Chapter 348: Garden of Aurous Ribs (2)

Kai looked at Mallory, and his heart skipped a beat—cold dread seeping into his heart.

His mind churned at her unnerving smile, one that had a sinister edge to it.

As much as he tried to remain calm, his thoughts spiraled into a thousand possibilities—each worse than the last. He swallowed his saliva harshly through the dryness as his chest squeezed tightly, making it hard for him to breathe.

Was this a trick? A plan to imprison me?

Since he was relying solely on Mallory’s patience, this was a main concern.

Kai was afraid that she might be getting impatient, and she would attempt to force him to give away his name, which would expose his identity entirely. If his night sisters also had the same ability as him, then giving away any name would be checkmate for him.

Making use of other Nightborns’ names would break his claim as the Hate Ending.

Making up a name would expose him, too, as a made-up name would give no power.

And as for giving away his real name, it sounded even more ridiculous.

If Mallory forced him to give away his name right now—there would be nothing he could do. He was entirely helpless since he was currently inside her home, where she was more powerful than she was outside.

Even then, Kai kept his back straight, betraying nothing.

Despite the overwhelming pressure that pressed down on him from every direction, he kept his composure. Just like standing in front of a predator, one should not show weakness. One has to keep eye contact and remain still.

Running or showing any weakness would only make the predator strike.

His muscles screamed, his bones creaked, and his vision swam at the edges.

Still, he remained steadfast.

But his face was twitching in pain, and his jaw clenched with the effort of holding still.

It was fortunate that he was wearing a mask right now.

Mallory couldn’t see any of it. She couldn’t see the way his lips pressed together—the way his nostrils flared, and the way his skin paled beneath the mask. All she could see was his strong black eyes, utterly devoid of any emotion.

"I am fine," he forced out the words somehow. "Continue."

A profound silence stretched between them. It was a silence that lasted too long, forcing Kai to unconsciously hold his breath. He could feel her gaze on him, inspecting him, probing him. He could feel the temple’s power pressing harder to see if he’d crack.

But he didn’t.

Eventually, Mallory let out a low, amused chuckle.

Her voice eased the tension instantly, allowing Kai to breathe normally again.

"Surprising." She said; her voice carried a note of genuine amusement. "You really are strong. To endure my temple’s aura... No Nightborn could do it without the help of another like me. I’m really impressed."

Mallory turned around again and continued onward.

Her frail figure moved with that same quiet grace.

Kai exhaled slowly—relief washed over him, but he didn’t let it show.

Across the rest of the way, he was still on edge, still worried that Mallory might do something.

Fortunately, she didn’t.

Kai and Mallory arrived inside a spacious circular hall. His eyes were immediately drawn to the throne ahead—but it was unlike any throne that he had ever seen. It was a small platform shaped like a disc, suspended in midair.

Directly below it were three amber outer rings crossing one another.

None of the rings touched the platform, but somehow, they seemed to be holding it.

Around the hall, ten monoliths stood like silent guardians. They resembled tombstones—tall, dark, and unadorned. Their surfaces were blank, devoid of inscription or epitaph. Above each one perched two oversized crows—their talons gripped the edges, and their eyes were made of the same crystal amber that he encountered along the way.

Even though they looked alive, it didn’t seem like they were.

Just statues.

Overhead, a massive crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling.

Its honeyed gem ornaments caught the dim light that came from the moonlight—scattering it into countless tiny light specks across the walls. But it was the center of the hall that demanded Kai’s attention.

A circular formation lay embedded in the floor.

Its edges were carved with intricate sigils, symbols, and runes.

At its heart, an abyss opened—a pit of muted amber light that seemed to descend into infinity.

From its positioning, it should be the centerpiece of the hall.

Mallory stopped at the edge of the circular formation—and stared down into the abyss. Before she did anything, she glanced at Kai and tilted her head a little, gesturing for him to approach and see what she was about to show him.

Once he stood near, she raised her hand and waved it once.

Swish—!

At a whim, the formation hummed to life.

Amber light seeped into the engravings, tracing the runes like blood through veins, powering the entire structure. Slowly, a smoke began to rise. Not grey or white. It was black—a viscous rolling darkness that slithered from the abyss like the residue of a raging fire.

Inside it, something sparkled.

Bright and tiny amber motes, suspended in the black like stars in dark matter.

