The giant iron gears above them let out a deafening, metallic shriek.
The entire clock tower shuddered. Dust and chunks of mortar rained down from the ceiling. The stone walls cracked with loud, sharp snaps, echoing over the grinding of the massive clockwork.
"The academy is tearing itself apart!" Nia yelled over the noise. She grabbed the iron railing of the spiral staircase to keep from falling. "The foundation is cracking!"
Lina looked up. The spiral iron stairs wound tightly upward into the dark, leading to the very top of the clock tower. The glowing numbers above their heads were flashing violently, casting a harsh, bloody light over the dust in the air.
Kai 🪞 — 5
Lina 🖋️ — 5
Mira — 4
"We have to get to the top!" Lina shouted. "The mechanism is up there! We have to stop it!"
They started to run up the stairs. The iron steps groaned and bent under their weight. Below them, the stone staircase they had just climbed collapsed into the dark abyss with a thunderous crash. There was no going back.
Reyon was struggling. Without his shadow, he was light and unsteady. Mira and Seren had to grab his arms, practically carrying him up the winding steps. Lina led the way, her right arm burning with the warm, steady heat of the golden ink.
Halfway up, they reached a small, circular landing to catch their breath. The walls here were lined with polished brass inspection panels, used by the clockmakers to check the gears.
Lina leaned against the wall, gasping for air. She glanced at the polished brass.
She expected to see nothing. She had no name. She had no reflection.
But she saw herself.
Lina froze. She stepped closer to the brass panel.
Her reflection was there, but it was changed. Her skin was pale, and beneath the surface, faint, glowing golden script pulsed like veins. Her eyes were no longer their normal color; they were solid, shining gold.
And she was not alone in the reflection.
Standing right behind her golden-eyed reflection was the translucent, ghostly image of Kai. He looked whole. He looked warm. He was smiling a real, gentle smile, and he placed a ghostly hand on her shoulder.
Lina reached up and touched her own cheek in the brass. The reflection mimicked her, but the ghost of Kai just kept smiling, watching over her.
The golden ink hadn't just erased her. It had rewritten her. She was no longer a blank page. She was the book. She was carrying his soul inside her reflection.
"Lina! The stairs are falling!" Seren screamed.
Lina tore her eyes away from the brass. The iron steps below the landing were detaching from the wall, dropping into the dark.
"Move!" Lina yelled.
They scrambled up the final flight. The air grew incredibly hot from the friction of the giant gears. The noise was unbearable, a physical weight pressing against their eardrums.
They reached the top. A pair of massive, heavy oak doors blocked their path. The wood was vibrating so hard it felt fuzzy to the touch.
Lina didn't hesitate. She threw her shoulder against the wood and pushed. The doors groaned and swung open.
They stumbled out into the belfry.
The room was huge, dominated by the massive, spinning brass gears of the clock. But in the center of the room, suspended in the air by thick iron chains, was a giant, glowing glass sphere.
Inside the sphere, the black water of the lake was swirling violently. And trapped inside the water, pounding against the glass, were hundreds of pale, screaming faces.
The countdown numbers hovered directly above the sphere, ticking down faster than ever.
They had found the heart of the cage. And it was about to shatter.
To be Continued
© Kishtika., 2026
All rights reserved.
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Next Chapter Summary for Chapter 136: The group reaches the heart of the clock tower and discovers the horrifying truth about the glass sphere, but the golden ink begins to rewrite Lina's mind, threatening to erase her completely.