2025-08-04 23:27:14There was no rest after the call.
Eli lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling as his father's final words repeated over and over in his head. “If you want to make it through the year… forget what you heard", as if it were that easy. The warning wasn’t just cold it was calculated. A threat disguised as advice. Eli knew that tone. He had grown up with it. His father didn’t bluff. Whatever happened in 1996, it was real. And it was dangerous. And now Eli was part of it. By morning, he had a plan. The university archives were housed in the Old Founder’s Wing — a stone labyrinth beneath Crest Hall that most students avoided. It was where they stored old admission records, disciplinary logs, and historical ledgers, dusty files. Forgotten truths, exactly where Eli needed to be. The wing was technically off-limits without faculty clearance, but Eli had learned long ago that rules meant nothing if you looked like you belonged. He wore a pressed blazer, carried a black folder, and walked like he had a meeting. No one questioned him. He slipped through a rusted side door and into the dim hallway, the air cold and thick with the scent of parchment and mold. The silence was eerie. At the end of the corridor, he found a room marked Records: 1980–2000. Perfect. Eli flipped through the drawers methodically, scanning for any mention of Kingston, 1996, Watchers—anything that felt off. Then he saw it. A slim manila folder with a name printed in faded type: > KINGSTON, D. E. — Incident Report, April 1996 His breath caught. D. E. Kingston. His father. He opened the folder. Inside was a single sheet. It read: > Confidential. Disciplinary Committee Hearing — Daniel Edward Kingston Charges: Unauthorized access to Founder’s Crypt | Defacement of school property | Witnessed unauthorized ritual Outcome: Cleared. Records sealed. Recommendation: Full immunity granted under Legacy Clause 12. At the bottom was a red stamp: SEALED BY ORDER OF THE CREST COUNCIL. The rest of the folder was empty. No evidence. No statements. Just a record of something that no longer officially existed. Eli’s stomach turned. A ritual? A sealed crypt? His father had lied. Not just about the past but about everything. Footsteps echoed in the hall behind him. He froze. The door creaked open. “Kingston.” Eli turned sharply. A tall figure stood in the doorway, dressed in a grey uniform with no university logo. His face was calm, but his eyes were sharp. Cold. “You’re not supposed to be down here,” the man said, voice low. “I’m researching family records,” Eli replied evenly, tucking the folder behind his back. “Archives close at noon. It’s two-thirty.” Eli straightened. “I’ll be out in a minute.” The man didn’t move. “You’re being watched.” Eli’s fingers clenched around the folder. “You think you’re asking questions,” the man continued, stepping into the room. “But you’re really just following breadcrumbs we left for you.” “We?” “The Watchers don’t send threats. They send invitations.” And then, without another word, he turned and walked away, footsteps fading into silence. Eli stood frozen for several minutes. Then he left the room — quickly, folder tucked into his coat — heart pounding. He didn’t go back to Lancaster Hall. Instead, he took a winding route toward the Alumni Rotunda, the oldest part of campus, where oil portraits of Crest’s most powerful legacies lined the curved walls like guardians of a forgotten kingdom. He wandered slowly, eyes scanning the faces. Then he saw it. The portrait of Daniel Edward Kingston, class of 1998. His father. Painted in elegant brushstrokes, standing proud in a navy suit with a golden Crest pin at his collar. But behind his eyes, something unreadable. A shadow that didn’t belong. Eli stepped closer. The plaque beneath the painting was cracked. He bent to read it—and noticed the tiniest indentation in the wall beneath the frame. A seam. A hidden panel? He glanced around. No one else in sight. He pressed the plaque inward. It clicked. A portion of the wall slid back silently, revealing a narrow staircase spiraling downward into darkness. Eli hesitated. Every rational instinct told him to stop. But instinct had lied before. He pulled out his phone, turned on the flashlight, and descended. --- The staircase wound down farther than it should have. At least four stories deep. At the bottom, he found a heavy iron door with a brass plate engraved with one word: MEMORIAM. He pushed it open. The room beyond was circular — a chamber lined with black marble, the air heavy with dust and something older. And on the walls… More names. Dozens. Carved in perfect script. Some he recognized from the Legacy Circle aboveground. Others he didn’t. In the center of the room stood a pedestal. And on that pedestal, a leather-bound book. He stepped forward. Opened it. Inside, each page held a name and a fate. > JULIA GREY, 1985 — Witnessed too much. Removed. HENRY LOCKE, 1972 — Rebelled. Silenced. MARCUS HOLLOWAY, 2021 — Infiltrated Subnet. Neutralized. Eli’s blood ran cold. They weren’t just memorializing. They were documenting executions. Then he turned to the final page. Blank. Except for a single sentence in red ink: > Next: Eli Daniel Kingston. He stumbled back. The chamber began to spin. The walls closed in. They weren’t just watching him. They had already decided his fate. He turned and fled, the echo of his footsteps chasing him up the stairwell. --- Outside, the sky was darkening. The world felt different now. Quieter. Hungrier. He needed air. He needed answers. And he needed to find Lena. But as he turned to go back to the dorms, he stopped dead. Because standing beneath the bell tower was a figure in grey watching him. Then slowly, the figure lifted a hand. And pointed directly at him.
