The Secret of the Violet Mark

Chapter 10: The Throne's Secret

The blinding white feedback loop of the tether shrieked, a sound like glass shattering in the mind, as Bayu and Galang braced against the surge. The guards lunged, their obsidian armor glowing with the stolen, violet hunger of the damned.

"They're not even breathing, Bay! How do you kill a corpse that moves like a whirlwind?" Galang screamed, sliding under a sweeping blade and burying his dagger into a guard's knee.

"You don't! You aim for the conduits! Sever the light, break the puppet!" Bayu roared, parrying a heavy strike that sent a jolt of pain up his wounded shoulder.

"Easy for you to say! Mine are moving like they’ve got a spring in their step! Why are there so many?"

"General Thorne is burning the reserve! He’s feeding the ritual with the whole prison block!"

Bayu pivoted, his sword catching a guard’s chest plate. The metal didn't dent; it fractured, leaking a thick, sickly mist. He didn't hesitate, driving his blade into the exposed glow beneath. The construct convulsed and collapsed, dissolving into static.

"One down! Ninety-nine to go! You’re doing great, darling!" Galang chirped, ducking a spear that whistled inches from his ear.

"If you call me darling one more time, I’m throwing you into the vortex myself!"

"You wouldn't! Who else would keep your ego in check while we’re busy dying?"

Sri Sultan watch from his dais, his expression one of bored fascination. "It is truly remarkable. The resonance between you two… it’s almost poetic. Like a dying star trying to keep its light."

"Shut it, your highness!" Galang shouted, throwing a smoke bomb that detonated in a shower of violet sparks. "You’ve got a nasty habit of talking too much for a guy who’s about to lose his job!"

"My job? My child, I am the architecture of this world. You are merely the debris I’m sweeping away."

"Debris hits back, asshole!" Bayu yelled, lunging through the haze. He met the Sri Sultan’s gaze, but the man didn't flinch.

Sri Sultan simply raised a hand, and the floor beneath them erupted. A wave of force slammed into Bayu’s chest, throwing him back against a pillar.

"Bay!" Galang scrambled over, grabbing Bayu by the vest. "Hey, look at me! You still in there?"

"Yeah… I’m here. Just… catching my breath," Bayu wheezed, his vision swimming. "The ritual. It’s peaking. Do you see the spikes?"

Galang glanced up at the massive crystalline conduits humming around the room. "The ones glowing bright enough to melt our eyeballs? Hard to miss."

"If we drop them, the feedback will kill him. It’ll kill us too, but it’ll kill him."

"Ah, the ‘mutual destruction’ pact. I suppose it’s better than being a battery for his ego." Galang grinned, though his teeth were stained with blood. "You want me to climb or are you going to use your last ounce of strength to throw me?"

"I’m throwing you. Don't make me regret it."

"I’ll try not to miss!"

Bayu hauled himself up, ignoring the way his shoulder screamed in protest. He grabbed Galang by the belt and the back of his tunic. "On three. One. Two—"

"Wait! Before we die, can we talk about how terrible your taste in inns was?"

"Three!"

Bayu heaved with every ounce of his remaining strength, launching Galang toward the central spire. Galang soared through the air, his daggers outstretched like talons.

"For the deposit, Sri Sultan!" Galang screamed, slamming both blades into the heart of the crystal.

The spire shrieked. A shockwave of pure, unfiltered energy rippled outward, shattering the glass windows of the throne room. Guards disintegrated into dust as the stolen light was violently reclaimed.

"No!" Sri Sultan roared, his composure finally fracturing as his armor began to crack. "You insolent rats! Do you have any idea what you’ve unleashed?"

"Probably something loud and very angry!" Galang yelled, tumbling back to the floor, rolling to Bayu’s side. "Did we do it?"

"We did something," Bayu muttered, watching as the walls of the Kraton began to groan. "But the Sri Sultan isn't dead."

Sri Sultan stood in the center of the swirling chaos, his face distorted by dark, shifting veins of violet energy. "You think you can break the cycle? You’ve only opened the door to the Void!"

The room plunged into darkness. A low, guttural vibration shook the entire structure, and a rift—far larger and more jagged than any they had seen before—tore open in the center of the throne room floor.

"Bay," Galang whispered, his voice trembling for the first time. "The floor… it’s not just cracking. It’s dissolving."

"Get ready to move!"

"Move where? Everything is falling, you stubborn idiot!"

The ground gave way with a sound like a mountain crumbling into the sea. The throne room, the Sri Sultan, and the remains of the guard plummeted into a dark, swirling abyss. Bayu reached out, catching Galang’s hand as they fell, the tether on their arms glowing with a terrifying, blinding intensity.

"Hold onto me!" Bayu shouted over the roar of the rushing wind.

"I’m not letting go! Not now, not ever!"

They spiraled into the darkness, the air turning frigid and thin. Below them, the abyss pulsed, not with the Sri Sultan’s violet light, but with a deep, mournful, amber glow that seemed to reach up for them.

"Bayu?" Galang’s voice was barely a whisper in the howling void. "Do you hear that?"

"Hear what? It’s just the wind!"

"No… listen."

From the depths of the darkness, a voice emerged. It wasn't the Sri Sultan’s. It wasn't a monster’s. It was soft, melodic, and hummed with a haunting, maternal cadence.

"Bayu? My sweet boy… you’ve been away for so long."

Bayu’s blood turned to ice. He looked at Galang, whose eyes were wide with shock.

"My mother died twenty years ago," Bayu gasped, his heart stopping.

"That’s not your mother, Bay," Galang whispered, gripping his hand so hard it hurt. "Whatever that is, it’s wearing her face."

The abyss rushed up to meet them, and as the amber light flooded their vision, the voice spoke again, closer, colder, and terrifyingly familiar.

"Don't be afraid, darling. You’re finally home."