The Bloodbound Awakening

gasps. The blood moon's crimson glow seeped through the arrow slits, painting the ancient tapestries in shades of rust and dried blood. Somew

against her feverish skin. "They're here for the ritual," he murm

e chamber where Mira and Jason stil

. His eyes, nearly black in the dim light, flickered to the pendant fu

wood splintering, iron hinges screaming. The hunters

ed in Elian's chest lik

wall yielded to his touch, revealing a narrow staircase spiraling into darkness. The air that rushed up to greet th

he rough-hewn wall as they descended, the stone damp beneath her touch. Strange fungi clung to the cracks between stones, their pale blue

e?" Elian whispered, her voice s

is coat brushed against the walls, sti

gs vaulted like a cathedral's, their walls lined with niches where skeletal figures sat frozen in eternal repose. These weren't haphazard bur

on within wore the remnants of a gown, its fabric long since rotted away to reveal ribs stained black

r," Raelith obser

lance was unmistakable-the shape of the skull, th

tant scrape of boots on stone, the metallic whisper

th a groan of protesting rock, a new passage revealed itself, this one sloping downward at a sharp angle

ian asked, her breath fo

ning," Raelit

ons that no longer matched the night sky. At its center stood a stone altar, its surface p

ose unbidden-Seraphina standing where she now stood, the ritu

ind me of her betrayal," El

ught you here to show you the truth." He turned to face her fully, the biolumines

but desiccated corpses wrapped in tattered gray robes. Their skeletal hands wer

with the same green fire Elian saw in her nightmares. When i

l has come

d the creatures, his coat flarin

the sound of bones rattling in

gh her chest. The walls of the chamber seemed to breathe around them, th

ing the

essed something cold into Elian's hand-a dagger, its

," he w

and present collapsing around her, Elian final