CH 017: Shattered Echoes
The air in the underground passage beneath the ancient castle hung thick and cold, heavy with the scent of dust and forgotten magic.
As you step in, the frigid air nips at your skin like tiny needles, and the musty smell of dust fills your nostrils.
Elara, her face pale and etched with concern, held a crystal orb aloft.
The orb glows softly in her hand, its warm light casting a soft, yellowish - orange hue against the cold, ice - covered walls.
Its surface shimmered, reflecting the runes etched into the ice - covered stone tablet they'd tracked through the glacier.
The runes seem to dance and flicker, as if they hold a hidden life of their own, and a faint, high - pitched hum fills the air around the tablet.
"These… these are fragments of an ancient covenant," she whispered, her voice echoing eerily in the confined space.
The echo bounces off the walls, creating a haunting melody that makes your ears tingle.
"One that speaks of control… control over the very bloodlines of both our kinds."
Alexander suddenly stiffened.
A sharp intake of breath, a hand clutching at his temple, and he crumpled to his knees.
You can hear the pained groan escape his lips, and his body trembles violently, like a leaf in a storm.
His normally icy blue eyes swirled with violent purple, the telltale sign of the drug coursing through his veins.
Damn it, not now!
, Lily thought, her heart pounding against her ribs.
The pounding is so intense that it feels like a drum in her chest, and her breathing becomes rapid and shallow.
She'd seen this before, the poison Victoria had used to manipulate him, to turn him into her weapon.
Without hesitation, she bit into her finger, the metallic tang of blood filling her mouth.
The taste is sharp and coppery on her tongue.
Kneeling beside him, she smeared the crimson liquid across his lips.
"This worked before… when your mother… damn it, Alexander, drink!"
Above them, the blood - red moon carved into the sanctuary's domed ceiling seemed to ripple and flow, as if suddenly imbued with life.
The red light from the moon casts a menacing glow on the floor, and you can almost feel a strange, pulsating energy in the air.
Then, a ghostly image flickered into existence – Marcus, his spectral form radiating an ethereal glow.
The glow is a soft, white light that makes his figure seem almost otherworldly, and a soft, ghostly whisper fills the air around him.
"Your mothers… they sealed the Night Engine with fragments of the moonstone… but Nathaniel…" His voice trailed off, cut short by the chilling shink of steel slicing through flesh.
The sound is sharp and metallic, sending a shiver down your spine.
Victoria, her eyes blazing with predatory glee, had materialized from the shadows.
Her blood - red blade pierced Elara's shoulder, sending a spray of crimson across the stone floor.
The splash of blood makes a wet, sticky sound on the cold stone, and the sight of it is a vivid, shocking red.
"The covenant is a lie!
" The queen's voice dripped with venomous triumph.
With a dramatic flourish, she ripped open her robe, revealing a network of pulsing, moonstone veins woven into her flesh.
The veins pulsate with a bright, blue - white light, and a strange, electric hum comes from them.
"The true Night… requires the merging of both bloodlines!
Fury, raw and untamed, surged through Lily.
In a heartbeat, her own transformation kicked in, the shift brutal and swift.
Her fur darkened to the colour of midnight, claws extending, a guttural growl ripping from her throat.
The growl is deep and menacing, vibrating in the air around her, and the feel of her fur is rough and thick under your touch.
"You… you're not a pureblood!
" she snarled, the words laced with venom.
But before she could launch herself at the queen, Alexander's icy magic erupted.
Crystalline chains, shimmering and sharp, snaked around her limbs, pinning her in place.
The chains are cold to the touch, like ice cubes, and a soft, cracking sound comes from them as they wrap around her.
"The covenant...it spoke of a blood - madness… in tainted wolves…" he rasped, his voice strained, his eyes still clouded with the drug's influence.
The resonating hum from the ice tablet suddenly intensified, the very air vibrating with its power.
The vibration is a low, rumbling feeling that makes your body shake slightly, and the hum becomes a deafening roar in your ears.
Elara, clutching her bleeding shoulder, coughed, then with a desperate heave, flung the ancient tome towards Lily.
"Trust him," she choked out, blood flecking her lips.
"But don't… don't let him touch your blood!"
Lily's mind raced.
Trust him?
After he just chained me up?
What the hell is going on?
She stared intently at Alexander, trying to find an answer in his still - drugged and confused eyes.
The air around her seemed to freeze, and the ice chains radiated a bone - chilling cold.
Suddenly, she noticed his fingers twitch slightly, as if he was struggling against the drug in his body.
With a flick of her wrist, she redirected the sharp, crystalline point towards Victoria's exposed knee, the ice slicing through flesh with a sickening crunch.
The crunch is a wet, tearing sound that makes your stomach turn.
The queen stumbled, momentarily distracted, giving Lily the opening she needed.
Grasping a loose fragment of moonstone from the tome's cover – she'd noticed it earlier, pulsing with an eerie light – she propelled it with all her strength.
The shard struck Victoria squarely in the center of a jagged crack in the moonstone network woven into her chest.
The queen gasped, her eyes widening in disbelief.
At this moment, the light in the underground passage seemed to dim even further, and the already cold air dropped a few more degrees.
Lily's ears perked up, and she keenly sensed the strange change in the surrounding environment.
A low, guttural growl rumbled deep in Lily's chest.
"You… you think you can control me?
" she snarled, the words echoing in the cavernous space.
"You've got another think coming, sweetheart."
"The game," Lily whispered, a feral grin spreading across her face, "has just begun.
" A small, almost imperceptible movement from the shadows at the edge of the chamber caught her eye.
Something shifted, just a flicker of movement, gone before she could fully focus.
"Who's there?