Chapter 69 – The One Who Breathes Last
No one slept.
Not truly.
They lay on cold stone floors, on worn mats, with weapons within reach and eyes half-open, waiting for a sound that never came. Every breath felt like a betrayal of silence, every blink like giving the dark an opening. The torches along the walls had been doubled. The guards were tripled. And still… it felt useless.
The silence had weight now.
It pressed on chests, filled ears, crawled behind eyes.
Jok sat against one of the pillars inside the great hall, staring at the mark on his wrist. It hadn't faded. If anything, it looked clearer now. The thin silver lines beneath his skin glowed faintly whenever the air changed — as if it reacted to something unseen.
"You should cover that," Kade said from behind him.
Jok didn't look up. "Covering a truth doesn't stop it from existing."
"And showing it doesn't make it safer," Kade replied.
Jok smirked faintly. "When did you start caring about safety?"
Kade didn't answer.
Across the hall, Thea whispered with two of the younger scouts. Her voice was steady, but her hands trembled slightly as she spoke. She kept glancing toward the doorway, like she expected darkness itself to step inside again.
Master Oryn stood near the center of the chamber, listening to nothing, his eyes closed. He had been like that for over an hour.
"You're trying to feel it, aren't you?" Jok called out.
Oryn opened his eyes slowly. "No," he murmured. "I'm trying not to."
Even the walls felt different — like they were leaning in, listening.
Then… the floor creaked.
Not from weight.
From movement beneath it.
Boom.
A dull thud rolled up from under the stone, like a distant heartbeat.
Boom.
Several warriors jumped to their feet, swords drawn.
Boom.
"Hold your ground!" Oryn commanded.
But Jok was already on his feet. The mark on his wrist pulsed once, twice, three times — each flash brighter than the last.
"The Vein…" he whispered. "It's moving again. Under us."
"You said it controlled underground paths," Kade hissed. "So why is it moving toward us now?"
Jok's jaw tightened. "Because it's hunting now. Not traveling."
The ground cracked — only slightly — but enough for thin lines to snake across the stone floor like dark veins. Cold air seeped through them, unnatural in its chill.
From one of the cracks, a whisper escaped.
Not a voice.
A breath.
Like something testing the surface of the world.
Suddenly, one of the outer doors slammed shut all on its own.
Then another.
Then another.
Heavy iron locks snapped into place.
"They sealed us in," Thea gasped.
"No," Jok said quietly. "They sealed something in with us."
The torches flickered violently.
One went out.
Then another.
And another.
Within seconds, only one remained — right above Jok.
A terrible spotlight.
Everyone stared at him.
Slowly, something began to rise from the cracked stone at his feet.
Not up.
Out.
A silhouette pulled itself from the earth, shaped like a man, but moving like liquid shadow given intention.
The same presence as before…
…yet stronger.
"You were not supposed to see me this clearly yet," the voice filled the room.
"The Silence Between Storms," Oryn muttered.
"No," the figure corrected. "That was a lesser echo of me. You spoke to a fingerprint. Now you face the hand."
It lifted what might have been an arm — though edges kept shifting like smoke.
"I am called NEMITH."
The name rattled the air.
"And one of you belongs to me."
A low growl escaped Kade's throat. "You don't get to claim lives here."
Nemith's head tilted slowly.
"Oh, I do not claim lives… I claim turning points."
The torches around the room ignited again — but the light they cast was strange. Faint visions covered the walls: shadows of people walking, borders shifting, kingdoms collapsing, old wars that had never been recorded.
"You see," Nemith continued, "this world rearranges itself every time one important breath is removed. Tonight, that breath is among you."
Thea's eyes widened. "Then choose me instead. End it quickly."
Jok turned sharply. "Don't."
Nemith's gaze moved to her. "Bravery is a currency wasted on the wrong gods."
It then looked at Jok.
"And you…" it murmured. "…are an unintended variable. Your existence bends the line which was already written."
The mark on Jok's wrist burst into a cold, radiating glow. Thin light traced up his arm, stopping just before his shoulder.
"For the first time in centuries, the Vein hesitates," Nemith admitted.
Jok forced his voice to stay steady. "Then hesitate longer."
Silence filled the hall again. Deep. Expectant.
Then Nemith slowly drifted toward the far edge of the room, circling like a judge watching prisoners.
One by one, it paused before different people. Studying them. Weighing them.
When it reached Master Oryn, it lingered longer than the rest.
"You are older than your years," it observed.
"And you are not welcome here," Oryn replied sternly.
"True. Yet here I stand."
The air around Oryn darkened slightly, as if testing him.
"You guard knowledge that was buried for a reason," Nemith said. "And knowledge has a price."
Oryn did not flinch. "Then take me. Spare them."
Jok stepped forward. "It said one would vanish, not die. So where do you take them?"
Nemith's swirling form trembled, almost like a smile.
"To where forgotten things are kept… until needed again."
"Like weapons," Jok whispered.
"Like keys," Nemith corrected.
A low crack split the floor behind Oryn.
Cold mist poured upward.
Thea screamed, "NO!"
Kade rushed forward, but an unseen force threw him back against the wall.
Jok lunged and grabbed Oryn's arm just as the ground beneath him began to give way.
Their eyes locked.
"You must not follow," Oryn said calmly. "This was always meant."
"No," Jok growled. "You're not becoming a ghost."
"Not a ghost," Oryn said… and then he smiled softly for the first time in years.
"A door."
Then… the floor swallowed him.
Stone closed over the crack instantly — sealing it like it had never been touched.
Nemith's form began to rise slowly toward the ceiling, fading.
"The line has been corrected," its voice echoed. "For now."
"But know this…"
Its presence thinned into smoke.
"The storm you fear is not the one that breaks you…"
A pause.
"…it is the one that chooses you to survive."
Then… it was gone.
Only silence remained.
Cold.
Empty.
Horrifying.
Jok stared at the place where Oryn had vanished. His hand still clenched tightly as if holding something that was no longer there.
Thea stood frozen, tears glistening quietly in her eyes but not falling.
Kade punched the stone wall hard once — then again.
A faint tremor ran through the structure, and far away, thunder rolled.
Jok finally whispered, voice breaking into the stillness:
"This isn't ending… it's only selecting its players."
Outside, the wind howled for the first time.
And far beneath their feet…
something massive shifted position.
Something ancient.
Something that had just been awakened… by loss.