The graveyard of titans did not stay silent for long.
Lin's scream of defiance still echoed through the abyss when the bones beneath his feet began to quake. A soundless tremor rolled outward, and the fossilized giants that had slept for millennia stirred as if their rest had been disturbed. Dust and fragments of marrow rained from ribcages the size of towers. Vertebrae shifted like tectonic plates.
The throne of chains pulsed.
The figure swathed in links tilted its faceless head, resonance vibrating from it like the peel of bells warped and inverted.
Defiance.
The word was not an acknowledgment but a sentence.
Lin collapsed to one knee, his chains thrashing violently, splitting into factions. Half of them strained toward the throne, drawn by instinct, while the other half lashed against the pull, wrapping tight around his limbs as if to anchor him where he stood. The tension made his body convulse, tearing his muscles in spasms. Blood dripped from his mouth and ears.