Previous Chapter
Latest Chapter
Chapter 19: Beneath the Dome
The silence after the Sixth Toll was worse than the noise.Eli stood in the middle of the Shattered Dome, chest heaving, staring at the empty pedestal where the cubes had floated only seconds ago. The light was gone. The Watchers were gone. Callum was gone.Only the faint hum remained, a ghost of vibration that seemed to rise from the floor itself.Lena turned in a slow circle, eyes scanning the jagged ceiling and shadowed corners. “Where did they take him?”Eli crouched, pressing his palm flat against the cold stone. The hum was clearer now like a muffled engine running somewhere deep beneath his feet. “Down,” he said without thinking. “They went down.”Lena’s brow creased. “Down where? There’s no staircase in here.”He didn’t answer, already stepping toward the outer ring of the Dome. The walls here weren’t perfectly solid; narrow seams ran between the stone panels, each one etched with curling serpent’s-eye symbols. He dragged his fingers along the grooves until—Click.A section o
Chapter 8: The Fifth Toll
The first toll rolled through the Crest like thunder trapped in glass.Eli froze mid-step, his breath clouding in the sudden drop of temperature. He’d heard the bell many times before, always measured, clear, and solemn but this wasn’t that. The sound was wrong. Drawn out. Warped. Like it was being rung underwater, the vibrations dragging behind the chime until they scraped against the inside of his skull.Beside him, Lena’s head snapped toward the bell tower. “That’s… not the hour.”The second toll hit, lower this time, deeper than anything the old bronze could produce. It vibrated through the stone floor beneath them, humming in his teeth.They weren’t alone in feeling it. Across the quad, students stopped mid-conversation. Some blinked in confusion; others just stood there, eyes glazed over, lips moving as if reciting something unheard. One boy near the fountain tilted his head back like he was scenting the air, then smiled at nothing.The third toll.Every light in the nearest bui
Chapter 17: When the Bells Tolls
The first chime still echoed through the stacks when Eli stepped toward Callum.“What do you mean ‘containment’s over’?” Eli’s voice was low, but the question carried an edge.Callum’s eyes cut to Lena. “You brought her with you? Into that place?”“She’s the only reason I’m not dead right now,” Eli shot back.“Or the reason you’re about to be.”The second chime rolled through the library, deeper this time, as if something massive was moving beneath the floors. Dust drifted down from the upper shelves.Lena glanced upward. “That’s not the school bell.”“No,” Callum said grimly. “It’s the Founders’ Bell. It hasn’t rung in over a century.”The third toll hit like a physical wave, rattling the glass in the stained windows. Somewhere far below, a hollow grinding sound swelled and then stopped abruptly, unnaturally.Eli felt the cube in his jacket vibrate, faint but steady, in rhythm with his heartbeat.“What’s happening?” he demanded.Callum stepped closer, lowering his voice until Eli had
Chapter 16: The Pedestals Secret
The key was still cold in Eli’s hand when they reached the library.Even through his jacket pocket, he could feel its edges pressing into his palm like it had grown heavier since he’d taken it.They didn’t speak until they were inside — past the silent marble foyer, up the grand staircase, into the dim stillness of the third floor. The rain outside pounded the stained-glass windows, casting fractured pools of red and green over the stacks.Only when they were hidden between the oldest shelves did Lena finally slam her palms on the table.“You know what that thing was, right?”Eli dropped into a chair, leaning back like he could force the adrenaline from his bloodstream by sheer will. “A Watcher.”“Not just any Watcher.” Lena’s voice dropped, her eyes scanning the shadows. “The broken mask. Callum told me about it — the one that’s not supposed to be here anymore. It’s… wrong. Even to the others. The rest don’t go near it.”Eli turned the key over in his hand. The serpent’s-eye engravin
Chapter 15: The East Entrance
The key felt heavier than it looked. Not just in weight — in intent. Eli turned it over in his palm as he and Lena crossed the quad. The storm had eased to a fine mist, but the Crest’s old stone buildings still glistened black in the moonlight. Every window seemed to be watching. “You realize this is a terrible idea, right?” Lena said, her hood up, hands shoved deep in her pockets. “They’re all terrible ideas,” Eli replied. “This one just might have answers.” The east entrance of the North Wing was unlike any other door on campus. Tall, iron, and sunken into a recess of weathered stone, it looked more like the entry to a crypt than a school building. The brass handle was green with age, the keyhole rimmed in strange runes worn smooth by time. Eli slid the silver key into place. It turned with a single, echoing click. The door opened inward, exhaling cold air that smelled faintly of burnt incense and dust. Inside was darkness, not the kind that came from absence of light, but
Chapter 14: The Second Heir
Eli didn’t move. Callum stood framed in the narrow aisle, his posture relaxed but calculated — the kind of ease a predator wore before striking. The stormlight through the tall library windows caught the faint silver chain at his throat, disappearing beneath his collar. “You’ve been following me,” Eli said. It wasn’t a question. Callum’s grin tilted. “Observing, big difference right.” Lena crossed her arms. “That sounds exactly like something a stalker would say.” “I’m not here to hurt him,” Callum replied, as if she weren’t even a threat. His gaze was fixed on Eli, weighing him like he was confirming a rumor. “Your father didn’t tell you, did he?” Eli’s patience thinned. “Tell me what?” “That we’re not the only ones marked for the Rite.” Eli’s brow furrowed. “You’re marked?” Callum stepped closer, unbuttoning his cuff. He rolled back the sleeve to reveal the skin of his forearm — pale, except for a dark, spiraling sigil burned just below the crook of his elbow. The lines wer
You may also like
ALL IN A DAY
tobih daniels2.5K viewsShadow On The Eyes
Natashia_Lou4.3K viewsSHADOW AND LIGHT (CHIAROSCURO)
Prince Firelorn5.8K viewsTraces of Eve
Kei2.0K viewsFollowed by the Silhouette
anbil_831.3K viewsHow I Fought Myself From the World of Darkness
Oluwasegun Adenowo835 viewsLUNAR LEGACY
Deborah1.1K viewsA Message From Pluto
Galex Caesar386 views