Bullied No More: Rise of the Forgotten Heir

CHAPTER 8: THE PLACE BENEATH NAMES

Elias didn’t scream. Not because he wasn’t afraid but because the fall never became one. Darkness rushed up around him, cold and vast, yet instead of plummeting, the air thickened. Slowed him.

Cradled him like reluctant hands. Of course, he thought bitterly. Even gravity wants something from me. He landed on stone. Not hard. Not soft.

Final. The sound echoed  one sharp crack  then silence swallowed it whole. Elias lay still, chest heaving. No pain. No alarms. No Victor shouting his name. Just dark. “Get up.”

The voice came from everywhere and nowhere at once. Elias groaned. “If you’re here to kill me take a number.”

A low chuckle rippled through the space. “You still think death is the punishment.”

Elias pushed himself onto his elbows. The darkness shifted, retreating just enough to reveal a vast chamber carved from black stone.

No symbols. No lights. No sigils humming with borrowed power.Just emptiness. And a throne. Old. Cracked. Carved directly from the stone at the far end of the chamber.

Someone sat on it. “You’re Council Prime,” Elias said hoarsely.

The figure didn’t move. “I’ve had many names,” the voice replied. “That one will do.”

Elias forced himself to his feet. “Where am I?” “Where your family buried its mistakes.”

Elias clenched his jaw. “You killed my mother.”

The figure leaned forward slightly. Pale light traced the edges of a face too calm to be human.

“No,” Council Prime said. “I spared her.”

Elias laughed, sharp and angry. “You just said”

“I ordered her execution,” Council Prime interrupted. “And then I chose not to carry it out.”

Elias froze. “That’s a lie.”

“Is it?” the figure asked. “Ask yourself this: if we wanted her dead, why hide her at all?”

The words landed wrong. “What did you do with her?” Elias demanded.

Council Prime stood. The chamber seemed to shrink with the movement. “We imprisoned her,” they said. “For refusing to choose.”

“Choose what?” Elias snapped. “Us,” Council Prime replied. “Or you.”

Silence stretched. Elias shook his head. “She chose me.”

“Yes,” Council Prime said calmly. “And that made her dangerous.”

Elias’s fists trembled. “You’re calling love dangerous.”

“I’m calling it inefficient.” Elias took a step forward. “You tortured her.”

“No,” Council Prime said. “We studied her.” Rage surged.

Elias felt the blood-mark burn, flare, respond. The stone beneath his feet cracked. Council Prime tilted their head. “There it is.”

Elias growled, “You don’t get to observe me like I’m a specimen.”

“But you are,” Council Prime replied. “Just like she was.”

Elias stopped. “What do you mean was?”

Council Prime smiled. Not cruelly. Patiently. “She’s alive,” they said.

The world lurched. Elias sucked in a breath. “Then where is she?”

Council Prime gestured downward. The stone floor rippled  revealing depth. Endless layers of chambers descending into darkness. “Below,” they said. “Where all inconvenient truths are kept.”

Elias’s heart pounded. “Let her go.”

Council Prime studied him. “On what authority?”

Elias didn’t hesitate. “Mine.”

The chamber laughed. Not loudly. Not mockingly. Almost fondly. “You still don’t understand what you are,” Council Prime said. “You think blood gives you power. It doesn’t.”

Elias snarled, “Then why does everyone keep trying to control it?”

Council Prime stepped closer. “Because blood remembers,” they said. “And yours remembers a crime.”

Elias frowned. “What crime?” Council Prime’s eyes gleamed faintly.

“Your family tried to end the world,” they said.

The words slammed into Elias harder than any blow. “That’s insane.”

“Is it?” Council Prime asked. “Do you know why the Aurelians were erased?”

Elias shook his head slowly. “Not because they ruled,” Council Prime continued. “But because they discovered how to unbind reality.”

Elias’s stomach dropped. “You’re lying.”

“We buried the truth,” Council Prime said. “Your mother found it again.”

Elias whispered, “Found what? Council Prime raised a hand. The chamber shifted.

Images burned into the air  memories not his own. Cities folding inward. Laws breaking. People screaming as the world forgot how to behave.

At the center of it all a symbol. The one now burned into Elias’s blood. “You don’t inherit power,” Council Prime said quietly. “You inherit a lock.”

Elias staggered back. “And I’m the key.”

“Yes,” Council Prime replied. “And your mother realized the door should never be opened.”

Elias’s chest hurt. “Then why hide me?”

“Because if she destroyed the key,” Council Prime said, “we would never know if the lock was permanent.”

Elias stared at them. “You kept me alive as insurance.”

“As necessity,” Council Prime corrected.

Elias laughed hollow. “You ruined my life for an experiment.”

Council Prime tilted their head. “And yet you survived. Thrived. Manifested without training. Gathered the unclaimed.”

Elias stiffened. “You knew about that.”

“We feel everything the blood touches,” Council Prime said. “Including your little rebellion.”

Elias’s voice dropped. “Then why bring me here?” Council Prime stepped aside.

Behind the throne, the stone wall split open. A door appeared  ancient, sealed, humming with restrained force. “Because the lock is weakening,” Council Prime said. “And it’s responding to you.”

Elias stared at the door. “What’s behind it?”

Council Prime smiled faintly. “The end,” they said. “Or the beginning.”

Elias shook his head. “You’re not using me.” Council Prime’s eyes softened  almost regretful.

“That’s the tragedy,” they said. “We already are.” The blood-mark flared violently.

Elias cried out, dropping to one knee. The door pulsed in response. Far above, bells rang again  frantic this time.Council Prime turned away. “Your allies are panicking.”

Elias gritted his teeth. “Victor will come.” “Yes,” Council Prime agreed. “And Julian.”

Elias looked up sharply. “Julian works for you.” Council Prime paused.

Then smiled. “Julian believes he does,” they said. “That makes him useful.”

Elias’s blood ran cold. “You’re playing all of us.”

“Of course,” Council Prime said. “That’s what balance requires.”

Elias pushed himself to his feet, pain screaming through every nerve. “You should’ve killed me,” he said. Council Prime met his gaze.

“We tried,” they said. “You didn’t stay dead.” The door behind them shuddered.

Cracks spidered across its surface. Elias felt something inside him answer. Something old. Something patient. Something that had been waiting for his name.

Council Prime stepped back, suddenly wary. “Interesting,” they murmured. “It recognizes you already.”

Elias swallowed. “What happens if I open it?”

Council Prime didn’t answer right away. When they did, their voice was very quiet. “Then no one gets to pretend anymore.” The chamber trembled.

Above them, the city screamed. And deep below the world, the lock began to turn.