon unsheathed his curved blade, keeping his stance low and ready. “Just tell me where to swing.”Collins didn’t answer.His attention was fixed on the massive door at the far end of the room—a towering slab of pale stone engraved with swirling runes that pulsed like veins. Four elemental symbols circled the center, arranged like points of a compass: fire, wind, earth, water.But at the center was a fifth symbol—one he had never seen before. A spiral of black fl
CHAPTER 85 The Shadow’s Warning
Cold darkness swallowed the vault, so thick that even Seraphine’s Spirit Sight couldn’t pierce it. The three of them stood frozen, hearing only their own breathing—shallow, panicked, uneven.A pulse of red light flickered around Collins.His pendant.It glowed faintly, the only light resisting the suffocating blackness. Dareon gripped his sword tighter and whispered, “Collins… if that thing jumps at us, I’m swinging first and asking questions later.”But Collins barely heard him.His gaze was locked on the shadowy figure that still hovered near the altar, its eyes glowing ember-red like dying coals. The oppressive aura around it pressed on their minds, their bones, even their magic.Seraphine forced out a breath. “You… you called him the Fifth Heir. What do you mean by that?”The figure tilted its head, amused.“Child of the Four Flames… you know already. You simply fear the truth.”Seraphine stiffened. Sweat traced down her temple. Collins noticed—she did know something, but hadn’t t
CHAPTER 86 _The Trial of the Fifth Flame
The darkness swallowed Collins whole, so suddenly that the sound of Seraphine and Dareon screaming his name vanished as if someone had cut a string. The ground beneath him dissolved, replaced by nothing—an endless, weightless void.Then light erupted.Not bright.Not warm.A sickly, pulsing hue like dying embers.Collins gasped as his feet struck solid ground again—dusty, cracked stone. When he looked up, his breath caught in his throat.He stood in the ruins of a city.Broken towers leaned at impossible angles, shattered rooftops scattered like bones. Fires burned with black flames, silent and unmoving, as though frozen in time. The sky was no sky at all—just swirling darkness with streaks of violet lightning.A chill raced through him.“This… this place…”A voice whispered behind him.“Do you recognize it?”Collins spun. The shadow figure stood at the edge of a collapsed building, its form flickering in and out like a glitch in reality.“What is this place?” Collins demanded.The fi
CHAPTER 87_
The City That Wouldn’t Die
The monster came again—this time faster, heavier, angrier. Its six glowing eyes burned like molten stars, locking onto Collins with murderous intent. Every step it took cracked the ground beneath it, sending tremors rippling across the shattered city.Collins inhaled sharply.His hands trembled, but the flame inside him blazed stronger than before.Not wild.Not chaotic.Just… awake.The Abyssal Flame curled around his arms like a living shadow, rippling in black and crimson waves.“Alright,” he whispered. “Let’s do this.”The creature leaped.The air exploded outward as its massive body hurtled down at him. Collins barely dodged, rolling through rubble as a colossal claw smashed into the ground where he stood moments before. The impact sent chunks of stone flying into the sky.Collins thrust his hand upward.A spiral of black fire erupted from his palm, blasting against the monster’s shoulder. The blast burned a hole through the creature, but the shadows immediately surged back into
CHAPTER 88_Return to the Shattered Vault
Light returned before sound.A pale glow flickered around Collins’ vision, blurring and bending like ripples in water. His body felt heavy—no, hollow, like his soul had been stretched thin and snapped back into place.Then he heard a voice.Close. Panicked.“Collins! Collins—wake up!”Seraphine’s hands gripped his shoulders, her palms blazing with warm spirit energy. Dareon hovered behind her, sword drawn, eyes darting around the vault as if expecting something to leap out of the shadows.Collins blinked, breath trembling. “I… I’m back?”Seraphine pulled him into a tight embrace before he even finished speaking.“You were gone for too long. The barrier wouldn’t let us through. I thought—”Her voice cracked.“I thought we lost you.”Dareon cleared his throat loudly. “Yeah, well, I knew he wouldn’t die. He still owes me five gold.”Seraphine glared at him. “Dareon—!”“What?” Dareon shrugged. “Crying won’t make him any prettier.”Collins let out a rough laugh, leaning forward as the grou
CHAPTER 89 — THE EDGE OF CHOICES
The hallway outside the conference chamber was silent—too silent.Chris stood there, breathing hard, his mind racing with everything he had just witnessed. Luther’s confession… the board members’ stunned faces… and the sudden collapse of Dr. Halima that ended the meeting prematurely.It all replayed in his mind like broken shards of a memory refusing to settle.But Chris wasn’t alone.A soft voice rose behind him.“Chris… wait.”He turned.Sarah.Her eyes were red, her breath shallow, and yet she still carried an unshakable determination—the kind he had known from the very first day he met her.He swallowed. “Sarah… I didn’t think you’d follow me.”“I had to,” she whispered. “Because everything is falling apart, and you’re standing in the middle of it.”Chris looked away, jaw tightening.“Everything Luther did… it’s too much. And now the board wants answers I don’t even have.”Sarah stepped closer.“Then let’s find answers. Together.”That word—together—did something to him.It soften