Chapter 1 – The Hollow Veil

Royal Nation: Bloodline of the Bleeding Shadows – Part 2

The rain lashed violently against the windows of the old safehouse, a rhythmic pounding that echoed like distant footsteps.

Harper sat cross-legged on the dusty floor, scrolling through endless forum threads on her laptop. Her screen was littered with videos of missing TikTok creators, each clip eerier than the last. In one, a group of influencers explored an abandoned hospital, laughing, dancing, recording—until their camera froze mid-frame. Then, a single whisper leaked through the audio:

“Inside the walls…”

The video cut out, leaving only static and the faint sound of wet breathing.

Across the room, Liam sat in silence, staring at a blueprint Jax had pinned to the peeling wallpaper—a sprawling labyrinth of tunnels running beneath the UK.

The words scrawled across the top of the map made Harper’s stomach twist:

THE HOLLOW VEIL PROJECT
Classified – Established 1837

“Tell me this is fake,” Harper muttered. “Please tell me this is some ARG. Viral marketing. Anything.”

Jax didn’t look up from his laptop. His face was pale, sweat beading along his temples.
“It’s not fake,” he whispered. “I traced the blueprints back to declassified government archives. These tunnels aren’t just real—they connect every major asylum, hospital, and mass grave site in the country.”

Liam leaned closer, pointing at a cluster of red dots on the map. “These are the sites where Royal Nation members have gone missing… Maddie’s asylum, the Manchester depot, the Veil Theater… They all line up along this network.”

Harper slammed her laptop shut.
“So what, we’re standing on top of this thing right now?”

Jax hesitated.
“Yes.”

That single word hung in the air like a curse.

The safehouse had seemed like a refuge—a forgotten farmhouse on the outskirts of London, far from any haunted asylum. But now they knew the truth. The walls beneath their feet hid something vast. Something alive.

Harper rubbed her temples. “This is insane. First Maddie, then Zoe, then Jamie… and now this. We should burn this place down and disappear.”

But Liam shook his head.
“It doesn’t matter where we go. This thing… whatever it is… it’s everywhere.”

A faint knock echoed from somewhere inside the house.

They froze.

It came again—three slow taps, deliberate, measured.

Jax grabbed a flashlight and crept toward the hallway.
“It’s probably wind,” he whispered, though his trembling hand said otherwise.

Harper rose cautiously, pulling a rusted crowbar from beside the door.

The three of them moved together, footsteps muffled on the creaking floorboards. The knocking stopped.

Silence swallowed the safehouse.

Then, softly, from inside the walls—

“Let me out…”

Harper’s breath caught in her throat. “Tell me you heard that.”

The sound came again, louder this time, desperate and strained.

“Please… help me… they’re coming…”

Jax shone his flashlight along the hallway wall. The beam landed on something wet, smeared across the faded wallpaper.

Blood.

It spelled out four words, written from inside the wall:

“DON’T OPEN THE DOORS.”

Suddenly, the house groaned like something massive shifting beneath it.

Harper staggered back. “We need to leave. Now.”

But Liam shook his head, transfixed by the bloodied message.
“Maddie sent us the same warning,” he whispered. “This isn’t random. She knows what’s happening.”

Jax’s voice was low, shaking.
“Yeah? And where exactly is Maddie right now?”

As if in answer, every light in the safehouse flickered and died.

The three were plunged into choking darkness.

Somewhere below, deep beneath the floorboards, came a sound like wet, tearing flesh—followed by something dragging itself across stone.

Then, without warning, scratches erupted inside the walls, hundreds of nails clawing frantically, racing up and down the length of the hallway.

The walls breathed.

Jax swung his flashlight wildly, the beam cutting through dust and shadow.
“There’s something alive in there!”

Harper grabbed Liam’s arm. “We’re leaving. I don’t care what’s in the tunnels—we’re not staying to find out.”

But Liam didn’t move. He pointed to the bloodstained wallpaper.

“The Hollow Veil isn’t just tunnels,” he whispered, his voice shaking.
“It’s inside the walls. It’s under us. It’s around us.”

