CHAPTER 66: CHAPTER 67: WHEN GHOSTS WEAR CROWNS

🔁 Recap – Chapter 66: The Bargains We Bleed For

The journey to Halveron is no longer just about reclaiming a fallen kingdom—it has become a stage where sacrifices are weighed, and bargains are struck in blood.

In Chapter 66, Kai’s group was thrust into a confrontation with the price of their ambitions. As their path crossed a forbidden threshold marked by ancient symbols and old magic, the land itself seemed to whisper forgotten deals—curses sealed by betrayal, and promises etched into bones.

Kai was forced to make a choice no ruler ever truly escapes: power or people. The ruins tested him, echoing the voices of those who had once called him king... and those who had died for his crown. The blood-veil that guards Halveron pulsed with unnatural life, reacting to his presence as if remembering him—and resenting it.

Lyra, ever Kai’s anchor, found herself torn between loyalty and survival. Her doubts no longer hid in silence. She confronted Kai about the voices she hears in the night, about the dreams that smell like smoke and ash. Kai didn’t have answers—just more burdens.

Velis struck a deal of her own. Away from the group, she whispered into shadows that should not answer. When she returned, her smile was too sharp, her silence too knowing.

Astra revealed fragments of her heritage—tied to Halveron in ways even she didn’t fully understand. She began deciphering the blood sigils surrounding the ruins, her magic awakening with each verse she recited. Something was calling to her, something older than kings.

And Yuri?

She bled willingly. A wound carved across her palm, a chant muttered through crimson lips, and laughter that echoed against stone. She made a bargain. What she traded, no one knows. But the price... the price will come due.

As the sun dipped behind Halveron’s fractured skyline, the group stood divided but bound by necessity.

The gates whispered open.

And nothing they’ve bled for will protect them from what lies inside.

The gates of Halveron didn’t swing open—they sighed. As if the city itself recognized the scent of its exiled ruler and groaned awake.

Kai stepped into the ruins with a stillness that unsettled even him. Stone spires rose jagged around them like snapped ribs from a buried beast. The sky overhead had dimmed unnaturally, clouds thick with red hues. And though no wind stirred, the banners atop the broken towers fluttered—as if ghosts still marched in formation.

No one spoke.

Behind him, Lyra gripped her blade like it was the only real thing left. Her breath fogged even in the dead air. "Kai," she whispered, voice low. "Are you sure we should be here?"

Kai didn’t answer. His eyes were locked ahead—on the ghost walking toward them.

A figure emerged from the throne courtyard beyond the arch. Clad in ancient ceremonial armor, its helmet crowned with twisted gold, the specter drifted without touching the ground. Its eyes—if it had any—glowed blue with memory, not malice.

A crown. His crown.

Kai inhaled sharply. "I know that armor."

Yuri tilted her head. "Then you know he’s already dead."

Velis stepped beside Kai, expression unreadable. "Looks like Halveron remembers you too."

The ghost halted ten paces away, raised its gauntleted hand, and pointed at Kai’s chest. No sound emerged, but Kai staggered. His chest burned—not from magic, but from recognition.

"I left him to die," Kai said aloud. "That night... during the uprising. I shut the gates on him."

Astra crouched to the ground, tracing sigils that shimmered under her fingertips. "This place is a memory loop," she muttered. "We’re not just trespassing. We’re triggering echoes."

As if in response, the ghost howled silently and splintered into dozens more.

They emerged from behind ruined columns, through cracks in shattered walls. All clad in armor that bore the crest of Halveron’s royal guard.

All crowned.

Kai backed away, but the city didn’t let him. Every step backward felt heavier. Every breath burned colder. These weren’t just ghosts. They were the crowned dead—loyal to a throne, betrayed by the one who once sat upon it.

"Do we fight?" Lyra asked, already drawing steel.

"No," Kai said, swallowing hard. "We atone."

He dropped to his knees.

The moment his hands touched the blood-slick stone, the ghosts froze.

The wind screamed.