Slowly, the smoke climbed, coalescing into a chaotic and uneven lump of gas that hovered in midair, twisting and churning with a life of its own. Kai wanted to ask her what he was seeing right now, but then the colors came.

Different colours seeped into the smoke in patches, bleeding through the black like stains.

Kai fixed his eyes on the bottom portion that was corrupted first, flooded by amber—the exact shade of Mallory’s eyes. Directly to its left, a deep purple emerged. And on the right, a broken white crawled out.

Both colours clashed with the amber as it bordered against them.

"Do you know what this is?" Mallory suddenly asked, breaking the silence between them.

Kai glanced at her, and then back at the smoke again. "What is it?"

"It’s the map and also the radar of the House of Night."

"...?!"

Hearing the words that came out of Mallory’s mouth caught Kai by surprise. His eyes almost popped out of his sockets had he not kept in mind that he was currently under the persona of an ancient and mysterious Nightborn.

Regardless of his composed demeanor, his mind was reeling inside.

He never thought that this was possible.

As far as he knew, the House of Night doesn’t really have any sense of direction.

Even if he tried walking completely straight, there was no guarantee he’d reach the other side of the House of Night. His only sense of direction came from the constellations, and even then, they would only help him find other Nightborns associated with that specific constellation.

But even then, he was still under the guidance of the constellations.

Only the Night offered any leeway, but even that only guided him to places—he had already been, not new places. More importantly, it wouldn’t grant him a detailed map like this. Before this moment, he thought the House of Night was simply built that way.

Its true size was unknowable, impossible to measure.

Now, Mallory had proven that he was wrong.

Perhaps her control over the night was so high that she could suppress the randomness.

Kai didn’t know for sure, but he was quite certain that it was something like that.

Now that he knew what he was looking at, Kai inspected the map once again.

It was separated into three areas. The outer section was entirely composed of black smoke, no colour, but the movements of the smoke there were more evident. For the middle section, it was the section where the colours were.

Only one colour reached the outer section, and that was the pale blue on the northern side.

For the inner section, it was a deep black smoke.

So dark that Kai thought there was no smoke there at all, and it was also devoid of movement.

Just an empty space.

"What about the floors?" Kai asked.

Mallory moved the smoke with a wave of her hand.

It grew flatter and smaller, stacking itself into five distinct levels.

From the way it was stacked, it looked like an upside-down pyramid.

Kai assumed the bottom-most level was the First Floor and the top was the Fifth. However, as he looked closer, he noticed something—the colour on the bottom floor was far more bleached than the top level.

He got it in reverse.

Seemed like the bottom-most level was the Fifth Floor.

One thing that Kai noticed from this map-view was that the colours were stretched, capable of reaching more floors, not only one floor. A colour stretched from the second to the fourth, and another stretched from the first to the fourth.

Additionally, the colours were disappearing and appearing. Blinking.

And none reached the Fifth Floor.

Noticing his confusion, Mallory decided to explain it a little.

"As you might already notice, this map and radar were entirely powered by me. As the Second Daughter, I am closer to the night, but that didn’t mean my sisters couldn’t defy me." Mallory said, gesturing at the colours. "It was why the colours were blinking like this. I can’t see them clearly when they don’t want to be seen."

Kai nodded his head as he listened attentively.

Just then, his forehead creased and his eyes widened in realization.

"These colours..." Kai gestured at the colours, trying to remain calm. "Are your sisters?"

"Yes." Mallory nodded, and then returned the map to its full display with a wave of her hand again. "As you may already realize, this amber smoke marks my territory. Not that big, but it is mine. To my right, the white colour belonged to Skotessa. And to my left, the regal purple— belonged to Gloria."

Kai had been wondering what the colour represented.

Only now did he realize that it represented the territory of the other Children of the Night.

He also remembered Mallory saying that her territory was flanked by her sisters.

It seemed Mallory wasn’t lying.

"Wh-what..." Kai finally peeled his eyes away from the map. "Is this what you want to show me?"

"Yes, but that’s not all." Mallory averted her gaze and looked down. She paused for a second, collecting her thoughts and arranging the words in her mind, before she inhaled deeply again. "I’ll confess... I haven’t been truthful to you."

"Hm?" Kai raised a brow. "What do you mean?"

Mallory hadn’t said much to him, so he was confused as to what she was talking about.

Most of their talks remained light and friendly.

"I told you that I’m tired because of quarrels between siblings, and that’s not the case." Once again, she turned to look Kai in the eyes. "We’re not quarreling. We’re at war..."