đź“– Chronicles of the Watchers
Chapter 14: Chains in the Dark
The roar still echoed when the first chain snapped.
A thunderous crack split the Vale as one of the floating islands lurched, its anchor broken. The ground beneath their feet shuddered, tilting dangerously.
"Move!" Liora bellowed, grabbing Kairo by the shoulder. She shoved him forward just as a claw, longer than a man was tall, tore through the stone where he had stood.
The creature was larger than anything Kairo had ever imagined. Its body was a writhing tangle of scales and shadow, half-serpent, half-spider, with too many eyes burning like coals. Every time it moved, the chains groaned as if the Vale itself resisted its presence.
Selene's lantern flared desperately. "Don't look at its eyes! It will drag your mind into the Hourless Abyss!"
But Kairo had already seen them—
and for a heartbeat, the world froze.
He stood in two places again. One body ran with Selene and Liora, stumbling across broken bridges of stone. The other stared into the beast's gaze, where entire cities drowned in black water, screams swallowed by the flood.
"Kairo!" Selene's voice pierced the vision. He staggered, clutching his glowing arm, and the mark flared so brightly that the creature recoiled with a hiss.
It feared him.
Or rather, it feared Azariel.
"Left!" Liora barked. She smashed through a wall of jagged crystal, dragging them into a tunnel of black stone. The passage shook as the creature slammed against the outer wall, its claws raking sparks.
The tunnel split into three paths.
Selene froze, lantern flickering. "It's a labyrinth. The Vale is alive—it doesn't want us leaving."
Another slam. Dust rained from the ceiling. Kairo's arm burned hotter, the mark pulsing like a compass.
He didn't understand why, but he knew which path to take.
"That one!" he shouted, pointing to the middle.
Liora frowned. "How do you—"
"Just trust me!"
With no time to argue, they ran. The mark blazed brighter with each step, guiding them through twists and collapsing bridges, until at last the tunnel spat them out onto a ledge overlooking the endless abyss.
Chains stretched out before them like a broken web, connecting fragment to fragment.
Behind them, the creature screamed, its massive body forcing itself into the narrowing passage.
Selene's eyes widened in terror. "It's coming through—"
But Kairo wasn't looking at the beast anymore.
His gaze had fallen to the abyss below, where he swore he saw another city drowned in black water… and within it, thousands of golden eyes staring back up at him.
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⚡ End of Chapter 14.