Those Who Heard the Bell
There's a kind of silence that doesn't come from stillness.
It comes from fear.
The silence after a scream that never finished.
The quiet between a breath taken—and the pain that follows.
That was the silence now, thick and alive in the coffin chamber.
Maren hovered inches above the floor, her face flickering like candlelight caught in a gust.
Victor stood frozen, one foot behind the other, his shovel hanging limp like a crucifix.
And me?
I wasn't alone anymore.
Something else was breathing inside my chest.
Not Maren.
Not mine.
⚠️ [Unknown Presence Detected]
Status: "Echo of the Unburied" – Dormant Phase
▸ This entity was never laid to rest.
▸ It remembers its name.
▸ It remembers you.
➤ Risk: 22% Corruption | Voice Contamination Imminent
Then—three things happened.
First, Victor Pale fell to his knees and whispered something in a language made of sighs and coughing dirt.
Second, the torches relit themselves, but not with fire — with shadows. Black flames that crawled upward instead of down.
And third—my phone rang.
That shouldn't have been possible.
There was no signal this deep underground.
No reception, no bars, no time.
Yet there it was.
Buzzing against my leg like a heartbeat.
I pulled it out.
Unknown Caller
[Gravebell Network - Ring 3]
I answered.
I don't know why.
But I did.
A voice came through. Not static. Not words.
A scream.
Then:
"You brought it back. And now we're all going to die."
Click.
[Gravebell Alert: "The Bell Has Been Heard."]
Three Returners have received the toll.
Two will come for answers.
One will come to kill you.
Victor stood.
"You've rung the third bell," he said quietly. "Do you know what that means?"
"No."
"It means the Watchers Above are listening now. Not just the dead. The ones who watch the living bury them."
He grabbed a rusted knife from a nearby altar.
"I can still put you down," he said. "If I do it before it hatches."
Maren surged between us, her body flaring bright with ghostlight. "Touch him, and I'll rip your soul into strips."
Victor didn't move.
But he lowered the knife.
"I'll give you one day," he said. "After that, I'm sending them."
"Who?"
"Everyone who's ever buried something and didn't look back."
📍 [The Surface – 6 Hours Later]
The city had changed.
Not visibly. Not for everyone.
But for me?
I could see it now.
Gravestones where there were none.
Names carved into brick walls in languages no one had ever spoken.
People who passed me on the street… wearing their deaths like coats.
And something else—
A girl in a red scarf.
A boy with burnt palms.
A man carrying a coffin with no lid.
All watching me.
Returners.
The Others.
✅ [Main Quest Updated: "Echo of the Third Bell"]
Objective: Survive the three who heard your name.
▸ One seeks your help.
▸ One seeks your death.
▸ One seeks what you're becoming.
Timer: 72 Hours
📍 Next Stop: The Crow Market – Where the Bound trade memory, blood, and names.
Maren floated beside me, her voice now stronger than ever before.
"You've stirred the dust, Kashan."
She used my name like it meant something sacred. Like she hadn't forgotten it when I did.
"Now it's your turn to decide—"
"Are you still digging graves…"
"Or are you finally crawling out of one?"