All Chapters of Bones of the Betrayed: Rise of the Last Bonekeeper: Chapter 51
- Chapter 60
112 chapters
CHAPTER 50— “THE BREATH OF THE SILVER VEIN”
The Silver Vein was nothing like Elias expected. The map Caedia uncovered made it seem like a simple detour through forgotten tunnels but the reality was a monstrous labyrinth of living metal, pulsing softly under the stone like veins beneath skin.Every surface shimmered faintly, casting ghost-white reflections across their faces as they stepped in. Seren stared upward, her hand tightening nervously around Elias’s.“Okay… this place feels like it’s breathing.” Elias nodded slowly. “Because it is.”Sylare, still pale but stronger than before, swallowed hard. “You mean literally?”Caedia touched the wall with her fingertips. The metal surface rippled faintly at her touch like water, or like flesh. “The Silver Vein was once the Bonekeepers’ primary energy artery.It carried resonance through the deep tunnels. It still retains fragments of that power.” Seren made a face. “Yes, great. Fantastic. A giant glowing tunnel with a heartbeat. Love that for us.”Elias smirked faintly. “You’re sca
CHAPTER 51 — “THE ECHO THAT ANSWERED BACK”
The chamber’s bone-lit walls shuddered with every breath Elias drew. The resonance storm inside him hadn’t settled since the last clash his bones humming, trembling, glowing in faint, dangerous pulses.Seren paced in front of him, hands in her hair, voice tight. “Elias stop pretending you’re fine. You’re vibrating like you swallowed a thunderstorm.”“I’m controlling it,” he said through clenched teeth.“No, you’re barely holding on,” she shot back. “There’s a difference.”Caedia stood a few paces away, blind eyes flickering with pale light as she listened to the echo in his marrow. “He’s stabilizing… but slowly. The last surge was too close to a full break.”Elias opened his eyes. “We didn’t have a choice.”“You never have a choice,” Seren muttered. “You just throw yourself into danger and hope the rest of us catch up.”Elias managed a faint smirk. “And you always do.”Seren threw a hand in the air. “Don’t charm your way out of this! You nearly tore the entire corridor apart!”Caedia
CHAPTER 52— “THE BLEEDING DOOR”
The stone corridor tightened into a narrow throat of carved bone, each wall pulsing faintly like it remembered the living creatures it once belonged to.Elias led the way, but his breathing was tight, uneven. His resonance was unstable glowing through his skin in flickers he couldn’t hide anymore.Seren kept close behind him, her voice soft but steady. “Elias… you’re humming again.”“I know.” His jaw clenched. “I can’t stop it.”Caedia moved last, her bone-staff tapping softly against the ground. “You’re nearing your threshold. If you reach it before we find Lyra.”Elias cut in sharply. “I won’t break.”Caedia’s blind eyes glowed dimly. “You say that with your mouth, not with your marrow.”Seren stepped beside Elias, touching his arm. “We’re almost there. Just breathe a little slower, okay?” He tried. But the bone-song inside him only grew louder. Every throb felt like a countdown.The corridor ended in a circular chamber marked with seven bone sigils, each glowing a sickly emerald gr
CHAPTER 53 — “THE ECHO OF A BROKEN CROWN”
The palace undercorridors trembled as Elias pressed his palm against the sealed bone-lock. Runes crawled awake beneath his touch like veins lighting under skin.Seren paced behind him, her breath uneven. “Elias, hurry. That alarm the Alchemists triggered… it’s calling guards. Everywhere.”Caedia stood to his right, listening to the vibrations in the walls. “They’re converging on this area. Four hallways. Twelve men. Possibly more.”Sylare clutched Seren’s hand anxiously. “They’ll kill us if they find us. They’ll kill her.”Elias’s jaw tightened. “Not if I break this first.”Seren stepped closer. “Elias, don’t overcharge. You’re still recovering from.”“I know,” he cut in softly. “I’ll be careful.”He wasn’t sure the words were true. The bone-lock pulsed weakly under his hand, resisting him. It sensed the Echo. And feared it.Caedia murmured, “Split your resonance. Not a blast. A whisper.” Elias closed his eyes. Inhaled. Let the Echo swirl thinly through his marrow. A soft pulse slid i
CHAPTER 54 — “THE BONE ALTAR’S SECRET”
The ascent tunnel opened into a chamber so vast Elias could feel the air shift before he saw it. A pale glow bled from every rib-like arch overhead, casting warped shadows across the walls.The room wasn’t just large it was alive with resonance, vibrating like a heartbeat beneath stone. Seren stepped in behind him and froze. “Elias… this place is humming.”“It’s not the room,” Caedia said quietly. “It’s the altar.”Sylare’s breath hitched. “Is that… where they meant to take me?”“No,” Caedia murmured. “This altar is older than the Alchemists. Much older. This belonged to the First Bonekeepers.”Seren tugged Elias’s sleeve. “So why does it feel… wrong?”Elias’s bones answered for him, the Echo shuddering beneath his ribs. “Because it’s active.”At the center of the room stood a towering circular platform of fused skeletal remains spines wrapped around spines, ribs twisted like crowns. Blue veins of old marrow pulsed through the structure.Seren grimaced. “That’s not an altar. That’s a
