All Chapters of Bones of the Betrayed: Rise of the Last Bonekeeper: Chapter 31
- Chapter 40
112 chapters
CHAPTER 30 — “THE PRICE OF BREATH”
The stairwell shook as if something massive was clawing its way up from the depths. Dust rained down from the cracked ceiling, coating Seren’s hair in pale grit.“Elias MOVE!” Seren shouted, shoving him forward.Elias stumbled up the last steps, gripping the railing as the bone-song inside his chest twisted violently warning, urgent, sharp like a blade scraping nerves. He hissed, “It’s right below us.”Caedia lifted her staff, listening to the vibrations beneath their feet. “That is not the Remnant pack… Something larger comes.”Sylare whimpered behind them, pale and shaking. “I-it followed us… I told you they always follow Echo-bearers…”Seren grabbed Sylare’s hand. “Hey, it’s okay. We’re almost out of the catacombs.”The stairwell shuddered again this time accompanied by a deep, marrow-rattling growl. Elias froze. That sound… He’d heard it before.“The Bone-Wraith,” he whispered. Seren stiffened. “The same one from the sanctum?!”Caedia’s voice dropped to a thin, controlled murmur.
CHAPTER 31— “THE PALACE ABOVE THE BONE”
The tunnel ended at a towering bone gate old, cracked, but humming with a faint pulse. Beyond it, muted sunlight filtered through slats of decayed stone.The air smelled less like marrow and more like dust and cold wind. Seren pressed close to Elias. “We’re near the surface. I can feel it.”Caedia nodded. “We’re beneath the palace outskirts. The gate leads into the disused lower chambers.” Sylare shivered, clutching Elias’s spare cloak. “The Alchemists use those halls. If they see us”“They won’t,” Elias said. “Not if we’re fast.”He placed his hand against the gate. The bone-song inside him vibrated, responding to something faint and waiting. A lock. A pattern. An ancient seal.Caedia stepped beside him. “This gate was built by the Old Keepers. It will answer only to a marrow-bound lineage.”Seren blinked. “In English?”Caedia pointed at Elias. “It will open for him.”Elias inhaled. “Then let’s open it.” His resonance surged calm, controlled, for the first time that day. The bone gat
CHAPTER 32— “THE DOOR THAT BREATHES”
The undercorridor was narrower than the tunnels before it cold stone instead of bone, but stamped with old Bonekeeper sigils half-buried under dust.Elias, Seren, Caedia, and Sylare stood before the huge archway that led deeper into the palace’s forgotten underbelly. The air felt dense, heavy, and strangely warm as if the corridor ahead exhaled slow breaths.Seren shivered. “Elias… why is the air moving?”Caedia lifted her cane and tapped the stone. The impact sent faint ripples across the floor, like the corridor itself was reacting to sound.“This pathway is alive with dormant resonance,” Caedia murmured. “Worse someone has awakened parts of it.”Sylare pressed close to Seren, trembling. We shouldn’t be here. When the Alchemists moved things through this corridor… the walls made noises. Like they were listening.”Elias frowned. "Listening to what?”Sylare swallowed. “To pain.”Seren grabbed Elias’s hand instantly. “Nope. Absolutely not. Let’s pick a different way. Another tunnel. A
CHAPTER 33 — “THE DOORS THAT SHOULD NOT OPEN”
The stairwell breathed cold air up from the palace undercorridors like the exhale of a buried beast. Elias, Seren, Caedia, and the weakened Sylare emerged from the last catacomb passage and finally stepped into the dim stone hall that led directly beneath the royal wings.Seren pressed against Elias’s side, staring at the vaulted corridor ahead. “Are you sure this is the right way?”Caedia raised her head, listening to vibrations none of them could hear. “Yes. The resonance trail from Sylare’s corruption ends here. Lyra was taken upward.”Elias tightened his jaw. “Then that’s where we go.”Sylare swallowed, clutching Seren’s sleeve. “The Alchemists… they use the east halls. The restricted ones. I heard them say something about the Marrow Gate.”Seren frowned. “What in the world is the Marrow Gate?”Caedia stiffened. “A door that should never open.” Elias looked between them. “Explain.”Caedia’s voice dropped. “The Bonekeepers built three forbidden seals deep under this palace. The las
CHAPTER 34 — “THE SHADOW IN THE VEINS”
The palace’s undercorridor stretched ahead of them narrow, cold, and echoing with the steady drip of water from pipes overhead.Compared to the catacombs, the place felt unnervingly civilized marble floors cracked from years of neglect, lantern brackets long rusted, columns carved with faded noble crests.Seren wrinkled her nose. “This place smells like old nobles and mold.”Elias managed a faint grin. “Both accurate.” Caedia raised a hand sharply. “Quiet. This passage leads directly beneath the inner palace. There will be guards… and worse.”Sylare shivered behind Seren. “They kept me down here… when they first caught me. The Alchemists use these halls. For storage. For experiments.”Seren grimaced. “Fantastic. Horrifying. I hate this.” Elias took a breath calm, steady. “We stay together. No one wanders.”He moved ahead, Echo humming faintly along his skin. Seren stepped beside him, whispering, “You’re glowing again.”“Can’t help it,” Elias whispered back. “The closer we get to Lyra,