Before anyone could respond, something pounded violently beneath their feet—like fists hammering from below.

Then, faintly, a voice whispered through the floorboards, muffled and strange, but unmistakable:

“Liam…”

He froze.

“That’s… my sister’s voice.”

Harper grabbed him. “No. Don’t listen. It’s not her.”

The voice came again, clearer, closer.

“Liam… please… help me…”

Against Harper’s protests, Liam knelt and pressed his ear to the floor.

That’s when the wood split beneath his hand.

A pale, blood-soaked arm shot through the boards, clawing at his wrist with inhuman strength.

The flashlight fell, spinning on the floor, casting jerky shadows across the walls.

From inside the gaps between the boards, dozens of pale hands began pushing through, stretching the wood like wet paper.

Jax screamed, yanking Liam backward as the arm scraped deep gouges into his skin.

Blood hit the floorboards.

Then, as quickly as it started, the hands withdrew, slithering back into the darkness beneath them.

The house went silent.

Harper’s breathing was ragged, her grip tight on the crowbar.
“What the hell was that?!”

Jax swallowed hard, his voice cracking.
“They’re… in the Hollow Veil.”

Liam stared at the gaping hole in the floorboards, trembling violently.
“They took Elliot,” he whispered.
“They’re going to take us too.”

From somewhere below, faint and distant but rising like a chorus, came the sound of hundreds of voices, chanting in unison:

“Bloodline of the lost… Bloodline of the lost…”

The sound grew louder. Closer. Surrounding them.

The Hollow Veil had woken up.

And then, from the shadows behind them—

“Hello,” a voice said softly.

They turned.

Maddie stood in the doorway.

Her eyes were black.

Chapter 2 – Maddie’s Return

Royal Nation: Bloodline of the Bleeding Shadows – Part 2

For a moment, no one moved.

The faint beam from Jax’s fallen flashlight rolled lazily across the warped floorboards, illuminating Maddie’s face in disjointed flashes. She stood barefoot in the doorway, drenched in rainwater, her long hair plastered against her pale skin.

But it wasn’t the way she looked that froze Harper’s blood.

It was her eyes.

They were pitch-black, like voids punched into her skull. No reflection, no light, nothing human left inside them.

“Maddie?” Harper’s voice cracked, a whisper clawing past a throat of glass.

Maddie tilted her head slightly, like an animal studying prey. For a moment, her expression flickered with something human—recognition, maybe. And then it was gone, replaced by something colder. Something ancient.

“You shouldn’t be here,” Maddie said softly, her voice wrong. Too many layers, like several people speaking at once, echoing in different tones.

Liam staggered backward, clutching his bleeding arm where the thing from the floor had grabbed him.
“Maddie… what’s happened to you?”

She ignored his question, stepping forward, the floor creaking beneath her bare feet. Every step left a faint smear of water and something darker trailing behind.

“You opened the safehouse,” Maddie whispered. “You woke them up.”

Jax finally found his voice, though it came out shaky and thin.
“Maddie, what’s inside the Hollow Veil? What the hell is happening?”

Her gaze snapped to him.
“You don’t want to know.”

“We wouldn’t be here if we didn’t!” Harper shot back, gripping the crowbar so tightly her knuckles blanched white. “You dragged us into this, Maddie! People are vanishing. Zoe’s gone. Jamie’s gone. You left us.”

Maddie’s jaw tightened. “I didn’t leave,” she said, barely audible.
“I was taken.”

A deep rumble shivered through the floor, dust raining from the rafters above. Somewhere beneath them, the walls groaned—a living sound, like something vast breathing slowly under their feet.

Maddie turned her head slightly, listening. Then her lips curled into a small, cold smile.
“They’ve found us.”

Jax swore under his breath. “Who? The things in the walls?”

She didn’t answer. Instead, she reached into the pocket of her soaked hoodie and pulled out a small, rusted key. Its surface was coated with dried blood, and strange symbols had been etched into the metal.

