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đź“– Chronicles of the Watchers
Chapter 9: The Bell of the Hours
The mountain air was sharp and cold. Kairo's breath came in clouds as he followed Liora up the narrow path. Selene trailed behind, her lantern dimmed to a whisper of light. The cavern of bones was far below them now, but the weight of Azariel's words still pressed heavy on Kairo's chest.
He opened his mouth to ask something—anything—when the air shifted.
The sound came first.
Not wind, not thunder—
a deep gong, echoing from nowhere and everywhere at once.
Selene froze. Her face drained of color.
"The Bell," she whispered. "They've found us."
From the ridges above, shadows detached from the stone. Figures cloaked in ash-grey armor slid down the cliffs with unnatural grace, their masks shaped like hourglasses glinting faintly in the moonlight.
The Hunters of Kronas.
"Keep behind me," Liora growled, planting her greatsword into the ground with a shattering thud. The blade pulsed with faint runes, eager for blood.
One Hunter stepped forward, slow and deliberate. His voice carried through the mask, metallic, layered, like a dozen voices speaking in unison:
"The vessel of Azariel is marked for erasure. Yield him, and time will flow clean again."
Kairo's stomach lurched. Vessel. They meant him.
"No," Liora snarled. Her blade lifted, glowing hotter. "If you want him, you'll have to carve through me."
The Hunter tilted his head. "So be it."
They struck.
The first came in a blur, moving faster than Kairo's eyes could follow. Selene shouted a warning, hurling her lantern—its blue fire exploded in the dark, revealing the Hunter mid-swing. Liora intercepted, her greatsword ringing against a Chronoblade. Sparks erupted, but where they landed, the ground itself seemed to slow—dust hanging midair like frozen stars.
Another Hunter dropped behind Kairo. His hand reached, too fast—time stretched around Kairo, and the world blurred. He felt the brand on his arm ignite, searing white-hot.
"Run!" Selene screamed.
But Kairo didn't run. The mark flared, and with a cry torn from his chest, a wave of light burst outward.
The Hunter staggered, his mask cracking as if struck by a hammer. His blade dissolved into dust, and the man collapsed, unmoving.
Silence.
Then—
GONG.
The Bell of the Hours tolled, deep and endless. Kairo's ears rang with it. And from the shadows above, another Hunter stepped forward—identical to the one who had fallen.
Selene's face hardened. "Every one you kill, another rises. They are endless."
Kairo's knees shook, his arm still burning. "Then how—how do we fight them?"
Liora spat blood, lifting her blade again. "We don't. We survive."
The Hunters raised their weapons as one, golden eyes fixed on Kairo.
And the battle began anew.
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⚡ End of Chapter 9