CHAPTER 35— “THE ECHO THAT ANSWERS BLOOD”
The underground passage trembled as if the bones themselves were breathing. Dust fell from the ceiling in soft cascades, and a cold draft traveled through the corridor like a warning.Seren gripped Elias’s arm. “Something’s moving behind us. I hear it.” Caedia didn’t turn. Her blind eyes were locked ahead, glowing faintly. “No. Not behind. Below.”Elias tensed. “Below?”“Yes,” Caedia whispered. “There is something beneath the floor. Tracking your Echo.”Seren’s voice dropped to a terrified hiss. “What kind of something?” Caedia inhaled slowly. “A Mawcaller.”Seren blanched. “A what?”“A creature born from the bones of beasts,” Caedia murmured. “And used to hunt Echo-bearers.” Elias’s jaw clenched. “They bred it for me.”“No,” Caedia said calmly. “They bred it for anyone like you. But you are the first in centuries.”Seren swallowed. “Meaning we are the first meal it’s smelled in centuries?” A crack pulsed beneath their feet. Elias grabbed Seren’s wrist. “Move. Now.”They sprinted down
CHAPTER 36 — “THE DOOR OF WHISPERS”
The descent ended in silence so thick it felt like liquid. Elias lowered his torch, the faint glow revealing a chamber of twisting bone pillars each carved with spiraled runes that pulsed like slow heartbeats.Seren hesitated at the threshold. “This feels… off.”“It feels watched,” Caedia murmured, her blind eyes drawn toward the curling shadows between the pillars. “Something here listens.”Sylare clutched Elias’s cloak nervously. “Are we close to the palace?”Caedia nodded. “Very. These are the lower resonance vaults. Directly beneath the royal wing.” Elias tensed. That meant Lyra was near. Seren stepped beside him. “You okay?”“No,” Elias said honestly. “But I will be.”As they stepped deeper, the air shifted. Soft sounds drifted through the pillars thin, echoing murmurs. Seren froze. “Elias… did you hear that?”Elias listened carefully. A whisper brushed his ear. “Elias…” He jumped back. “What was that?!” Caedia lifted her staff defensively. “Do not answer.These vaults echo memo
CHAPTER 37 — “THE PRINCE OF WHISPERS”
The hidden chamber beneath the palace throne room was colder than any tunnel Elias had walked through. Not physically cold bone cold, the kind that seeped into thoughts rather than flesh.The chamber’s entrance sealed behind them with a soft, ominous thrum. Seren flinched. “I don’t like that sound.” Caedia gripped her bone cane tighter.“It means we’re entering a resonance ward. Someone powerful set it.” Sylare shivered. “The Alchemists used this place to test rituals. Not even the nobles know it exists.”Elias scanned the long, The hall led into a wide circular chamber ringed with cracked marble pillars. Old Bonekeeper murals lined the walls painted stories of oath-takers, warriors, and kings long dead. But the floor…The floor was carved with spiraling runes still glowing faintly blue. Seren grabbed Elias’s sleeve. “Those runes… they look like the corruption marks.”Caedia nodded grimly. “Because they are. This is a ritual array.” Sylare shook harder. “This is where they meant to ki
CHAPTER 38 — “THE BONES THAT REMEMBER”
The ascent tunnel narrowed until Elias had to duck under sweeping arches of ribbed bone. Each curve hummed gently with old resonance Bonekeeper echoes drifting like faint memories.The air grew warmer, thinner, touched by the distant breath of the city above. Seren walked close beside him, her fingers hooked lightly into the back of his cloak. “Elias… something feels different up here.”Caedia nodded, tapping the wall with her bone staff. “We’re nearing the palace undercorridors. The walls carry fresher bone fresh deaths.”Seren paled. “Meaning…?”“Meaning the Alchemists have been busy.”Sylare flinched, hugging herself. “The palace has been strange for weeks. People vanish at night… guards whisper about new rituals.”Elias’s jaw tightened. “And they’re hiding Lyra somewhere in all this.”Caedia’s head tilted. “Yes. And whatever ritual they’re planning… it requires Echo or blood tied to Echo.”Seren sighed quietly.m“So basically everything comes back to Elias. Again.”Elias offered a
CHAPTER 38 — “THE DEEP CHAMBER OF ECHOES”
The descent ended abruptly. The bone pathway flattened into a vast, circular chamber far wider than anything they had crossed. Ribs arched overhead like an enormous cage suspended in eternal darkness.The air hummed with a low, ancient vibration. Seren stepped closer to Elias, whispering, “This place feels… angry.”Caedia extended one hand cautiously, feeling the vibration in the air. “It should. This chamber was forbidden even to Bonekeepers.”Elias scanned the runes etched into the floor spiraling, intersecting, pulsing faintly. “What is this place?” he asked.Caedia inhaled slowly. “A resonance well. The oldest in the undercity.”Seren frowned. “Meaning…?”“It amplifies all marrow frequencies,” Caedia replied. “Living or dead.”Elias stiffened. “Including mine.”“Especially yours.”Seren’s grip tightened on Elias’s sleeve. “Okay, I hate this plan already.”“It isn’t a plan,” Caedia corrected. “It’s a path. The only one left that leads upward.”Before Elias could respond, a faint, t