The palace undercorridor smelled wrong. Elias noticed it immediately the air was sharp, metallic, layered with something sour beneath the stone.His bones hummed uneasily, not warning him of danger so much as recognizing it. Seren wrinkled her nose. “Tell me I’m imagining that smell.”“You’re not,” Caedia said quietly. “This corridor hasn’t been used in decades.”“Then why does it smell like blood?” Seren whispered.Elias stopped walking. Everyone froze. Sylare nearly stumbled into him. “What is it?”Elias didn’t answer right away. His eyes were unfocused, listening to something deeper than sound. “The walls,” he said slowly. “They’re talking.”Seren swallowed. “That’s… not comforting.”“They’re screaming,” Elias corrected.Caedia’s fingers tightened around her bone staff. “About what?”“Pain,” Elias said. “Recent pain.”They moved forward more carefully now, footsteps soft against the old stone. The corridor sloped upward, its ceiling supported by rib-like arches etched with half-era

The Bone-Throne chamber breathed. That was the first thing Elias noticed. Not metaphorically literally. The massive ribbed structure at the center of the hall expanded and contracted slowly, like a living lung.Pale marrow-light pulsed through its veins, illuminating the carved faces of long-dead Bonekeepers frozen in agony along the walls. Seren whispered, “Tell me that thing isn’t alive.”Caedia answered quietly, “It is not alive.”She paused. “…But it is awake.”Elias swallowed. “That’s not better.”They stepped farther in. The doors sealed behind them with a thunderous crack of bone. Seren spun. “That’s really not better!”A voice rolled through the chamber ancient, layered, echoing through marrow and stone. “Elias Dray.” Elias froze. Seren’s fingers wrapped around his wrist. “You didn’t say it knew your name.”“I didn’t know,” Elias said slowly.Caedia stepped forward, staff striking the floor once. “Reveal yourself, Sentinel.”The marrow-light brightened. A figure rose from the

The capital’s undercorridors breathed like a living thing. Elias felt it the moment they crossed the final threshold an oppressive, pulsing resonance embedded in the walls, the floor, the very air.The bones here weren’t dead. They were listening. Seren slowed beside him. “Tell me I’m imagining this.”“You’re not,” Elias said quietly. “The city’s been reinforced with bone-lattice. Old Bonekeeper work.”Caedia stopped walking. “That shouldn’t exist,” she said sharply.Elias turned. “Why?”“Because the Bonekeepers swore never to let nobles weaponize resonance infrastructure,” Caedia replied. Her jaw tightened. “Which means someone broke that oath.”Seren muttered, “Let me guess. Alchemists.”Elias didn’t answer. His bones were vibrating harder now, a warning pulse rolling through his ribs. Something had changed above them.They reached a wide arch sealed with spiraled bone plates. Faint runes flickered gold laced with sick blue corruption. Sylare swallowed nervously. “This is where they

The underground war chamber smelled of bone dust, sweat, and fear. Elias stood at the center of the circular table, hands braced against the carved bone map of the capital.White runes pulsed beneath his palms, reacting to his presence like a living thing. Seren watched him closely. “Say it again.”“The Alchemists are evacuating the lower districts,” Elias said. “Quietly. No alarms. No Bonehunters.”Caedia tilted her head. “That makes no sense.”“It does,” Elias replied. “If they’re preparing the Silence Rite.”The room went still. Seren whispered, “That ritual isn’t real. It’s a myth.”“It was a myth,” Caedia corrected softly. “Until now.”A commander stepped forward, jaw tight. “Explain it. Slowly.”Elias straightened. “The Silence Rite severs resonance across an entire district. No bone-song. No Echo. No magic. Anyone bound to resonance Bonekeepers, Remnants, even Wraiths dies within minutes.”Murmurs rippled through the chamber. Seren’s voice shook. “How many people live in the lo

The Bone Throne chamber trembled. Not from magic. From fear. Elias stood at the center of the ancient hall, resonance crawling visibly beneath his skin, pale veins of light pulsing along his arms and neck.Around him, nobles pressed themselves against bone-pillars, whispers colliding like insects trapped in stone. Seren clutched his sleeve. “Elias… everyone’s staring.”“Let them,” Elias said quietly. “They’ve stared while people like us bled.”At the far end of the chamber, the Bone Throne cracked. A thin line split its ivory surface. Caedia inhaled sharply. “That shouldn’t be happening.”A noble shouted, “What did you do to the Throne?!”Elias didn’t look at him. “I didn’t touch it.” The crack widened. A low, wet sound echoed like marrow grinding against stone.Another noble screamed. “It’s rejecting us!”Seren whispered, “Rejecting…?”Caedia’s voice was tight. “The Throne responds to Bonekeeper authority. Elias your presence is destabilizing it.”Elias frowned. “I’m not attacking it