Chapter Eleven: The Stone King's Wrath
The throne chamber shook as the awakened figure stepped forward—each footfall echoing like thunder in Kain's bones.
The Black Hunters hesitated. For the first time, they were not the predators.
"You trespass," the Stone King growled, voice like grinding mountains. "You awaken the old laws. You bleed where none should."
He raised the broken sword, and the runes in the floor flared like wildfire.
One Hunter struck first, hurling a spear of voidsteel.
It shattered against the air itself.
The Stone King didn't even blink—he was already in motion, slamming his weapon into the ground. A wave of stone erupted from beneath him, swallowing two Hunters whole.
Kain leapt aside, the heat of both Vera and Lyra's remnants flaring inside him.
He didn't know what this thing was—only that it wasn't an ally.
"This power... it predates the Abyss itself," Vera whispered.
The Stone King turned to Kain now.
"You are marked. Two flames. A choice you haven't made."
He stepped toward him.
Kain raised his hands, but his body locked—paralyzed by the weight of the King's presence.
But before the King could strike, another Hunter leapt—only to be caught mid-air, frozen in place, and crushed into dust with a gesture.
The floor cracked.
The ceiling buckled.
And from deep within the throne's shattered heart, something else began to awaken—
—a second pulse, red and slow... a heartbeat.
The King staggered, as if struck by something unseen.
"No..." he rasped. "It's not time yet!"
With a final roar, he slammed his sword into the center of the sigil.
Light exploded outward.
The tower shook to its core, and in a blink, Kain found himself thrown through the wall, crashing into the ruins below.
The tower collapsed behind him, a pillar of dust rising into the sky.
Silence.
Then a whisper:
"The second heart is stirring. And the Abyss... is watching."
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