2025-08-15 02:50:02
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Chapter 40: After the Toll
The silence after the Sixteenth Toll was not relief.It was dread.The quadrangle, once the polished heart of Crestfall, was unrecognizable — fissures spidered across the flagstones, chunks of stone lay scattered, and the bell tower leaned unnaturally to the side, its spire cracked like a bone that would never heal straight again. The chains that had bound it swayed loose, rattling in the quiet, as though whispering threats only Eli could hear.He lay half-sprawled in Lena’s lap, his vision swimming. The serpent’s eye on his palm was gone, sealed by the cut she had made. It should have been victory. But the cube pressed against his ribs still pulsed, a metronome of hunger that hadn’t forgotten its duty.Lena stroked blood-soaked hair from his face. “Eli, are you even with me?”His laugh scraped raw from his throat. “Define with.”“You’re impossible.” She pressed his hand tighter, forcing her scarf against the wound. “You bleed like the rest of us. That’s the only thing keeping me sane
Chapter 39: The Fourteenth Toll
The first crack of the bell split the night like lightning through stone.It wasn’t just sound. It was force. The quadrangle trembled, fissures crawling across the flagstones as if the ground itself recoiled from the noise.Eli doubled over. The serpent’s eye on his palm yawned open so wide it nearly consumed his hand. His blood sang in rhythm with the toll — not his heartbeat anymore, but something older, heavier.The Collectors didn’t flinch. They dropped to their knees as one, arms lifted toward the bell tower. The clicking of their jaws turned frenzied, faster than human tongues should move, until it was no longer sound but a vibration in the air.Lena fell beside him, clutching her ears. “Eli, make it stop!”“I can’t—” The words tore out of him raw. “It’s not me. It’s them!”The bell tolled again.And the world bled.At first Eli thought it was his eyes, but no — the air itself had thickened, black lines spidering through the night sky like ink dropped in water. The quadrangle bl
Chapter 38: The Circle of Collectors
The quadrangle had never felt so vast, and yet so claustrophobic.Eli and Lena crouched behind the doorframe, the library’s stone arch cutting a hard shadow across their faces. Beyond it, the lawn was a stage lit only by the moon and the Collectors had taken their places.Dozens of them. Their masks glinted like shards of broken mirrors, mouths twitching with that hideous clicking rhythm. They circled the bell tower in perfect time, feet dragging as though shackled by invisible chains.The sound was wrong. Not marching, not chanting — accounting. The pace of a ledger tallying, one beat at a time.Eli’s ribs throbbed with every click.Lena whispered, “Why aren’t they attacking?”Because they weren’t supposed to. He didn’t know how he knew that, but the answer was already alive in his blood, the way the thirteenth toll had carved itself into his pulse.“They’re not here to fight,” Eli said, voice tight. “They’re here to collect.”As if in response, the nearest Collector stopped. Its cra
Chapter 37: The Silent Quadrangle
The Crest was too quiet.When Eli and Lena emerged from the east wing, dust still clinging to their clothes, the air outside felt wrong. The night was cool, but sharp — every breath tasted like metal, like the residue of lightning.They crossed the threshold into the quadrangle and stopped.Every light in the academy had gone out. Dorm windows, the library’s lanterns, even the towers where lamps usually glowed — all black. Only the moon lit the courtyard, and even it looked dimmer, its pale face veiled.Lena shivered. “Where is everyone?”Eli scanned the open lawns and the long stone paths. Not a single student. Not even the usual patrol of Watchers. The quadrangle was a dead stage, and the silence pressed in so heavily it felt like being underwater.“They know,” he said quietly.Lena turned to him, hair still matted with dust. “Know what?”“That I woke it up. That the thirteenth toll wasn’t just an echo. The whole place is listening now.”The cube pulsed once in his jacket, as if in
Chapter 36: The Thirteenth Toll
The chamber fell apart the moment the thirteenth toll rang.It didn’t crumble like stone, or collapse like a building. It came undone like a knot, like threads of shadow pulling free, twisting, unraveling. The serpents in the floor mosaic writhed as if alive, breaking apart into coils that slithered across the stone.The masked leader staggered backward, clutching at his chains. “Impossible—he was meant to bind, not wield—”The Collectors shrieked in chorus, their jaws clattering so violently they cracked. Some fell writhing, their thin bodies folding in on themselves like paper burning. Others leapt upward, climbing the falling chains, snapping at each other in frenzy.Eli’s palm burned with an open eye of light. The cube spun faster above the basin, shedding symbols like sparks. Every one that touched him seared into his skin, but it didn’t hurt. It filled.Lena grabbed his arm, yanking him toward the edge of the chamber. “Eli, we have to run!”He could barely hear her over the roar
Chapter 35: Chains of Inheritance
The chains struck like snakes.Eli barely had time to raise his arm before one coiled around his wrist, burning cold against his skin. Another snapped around his ankle, dragging him forward with inhuman force.Lena lunged, her knife flashing. She sliced through the air toward the masked figure closest to her, but the blade bounced off the chain like it had struck stone.The figure tilted its head without a word. Another chain lashed out, wrapping Lena’s torso. She gasped, the knife clattering to the floor as she was yanked off her feet.The Collectors didn’t move. They stood in a ring around the chamber, jaws gnashing, eyes hollow. They weren’t attacking. They were… waiting. Watching.The leader of the masked figures stepped forward. His mask was darker than the others, carved with a single serpent’s eye across its surface. The chains in his hands pulsed faintly with red light.“The debtor,” he said, his voice echoing strangely, layered with tones that weren’t human. “And his witness.
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