And the ground beneath them split open—revealing the hidden sanctum beneath the throne room: a vault carved of obsidian, pulsing with cursed energy. The ghost with the golden crown drifted downward, beckoning them to follow.

Yuri didn’t wait. She leapt after it like a child chasing stars.

Astra blinked, magic shimmering in her palm. "If we go down there—"

"Then we learn," Kai said. "What happens when a kingdom dies but the crown lives on."

He looked down into the void, knowing it led to the truth... or what remained of it.

Halveron was no longer just a city. It was a tomb.

And the dead remembered their king.

Kai stood before the vault’s massive stone doors, his fingers brushing over the ancient carvings etched deep into the surface. Each symbol hummed with faint power, runes older than the empire, older than even the name Halveron.

He wasn’t just unlocking a door. He was unlocking history.

Memories clawed at the edges of his thoughts—his coronation, the cheers that had once echoed through these halls, the feel of a crown placed upon his head by hands that would later betray him. Alric’s voice echoed faintly in his mind, a twisted lullaby of power and promise.

A gust of stale air escaped the cracks in the stone, thick with the scent of dust, blood, and something older.

Behind him, the others stood ready, but silent. No one dared speak. Even Velis had gone quiet.

Kai turned to them briefly. "Once we go in, there’s no turning back."

Yuri tilted her head and smiled, unsettling as ever. "Darling, we never turned back to begin with."

A moment of stillness passed...

Then Kai pressed his palm against the final rune.

The door groaned open like a beast awakening.

And the darkness welcomed them.

💔 Bonus Scene: The Weight of Memory

The others had descended into the vault, their shadows swallowed by the dark. Only Kai and Lyra lingered.

He stood before the shattered remains of his old throne, staring at the jagged, broken crown that lay atop it like an accusation. Blood still stained the base. Not fresh—but never dried.

Lyra approached, slow and quiet.

"You don’t have to carry this alone," she said softly, placing a hand on his shoulder.

Kai didn’t flinch, but his voice was tight. "But I do. Because no one else will."

Lyra looked at him, really looked. Past the sharp edges and the cold eyes he wore like armor. Past the smirks and the strategy.

"You were eighteen when you took that throne," she murmured. "And barely twenty when they betrayed you. They made you a symbol and punished you for bleeding like a boy."

Kai laughed bitterly. "Symbols don’t get to break."

She stepped closer. "Then break now. Just once. I’ll hold the pieces."

He didn’t cry. But something inside him shifted—like a door cracking open after being sealed for years.

Kai turned, eyes darker than usual. "What if I don’t want the crown anymore?"

Lyra reached out and brushed a flake of dried blood from his cheek. "Then don’t wear it. But you still need to face what it made you."

They stood in silence for a long moment.

Then, slowly, he turned away from the throne and whispered to the city, "You can’t haunt me if I walk with my ghosts."

Together, they followed the others down into the vault—two shadows among many.

But this time, Kai didn’t walk like a king. He walked like a man finally unafraid to be haunted.

🔮 Next Chapter Preview – Chapter 68: "The Crown Below"

Beneath the ruins of Halveron, the descent is more than physical—it’s spiritual.

The vault pulses with forgotten magic, alive with the agony of broken oaths. What Kai and the others find inside is no mere tomb, but a throne of bones... and the relic that once bound Halveron’s fate to Kai’s bloodline.

Lyra will be tested by a whispering weapon that feeds on loyalty. Yuri must bargain with a cursed memory that knows her secrets. Astra discovers a prophecy carved into obsidian—one with Kai’s name at the center... and her death at the end.

And Kai?

He must decide whether to reclaim the crown...

Or destroy it—and everything tied to it.

Because some legacies were never meant to be inherited.

And some kings are buried not by death—but by their regrets.

Halveron is not done with them.

And below the earth, the Crown waits—alive, vengeful, and ready to be worn again.

🔥 Call to Action

⚔️ The crown is broken, the past is bleeding, and the city remembers.

What secrets lie beneath Halveron? What will Kai become when faced with the power he was never meant to wield?

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🩸 We’ve crossed the threshold.

Now the crownless walk into hell...

Together.