Chapter 46 THE DARKNESS BENEATH THE STAR
The Throne Room was the quietest, coldest place in the palace. Kings had sat here for centuries, ruling, but no one knew what lay beneath the throne.
Dorian didn't even look at the throne. His eyes were on the patterns in the floor. "The entrance must be here," he said, his voice tense. "But the mechanism isn't responding. The palace still rejects me."
Serra walked toward the throne. She looked at the lion heads carved into the stone armrests. "It's not rejecting you, Dorian. It just... demands an old key."
She twirled her silver knife in her palm. Without hesitation, she cut her hand. Blood dripped onto the armrest of the throne.
"Blood calls blood," Serra whispered.
The moment the blood touched the stone, the floor of the throne room shuddered with a deep groan. The stone blocks separated like a complex gear mechanism, rotating to reveal a spiral staircase opening downward.
The air coming from below didn't smell of rot. It smelled of burnt electricity and pure energy.
"Kael, Valeria," Dorian said, drawing his sword. "Watch our backs."
"As always," Kael said, slinging his sledgehammer over his shoulder. He was grinning, but his eyes were serious.
(THE HEART OF THE MACHINE)
When they descended the stairs, the sight that met them was breathtaking.
This wasn't a dungeon. This was a massive dome where Shadow Age technology met magic. Crystal pipes running along the walls glowed like the veins of the palace. But these veins were sick.
In the exact center of the room was a massive, rotating crystal sphere: The Heart of the Palace.
But the sphere was wrapped in black, sticky, tar-like vines. These vines were the parasite Vespera and Lorden had been feeding. It was strangling the Heart, sucking its energy.
"My God," Valeria whispered, looking at her tablet. "They are siphoning the shield energy from here. Using the palace's power... to feed themselves."
Dorian stepped forward. "It's over," he said. "Let go of my palace."
The black mass on the crystal reacted to Dorian's voice. The vines uncoiled, slithered, and dropped to the floor. But they didn't flee. They changed shape.
The black tar rose from the ground and formed three massive, humanoid shapes. Faceless. Just darkness and hunger.
"Welcome," said the shadow in the middle. It had no voice; the words echoed in their minds. "The Alpha has come. The Seed has come."
(THE BATTLE OF STONE AND SHADOW)
"Kael!" Dorian shouted.
Kael lunged forward with a war cry. He swung his hammer. When the blow hit the shadow on the left, it sounded like metal striking stone. The shadow didn't disperse; it solidified. Kael was thrown back.
"These aren't shadows!" Kael yelled. "They're harder than rock!"
The shadow on the right moved toward Valeria. Serra intercepted, silver knife in hand. She plunged the blade into the shadow's chest. The shadow hissed, the silver burning it, but not stopping it.
Dorian focused on the middle, largest shadow. He raised his sword. But the shadow didn't attack him. It just reached out a hand.
Dorian stopped abruptly. He fell to his knees. The seal on his chest had resonated with that black mass.
"Dorian!" Serra shouted.
"I can't fight," Dorian groaned. "It's... draining my power. Feeding the seed!"
The middle shadow leaned over Dorian, ready to engulf him.
"No!" Serra pulled out the glass vial from her pocket. The handmade bomb. Ash, silver, and her own blood.
"Kael! Throw me!" Serra shouted.
Kael didn't ask. He ran toward Serra, cuping his hands. Serra stepped into Kael's palms, and he launched her into the air with all his strength.
Serra soared through the air, right over the middle shadow, that monster about to suffocate Dorian.
"Eat this!" she screamed, smashing the vial onto where the shadow's head should be.
The glass shattered.
BOOM.
The explosion wasn't fire. It was pure, white light. When Red Alpha blood and silver dust met Void energy, it created a supernova effect.
The shadow shrieked, a high-pitched sound, and shattered. The black tar evaporated into nothingness.
The pressure on Dorian lifted, and he took a deep breath. His eyes glowed. "Now!" he roared.
He grabbed his sword from the ground and, in a single fluid motion, sliced the other shadow fighting Kael in half.
Valeria entered a command on her tablet. "Engaging cooling systems! Freeze them!"
Gas resembling liquid nitrogen sprayed from the room's vents. The last remaining shadow froze upon contact with the cold and shattered into a thousand pieces with the final blow of Kael’s hammer.
(THE CLEANSE AND THE SILENCE)
The room fell silent. There was only the hum of the crystal sphere.
With the death of the shadows, the black vines withered and fell away. The crystal sphere shed that sickly purple hue. It flickered, then began to glow with a blinding White Light.
All over the palace, in the corridors, in the rooms, the lights flickered and returned to normal. The air cleared. That smell of rot was gone.
Dorian dropped his sword and turned to Serra. Both were panting, covered in ash and tar.
"You did it," Dorian said, in disbelief. "You saved it. You saved our home."
Serra walked toward Dorian. Her legs were shaking. Dorian caught her, pulling her into his arms.
"We did it," Serra said. She rested her head on Dorian’s chest. The seal was calm. Its rhythm matched the rhythm of the crystal sphere.
Kael leaned on his hammer, grinning. "Hey, I think we can cut the wedding cake on this crystal. The lighting is great."
Valeria closed her tablet and wiped tears from her eyes. "The palace is clean, Alpha. Systems are 100%. No one is listening to us anymore. No one is poisoning us."
Dorian lifted Serra’s chin.
"Did you hear that?" he asked. "No one is watching."
Serra smiled. "Then..."
"Then," Dorian said. "Tomorrow night. I will keep my promise."