“This,” she said, holding it up, “opens the heart of the Hollow Veil.”

Before anyone could respond, a violent bang exploded from the far wall, splintering wood and shaking the entire safehouse.

Then another.

And another.

Dozens of hands began slamming against the walls from inside, the wallpaper bubbling and tearing under the pressure. Muffled screams came from within the plaster, distorted and broken, like trapped voices begging for release.

Liam’s breathing grew ragged. “We need to get out of here. Now.”

Maddie turned sharply, her black eyes locking on his.
“No,” she said firmly, with an authority that silenced the room. “If we run, they’ll follow us into the streets. The only way to stop them…”

She raised the bloodstained key.

“…is to go deeper.”

Harper shook her head violently.
“You’re insane if you think we’re crawling into those tunnels! Did you see what was under the floor?!”

“You don’t understand,” Maddie said, stepping closer until Harper could feel the chill radiating off her skin. “This isn’t just an asylum anymore. It never was. The Hollow Veil isn’t just beneath us—it’s a threshold. They’ve been building it for centuries. Every hospital, every asylum, every ‘haunted’ site is connected, feeding the same thing. And now it’s awake.”

Jax frowned, wiping sweat from his forehead. “Feeding… what, exactly?”

Maddie leaned in, her voice low, almost reverent.
“The Bloodline.”

Harper felt her stomach turn. “The bloodline of what?”

Maddie’s smile widened, but there was no warmth in it.

“The lost,” she whispered. “The ones who surrendered. They aren’t dead… not really. They’re bound here. Their bodies dissolve, but their screams remain. And the Veil drinks them. It needs them.”

Liam stepped back, shaking his head violently.
“Nope. No. You’re out of your mind. I’m not going into any cursed tunnel to ‘feed the Veil’ or whatever the hell this is.”

Maddie’s black eyes glimmered in the shifting flashlight beam.
“Then you’ll end up like Zoe.”

The room fell silent.

Jax finally spoke, voice barely above a whisper.
“…What happened to Zoe?”

Maddie hesitated, as if weighing whether to answer. When she finally spoke, her words were cold and brittle:

“She gave in.”

Suddenly, the ceiling above them cracked violently, splintering wood and showering them with debris. Something massive scuttled across the rafters, claws digging into rotten timber. The sound was wet, animalistic, like meat tearing from bone.

Harper grabbed Jax’s arm. “What the hell is that?!”

Maddie didn’t answer. She just whispered one word:

“Hunters.”

Before anyone could react, part of the ceiling collapsed, and a limb shot down—a pale, skeletal arm covered in slick black veins. It seized the shattered beams, pulling an inhuman shape through the gap.

Its head twisted unnaturally, four sharp clicks echoing like breaking glass. Its mouth hung open, revealing too many teeth.

Liam screamed.

Maddie shoved the bloodstained key into Jax’s hand.
“If you want to live, follow me.”

She kicked open a trapdoor hidden beneath the old carpet, revealing a spiraling staircase descending into darkness.

Without hesitation, she jumped into the void.

Harper hesitated for only a second before grabbing Liam and shoving him toward the opening. “Go!”

The creature dropped from the rafters, landing on the floorboards with a sickening crunch. Its head twitched violently, and the shadows bent around its shape like it was pulling the darkness into itself.

Harper swung the crowbar hard, smashing it into the thing’s shoulder. It didn’t even flinch.

Jax grabbed her wrist and dragged her toward the trapdoor.
“MOVE!”

One by one, they plunged into the depths below.

The air in the tunnels was wet and suffocating, the stench of mold and rust thick enough to taste. The staircase wound endlessly downward until they reached a narrow corridor lined with jagged stone. Strange markings had been carved into the walls—circles, symbols, and endless spirals that seemed to move when you weren’t looking directly at them.

Liam’s voice cracked as he whispered, “Where… where are we?”

Maddie glanced back, her black eyes glowing faintly in the dark.

“The beginning,” she said.

Harper’s knuckles whitened around the crowbar. “The beginning of what?”

