CHAPTER 13 — THE WHISPERING VEINS
The night didn't end so much as it shifted, sliding into a deeper, darker shade of silence.
Alex lay on the cold concrete floor of the abandoned substation, chest heaving, his pulse hammering like a war drum. The last remnants of crimson energy still crackled under his skin, fading, but refusing to vanish completely. His fingers trembled—not from fear, but from the raw presence of something new forming inside him. Something awake.
The fight with the Pale Warden should've left him broken. Dead, even. But instead… it left him changed.
The buzzing lights above flickered. That same eerie static he felt when the darkness within him stirred now pulsed in the walls, leaking out like the station itself was reacting to him.
Alex pushed himself up slowly.
"Get up," a voice whispered—not audible, yet unmistakable. Right in his bones. A vibration from inside his bloodstream.
He froze.
It wasn't the familiar, dormant presence he'd felt from the day the throne chose him. This was sharper. Hungrier.
The Throne's Power… evolving?
No. It wasn't the throne. It was something else tied to it.
His vision swam for a second. The air thickened. And then—
A wave of pain sliced down his spine, forcing him to his knees. His veins glowed faintly—wine-red lightning branching beneath his skin like a map of violent rivers. His palms slammed onto the ground, and the concrete cracked under him.
He could feel it—
His body rewriting itself.
Focus.
He forced the pain down, pulling in a deep breath. He'd felt this once before, in Chapter 10—when the veil between the mortal world and the Throne briefly thinned. But this time, it wasn't a momentary spark.
It was a transformation.
Footsteps echoed from the corridor.
Alex's head snapped up.
Lani appeared in the doorway—dark braids frayed, hoodie torn, her breath uneven as if she had been running for miles. "Alex…?" Her eyes widened when she saw the cracks on the floor and the glow beneath his skin. "Oh God. What happened to you?"
He didn't answer immediately. He couldn't. The energy inside him still coiled, restless.
"You shouldn't be here," Alex muttered, pushing himself fully upright. His voice was deeper—more resonant than before. Even Lani flinched at the tone.
"I had to come," she said, stepping closer. "That thing you fought—it didn't just die. It dissolved into black mist and shot into the drains. And then the whole district's power grid started flickering like it's alive. I couldn't just sit home."
She reached out to touch him—but the moment her fingers neared his arm, a surge of energy sparked outward.
BZZZT.
Lani recoiled, shaking her hand. "Ow! Alex, what the hell?!"
He clenched his fists. "It's not me. Something's reacting… in me."
The whispering returned. This time clearer. More demanding.
Feed.
Alex staggered. His vision blurred—Lani's outline doubling, then splitting into shadows behind her. He blinked, forcing the hallucination away.
"I need to get out of here," he said, steadying himself. "Before it gets worse."
Lani stepped in front of him. Brave. Stupid. Loyal. "Then I'm going with you. Whatever is happening—you're not handling it alone."
Alex almost smiled. Almost. But then the ground trembled sharply.
A metallic clang echoed beneath their feet—followed by a deep, distorted thud.
One. Then another.
Like something huge and heavy was waking from underground.
Lani's voice dropped to a whisper. "…Please tell me that's not another Warden."
Alex turned toward the stairwell leading into the sub-basement—where the Warden had fallen after their battle. The metal door shuddered, bulging inward.
"No," he said. "It's something worse."
The tremor intensified. Dust rained from the ceiling. The air thickened with the smell of rust and wet earth.
Then—
BOOOOM!
The steel door exploded outward, slamming into the far wall. Splintered bolts flew across the room like bullets.
And from the darkness beneath…
Something crawled out.
Not the Warden.
What remained of the Warden had mutated.
Its body was now a writhing mass of bone spikes and liquefied shadow, dragging itself with elongated, claw-tipped limbs. Several glowing eyes blinked open across its torso—each one burning with the same crimson shade now flickering inside Alex.
It hissed—a sound like metal scraping against a coffin lid.
Lani stumbled back. "Alex—what is that?"
Alex's heartbeat slowed. Not out of fear. Out of resonance.
The creature was reacting to him.
Drawn to him.
Linked to him.
Its eyes fixed on him, and for the first time… Alex understood.
The throne's power wasn't just awakening inside him.
It was awakening in the world around him.
"Lani," he said quietly, "run."
She shook her head violently. "I'm not leaving—"
The monster shrieked and launched forward.
Alex moved before thought—his body acting on pure instinct. He grabbed Lani and hurled both of them sideways just as a blade of bone slashed through the air where she had been standing.
They landed hard. Alex rolled, dragging her with him, and rose with new, terrifying ease—his muscles humming with unnatural strength.
His eyes glowed.
Not red.
Black.
The aura around him flared.
And the whispering voice inside him spoke again:
Claim it.
Alex's breath turned cold. "Not yet," he murmured, raising his fists.
The creature surged toward him again.
This time—
He charged to meet it.