Free Web NovelChapter 2408: Story 2409: The City of Silent Kings
Darkness.
Endless darkness.
Noah hit the stone floor hard.
Pain shot through his body.
For several moments he couldn’t breathe.
Couldn’t think.
Couldn’t understand what had happened.
Above him, the crack that had swallowed him was gone.
Only a ceiling of black stone remained.
The boy slowly sat up.
His flashlight had survived the fall.
With trembling hands, he switched it on.
The beam cut through the darkness.
And Noah immediately wished it hadn’t.
The city stretched beyond sight.
Ancient streets.
Massive towers.
Broken temples.
Colossal statues.
Everything carved from black stone.
Everything impossibly old.
The underground city was larger than any modern metropolis.
Yet what frightened him most wasn’t the architecture.
It was the inhabitants.
Millions of skeletons sat upon stone thrones.
Row after row.
Street after street.
An endless sea of silent rulers.
Every skeleton wore a crown.
Every skeleton faced the same direction.
Waiting.
Watching.
Even in death.
Noah’s heartbeat thundered in his ears.
"What is this place?"
His voice echoed through the city.
No answer came.
Only silence.
Then something moved.
A shadow crossed one of the distant streets.
Noah froze.
He raised the flashlight.
The shadow disappeared.
Perhaps he imagined it.
Perhaps not.
Far above, another distant rumble shook the underground city.
The battle continued on the surface.
The war of ancient powers raged overhead.
Yet somehow Noah felt safer facing giants than remaining alone in this place.
A cold breeze drifted through the streets.
Impossible.
There should have been no wind underground. freēwēbnovel.com
Then he heard it.
Footsteps.
Slow.
Measured.
Approaching.
Noah spun around.
Nothing.
The footsteps stopped.
The silence returned.
His flashlight flickered.
Once.
Twice.
Then stabilized.
The boy swallowed hard.
"Hello?"
No response.
Then every skeleton in sight turned its head.
At once.
Thousands.
Millions.
Bone scraped against stone.
The sound echoed throughout the city.
Noah nearly screamed.
The skeletons weren’t alive.
Their empty eye sockets remained dark.
Yet somehow they were looking at him.
Watching him.
Judging him.
A deep voice suddenly echoed across the underground kingdom.
"At last."
The voice came from everywhere.
And nowhere.
Ancient.
Powerful.
Sad.
Noah turned in circles.
"Who’s there?"
The voice answered immediately.
"The final heir."
A strange blue light appeared in the distance.
At the far end of the city.
Atop a gigantic staircase.
A throne.
Far larger than all the others.
The Grand Throne.
Unlike the surrounding skeletons, this throne was empty.
Waiting.
The blue light hovered above it.
Calling to him.
Inviting him.
Noah wanted to run.
Every instinct screamed at him to flee.
Yet something stronger pulled him forward.
A force he couldn’t explain.
As he approached the staircase, the skeletons slowly lowered their heads.
A gesture of respect.
Or submission.
The voice returned.
"You carry the blood."
Noah stopped.
"What blood?"
The blue light brightened.
"The blood of the First King."
The boy’s eyes widened.
"I don’t understand."
"You will."
The throne began to glow.
Ancient symbols appeared across its surface.
Symbols unlike the purple runes of the Throne King.
Unlike the crimson markings of the Queen.
These symbols burned with silver light.
Pure.
Brilliant.
Forgotten.
Suddenly Noah saw a vision.
A battlefield.
Three rulers.
The Throne King.
The Crimson Queen.
And a third king seated upon a silver throne.
A king whose face looked hauntingly familiar.
A king who looked exactly like Noah.
The vision vanished.
The underground city shook violently.
Far above, the Devourer unleashed another roar.
The ancient voice spoke one final sentence.
A warning.
A prophecy.
A truth hidden for thousands of years.
"The First King must rise again."
Then the empty throne began to awaken.
And far away on the surface, the Throne King suddenly turned his glowing eyes toward the earth below.
For the first time since the apocalypse began, fear entered his gaze.