“The Hollow Veil,” Maddie said, her voice layered and cold. “And the blood debt it was built to collect.”

From somewhere deep in the darkness ahead came a sound.

Not footsteps.

Whispers.

Hundreds of them.

Some pleading.
Some crying.
Some laughing.

And beneath it all, a deeper voice rumbled—a single word, over and over:

“Bloodline… Bloodline… Bloodline…”

Then Maddie stopped suddenly, raising her hand for silence.

Jax leaned forward, whispering, “What? What do you hear?”

Maddie’s black eyes flicked to him, unblinking.

“They know we’re here.”

Chapter 3 – The Feeding Chambers

Royal Nation: Bloodline of the Bleeding Shadows – Part 2

The tunnels narrowed until the walls brushed their shoulders, slick with condensation that tasted faintly of iron. The deeper they went, the louder the whispers became—layered, endless, like thousands of voices speaking just beneath the edge of hearing.

Liam stumbled, clutching his bleeding arm, his breath ragged. Harper caught him before he fell and whispered sharply, “Keep quiet.”

But Maddie didn’t slow. She walked with purpose, barefoot steps silent against the damp stone, the bloodstained key swinging in her hand. Her black eyes glimmered faintly in the dark, the glow unnatural, almost pulsing with each whispered breath around them.

Jax’s voice was a strained whisper.
“Maddie… where the hell are you taking us?”

“To the Feeding Chambers,” she said softly.

The words froze the air between them.

Harper hissed back, “The what?”

Maddie finally stopped and turned, her void-black eyes locking on Harper’s trembling gaze.
“It’s where they bring the ones who surrender,” she said, her voice strangely calm. “Where they break them. Where they decide who becomes part of the Veil.”

Liam staggered backward, shaking his head violently.
“Nope. No way. I’m not going into some… feeding chamber! We’re turning around right now.”

Maddie took a step closer, and even though she was small and pale, the air shifted with her movement. The walls seemed to lean in, as if the stone itself bowed to her presence.

“You turn back,” Maddie whispered, “and the Veil will swallow you where you stand.”

Jax grabbed Maddie’s arm, his voice breaking.
“Maddie, stop with the cryptic crap and tell us what’s going on! What’s in these chambers?”

Her expression didn’t change, but her voice dropped lower, threaded with something dark and trembling.

“They’ve been doing this for centuries,” she said. “The asylum wasn’t built for treatment. It was built for harvesting.”

Harper frowned, gripping the crowbar tighter. “Harvesting… what?”

Maddie slowly raised her free hand and tapped her temple.

“Us,” she said simply. “Our minds. Our fear. Our pain.”

The whispers surged suddenly, swelling around them until Harper clamped her hands over her ears. But it didn’t help. The sound was inside her skull, curling through her thoughts like smoke.

Liam dropped to his knees, clutching his head, rocking back and forth.
“Make it stop… make it stop make it stop—”

Jax knelt beside him, shaking his shoulders. “Stay with me, Liam, look at me!”

But Liam’s eyes had gone glassy, his pupils dilated, his breathing shallow.

Then Maddie whispered one word:

“Move.”

They obeyed without hesitation, dragging Liam to his feet as Maddie led them around a sharp bend in the tunnel.

And then… they saw it.

The corridor opened into a vast chamber that stretched into darkness. The walls weren’t stone anymore—they were flesh. Wet, pulsing, breathing walls, slick with blackened veins that snaked like roots deep into the floor.

Everywhere they looked, bodies hung from the ceiling, suspended by ropes of congealed muscle, their faces frozen in silent screams. Some were missing eyes, others mouths, and some were little more than skeletal husks covered in stretched, translucent skin.

The air was thick with the smell of rot and something chemical, sweet and choking, like spoiled fruit left in the sun.

Jax gagged violently, covering his nose.
“What… what the hell is this place?”

Maddie didn’t answer.

