CHAPTER 2 – THE THING BENEATH THE THRONE
The moment the final lock clicked shut...
The warmth disappeared.
Not gradually.
Instantly.
The fire in the fireplace continued burning, yet the room became colder than winter.
Elisa noticed it first.
Her breath turned white.
King Adrian noticed her reaction.
"You feel it."
She nodded.
"The cold isn't coming from outside."
"No."
He answered quietly.
"It never does."
For several minutes...
Neither of them moved.
The silence itself felt alive.
Then...
Three slow knocks echoed beneath the marble floor.
Knock.
Knock.
Knock.
Adrian closed his eyes.
"It has awakened."
"What has?"
Instead of answering...
He walked toward a massive bookshelf carved with ancient symbols.
Behind hundreds of dusty books was an iron door covered in chains.
The chains...
Were moving.
Not because someone touched them.
Because something behind them was pulling.
Again.
And again.
And again.
As if desperate to get out.
Elisa's heartbeat quickened.
"This isn't black magic."
"No."
"It's older."
Adrian whispered.
"My family didn't create it."
"They inherited it."
He removed one glove.
Elisa gasped.
His right hand was covered with black veins that pulsed beneath his skin like living snakes.
"Every king of my bloodline carries the same curse."
He looked directly into her eyes.
"Every midnight..."
"It feeds."
Before Elisa could speak...
A horrifying scream exploded from behind the chained door.
Not one voice.
Hundreds.
Women.
Children.
Old men.
All crying at once.
The walls trembled.
The candles went out.
The room vanished into darkness.
Then...
Something enormous struck the iron door from the other side.
BOOM.
Dust fell from the ceiling.
Again.
BOOM.
The chains stretched tighter.
Elisa reached into the hidden pocket sewn inside her dress.
She quietly crushed dried herbs into powder.
The old healer had warned her years ago.
"If you ever meet something that steals life..."
"Don't fight it."
"Make it reveal itself."
She threw the powder into the fireplace.
Green flames erupted instantly.
The chamber filled with glowing smoke.
Within seconds...
The shadows changed.
The room no longer looked empty.
Figures appeared everywhere.
Transparent women stood silently against every wall.
Dozens.
No...
Hundreds.
All dressed differently.
All staring at Adrian.
Each had snow-white hair.
Each had empty black eyes.
The king fell to his knees.
"They're still here..."
"They never left."
One spirit slowly stepped forward.
She looked barely seventeen.
Instead of attacking Elisa...
She whispered,
"Help him."
Elisa froze.
"Help... him?"
Another ghost nodded.
"He never killed us."
The room became silent.
Adrian buried his face in his hands.
"They think I did."
"But every sunrise..."
"I wake beside another body..."
"...and remember nothing."
For the first time...
The monster wasn't standing before Elisa.
It was suffering beside her.
Then...
The chained door exploded outward.
Iron flew across the chamber.
A gigantic shadow unfolded from the darkness.
It had no face.
Only thousands of glowing eyes opening one by one across its body.
It smiled...
Without having a mouth.
And spoke with every stolen voice at once.
"Tonight..."
"I choose..."
May you like
"...YOU."
To Be Continued...
