Chapter 2750: Story 2751: The World of the Dead

The black light vanished.

For one terrible moment, the chamber became silent.

Then the screams began.

Far above the mountain, graves split open. Skeletons clawed through frozen earth, ancient warriors climbed from forgotten tombs, and the dead rose in villages where no living soul remembered their names.

The world was falling into darkness.

Beneath the mountain, Lyra stared at Ronan.

He stood motionless, his black eyes glowing, his chest marked with the fifth symbol.

“Ronan,” she whispered.

He turned toward her.

“Do you remember me?”

His expression remained empty.

“No.”

The word struck her harder than any blade.

She stepped closer despite Kael’s warning gesture.

“You saved my life in the northern pass. You promised we would find a place where the dead couldn’t reach us.”

Ronan tilted his head.

“Promises are memories.”

His voice deepened.

“Memories can be erased.”

He raised his hand.

Black chains erupted from the floor, wrapping around Lyra’s wrists and dragging her toward him.

“Ronan, stop!” Elias shouted.

Elias unleashed his power, but the darkness swallowed it. Aren summoned silver barriers, only for them to crumble beneath the pressure.

Darian’s violet crown reappeared, burning brighter than before.

“You’re not him!” Darian cried. “Whatever lives inside you, release my brother!”

Ronan looked at the boy.

For a heartbeat, something flickered behind his eyes.

“Darian...”

The chains loosened.

Lyra fell to the ground.

Ronan staggered, clutching his chest as two voices fought inside him.

One screamed for freedom.

The other demanded silence.

The masked stranger watched with fascination.

“Remarkable. The fifth blood has awakened, yet the original soul still resists.”

Cael rose slowly.

“Then we separate them.”

The stranger laughed.

“You cannot separate a shadow from the body that casts it.”

Kael approached Ronan, holding his ancient weapon with both hands.

“There is another way.”

Cael turned sharply.

“What way?”

Kael looked toward the sword embedded in the stone.

“His blade was forged from their mother’s blood. It carries the memory of who Ronan was before the fifth blood entered him.”

The stranger’s smile disappeared.

“Destroy that sword, and you destroy his last connection to himself.”

“Or restore it,” Kael replied.

The chamber trembled as Ronan screamed again.

Darian rushed toward the sword.

The stranger extended his hand, sending a wave of black energy across the floor.

Elias intercepted it, throwing himself between the blast and his youngest brother.

He struck the wall and collapsed.

“Elias!” Aren shouted.

Darian reached the sword and wrapped his fingers around its hilt.

Pain exploded through his body.

Visions flooded his mind: their mother crying, five cradles burning, and Ronan as a child, holding another boy’s hand.

The fifth child.

Darian suddenly understood.

The missing blood had not entered Ronan after birth.

It had been placed inside him before either brother could remember.

He looked at Kael.

“Our mother didn’t destroy the fifth child.”

Kael’s face crumpled.

“No.”

Darian lifted the sword.

“She hid him inside Ronan.”

Behind them, Ronan raised his head.

His black eyes filled with tears.

And the stranger whispered, “Now you understand why your brother must die.”