Chapter 137: A stressed out man

# Chapter: Beneath the Palace

[Someone has recently attempted activation.]

Amon stared at the notification.

Recently.

That single word mattered.

"How recently?"

[Unable to determine exact time.]

[Estimated interval: Less than seven days.]

Amon’s expression hardened.

Seven days.

Someone inside the palace had approached the gate recently enough for the system to detect residual activation.

He looked toward the corridor behind him.

The Royal Guard commander remained near the chamber entrance.

Amon turned.

"Who has been below the palace this week?"

The commander frowned.

"Below?"

"Three hundred meters."

The man’s face changed.

That was answer enough.

Amon walked toward him.

"Who?"

The commander hesitated.

"His Majesty."

Amon stopped.

"The King went there?"

"Three nights ago."

"Alone?"

"No."

The commander lowered his voice.

"The Royal Formation Master accompanied him."

Amon’s eyes narrowed.

Three nights.

The same period during which the Night Crawler activity around the capital had intensified.

Possibly coincidence.

He no longer believed in coincidences.

"What happened when they returned?"

"Nothing."

Amon stared at him.

The commander corrected himself.

"Nothing publicly."

"Privately?"

The man looked uncomfortable.

"The King ordered the lowest underground levels sealed."

"Why?"

"I wasn’t told."

Amon’s voice became colder.

"You command the Royal Guard."

"Not every royal secret is entrusted to me."

"Then that’s your problem."

Amon walked past him.

"Take me to the King."

The commander followed.

"My lord, His Majesty may be..."

"I didn’t ask if he was available."

The man fell silent.

They moved upward through the palace.

Amon’s body continued repairing itself as he walked.

The broken ribs had already aligned.

The spatial damage remained.

Black cracks covered parts of his skin beneath the torn clothing.

The Fate Devouring Seed had become quiet again.

His remaining injuries barely registered compared to what he had learned.

A gate beneath the palace.

An attempted activation.

A creature network inside the kingdom.

And Ciara’s awakening.

Too many events converging at once.

That made Amon suspicious.

They reached the upper royal wing.

Guards stood outside a pair of large doors.

The commander approached.

"His Majesty is inside?"

One guard bowed.

"Yes, Commander."

"Who is with him?"

"The Royal Formation Master and Elder Voss."

Amon’s eyes narrowed slightly.

Convenient.

The commander looked toward him.

Amon walked forward.

One guard instinctively stepped into his path.

"Lord Moonstone, His Majesty is currently..."

Amon kept walking.

The guard moved aside.

The doors opened.

Conversation inside stopped immediately.

The King stood beside the large western map.

Elder Voss was near one wall.

The Royal Formation Master stood opposite him.

All three looked at Amon.

Blood covered him.

His clothes were torn.

Azrael remained in his hand.

The King recovered first.

"Lord Moonstone."

Amon entered.

The commander closed the doors behind them.

The King’s gaze dropped briefly to the sword.

"I assume the situation in the nursery has been handled."

"For now."

The King’s expression tightened.

Amon stopped across the table.

"There is a gate beneath your palace."

Silence.

Elder Voss slowly looked toward the Royal Formation Master.

The man did not react.

The King remained calm.

"Who told you?"

"Wrong question."

Amon stared at him.

"You attempted to activate it three nights ago."

The King’s face changed.

Very slightly.

The Royal Formation Master moved.

Not toward Amon.

Toward the door.

Azrael appeared against his neck.

No one saw Amon cross the room.

The man froze.

Amon stood behind him.

"Don’t."

The King raised one hand.

"Master Theron."

The formation master stopped reaching toward the wall mechanism beside him.

Amon looked at the King.

"Explain."

The King remained silent.

Amon pressed Azrael slightly closer.

A thin line appeared against Theron’s throat.

Elder Voss stepped forward.

"Amon."

"Stay there."

The elder stopped.

The King exhaled.

"The gate has existed beneath the palace since before the kingdom was founded."

"I know."

That surprised him.

Amon continued.

"You opened it three nights ago."

"We attempted to."

"Why?"

The King looked toward the map.

"Because the western barrier network has been failing."

Amon frowned.

"What barrier network?"

Theron spoke carefully.

"The formations protecting the capital are not independent."

Amon looked at him.

"They draw part of their structure from the object beneath the palace."

Amon’s eyes narrowed.

"The gate."

"We believed it was a formation core."

"You believed."

Theron swallowed.

"Until three nights ago."

Amon lowered Azrael slightly.

"Continue."

The King answered.

"For the last month, several outer formations have been losing stability."

Amon remembered the increased crawler pressure.

"Why wasn’t this public?"

"What would you prefer I announce?"

The King’s voice sharpened.

"That the barrier protecting hundreds of thousands of people is connected to an ancient object we do not understand?"

Amon stared at him.

The King looked away first.

"We attempted to restore the connection."

"And activated the gate."

"Partially."

The system reacted.

[Statement likely accurate.]

Amon’s gaze returned to Theron.

"What happened?"

The formation master hesitated.

"Something responded."

The room became silent.

Amon’s grip tightened around Azrael.

"What?"

"We don’t know."

"Describe it."

Theron’s face had gone pale.

"The gate surface changed."

"How?"

"Black became transparent."

Amon remembered the prison wall.

"And then?"

"We saw somewhere else."

Elder Voss spoke quietly.

"A world?"

Theron nodded.

Amon’s attention sharpened.

"What kind?"

"Ruined."

The formation master looked disturbed even remembering it.

"There were buildings."

