Book 3 - Chapter 9
The tunnels were silent now except for someone calling my name within the darkness, which wasn't scary at all, and my harsh breathing, well, mine and Jasper's.
Jasper’s grip on me was iron, his jaw clenched so tight I thought it might shatter. but he seemed determined to hold me and protect me with everything that he had.
We had stopped in a chamber deep underground, a vault carved from stone and steel, its walls etched with runes older than language. Guards stood at the perimeter, weapons raised, their faces masks of grim resolve. But even here, the air felt wrong. Heavy. Charged. Like the darkness outside was pressing against the walls, waiting for the moment they cracked. in the quiet the sound of muffled footsteps approaching made us both gasp as a familiar voice calls within the darkness.
"It's just me. I am glad that you manage to survive." Dr Kellan says as he comes to stand near us.
"I see that you managed to make it out also" Jasper responds as turns to look at Dr. Kellan.
Dr. Kellan was here, his coat torn, his face pale beneath the harsh glow of emergency lights. He looked at me like I was both salvation and damnation. “We don’t have much time,” he said, his voice low, urgent.
“Do you know a way out?" Jasper snapped, his voice sharp as a blade. “I need a way out.”
“There is no way out,” Kellan said, and the words fell like stones. “Not until you understand why they’re here.”
The whisper came again, curling through the dark like smoke.
Miley… Oh, Miley girl, come here.
I flinched, my breath hitching. “Why do they keep saying my name?” My voice cracked, raw with fear.
Kellan’s gaze locked on mine, heavy with secrets. “Because of the pact.”
Jasper stiffened. “What pact? And I don't think now is the time to talk. Let's get out of here, then talk.”
“The Broken Pact,” Kellan said, his tone like a funeral bell. “Centuries ago, before humans ruled the surface, there was an agreement—a binding oath between our kind and theirs—a promise of balance. We would stay in our realm, they in theirs. No crossing. No bloodshed.”
“And then?” Jasper’s voice was a growl.
“Then we broke it,” Kellan said, his eyes darkening. “Not all of us. A faction—hungry for power—summoned them. Used their magic. Tried to bind their gods. It worked… for a time. Until the gods found out.”
My blood ran cold. “Wh...what happened?”
“They tore the pact apart,” Kellan whispered. “And with it, the world. The first breach nearly ended humanity. Entire cities burned. Millions died. The gods demanded restitution—a price for our betrayal.”
“What price?” Jasper’s voice was sharp, but I could hear the tremor beneath.
Kellan’s gaze flicked to me, and in that look, I saw the truth he didn’t want to speak. “The pact wasn’t just broken,” he said slowly. “It was rewritten.”
The whisper came again, louder now, curling through the chamber like smoke.
Miley… come to me…
I shivered, my skin crawling. “Why me?” I rasped. “What does this have to do with me?”
Kellan hesitated, and that hesitation was worse than any answer. “Because the gods don’t forget,” he said finally. “And they don’t forgive. When the pact shattered, they marked a bloodline—a lineage tied to the oath. A living key.”
“A key to what?” Jasper demanded.
“To end this,” Kellan said. “Or unleash something worse.”
The lights flickered overhead, plunging the chamber into momentary darkness. For that heartbeat, the whisper was everywhere—soft, sweet, curling around my bones like silk.
Miley… heir of the broken pact…
The lights flared back, harsh and sterile, and I saw it—the fear in Kellan’s eyes, the fury in Jasper’s, and the truth clawing at the edges of my mind.
I wasn’t just a victim.
I was the reason they were here.
"But I didn't do anything," I grunt out as I look between my brother and Dr. Kellan.
The runes on the walls pulsed harder, their glow stuttering like a dying star. Outside, the howls rose again—low at first, then sharper, hungrier. The sound of claws on stone echoed through the tunnels, closer now, a staccato rhythm that made my blood run cold.
“They’ve found us,” Jasper snarled, his blade flashing as he moved to the door. “Get her out. Now.”
“There’s nowhere to go,” Kellan said, his voice breaking. “The vault was supposed to hold. It won’t. This can end if we give them Miley.”
The whisper came again, louder now, curling through the chamber like smoke and fire.
Miley… come to me…
“But I didn’t do anything wrong,” I mutter
"That won't be happening, you are not taking my sister," Jasper growls furiously.
The runes flared—bright, blinding—casting the chamber in a harsh glow. For a heartbeat, the darkness recoiled, the shadows shrinking back. And in that light, I saw them.
Not the supers.
Not the guards.
What I could only imagine is the gods. They were here, and if they were here, that meant there wasn't going to be a choice or a peaceful resolution. There was going to be bloodshed and death because how did you fight a god?
Figures carved from shadow and flame, their eyes burning like suns, their voices curling through the air like silk and steel.
“You were never prey,” they said in unison, their words slicing through the chaos like a blade. “You were the promise.”
“I didn’t promise anything,” I grunt out between painful breaths.
“It doesn’t matter; you were promised, and we collect what was promised. Also, we don't forget the pact that was broken,” the voices call through the darkness.
"But I didn't break anything, I didn't do anything to any of you," I grunt out.
"Matters not, Miley, you were promised. Therefore, you belong to us." The figures call through the darkness.
"It does matter, I didn't do anything," I mutter again.
A chorus of chuckles sounds within the dark.
As the shadowy figures moved, the gods stepped forward.