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Chapter 11 – Hollow of Whispers
The rune beneath Kael's feet lit up with a quiet hiss—then fractured.
The earth beneath them gave way.
They fell.
Darkness swallowed them whole, but before the panic could rise, something caught them. Wind—not natural wind, but a spiraling current of Qi—wrapped around their bodies and slowed their descent. Still, it wasn't gentle.
Kael landed in a crouch, knees buckling as his boots scraped ancient stone. Lys rolled to her feet beside him, frost-cloak coiling protectively around her frame. The space they had landed in was massive, hidden deep beneath the Blightwood.
A subterranean vault.
The walls pulsed with faint glyphs, old draconic script etched into the stone in a language Kael didn't recognize—but something deep inside him did.
The same fire that burned in his veins now flickered faintly in every symbol.
"This place…" Kael whispered.
Lys nodded slowly. "A dragon's tomb?"
"No." His voice was strange in his own ears. "A sanctum. Something left behind."
The air was cold and heavy, filled with memory. Echoes drifted through the chamber, not voices exactly—more like feelings. Triumph. Loss. Rage. Grief.
And beneath all of it: a heartbeat.
One that didn't stop.
In the center of the sanctum stood a pedestal. Upon it, sealed within glass and binding chains of Qi, rested a single item: a curved bone blade wreathed in flickers of blue flame. The flame didn't burn—it shimmered, half-spirit and half-elemental.
Kael stepped forward, drawn to it.
> System Alert:
Unique Artifact Detected: Bonefire Fang
Tier: ???
Status: Sealed
Warning: Artifact contains echo of draconic soul. Extraction will initiate combat trial.
Proceed?
Lys's hand fell to her dagger. "Kael."
"I know," he said. "But I have to."
She didn't stop him.
He reached out—and the moment his fingers brushed the edge of the seal, the air exploded.
Blue fire erupted from the pedestal, forming into a spectral figure.
A dragon—not a full beast, but the memory of one. It coiled through the chamber like smoke, horns sweeping, wings flickering with translucent fire. Its eyes fixed on Kael with ancient judgment.
"You walk with a stolen flame."
Kael raised his chin. "It chose me."
"Then prove yourself."
The trial began.
The chamber sealed. The spectral dragon surged forward—not physical, but powerful. Its roars hit Kael like waves of energy. Emberfang flared in Kael's hands as he parried a swipe of flame. The sheer force pushed him backward. He summoned Twin Burn—his newly awakened skill.
Two arcs of Qi—one red, one violet—lashed from the blade.
They cut through the dragon's wing—but the creature simply reformed, shrieking with ghostly fury.
Lys shouted, "It's not a normal fight—hit it with resonance!"
"What?!"
"Think of something that burns—inside you!"
Kael closed his eyes for one breath—and remembered.
His brother's death.
The betrayal.
The night he first saw fire dance on his palm.
He roared and slashed, not with technique—but with grief. Rage. Purpose.
His flame exploded, fire and void mingling into a piercing spiral. He dove straight through the dragon's chest.
The memory shattered.
Light swallowed the sanctum.
And when it faded, Kael stood before the pedestal. The chains had broken. The glass was gone.
The Bonefire Fang rested in his hands.
> Artifact Acquired: Bonefire Fang
Grants +20% effectiveness to Fire and Spirit techniques
Unlocks Skill: Spectral Fang (summons ethereal dragon strike)
Compatible with Emberfang for dual-form fusion
Grace Points Earned: +50
Total GP: 55
Kael exhaled hard, body trembling with the effort. The blade pulsed in his hands like it remembered the trial too.
Lys stepped beside him. "You okay?"
"I am now."
She glanced at the path ahead. The back wall of the sanctum had cracked, revealing a staircase spiraling downward—lit by cold blue flame.
"We keep going?" she asked.
Kael looked at his new blade. "I think we're meant to."
And as they descended into the unknown, the Gracebound System whispered:
> Quest Updated: The Wyrm Seal
Status: Incomplete
New Objective: Reach the Heartforge beneath the Hollow
Reward: Class Awakening
They didn't look back.
Not even when the chamber sealed behind them and the whispers started again.