CHAPTER 55 — “THE SHADOWED COURT”
The upper palace corridors were nothing like Elias remembered. They were quieter. Too quiet. The kind of quiet that made the lamps burn lower and the air feel heavier, as if the palace itself were holding its breath.Seren pressed close to Elias’s side. “Why is it so empty?”Caedia ran her fingertips along the bone tiles, listening. “Because they know we’re here.”Sylare paled. “The Alchemists?”“Not just them,” Caedia said. “Something else stalks these halls.”Elias tightened his grip around Seren’s wrist. “Stay close. No matter what.”Seren nodded, swallowing hard. “Not planning on letting go.” They slipped deeper into the eastern wing toward the Court of Resonance, where Sylare insisted they’d dragged Lyra during the night of her capture.The deeper they went, the darker it became. And the warmer. Like the palace heat was gathering around the heart of the threat. Elias whispered, “Seren… do you hear that?”Seren tilted her head. “A hum?”“Resonance,” Caedia said. “Too much resonanc
CHAPTER 56 — “THE BONE OF MEMORY”
The palace undercorridors shook as another distant explosion rolled through the stone. Dust drifted from the ceiling like falling ash.Elias pressed his back to a pillar, pulling Seren close as a pair of armored palace sentinels marched past dark armor, alchemical sigils burning along their gauntlets.Seren whispered, “That was too close.”Elias nodded. “They’re sweeping the lower levels. They know someone’s down here.”Caedia crouched beside a cracked wall, tracing her hand along the bone veins beneath the marble.“They’re not searching for someone. They’re searching for you, Elias. The palace feels your Echo like a tremor.”Seren grabbed his arm. “Then we move fast. Lyra’s somewhere above us. Maybe the old council chamber, maybe.”Elias shook his head. “No. She wouldn’t be in a place that public. They’d hide her somewhere where screams won’t echo.”Seren swallowed hard. “So… the vault floors.”Caedia’s blind eyes flickered faintly. “Yes. Below the ritual hall.”Elias’s jaw tightened
CHAPTER 57 — “THE PRICE OF RESONANCE”
The corridor beyond the shattered arch reeked of burnt marrow and cracked bone. Smoke curled along the ceiling in sluggish ribbons, rising from the charred remains of the three Bonehunter guards Elias had crushed moments ago.Seren exhaled shakily. “Elias… that was…”“Too much,” Caedia finished sharply.Elias braced himself against the wall, breath heaving. His bones were still glowing faintly beneath his skin, the white light flickering like trapped lightning. “I had to,” Elias said. “They would’ve alerted the entire palace.”Caedia’s tone was severe. “And you nearly fractured your own spine in the process.”Seren touched Elias’s shoulder. “You did what you had to. But you can’t keep doing that every time someone breathes wrong.”Elias gave a dry laugh despite himself. “Do Bonehunters count as someone?”Seren shot him a look. “Elias.” He sighed and leaned his head back against the cool bone wall. “I’m fine.”“No, you’re not.” Seren stepped in front of him, glaring. “Your bones are li
CHAPTER 58— “THE HEARTBOUND OATH”
The storm over the Bonekeeper citadel cracked open with a scream of fractured lightning, illuminating the ruins below in split-second flashes of white.Elias stood on the balcony overlooking the shattered courtyard, hands gripping the railing so tightly the stone groaned. Seren approached him quietly. “You heard Caedia.”“I heard her,” Elias said, voice low. “I just don’t accept it.”Seren stepped beside him. “You can’t face a Heartbound Circle alone.”“I wasn’t planning to.” Elias’ jaw tightened. “But Caedia thinks my Echo won’t hold through the Binding.”Seren frowned. “Will it?”“Yes.” He said it too fast, too sharp. Seren raised an eyebrow. “You know lying to me has never worked.”Elias finally exhaled. “My Echo… it’s changing.”“Changing how?” He opened his hand. A pale resonance flickered beneath his skin gentle at first, then pulsing violently, cracking the air around his palm like distorted light.Seren flinched. “That’s… new.”“It started after the Remnant horde,” Elias said.
CHAPTER 59 — “THE MARROW MIRROR”
The air in the sub-hall vibrated like a taut string, humming with strange resonance. Elias froze mid-step, every bone in his body tightening with warning.Seren exhaled shakily behind him. “Elias… something’s wrong.”Caedia turned her blind gaze toward the darkness ahead. “No. Not something.” Her voice sharpened. “Someone.”Elias’s pulse jumped. “Alchemists?”“Or worse,” Caedia whispered. “Something built to stop you.”The corridor bent sharply into a chamber of polished bone. Torches burned with pale light, illuminating the floor etched with swirling sigils that pulsed whenever Elias stepped closer.Seren frowned. “That’s not normal Bonekeeper work.”“No,” Caedia murmured. “This is Alchemist craft. A trap disguised as a trial.”Elias clenched his fists. “Then let’s break it.” But before he could moveThe chamber walls rippled. And a figure stepped out of the bone. Not a creature. Not a Remnant. A boy. A perfect mirror of Elias. Same eyes. Same jaw. Same posture. But his eyes glowed b