2025-08-21 18:58:19
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Chapter 215: The Spiral Beneath
The steps spiraled downward into a crimson haze, each one formed from a stone that pulsed faintly—as though blood flowed beneath its surface. The deeper Elira walked, the more she felt the air thicken, warmed by an unseen current that brushed along her skin like a living breath.Kael stayed close behind her, silent but alert. Tarin brought up the rear, scanning upward often, as though expecting something to follow them down the spiral.None of them spoke at first.Voices felt dangerous here—like sound itself would awaken something waiting beyond the mist.The only noise was the rhythmic hum pulsing through the stone steps and the distant rumble of machinery buried far below the earth. Once, the hum synchronized with Elira’s heartbeat so perfectly that she stopped walking, clutching her chest.Kael nearly collided with her. “Elira?”She raised a hand, signaling him to wait.The hum wasn’t random. It wasn’t mechanical.It was… responding.She stepped forward again, and the hum deepened—
Chapter 214: The Descent’s First Tremor
The corridor beyond the chamber felt narrower than before—though Elira suspected it wasn’t the walls that had changed, but the presence pushing against them. The air hummed with an electric tension she could feel on her skin, a constant low vibration that thrummed through her bones with every step.Kael moved first, steady and alert, his eyes scanning the dimly lit passageway ahead. The crystalline lights embedded in the walls flickered in sporadic pulses, like something was interfering with the power source… or feeding on it.Tarin kept close behind, hand resting near the hilt of his blade—the same blade that had once cut through shadow as though it were nothing but smoke. Now, even he seemed unsure whether it would be enough.Elira followed them, clutching the projected map she had extracted from the ancient console. Its drifting lines of light hovered above her palm, shifting like a living constellation. The path ahead spiraled downward—deep into the underlayers where no record exi
Chapter 213: Shadows That Speak
The chamber breathed around them—if something made of metal, stone, and ancient circuitry could truly breathe. Faint lines of light pulsed beneath the floor tiles, every ripple in perfect rhythm, as though responding to Elira’s presence… or to her fear.She stood frozen at the console, hands still lightly hovering above the crystalline interface. The symbols lingering in the air before her weren’t static now—they twisted slowly in spirals, expanding and collapsing like lungs. It felt wrong. It felt aware.Tarin finally broke the silence.“Elira,” he said gently, stepping toward her. “What did you see?”She didn’t answer right away. Her mouth opened slightly, but her voice failed. Only when Kael moved closer—calm, steady gaze grounded on her—did she draw in a shaky breath.“It wasn’t just a record,” she whispered. “It wasn’t passive. It was… responsive.”The group exchanged uneasy glances.Elira continued, her voice gaining a haunting, reluctant clarity.“It showed cycles. Dozens of th
Chapter 212: The Echo That Chose Him
The world returned in fragments.Sound before light.Breath before shape.Fear before memory.Clara’s ears rang with a high, piercing hum, like she had been dropped underwater. She blinked hard, trying to force the world back into focus. Slowly, the whiteness faded into dim outlines—shattered stone, flickering embers of golden light, and the sharp scent of burned magic clinging to the air.Her heart thrashed.“Michael?” she rasped.No answer.She pushed herself up on trembling arms, ignoring the stabbing pain in her ribs. Dust drifted from her hair, settling around her like gray snow. Beside her, Alistair lay slumped against a fallen beam, breathing hard, one hand clutched over his chest. His aura flickered weakly—thin gold, frayed at the edges.“Alistair—wake up,” she urged, shaking him.His eyelids fluttered open. His voice came out strained. “Clara… is it over?”Clara scanned the sanctuary.The rift was gone.The shadow figure was gone.Michael—Her breath hitched.Where Michael ha
Chapter 211: The Rift Remembers
The storm outside the sanctuary had not calmed since the night the shadow-double attempted to pull Michael into its mirrored void. Instead, the skies churned with a heavy, unnatural pressure—like the air itself held its breath, waiting for something inevitable and catastrophic.Inside, the sanctuary was still recovering.Cracks spiderwebbed across the walls where the rift had flared open. Scattered glass from the shattered windows glittered on the stone floor like frozen tears. But what weighed the heaviest was not the damage—it was the silence.A thick, oppressive silence that seemed to remember everything.Clara stood near the far wall, brushing dust from her palms and trying, desperately, to keep her thoughts in one place. But her mind kept circling back to the moment Michael had collapsed—body trembling, eyes unfocused, breath stolen by something far deeper than exhaustion.He had been unconscious for nearly an hour now.And Clara felt every passing minute like a tightening rope a
Reflection Note
Michael has finally been pulled back—but not without consequences. The name he uttered, Aurelis, marks the first time a deeper entity from the Echo Realm has revealed itself through him. So here’s the question for you, dear reader: Do you believe the Michael who returned is truly the same one who left… or did something
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