Chapter Eighteen: The First Dead Man
1343 Words
“Run.”
Kaelen did not wait for the warning to be repeated.
The moment the word escaped his shadow, the young man in the torn royal cloak opened his mouth. A terrible sound poured out, shaking the staircase and sending cracks racing across the walls.
“Move!” Aldric shouted.
Everyone rushed down the stairs.
Behind them, the stranger remained perfectly still. His white eyes followed their movements, and his smile widened.
“You cannot escape what has already happened,” he called.
Thorne looked over his shoulder.
“Does anyone else find it disturbing that the dead man is smiling?”
“Keep moving!” Seraphina shouted.
The staircase twisted deeper into the mountain. Its walls were covered with names, thousands of them, carved into the stone. Some names were old and almost impossible to read. Others appeared freshly written, their letters shining like wet blood.
Kaelen noticed something strange.
One of the names belonged to him.
KAELEN, SON OF AVELINE.
He stopped.
“Elira!”
She turned and saw the inscription.
“Don't touch it,” she warned.
But before Kaelen could move, the letters began changing.
His name disappeared.
Another name appeared beneath it.
THE THIRD FRAGMENT.
His shadow suddenly stretched along the wall.
It knows what you are.
Kaelen drew the Mourning Blade.
“Then perhaps it should be afraid.”
The shadow gave a quiet laugh.
You still believe the sword can protect you from everything.
Kaelen continued down the stairs.
After several minutes, they reached an enormous underground chamber. Its ceiling disappeared into darkness, and hundreds of chains hung from above. At the centre stood a circular platform surrounded by seven stone pillars.
Each pillar carried the symbol of one of the ancient bells.
Elias approached the first pillar.
“This place is connected to the bells.”
Aldric nodded.
“This was where the first guardians gathered before creating them.”
Seraphina examined the carvings.
“No. This place is older than the guardians.”
Aldric turned towards her.
“What do you mean?”
She traced a symbol carved into the nearest pillar.
“These markings are from the age before the kingdom existed.”
A deep sound interrupted them.
A chain moved overhead.
Then another.
Everyone looked up.
Something was hanging above the chamber.
A human body.
It was suspended by black chains, its head lowered and its arms stretched out. Its clothes were ancient, and its skin appeared almost transparent.
Lyra covered her mouth.
“Who is that?”
Aldric stared at the figure.
“The first guardian.”
The hanging body suddenly lifted its head.
Its eyes opened.
And it spoke.
“Prince Aldric.”
Aldric stepped backwards.
“You are supposed to be dead.”
The guardian smiled sadly.
“So is everyone here.”
The chains tightened around his body.
“Welcome to the place where death was first imprisoned.”
Kaelen stepped forward.
“Who imprisoned it?”
The guardian looked at him.
“Your ancestor.”
Kaelen frowned.
“My ancestor?”
“Your bloodline began the first betrayal. Your family has carried its consequences ever since.”
Elias moved closer.
“What happened here?”
The guardian looked towards the seven pillars.
“Long before the Emperor stole death, the first king of Varethia discovered something beneath these mountains. It was a creature older than the kingdom, older than the stars, and older than the boundary between life and death.”
Seraphina whispered, “The Hollow King.”
The guardian shook his head.
“No. The Hollow King was only its servant.”
Silence filled the chamber.
Thorne lowered his weapon.
“You mean there is something even worse than the Hollow King?”
The guardian nodded.
“The creature has many names. But your mother knows the true one.”
Kaelen remembered the vision.
The Emperor had said Aveline was guarding a name.
“What happens if the name is spoken?” he asked.
The guardian's expression darkened.
“The creature will remember itself.”
A cold wind moved through the chamber.
“And when it remembers,” the guardian continued, “the prison will no longer hold it.”
Elias looked at the chains.
“Then why did the Emperor want the seventh door opened?”
“Because he believes the creature can give him control over death itself.”
Aldric shook his head.
“He has already imprisoned death. What more could he want?”
The guardian turned towards him.
“To become something that death cannot touch.”
For a moment, nobody spoke.
Then Lyra noticed something behind the pillars.
“Look.”
A narrow passage had opened in the far wall. Beyond it stood a door made entirely of black glass.
A silver symbol was carved into its centre.
Kaelen immediately recognised it.
The same symbol as the key hidden beneath his coat.
He pulled out the key.
It began glowing.
Aldric stared at it.
“The seventh door.”
Kaelen approached cautiously.
“Then this is where we find my mother?”
The guardian shook his head.
“This door does not lead to her.”
“Then where does it lead?”
“To the first prison.”
Kaelen looked towards Elias.
“Can it help us reach her?”
“Perhaps,” the guardian answered. “But understand this: opening the door will awaken what sleeps beneath the mountain.”
Thorne sighed.
“Of course it will.”
Elira moved beside Kaelen.
“We need to know what is waiting beyond it before we decide.”
Kaelen nodded.
He placed the silver key against the black glass.
Nothing happened.
He pushed harder.
Still nothing.
Then Elias stepped forward. His golden wrist symbol began glowing.
The door responded.
A low vibration travelled through the chamber.
Aldric raised his hand.
“Wait!”
But it was too late.
The silver key turned by itself.
A click echoed through the mountain.
The door opened.
A powerful wind burst from the darkness beyond it, extinguishing the flames around the chamber. The chains overhead began swinging violently.
Then a voice emerged.
“Finally.”
Kaelen froze.
He recognised the voice.
It was his mother's.
But this time, there was no illusion in it.
“Kaelen,” Aveline whispered.
Elias moved forward.
“Mother! Where are you?”
“Do not come through the door.”
Kaelen stared into the darkness.
“Why?”
Aveline's voice trembled.
“Because I am not alone.”
Something moved behind her.
A slow scraping sound travelled across the floor.
Then another voice spoke.
It was deep, ancient and impossibly calm.
“Little shadow.”
Kaelen's blood turned cold.
The Hollow King.
The darkness beyond the door shifted, revealing two enormous eyes.
“Your mother has protected the name for nineteen years,” it continued. “But protection cannot last forever.”
Kaelen raised the Mourning Blade.
“Where is she?”
Aveline answered.
“Kaelen, listen to me. The Emperor is coming here.”
Seraphina turned towards the staircase.
“How can you know?”
“Because he has found the first dead man.”
A sudden crash sounded behind them.
The young man in the torn royal cloak stood at the entrance to the chamber.
His white eyes were now glowing red.
The first dead man had followed them.
But he was no longer smiling.
He looked directly at Aldric.
“Your time has ended, Prince.”
Aldric raised his sword.
“You should have remained forgotten.”
The dead man stretched out his hand.
Every chain in the chamber snapped at once.
The hanging guardian fell.
The seven pillars began shaking.
And from somewhere beneath their feet came a sound that none of them had heard before.
A heartbeat.
One enormous heartbeat.
Kaelen's shadow rose behind him.
The prison is waking.
Then the first dead man pointed towards Kaelen.
“Give me the third fragment,” he demanded.
Kaelen raised his blade.
“Come and take it.”
The stranger smiled again.
“Gladly.”
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