Chapter 5 The Abyss that remembers
Darkness did not feel empty , it felt alive.
We fell through it, the stone, shadow, magic, and bone collapsing around us in a roaring spiral.
The air screamed as if the world itself were being torn open, the sound ripping past my ears until I could no longer tell if the noise came from outside… or from inside my skull.
The king wrapped one arm around my waist, the other throwing shadows outward in frantic bursts, trying to slow our descent.
Each impact of falling debris sent jolts of pain through my spine.
The bond between us burned raw, unfiltered panic and fury bleeding freely between our souls.
The Crown laughed again but not loudly.
Closely Inside I gasped as something tugged sharply at my chest, the sigil flaring like a star going supernova beneath my skin.
The pain was blinding. I screamed, fingers clutching at the king’s armor as if he were the last solid thing left in the universe.
“Stay awake,” he snarled, voice ragged with strain. “Do not let it pull you under.”
“I....I’m trying.....”
The darkness thickened, swallowing even the glow of the Blood Moon above.
Gravity twisted, shifting sideways, then wrong entirely. The sensation of falling vanished.... and we hit something hard.
Stone exploded beneath us.
I rolled violently, breath ripping from my lungs as pain detonated through my ribs.
The world spun, settled, then spun again.
My vision blurred, darkened at the edges, but I forced my eyes open with a sharp gasp.
We were no longer in the palace.
We lay in a vast underground chamber ancient beyond comprehension.
The ceiling arched impossibly high, supported by massive pillars carved with scenes of conquest, sacrifice, and kneeling kings.
Red crystal veins pulsed faintly through the stone like veins beneath skin, casting a low, hellish glow.
The air was heavy.
Not just with dust and smoke but memory.
The king groaned beside me, pushing himself upright with a snarl. Blood streaked from a cut at his temple, black against his pale skin.
His shadows writhed around him, agitated, as though this place offended them.
“This is…” he went silent, eyes scanning the chamber.
I swallowed hard. “You know it.”
“Yes.” His jaw tightened. “And I hoped never to see it again.”
Chains lay everywhere, some were shattered and some whole.
Massive links coiled across the floor, embedded in stone, etched with runes that burned faintly red. They all led toward the center of the chamber...... Toward a throne.
It stood raised on a circular dais of bone-white stone, its surface carved from fused skulls and dark crystal. The seat was empty.
But it was not dormant.
I felt it..... The Crown pulsed violently, reacting to the throne like a heart recognizing its own ribcage.
“No,” I whispered, backing away instinctively.
The sigil over my heart burned hotter.
This place remembers you, the Sovereign’s voice murmured, silk-smooth and pleased.
I clutched my chest, breath hitching. “You said it was sealed.”
The king stepped in front of me instantly. “It was,” he snapped. “Or it should have been.”
The shadows around him surged outward, forming a defensive ring as the chamber trembled. Dust rained from the ceiling.
The red crystal veins brightened, pulsing in time with my heartbeat.
Then......A sound echoed through the abyss.
Footsteps that was slow, and measured coming from behind the throne.
My blood ran cold as a figure stepped into view.
Tall and cloake in silver and crimson armor etched with familiar sigils older versions of the Crown’s mark.
A helm concealed their face, crowned with twisted metal shaped like thorns.
They stopped at the foot of the dais and knelt.
“My queen,” the figure said, voice reverent and hollow. “You have returned at last.”
The king went utterly still.
“No,” he said quietly. “That is not possible.”
The figure rose......,,Removed their helm.
And I screamed..... The face was mine.
Not exactly but close enough to shatter something inside me.
Same eyes and same mouth. It was older and harder .
Scars carved deep into skin that had once known power without mercy.
“I am what you will be,” the woman said calmly. “If you survive what comes next.”
The Crown shrieked in delight.
I staggered back, legs giving way. The king caught me before I hit the stone, his grip iron-tight.
“This is a lie,” I sobbed. “Another trick.”
The woman tilted her head. “Is it?”
She raised her hand. The chamber responded and the chains lifted, every single one.
They rose into the air like serpents awakening, rattling violently as ancient magic surged back to life.
The floor split in new fractures, red light pouring through the cracks like blood.
“This is the Crypt of Reigns,” the woman continued. “Where queens are born… and kings are broken.”
The king’s shadows exploded outward, slamming into the chains, forcing several back into the stone. “You will not touch her.”
The woman smiled sadly. “You already lost her once.”
My breath caught. “What does she mean?”
He didn’t answer...... And he didn't look at me also.
The silence was worse than any confession.
The Sovereign’s voice coiled lovingly around my mind. He remembers the first coronation.
Memory detonated.
I saw it.....Not through my eyes.
Through his.
A younger king kneeling in blood. Hands shaking as he placed the Crown upon my head.
My head.... The throne flaring to life.
The bond snapping into place. My laughter echoing as cities burned.
I screamed, ripping free of the vision, collapsing to my knees.
The king knelt with me instantly, gripping my shoulders. “That was not you,” he said fiercely. “It was what the Crown made.”
“But it wore my face,” I whispered. “And you....”
“I was bound,” he said hoarsely. “Cursed the moment I knelt. I spent centuries trying to erase that future.”
The other me stepped forward.
“You failed,” she said gently. “Because the Blood Moon has risen again.”
Above us, far beyond the stone, something shifted.
The chamber darkened and the red glow turned black.
The Crown screamed and tore free.
Pain exploded through my chest as the sigil ripped itself outward, hovering before me in a blaze of crimson and obsidian light. I screamed, body arching as magic ripped through my veins like wildfire.
“No!” the king roared, shadows lashing violently.
The Crown hovered between us.
Waiting.......Choosing.
The other me extended her hand. “Take it,” she urged. “End the war before it begins. Rule instead of bleed.”
The Sovereign whispered, Blood will decide.
The king reached for me, desperation raw and unguarded. “If you take it fully… I will not survive what you become.”
The chamber shook violently as a massive presence stirred beneath the throne.
Something older than the Sovereign, something chained deeper.
The throne cracked.
A hand vast and skeletal burst from beneath it, clawing upward as the abyss roared.
The Crown pulsed once... Then Twice.
And flew straight toward my heart......
