We descended deeper into the castle's bowels, the stone stairway spiraling down into darkness.
Each step took us further from the courtyard, from the torchlight and noise above, deeper into the earth.
The air grew colder with every step. It felt thicker. It pressed against my skin like an invisible weight, making each breath feel labored.
The temperature drop was sharp enough that I could see my breath misting in front of me, despite the torches mounted along the walls at irregular intervals.
My enhanced senses picked up everything. The scrape of boots on worn stone, the nervous breathing of the other candidates before me, the faint metallic scent that grew stronger as we descended.
The smell reminded me of old coins mixed with something sharper. Blood, maybe. Or magic. But beneath it all, that chorus of voices kept building.
Whispers.
Hundreds of them.
They started as a low hum at the edge of my awareness. Barely noticeable at first, like a distant conversation you can't quite make out.
But with each step down, they grew louder. More distinct. Individual words began to emerge from the cacophony.
Come...
Waiting...
Finally...
Blood...
Power...
My head started to throb. A dull ache that quickly sharpened into something worse, like someone was tightening a vice around my skull.
The whispers multiplied. Overlapping. Competing for attention.
Each one was trying to be heard over the others, creating a dissonant symphony that made my teeth ache.
Choose me...
I am worthy...
Take my power...
Bond with me...
Serve me...
I am strongest...
The pain intensified with each passing second. It felt like someone was driving nails into my skull from the inside; each whisper was another hammer blow.
I stumbled slightly, my hand shooting out to catch myself on the rough stone wall.
"You alright?" One of the other candidates—Thomas, I think his name was. Glanced back at me with mild concern.
"Fine," I managed, though my voice came out strained and breathless.
We kept descending. The stairway seemed endless, winding deeper and deeper into the earth like a corkscrew boring into the planet's core.
How far down did this go? We had to be at least a hundred feet below the courtyard by now, maybe more.
The torches grew more sparse the further we went, the shadows between them stretching longer and darker.
The stone walls were also older here. Rougher, more primitive.
These weren't the carefully cut blocks of the castle above. This was the foundation work, probably predating the current structure by centuries.
The voices grew louder.
More insistent and desperate.
Young master...
He's alive...
The blood...
He survived...
Worthy...
I finally found...
My vision blurred at the edges. The pain in my head spiked; it became white-hot and blinding. It felt like my skull was splitting open, like my brain was expanding too fast for the bone to contain it.
I tried to take another step, but my legs gave out.
I collapsed to my knees hard enough that pain shot up from my kneecaps, but it was nothing compared to the agony in my head.
My hands flew up, pressing against my temples as the migraine exploded through my brain like shattered glass.
The voices crashed over me in waves. Hundreds of them, thousands maybe, all screaming at once for attention.
CHOOSE ME!
BOND WITH ME!
I AM STRONGEST!
TAKE MY POWER!
SERVE WITH ME!
I WILL MAKE YOU POWERFUL!
"Vlad!" Cedric's voice cut through the chaos like a blade. I felt his strong hand on my shoulder, steadying me, grounding me.
I couldn't respond. The pain was too intense.
My hands pressed harder against my temples, fingers digging into my scalp, trying desperately to hold my head together.
"What's wrong with him?" Marius's voice dripped with contempt. "Is the vile finally breaking? Showing his true weakness?"
"Probably faking it for attention," another candidate muttered behind him. "Always has to be the center of everything."
"Pathetic display," someone else added with a sneer.
Through the pain, through the overwhelming cacophony, I forced words out between clenched teeth. "Voices... too many voices..."
"What?" Cedric knelt beside me, his weathered face swimming into focus through my blurred vision. His gray-streaked hair caught the torchlight. "What do you mean, voices? Explain yourself, boy."
"The blades," I gasped, my chest heaving as I struggled to breathe through the pain. "I can hear them. At least... a hundred different voices. Maybe more. Hundreds more. They're all talking at once. Shouting. Demanding. I can't—I can't think—I can't make them stop—"
Absolute silence crashed over the stairway like a ton of bricks.
I looked up through watering eyes and saw Cedric and Kain staring at each other over my head. Their expressions showed pure shock. Their mouths were slightly open, eyes wide with disbelief.
"He can hear them?" Kain's voice held an edge of disbelief I'd never heard from him before. "We're not even in the vault yet. We're still twenty steps away from the door."
"Impossible," Marius said immediately, his voice rising with indignation. "He's lying. He has to be lying. There's no way..."
"Shut your mouth," Kain snapped, whirling on Marius with such sudden violence that the boy actually took a step back. Kain's tone was sharp enough to cut stone.
He turned back to me, and I could see something in his posture shift.
Begrudging respect mixed with genuine surprise, despite the visor hiding most of his face. "Boy, you can truly hear the blades? From here? Through solid stone and iron doors?"
"Yes," I ground out through clenched teeth, my jaw so tight it ached. "Every single one of them. They won't stop talking. Won't stop calling out. It's like standing in the middle of a screaming crowd, and everyone's yelling directly in my ear."
The other candidates started laughing. Nervous, mocking laughter that echoed off the stone walls and made my headache worse.
"He's insane!"
"Hearing voices? What a joke! The vile's finally lost his mind!"
"Probably hit his head when that other boy jumped from the wall—"
"Vamp-touched and crazy!"
"Should we even let him continue? He might be dangerous—"
"SILENCE!" Kain's voice thundered through the stairway like a physical shockwave, and the laughter died instantly as if someone had cut their throats.
He looked at each candidate in turn, his gaze cold and sharp behind his visor. "Do any of you hear the blades calling to you? Any whispers? Any voices at all?"
The candidates shifted uncomfortably. Several looked at their feet. No one answered. The silence stretched out, heavy and damning.
"That's what I thought," Kain continued, his voice now dripping with barely concealed disdain.
"This boy can hear the voice of the blades without even entering the vault without even seeing them. He must be compatible with every single blade in there. Do you understand what that means? Do any of you have the wit to comprehend the significance?"