She walked forward, stepping onto a narrow, fleshy platform, the surface beneath her feet twitching faintly. The whispers grew deafening now, words tumbling over each other until Harper could finally make out fragments:

“Stay… give in… let go…
We’ll make you whole again…”

Liam stared up at one of the hanging bodies, his lips trembling.
“Oh my God… that’s Zoe.”

Harper turned sharply. “No… no, it can’t be—”

But it was.

Zoe’s body dangled limply, her face pale and distorted, lips cracked and bloodless. But her eyes… her eyes were moving.

And then Zoe’s mouth tore open unnaturally wide, splitting her cheeks as a wet, gurgling voice spilled out:

“Li…am…”

Liam staggered backward, his breath hitching.
“Zoe? Jesus, Zoe, I thought you were—”

She screamed.

The sound wasn’t human—it was too high, too sharp, like glass splintering in his ears. The walls quivered violently, veins pulsing in rhythm with her shriek.

Zoe’s body twisted, snapping ropes of flesh as she dropped from the ceiling and landed on all fours. Her bones cracked audibly, her spine arching unnaturally as her head turned a full 180 degrees to face them.

Jax screamed, raising his flashlight as Zoe began to crawl toward them on elongated, clawed limbs.

Maddie stepped forward calmly, placing herself between Zoe and the others.

“Stay behind me,” Maddie whispered.

Harper hissed, “Are you out of your damn mind?!”

But Maddie just raised the bloodstained key, holding it like a weapon.

Zoe stopped suddenly, her jaw hanging open, drool and blood dripping onto the fleshy floor. Her voice cracked and layered, dozens of voices speaking through her at once:

“She belongs… to us now…”

Maddie’s black eyes narrowed.
“No,” she said coldly. “I belong to no one.”

The walls screamed.

A deafening, guttural sound tore through the chamber, vibrating the air and sending Jax and Harper stumbling. The hanging bodies convulsed violently, and the veins along the walls began writhing, sliding like snakes beneath living skin.

From the far side of the chamber, the floor split open like a gaping maw, and something massive began to rise from below.

Liam’s voice was barely audible through his ragged breathing.
“What… what is that?”

Harper grabbed his arm, pulling him back toward the tunnel.
“We need to run. Now.”

But Maddie didn’t move.

Her voice was flat, cold, reverent.
“The Heart,” she whispered.

It was a thing—twenty feet tall, hunched and pulsating, its form a grotesque amalgamation of flesh, bone, and metal. Faces pressed against its shifting surface, screaming silently from beneath translucent skin. Thousands of hands protruded from its body, clawing at the air, grabbing at nothing and everything.

Its head—or what passed for one—was split down the center, a gaping wound dripping black ichor that sizzled when it hit the floor.

The whispers exploded into screams inside their skulls. Harper dropped to her knees, clutching her ears, shrieking in pain. Jax vomited onto the floor, his body convulsing.

Liam fell against the wall, sobbing, whispering over and over, “It’s not real, it’s not real, it’s not real…”

Maddie stepped forward.

The Heart’s many voices erupted into one, booming and layered:

“You carry the key, child.
You were chosen to open us.
Bring the Bloodline home.”

Maddie raised the key high, its etched symbols glowing faintly in the chamber’s dim, pulsating light. Her voice came out layered, matching the thing’s resonance perfectly:

“I am not yours,” she said.
“You built this place to feed on us.
But tonight… I’m cutting you off.”

The Heart’s response was a sound that wasn’t sound at all—something deeper, vibrating bone and marrow, something alive.

Then the chamber came alive.

The veins along the walls lashed out violently, snapping at them like whips. One wrapped around Jax’s ankle, dragging him toward the chasm where the Heart pulsed, its black ichor spilling in rivers.

“JAX!” Harper screamed, diving forward and slamming her crowbar down, severing the vein. Jax scrambled to his feet, panting, blood soaking through his jeans.

Zoe lunged again, her claws swiping inches from Liam’s throat.

“Run!” Maddie screamed. “GET OUT!”

They bolted for the tunnel, stumbling and slipping on the slick floor as the chamber roared behind them. The walls shuddered violently, the screams rising to an unbearable pitch.

