Bullied No More: Rise of the Forgotten Heir

CHAPTER 6: THE VOICE IN THE DARK

“Run.” Elias froze The word didn’t echo. It didn’t need to. It slid straight into his chest like it belonged there. Victor moved instantly. “Lights!” Nothing happened.

The chamber remained pitch black, the sigils dead, the air thick and humming like a held breath. “That voice,” Elias whispered. “I know it.”Seraphine’s tone sharpened. “Impossible.”

“I heard it every night,” Elias said, heart hammering. “After she died. In my dreams.”

A soft laugh answered him. “You always did listen better when you were afraid.”

Elias’s knees went weak.“Mom?” he breathed.“Don’t say that name,” Victor snapped. “Whoever you are”

Lights flared violently. The chamber exploded into visibility. she stood at the far end of the room. Not a ghost. Not a memory. Alive. Older. Sharper.

Her hair streaked with silver, her eyes burning with the same familiar warmth Elias remembered  and something else layered beneath it. Calculation. Resolve. His mother “Elias,” she said softly. The world tilted.

Victor staggered back. “No…”

Seraphine’s face drained of color. “You’re dead.”

“So they told you,” the woman replied. “They lie professionally.”

Elias took a step forward, then another. “This isn’t real.”

She smiled sadly. “You always say that when you’re overwhelmed.”

His chest burned. “Why didn’t you come back?”

Her smile vanished. Before she could answer, the walls screamed. Not metaphorically. Stone cracked as something slammed into the chamber from all sides.

Symbols shattered. Tomas cried out as invisible pressure crushed him back onto the bench. Seraphine spun. “They breached the inner wards!”

Victor barked, “Positions!” Elias didn’t move.

He couldn’t stop staring at her. She crossed the distance in seconds and grabbed his face, forcing him to look at her. “Listen to me,” she said urgently. “Everything you are right now exists because I stayed away.”

“Then why are you here?” Elias demanded.

“Because they’ve decided subtlety is no longer efficient.”

The ceiling split open. Figures dropped through the rupture cloaked, masked, moving with terrifying precision. Their presence felt wrong, like the room rejected them.

One raised a blade that hummed with dark light. “Target confirmed,” it said. “Aurelian Heir.”

Victor surged forward. “Over my” The blade moved.

Victor hit the wall hard, blood spraying. “Victor!” Elias shouted.

His mother shoved him back. “Do not engage!”

Elias shook his head. “You don’t get to tell me what to do anymore.”

She met his gaze. Pride flickered  and fear. “Then survive,” she said. “That’s all I ever wanted.”

One of the cloaked figures lunged. Elias reacted without thinking. Something snapped inside him. The air bent. The attacker slammed into an invisible barrier and rebounded, crashing to the floor in a heap.

Elias stared at his hands. “I did that.” His mother’s eyes widened. “You manifested.”

Seraphine shouted, “Impossible! He hasn’t been trained!” Another attacker rushed him.

“Elias!” his mother yelled. “Focus! Feel the pressure  then push back!”

He did. The world obeyed. The attacker flew backward, bones shattering against stone. Silence followed. Elias gasped, horrified. “I didn’t mean to”

“No time,” his mother said sharply. “They won’t stop.”

Tomas screamed. “Behind you!” A blade slashed across Elias’s shoulder. Pain exploded.

He cried out, staggering. The attacker raised the blade again and froze. Chains of light wrapped around its limbs. Elias turned.

Seraphine stood there, hand raised, face tight with strain. “I didn’t come here to save you,” she said. “But I refuse to let them take you.”

The attacker snarled. “Traitor.” She clenched her fist. The chains crushed inward.

The figure collapsed, unmoving. Elias stared at her. “You’re helping me?”

Seraphine didn’t look at him. “Don’t misunderstand. I’m protecting the balance.”

“Same thing,” his mother muttered.Another tremor rocked the chamber.

 Victor groaned, pushing himself up.  Blood streaked his temple. “They’re not here to kill him.”

Elias turned sharply. “Then what?” Victor met his gaze. “They’re here to take you alive.”

A voice echoed from the darkness beyond the breach  calm, amused. “Correct.” The attackers parted. A tall figure stepped through, mask removed.

Elias’s stomach dropped. Julian Crest. Clapping slowly. “Well done,” Julian said. “You’re even more impressive than the projections.”

Elias bared his teeth. “You won’t touch me.” Julian smiled. “Oh, Elias. I already have.”

He nodded toward Elias’s shoulder. The wound burned  then spread. Elias gasped, collapsing to one knee. “What did you do?” his mother demanded.

Julian tilted his head. “Tagged him.” Seraphine swore. “A blood-mark.”

Victor growled. “You marked an Aurelian heir? That’s a declaration of war.”

Julian shrugged. “We passed that point.”

Elias clutched his shoulder, vision blurring. “Mom… it hurts.”

She dropped beside him, panic breaking through her composure. “No. No, no”

Julian watched, fascinated. “That mark lets us track him. Anywhere. Anytime.”

Elias glared up at him. “You’re scared.”Julian’s smile faltered.

Just a fraction. “Of what?” Julian asked.

“Of me choosing,” Elias said hoarsely. Julian leaned closer. “Then choose wrong.”

He snapped his fingers.The chamber began collapsing. “Go!” Elias’s mother shouted to Victor. “Take him!” Victor hesitated. “What about you?”

She met his eyes. “I’ll slow them.” “No,” Elias said weakly. “Not again.”

She cupped his face. “You don’t get to lose me twice.”

Seraphine grabbed Elias’s arm. “We have seconds.”

Elias reached for his mother. “Come with us!”

She smiled  soft, heartbreaking. “I can’t. Not yet.”

Julian stepped back into the shadows. “Touching reunion.”

Elias screamed as Seraphine dragged him toward a side passage. “Mom!” he shouted, She didn’t answer. The passage sealed.

Darkness swallowed them. They burst out into a narrow transit tunnel, alarms screaming in the distance. Elias collapsed, gasping. Seraphine released him and stepped back. “You should know,” she said quietly.

Elias looked up, shaking. “Know what?” Her eyes hardened.

“I told them where you were.” The words hit harder than the blade.

“You… what?” Elias whispered.

“I did it to control the damage,” she said. “To keep the city from burning.”

Victor staggered out behind them. “Seraphine…”

She met Elias’s gaze. “I betrayed you. Deliberately.”

Elias’s vision swam. “You said you were protecting balance.“I was,” she replied. “Just not you.”

Silence. Then Elias laughed  broken, bitter. “Good,” he said hoarsely. “Now I know.”

Know what? Victor almost asked. Almost. Elias pushed himself to his feet, pain roaring through him, the blood mark burning like a brand.

“They took my mother,”he said quietly. “They marked me. And you sold me out.”

Seraphine said nothing Elias met her eyes.“There will be a cost.”

The tunnel lights flickered. Far away, a horn sounded. And somewhere deep in the city beneath the city, something ancient stirred  responding to Elias’s blood.