The throne room stopped breathing.<\/p>\n
Dust drifted through the torchlight as broken chains clattered across the ancient stone floor beneath the opened coffin.<\/p>\n
No one moved.<\/p>\n
No one dared.<\/p>\n
The armored figure remained kneeling before the trembling seventeen-year-old girl, glowing eyes fixed upon the crimson ruby hanging from her silver necklace.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe true heir has returned.\u201d<\/p>\n
The words echoed through the hall like a curse awakening after centuries of silence.<\/p>\n
The Earl staggered backward.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo\u2026\u201d he whispered weakly. \u201cThat bloodline died.\u201d<\/p>\n
The ancient figure slowly turned its head toward him.<\/p>\n
Close-up\u2014<\/p>\n
beneath the cracked black armor, fragments of pale bone and ancient scars glowed beneath white light pouring from inside the tomb.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou buried the bloodline,\u201d the undead founder answered calmly.<\/p>\n
A cold wind exploded through the throne room.<\/p>\n
Torches flickered violently.<\/p>\n
Several nobles fell to their knees instantly.<\/p>\n
Because they recognized the armor.<\/p>\n
The first king of the realm.<\/p>\n
The ruler buried four hundred years earlier beneath sacred chains never meant to break.<\/p>\n
The girl stared upward in terror and confusion.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t understand\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
The ancient founder slowly rose to his full height.<\/p>\n
Towering.<\/p>\n
Terrifying.<\/p>\n
Yet his voice softened slightly when speaking to her.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe ruby chose you before you were born.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Earl suddenly shouted in panic.<\/p>\n
\u201cSEIZE HER!\u201d<\/p>\n
Guards rushed forward with raised swords\u2014<\/p>\n
but instantly froze.<\/p>\n
The founder lifted one armored hand slowly.<\/p>\n
Every blade in the throne room shattered apart at once.<\/p>\n
CRACK.<\/p>\n
Metal fragments exploded across the marble floor.<\/p>\n
Screams echoed beneath the towering stone pillars.<\/p>\n
The girl stepped backward, trembling.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy is this happening\u2026?\u201d<\/p>\n
The ancient ruler looked directly into her eyes.<\/p>\n
And for the first time\u2014<\/p>\n
something almost human crossed his face.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause the kingdom was stolen from your family.\u201d<\/p>\n
Silence swallowed the hall.<\/p>\n
Then the founder turned slowly toward the terrified nobles surrounding the throne.<\/p>\n
His glowing eyes burned brighter.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe false dynasty ends tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The throne room stopped breathing. Dust drifted through the torchlight as broken chains clattered across the ancient stone floor beneath the opened coffin. No one moved. No one dared. The armored figure remained kneeling before the trembling seventeen-year-old girl, glowing eyes fixed upon the crimson ruby hanging from her silver necklace. \u201cThe true heir has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":3612,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3610","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trending-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3610","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3610"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3610\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}