Chapter 1413: Story 1413: The Path of Bones
Mira’s feet refused to lift, yet the pull inside her chest grew almost unbearable. The path of bones shimred faintly in the dim light, each fragnt glistening as though coated in sothing wet. The air thickened, and the warm, tallic scent hit her again—stronger this ti.
Blood. Old, but not dead.
The alpha remained beside her, unmoving, its milky eyes fixed on her face. The other Hunters stayed bowed, their stillness sohow louder than any scream.
A tremor passed beneath her boots. The bones on the path quivered in place, rattling together like teeth chattering in the cold. Mira’s fingers curled involuntarily, nails digging into her palms.
“Chosen,” the alpha repeated, but now the word carried weight, pressing against her skull from the inside.
The tether yanked. Her knees unlocked. She stepped onto the path.
The bones shifted under her weight but didn’t break. Instead, each step seed to sink her deeper into sothing unseen—like the floor wasn’t solid anymore, but water wearing a mask of stone.
The corridor beyond the chamber was narrow, its walls made of stacked vertebrae instead of bricks. The faint hum of chanting followed her, receding as the alpha stayed behind.
Halfway through, the temperature dropped. Frost licked the walls, and her breath fogged. She clutched her wrist—the black veins pulsed faster now, beating like a second heart.
The path ended at a door that looked more grown than built. Its surface was slick, like pale wood stretched over a fra, but the texture…
Skin.
She froze.
Behind her, the courthouse chamber was gone. The corridor stretched into darkness both ways, the Hunters no longer in sight.
Her fingers twitched toward the door. She didn’t want to touch it, but the tether pulled her hand forward anyway.
The instant her skin t its surface, a pulse traveled up her arm, slamming into her chest. Her vision blurred—
She was standing in a city she didn’t know. The buildings leaned inward, their windows shattered, streets littered with corpses that twitched without moving. Above, the sky tore itself open, and sothing massive writhed behind it.
She wasn’t alone.
The alpha stood beside her, but so did a dozen more figures—tall, inhuman, their faces hidden under bone masks. All of them turned toward her at once.
When she blinked, the vision was gone.
The skin-door creaked open on its own. Warm air rolled out, thick with the stench of rot and… incense. Inside, candles burned in the sockets of skulls, casting long shadows over a single stone altar.
On it lay a man. Still breathing. Eyes wide.
“Mira?” he croaked.
Her stomach dropped.
It was Elena’s brother.
The tether scread inside her, demanding she step closer.
From the shadows above the altar, sothing shifted—watching.
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