Home / Urban / SHADOWS OF THE BLOODLINE / CHAPTER 10

CHAPTER 10

Author: Jenny Paul

2026-01-03 00:00:32

Author's POV

The sanctum was quiet; none of them had spoken for a while.

Not visibly, its stone walls still curved upward into shadow, the lights still hummed faintly along the ceiling, but the air felt different, heavier, as though the space itself was waiting for something to go wrong.

Rune noticed it immediately. He noticed most things too late and all at once, but this time the awareness came sharp and uncomfortable, like a weight pressing behind his eyes. He wasn't sure what to do, what to say. He let the silence fall on them.

Three days, Aeris had said. Three days to decide whether they stayed or ran. And nothing had been said, really.

No one spoke about leaving outright, but the possibility sat between them like a sixth presence. It showed up in the way Kaladin paced the edge of the room, never settling, never letting his back touch a wall.

It lingered in the way Eilish kept her hands tucked into her sleeves, as if even her own skin couldn’t be trusted. She was quiet, she

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CHAPTER 54
Author’s POVThe common room they had all sat in on the first day they had come to the sanctum now contained all of them. Only this time, the tension that had hung in the air was no more.Instead, it seemed to have been replaced by an air of familiarity. There were no longer a bunch of random kids all in one room; they were a team now.A slight murmur lingered in the air as they talked within themselves, each one catching up with the other about the activities of the last few days.The room only came to a hush when the doors swung open, revealing Aeris. He was wearing a brown shirt that hung open, revealing a white singlet, paired with black pants. The staff was sitting securely between his right fingers.Aeris walked in, taking center stage and wasting no time as he addressed them, “First of all, I want to appreciate everyone of you for being here today, it does mean a lot.”None of them said anything in response; they simply stared at him expectantly. He took that as his cue to cont
CHAPTER 53
Author’s POVRune returned to his room, his hand reaching for his device almost immediately. He called Eilish and surprisingly, she answered on the first ring.“Hey,” he began, “are you free to talk?”He paced, one hand tucked away inside his pocket as he counted the minutes before she responded.“Yeah, I guess. What’s up?”Rune sighed, “I need to talk to you about Aeris.”“Uhm, okay,”He took a moment to compose himself before he started, "Look, Eilish, I know he lied and everything but could you find the time to just hear him out?”“Let me guess, he asked you to try and convince us?” She scoffed, “Jesus, Rune. What’s next? He’d ask you to apologize on his behalf or..?”He shook my head, even though she couldn’t see me, “You know that’s not true.”She was quiet on the other end of the line, so he continued, “I’m not apologizing for him, I’m simply asking you to hear the man out, just this one time. Give him a chance to explain himself, maybe?”She sighed, hesitating a moment before f
CHAPTER 52
Author’s POVRune lingered at the door for a moment, not wanting to leave after Wilder had slammed the door shut.But he knew that door wasn’t going to open anytime soon. Reluctantly, he returned to his room, the door slamming shut behind him.He collapsed into the bed, his phone buzzing beside him. His hands searched for the device absently, locating it after a few failed tries.He stared at it, sitting upright when he saw it was Aeris calling, “Yeah?” He said, pushing loose strands of hair away from his face.“We need to talk, my office, now.” The man said, the call ending abruptly.Rune sighed, tucking the device into his pocket as he made his way towards the office he had been summoned to.He paused at the door, knocking lightly as he listened for any sound from within.“Yeah, come in.” A low voice said. He turned the knob, pushing the door open. The aight that greeted him was that of Aeris, collard on the leather chair he rarely left and a bottle of whiskey at the center of his t
CHAPTER 51
Author’s POVAeris’s mind raced with a thousand possible reasons the call could’ve ended, none of which was good. He wondered if Charis had been hurt in any way, and the mere thought of it made his heart rate go up.He grabbed his phone with one hand, calling her as he hoped to God that she would answer and assure him that it had all been a small network provider issue, even though that seemed unlikely.Every call ended the same way: voice mail. He dialed her again, pressing it against his ears as he held his breath expectantly.Still, it was the same thing. Her recorded voice on the other end of the line asked him to leave a message at the sound of the beep.He sighed, tossing the phone aside in a moment of blind rage. Charis had worked with him for the longest time. She had more times than he could count, helped him get out of his head and back to focusing on the present.“Please God, let her be Okay.” He whispered to himself, his fingers tightening around the wheel until his knuckle
CHAPTER 50
Author’s POVThe darkness seemed to stretch on for as far as his eyes could see, and like a living thing, it was, it moved, slithering across the surface of the earth and consuming everything in its path.The wind was strong against his face, blowing aside loose strands of his hair. A loud growling sound filled the air as flashes of lightning illuminated the sky at intervals.Wilder stood still, his mouth hanging open as he took in the sight before him. There was nothing left, nothing familiar to remind him of the world he knew it to be.Grimfall had won; he had taken over the entire earth, and there was nothing he or anyone else could do to stop it.He looked around, trying to make sense of the landscape, but it was almost impossible as the darkness was all he could see.Tall buildings had been leveled, and everything was at ground level now. There was nothing left standing.The streets were empty for as far as he could manage to see, and there were no signs of people anywhere.His h
CHAPTER 49
Author’s POVRune walked into his room, his shoulders collapsed at his sides as he reached for his phone. Whatever had happened to Aeris’s friend, he couldn’t shake off the nagging feeling that it had something to do with them in a way.Because that wasn’t the case, he doubted Aeris would’ve had any problem accepting his offer to help.Pushing the thoughts aside, he sighed as he turned on his phone, his eyes fixed on the screen for a moment.Zayan was the better option to call first; he wanted to get it over and done with.He typed out the name, then pressed the phone against his ears as it rang.“Hello?” The boy’s grumpy voice came from the other end of the line. He sighed into the phone, then seemed to stretch a little.“Did I wake you?” Rune asked, his tone apologetic.“Clearly.” The boy said, “What do you want?”Rune sighed, pausing a moment before stating his business, “Are you okay?”Zayan’s laughter rang from the other end of the line, a mocking tone that seemed to stretch on f

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CHAPTER 54

CHAPTER 53

CHAPTER 52

CHAPTER 51

CHAPTER 50

CHAPTER 49