"Human?"

"I don’t know."

"People?"

"No."

Theron paused.

"At least, we thought there weren’t."

Amon’s eyes narrowed.

"Thought?"

The King answered.

"Something moved."

Amon looked at him.

"Only for a moment."

"What did it look like?"

The King’s jaw tightened.

"It looked like me."

Silence.

Even Amon paused.

"Exactly?"

"Exactly."

The King nodded once.

"Same face."

"Same clothes."

"Same crown."

Amon felt Danger Sense stir.

"And then?"

"It smiled."

Theron closed his eyes briefly.

"The gate shut itself."

Amon lowered Azrael completely.

The formation master immediately stepped away.

Amon ignored him.

"What happened after?"

The King looked toward Elder Voss.

"That night the first major dens cluster began moving toward the capital."

Pieces aligned.

Someone had touched the gate.

Something had noticed.

The crawler network may have reacted.

Or been commanded.

Amon looked toward the floor.

"Take me there."

The King immediately shook his head.

"No."

Amon looked at him.

The room became colder.

The King did not retreat.

"We do not know what opening that chamber again will do."

"The chamber isn’t the problem."

"You don’t know that."

"I know more about it than you do."

The King stared at him.

Amon continued.

"It’s not a formation core."

"We know that now."

"It’s part of a prison."

Elder Voss inhaled sharply.

Theron’s face lost color.

The King went completely still.

Amon watched his reaction.

"You already knew."

The King said nothing.

Amon’s eyes narrowed.

"Alaric told you."

That broke the silence.

Theron looked at the King.

Elder Voss did the same.

The King closed his eyes.

"My father told me one thing before he disappeared."

Amon waited.

"He said if the gate ever opened..."

The King’s expression became grim.

"...we were to destroy the palace before allowing anything through."

Amon almost laughed.

"Destroying the palace won’t stop it."

"You sound certain."

"I’ve seen the prison."

That changed the room.

Elder Voss stared at him.

Theron’s eyes widened.

The King leaned forward.

"You went beyond the third dens?"

"Yes."

"Into the Dead Expanse?"

"Yes."

"And reached the wall?"

Amon said nothing.

The answer was obvious.

The King slowly sat.

"Then the scouting reports..."

"Were accurate."

The room became silent again.

Amon stepped toward the table.

"There is something else."

The King looked up.

"The creature network inside your kingdom is connected to the prison."

Theron’s expression changed.

"What creature network?"

Amon looked toward the commander.

The man answered.

"The preserved bodies."

Elder Voss turned sharply.

"What about them?"

"They woke up."

Silence.

The commander continued.

"All thirteen."

Theron’s face paled.

Amon added quietly.

"They were vessels."

The King stared at him.

"For what?"

"I don’t know yet."

Amon paused.

"But there are more."

"How many?"

"Hundreds, possibly."

That finally broke the King’s composure.

He stood.

"Inside the capital?"

"Across the kingdom."

Theron immediately moved toward the door.

Amon stopped him with one word.

"Wait."

The man looked back.

"Running around blindly will only warn them."

Theron froze.

Amon looked at the King.

"You have a gate beneath your palace."

He looked toward Elder Voss.

"You have a hidden foreign network inside your kingdom."

Then toward the commander.

"And something attacked my daughter tonight because of me."

His voice became quiet.

"All three problems are connected."

No one spoke.

The system suddenly appeared.

[Special Sign-In proximity increasing.]

Amon’s eyes narrowed.

He had not moved.

[Distance to Sign-In location: 316 meters.]

Then 315.

Amon stared.

314.

The King’s expression changed.

"What?"

Amon looked downward.

The distance was shrinking.

Not because he was moving.

Because something below them was coming closer.

[Distance: 290 meters.]

[271 meters.]

[248 meters.]

Danger Sense erupted.

Theron felt it too.

The formations in the walls suddenly flickered.

Elder Voss looked upward.

"What is happening?"

The entire palace shook.

Once.

Hard enough for dust to fall from the ceiling.

Then a deep sound rolled upward from beneath the floor.

Boom.

The King went pale.

Theron whispered.

"The gate."

A second impact came.

BOOM.

The western map fell from the table.

Amon raised Azrael.

The system flashed.

[Foreign structure activation detected.]

[Activation source: Unknown.]

[Gate opening progress: 4%.]

Amon looked at the King.

"You said you sealed the lower levels."

"We did."

"Then someone is already down there."

Theron’s face changed.

"Impossible."

The palace shook again.

[Gate opening progress: 7%.]

Amon turned toward the door.

The commander immediately followed.

The King moved as well.

Amon stopped him.

"You stay."

"This is my palace."

"And if you die, I don’t want to deal with the succession mess."

The King stared at him.

Amon was already leaving.

Theron followed.

They reached the corridor.

The formations flickered again.

Then every light went out.

Darkness swallowed the palace.

Amon’s eyes adjusted instantly.

Far below them, something screamed.

Not human.

Not Night Crawler.

The sound passed through hundreds of meters of stone as though none of it existed.

The Fate Devouring Seed pulsed violently.

[Foreign fate signature detected.]

Amon stopped.

He recognized it.

The same signature Azrael had been pulling toward.

The entity from the nursery.

It had never fled the capital.

It had gone underground.

Amon’s expression became cold.

[Gate opening progress: 11%.]

Then another notification appeared.

[Warning.]

[Multiple prison signatures detected on opposite side.]

Amon tightened his grip on Azrael.

The creature was not trying to escape.

It was trying to let something in.