All Chapters of The Alpha King's Shadow: Chapter 81 - Chapter 90

The earth groaned, not with a welcoming yawn, but a tortured scream as the pit ripped open. It wasn't a mouth, eager to swallow, but a wound, raw and bleeding into the world. Stone surrendered in agonizingly slow motion, slabs peeling away like layers of skin being flayed from the very bones of the planet. A blast of heat, thick and stinging, surged from the depths, carrying a metallic stench that spoke of blood, ancient magic, and something far fouler rotting beneath.Before I could even register it with my eyes, a feeling washed over me. A pull, deep and insistent, latched onto my very core, tugging with the force of a hidden current.My knees buckled.Aurek's hand shot out, his grip like iron as he braced us against the earth twisting beneath our feet. The power inside him flared, a wild and angry fire, but the pit didn't flinch. It didn't shrink back from his strength as it had before.Instead, it welcomed it.A light spilled upward from the abyss, not the pure white of hope nor t

It wasn't serenity or emptiness, but a suffocating stillness.The silence hammered at my ears, a weight on my chest, a vise on my thoughts. It felt like the world itself was holding its breath, judging whether humanity deserved to continue existing. A heavy, expectant pause before some cosmic verdict.Aurek still held me, too tight.His arms were bands of steel around my ribs, his chin a solid weight against my temple. It felt like if he loosened his grip even for a second, something inside me would shatter and fly apart into a million pieces.Aurek, I breathed, my voice barely audible.He didn’t respond.His breathing, normally a comforting rhythm, was off. Too slow, too heavy. Each inhale sounded like a monumental effort, like he was dragging something immense along with it.I shifted back just enough to see his face.Thin lines of gold-black light pulsed beneath his skin, not glowing like the conduits we share—these were embedded. Etched. As if something had rewritten his very bein

The cavern sighs, not with air, but with a tangible shift in pressure. It rolls out from the glowing sigil in a deliberate wave, like the earth breathing out a long-held secret. Selene tenses beside Aurek, her fingers digging into his. The hum beneath their feet grows louder, resonating in their bones.Someone's coming.Not sneaking, not charging headfirst, but steadily drawing near.Aurek feels it before he hears it—a power tugging at his senses, a presence warping reality like gravity bends around a star. He stands tall, his back ramrod straight. The wild power within him stirs, alert and caged, every sense honed to a sharp edge.Behind us, he murmurs, his breath ghosting past her ear.Selene nods, her gaze fixed straight ahead.Footfalls echo in the cavern, slow and steady, each step deliberate. There's no clatter of armor, no scrape of metal on stone. Whoever is coming isn't trying to scare them.Which only makes it worse.A figure steps into the sigil's faint light.A woman.She'

The cavern didn't just crumble; it hesitated, listening first.Stones hung in the air, their cracks trembling but frozen. It was like the whole place was holding its breath, waiting for some signal before giving way. The silence was all wrong—too heavy, too aware.Selene felt it before she heard it: a breath. Not the wind, not just air moving, but a slow, deep inhale from the earth itself, tugging at her bones, vibrating through her marrow. It stirred up old memories as well.Aurek went rigid, his arm instinctively tightening around Selene. A low growl rumbled in his chest, like a wild animal wanting to be set loose.Lysera cursed under her breath. That's no cave-in.Another breath came, deeper this time.The markings under Selene's feet—now her markings, she realized—pulsed faintly, not flaring wildly or attacking, but responding."No," Selene whispered, "It's… listening."Then the floor dropped, not in a sudden crash, but deliberately.The stone slid aside like a door opening, revea

The silence didn't fade away but pressed in, a heavy blanket.Selene stood at the Gate's edge, her shadow stuck to her back. It was almost a part of her. With each breath, she was dragging in lead—slow, controlled, counted. The darkness had quit reaching. It had quit whispering. Now, it was just listening.Aurek pushed himself up, stumbling a bit. The gold embers that were lighting up his veins were dying out. His hands shook; it was partly from being tired, but more from the sudden quiet. The thing that had been screaming inside him just moments ago was now gone.Selene. He took a step. Then another. Get back.She didn't move an inch. "I can't," she said. The words sounded off—flat, deep, like they carried a ton of weight.Lysera cursed quietly and moved closer, her blades still ready. What do you mean, you can't?Selene swallowed hard. It hurt to do so, a sharp pain in her throat, like the shadow inside her had sharp edges. "The Gate isn't closed," she told them. It's… latched. And