The tunnel deepened, swallowing Caedia, Elias, and Seren in a silence so dense it pressed on the skin like cold fingers. Only the soft glow of embedded runes lit their path pulsing dimly in rhythm with Elias’s own resonance.Seren walked close enough that her shoulder brushed Elias’s arm every few steps. “Elias… are you sure about this?”“No,” Elias admitted quietly. “But we have no choice.”Caedia spoke from ahead, her pace smooth and deliberate despite her blindness. “You fear the Chamber. That is good.”Elias frowned. “Why is it good?”Caedia did not slow. “Fear keeps the Echo from consuming you.”Seren muttered, “Great. So we’re walking toward something designed to terrify him.”Caedia smiled faintly. “It is not designed to terrify. It is designed to reveal.”Elias’s stomach tightened. He wasn’t sure which was worse.They walked until the tunnel widened into a circular antechamber. The walls curved in a perfect ring, etched with spirals of bone-runes that glowed a muted blue.Sere

The Chamber darkened. Runes flickered out one by one, swallowed by a creeping darkness that slithered across the bone walls like living ink. Elias stiffened, heart pounding as cold air pressed against his skin.A whisper rippled behind him. Echo… Elias turned sharply. “Who’s there?”Silence. Then another whisper closer. The third truth… Elias’s breath caught. The Chamber of Echoes trembled underfoot, dust sifting from the curved bone ceiling. “Come out!” he shouted.The darkness pulsed. A shadow peeled itself from the wall tall, broad-shouldered, and familiar. Too familiar. Elias’s heart crashed against his ribs. “No… it can’t be.”The shadow stepped forward, forming a silhouette he had seen a thousand times. Kelren. But not the echo.Not the gentle memory.This version was twisted flesh dripping into shadow, eyes empty, face distorted by something darker than death. Elias stumbled back. “Father?”The shadow-Kelren tilted its head, voice a hollow rasp. “You think betrayal lives only i

The roar rolled through the tunnels like thunder shaking inside bone. It wasn’t a sound meant for living ears it scraped, fractured, vibrated straight into the marrow.Seren choked on a gasp and stumbled backward. “Elias… what was that?” Caedia didn’t breathe. “It’s closer than I thought.”Elias grabbed Seren’s hand. “Move. Now!”They sprinted toward the newly opened passage. The mist brushed against Elias’s skin like icy fingers trying to slow him down. Behind them, stone cracked followed by another monstrous, rattling snarl.Seren glanced over her shoulder. “Elias something’s moving in the dark!”. Caedia grabbed Seren’s arm and shoved her forward. “Don’t look. Run.”The Mist Passage. The new tunnel was narrow, walls smooth and ribbed like the inside of a giant bone. Mist swirled around their feet, whispering faintly.Seren clung to Elias’s sleeve. “Why is it cold in here?”“Because we’re stepping outside normal resonance pathways,” Caedia said, her voice clipped. “The Bonekeepers bu

The sanctum’s bone-lit walls trembled with a quiet, ancient hum. Elias stood in the center of the chamber, drenched in sweat, chest burning from the strain of the purge he’d just survived.Caedia circled him slowly, her blind, glowing eyes focused not on him, but on the resonance pulsing through him. “Again,” she said.Elias gritted his teeth. “I just did it.”“And you will do it again,” Caedia replied. “Until your Echo obeys you before emotion takes control. Not after.”Seren stood nearby with the rescued girl, both watching nervously. “Elias… maybe rest for a second,” Seren whispered. “No,”Elias said, shaking his head. “We don’t have time.”Caedia nodded approvingly. “Good. You begin to understand.” Elias dragged in a breath. “What’s first?” Caedia extended her hand. Bone fragments rose from the floor, orbiting slowly in the air like pale moons.“You will learn to focus the Echo without letting it consume you.” She raised her chin. “Break only the center fragment.” Elias squinted.

The climb through the upper catacomb tunnels felt endless each step heavier than the last, each breath scraping with the tension of horrors behind them and worse horrors ahead.The air thinned, growing warmer the higher they traveled. Seren wiped sweat from her brow. “These tunnels… they feel different.”Caedia nodded. “We’re approaching the palace’s undercorridors. The Bonekeepers once guarded passageways beneath every noble hall.”Sylare trembled as she leaned against the wall for support. “This is where they took her. Down this way. Past the old vaults.”Elias’s jaw clenched. “Then we’re close.”Seren saw the dark fire in his eyes and grabbed his sleeve gently. “Elias… breathe.” He forced himself to inhale slowly. The Echo inside him thrummed like a restless beast, tugging at his bones.“I’m breathing,” Elias murmured.“No,” Seren said softly, stepping in front of him. “You’re pacing like you want to tear a wall down. You’re shaking.”He looked at his hands they were trembling. The