Chapter 2655: Story 2656: The Crimson Kingdom

The heartbeat grew louder.

Boom.

Each pulse traveled through Kael’s bones as the crimson kingdom opened before them. Lena tightened her grip on his arm while Elias descended, golden light burning beneath his skin.

Azael stared at the throne. “That heartbeat is calling us.”

The stranger stepped down from the throne.

“You finally arrived,” he said.

Kael raised his sword, ready to face whatever waited beyond the throne.

“We did not come here by choice.”

“No,” the stranger replied. “You were brought here.”

“By whom?”

The stranger looked toward the darkness behind them.

“By the thing that remembers your birth.”

The fifth child covered his ears. “Stop.”

The stranger watched him.

“You remember more than you believe.”

“I remember enough.”

“I remember being taken.”

Azael stepped forward, his expression hardening as old memories returned to him.

“Taken by the first darkness?”

The child nodded.

“It wanted me before I had a name.”

Kael felt his Azrael mark burn.

“What happened after it took you?”

“It put something inside me.”

Elias suddenly cried out.

His golden veins erupted with light.

Lena caught him.

“Elias!”

He looked at Kael.

“I can hear it.”

“What?”

“The heartbeat.”

The kingdom shook. From beneath the black towers came another pulse.

Boom.

A crack opened across the crimson ground.

The stranger’s expression changed.

Fear appeared in his silver eyes.

“Impossible.”

“What is happening?”

The stranger looked at the fifth child.

“It has found the vessel.”

The child whispered, “No.”

Kael stepped between them.

“You will explain everything.”

The stranger removed his crown.

Beneath it was an impossibly ancient face.

“I was the guardian of the First Soul.”

Azael frowned.

“Then why does the darkness fear you?”

“Because I failed.”

The stranger dropped it.

It shattered.

Inside the broken bone appeared a small crimson eye.

The fifth child screamed.

The eye opened.

Every tower bent toward it.

Lena’s silver eyes flashed.

“That symbol...”

She pointed toward the eye.

Kael looked.

The same closed-eye seal on his palm glowed above the kingdom.

The stranger whispered, “The seal is breaking.”

Azael stared at Kael.

“If the seal breaks, what happens?”

“The First Soul awakens.”

Kael looked at the fifth child.

“And what is the First Soul?”

The child spoke.

“You.”

Kael froze.

Azael shook his head.

“No. We were one.”

The child looked at both brothers.

“You were the divided soul.”

He touched his chest.

“I am what remained.”

The ground split open.

A gigantic black hand emerged.

Its fingers wrapped around the fifth child.

Kael lunged.

“Let him go!”

The darkness laughed.

A voice echoed across the kingdom.

“Azrael.”

Kael stopped.

“You were never the fifth.”

The hand pulled the child toward the crack.

“You were the door.”

Kael’s mark exploded with light.

Azael’s symbol ignited beside it.

Lena’s silver eyes turned red.

Elias’s golden veins blazed.

All four bloodlines connected.

The fifth child smiled sadly.

“Now you remember.”

The kingdom disappeared.

And beneath the darkness, something ancient opened its eyes once again.