2025-09-27 22:45:48
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Chapter 117. The Burning Horizon
Smoke still drifted across the broken plain where the city once stood. The air smelled of dust and ash. Every few seconds, the ground gave a low, tired groan, like it was still remembering what pain felt like.Lisa sat beside a fallen highway pillar, holding Kevin close. The boy had cried himself to sleep, his cheek pressed against her shoulder. His small body shivered even though the air was hot.Rae stood a few steps away, watching the horizon. The sky glowed red, clouds circling around a single pillar of fire in the distance. It looked like a tower made of light, pulsing with a slow rhythm that matched the ground’s faint tremor.Ellis crouched near a chunk of broken concrete, checking the few supplies they had left, half a bottle of water, a flare gun, a cracked map, and a small radio that hissed quietly with static. “No signal,” he said, his voice dry. “Not even the static’s normal anymore.”Rae didn’t look away from the burning skyline. “Nothing’s normal anymore.”Lisa laid Kev
Chapter 116. Echoes in the Dark 2
Jonah floated in the dark. There was no ground, no air, no sound of breathing. Only a vast red sky turning slowly above him, and a city hanging upside down in the distance. The buildings were broken, hanging by threads of light. He reached out, but his hand passed through them like smoke. The Hive had no shape, but it had a memory, his memory.Every step he took, the ground formed under his feet: burning streets, shattered windows, the old city he once knew. He walked through it in silence, the world flickering like fire seen through water. The more he walked, the more the city changed. Faces appeared in the smoke, Lisa’s, Kevin’s, the people he failed to save. Their eyes watched him, unblinking. “Jonah,” they whispered.He turned toward the sound. A voice rose from the mist, soft, warm, familiar. “You did this for them,” it said. “You wanted to protect. You wanted peace.”Jonah clenched his fists. “No. You’re not her.”The mist thickened, forming into Lisa’s shape. Her smile was g
Chapter 116. Echoes in the Dark
The tunnels were no longer quiet. They breathed. A slow, heavy pulse moved through the black stone, like air being dragged through lungs made of rock. Lisa stood with her hand pressed against the wall, feeling the strange rhythm under her palm. It wasn’t the wind. It wasn’t water. It was something alive.Behind her, Kevin clung to her jacket sleeve, trying not to cry. “Lisa… it’s doing it again,” he whispered. His voice echoed weakly down the tunnel, then came back to them, distorted, like someone else was repeating his words.“It’s alright,” Lisa lied softly. Her heart pounded. “We keep moving. That’s all we can do.”Rae and Ellis walked a few steps behind, their flashlight beams cutting shaky lines through the dust. Everything smelled like metal and smoke. The walls looked melted in places, scorched by fire, Jonah’s fire. It left twisted patterns in the stone, marks of his struggle.They followed the trail because it was the only thing that made sense. Every few meters, Lisa woul
Chapter 115. The Below
Lisa woke to silence. Her head throbbed, her mouth dry as dust. When she tried to move, her arm brushed against stone, slick and warm. For a long moment she lay still, afraid to open her eyes. The air was heavy and thick with the smell of rust.Then she remembered the fall. The ground splitting, the light, Jonah’s hand reaching for hers, then nothing. Her eyes snapped open.Above her stretched a ceiling so vast she could not see where it ended. It shimmered faintly with a red glow, the same hue that had haunted them since the forest. Strange shapes hung from it, roots or wires, glowing like veins. She realized she was lying in a shallow pool of water that glowed faintly from below. “Lisa?”The voice came from somewhere close. She pushed herself up quickly. Kevin was kneeling nearby, holding his flashlight.The beam cut across the space, flashing against twisted metal and broken walls. “Are you okay?” she asked.He nodded shakily. “I think so. My leg hurts, but I can move it.”Lisa’s
Chapter 114. The Echo Below 2
The ropes slid down into the mist, disappearing after only a few meters. The red light made it hard to tell how deep the pit truly was. It could’ve been twenty feet or two hundred.Lisa went first. Her boots scraped against the glassy walls, leaving black marks on the surface. The air grew hotter the lower she went, thick with the scent of ash and metal. Her fingers burned against the rope, but she kept moving. Every few seconds, a dull pulse shook the wall beside her. It was like descending inside a heartbeat.Kevin came next, his flashlight swinging wildly as he tried to steady himself. He didn’t complain, didn’t cry, though his face was pale. Lisa kept glancing up to make sure he was okay. Below her, Ellis and Rae followed slowly, whispering to each other to stay calm.After a long time, Lisa’s boots hit solid ground. The surface beneath her feet was smooth stone streaked with lines of red. She turned in a slow circle, raising her light.They were standing in a tunnel. The walls
Chapter 114
The city burned beneath a rain of red light. Crest’s towers stood like broken teeth, their neon signs flickering weakly against the storm clouds.The streets below were silent except for the hum of awakening, a low, rhythmic pulse that came from deep beneath the earth.The pods had opened. The Hollow King army had risen. Kai stood on the edge of a crumbling overpass, the storm whipping at his coat. Rhea stood beside him, rifle in hand, her face pale in the shifting glow. Far below them, shapes moved through the ruins, dozens at first, then hundreds.Each one carried his face. They walked in unison, their movements perfect and lifeless. Their eyes glowed faint red through the rain. Rhea whispered, “They all look like you.”Kai’s voice was quiet but steady. “They’re not me.”She turned toward him, trying to read his face. His expression was calm, almost too calm, like a man standing at the edge of something final. “What do we do?” she asked.Kai looked down at his hands. The red lines
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