But just before Harper crossed the threshold back into the corridor, she risked one glance over her shoulder.

She wished she hadn’t.

Zoe’s body had been seized by the veins, pulled upward toward the ceiling where the flesh swallowed her whole. Her face twisted, her mouth opening wider than it should, and then—

Silence.

They didn’t stop running until the whispers faded into distant echoes.

Liam collapsed against the wall, sobbing into his bloodstained hands. Jax slumped beside him, clutching his mangled ankle, his chest heaving.

Harper dropped the crowbar, her fingers trembling violently.

Then Maddie turned, her black eyes glowing faintly in the dark.

“They know we’re here,” she whispered.
“They’ll never stop hunting us now.”

Chapter 4 – The Skin Crawler

Royal Nation: Bloodline of the Bleeding Shadows – Part 2

The tunnels narrowed again, twisting into jagged veins of stone, damp and suffocating. The group moved in silence, their ragged breathing the only sound apart from the constant dripping of unseen water.

Jax limped heavily, leaning against Harper for support, his mangled ankle leaving a dark trail behind them. Liam stumbled just ahead, pale and shivering, mumbling under his breath like a broken record:

“It’s not real… it’s not real… it’s not real…”

Harper wanted to scream at him to shut up, but her throat was raw, her voice lost somewhere back in the Feeding Chambers with Zoe’s inhuman screams.

Only Maddie walked with purpose. She seemed unaffected, her pale feet silent against the wet stone, her void-black eyes glowing faintly in the darkness. The bloodstained key dangled from her hand, swaying slightly with every step.

“Keep moving,” Maddie whispered. “We’re close.”

Harper’s voice cracked when she finally spoke.
“Close to what, Maddie? The last time you said that, Zoe tried to eat us!”

Maddie didn’t respond.

They reached a fork in the tunnels, one passage descending into deeper darkness, the other tilting slightly upward where faint air stirred the dampness.

Jax glanced at Maddie. “Please tell me you know where we’re going.”

Maddie tilted her head slightly, listening.
“They’re ahead,” she whispered. “I can hear them.”

Liam swallowed hard. “Them? Who’s ‘them’?”

Before Maddie could answer, the sound came.

A slow, wet scrape against stone.

Something moving in the dark.

Jax swung his flashlight toward the noise, but the beam illuminated only jagged rock and slick walls.

Harper whispered, “Maddie…”

Maddie raised her hand, signaling silence. The group froze, their breaths caught in their throats.

The scraping stopped.

For a few seconds, there was nothing but the oppressive, suffocating quiet.

Then… a voice.

Soft, broken, and familiar.

“…Jax… help me…”

Jax’s heart stopped. He knew that voice.
“Jamie?” he whispered.

The missing Royal Nation member. Gone since the first night.

The voice came again, clearer this time, from the descending tunnel:

“Jax… please… I can’t see… it’s so dark… help me…”

Jax stepped forward instinctively, but Harper grabbed his arm.
“No. Don’t. That’s not Jamie.”

“You don’t know that!” Jax snapped, his voice louder than he intended. “It could be him!”

Maddie turned slowly, her face unreadable.
“That’s not Jamie,” she whispered.
“Jamie’s gone.”

But Jax shook his head violently and pulled free from Harper’s grip. “I have to check!”

Before anyone could stop him, Jax limped into the descending passage, the flashlight beam bobbing with his uneven steps until it vanished into darkness.

The three waited, hearts pounding in the silence.

Then Jax’s scream tore through the tunnels.

“HELP ME!”

Harper bolted forward, ignoring Maddie’s hissed warning. Liam stumbled after her, sobbing, while Maddie followed silently, her bare feet splashing softly in the growing puddles.

They rounded a sharp bend—and froze.

Jax was gone.

The tunnel ahead opened into a small, circular chamber. The walls here were strange, covered in jagged scratches and what looked like skin—human skin, stretched thin and nailed to the stone. In the center of the room lay Jax’s flashlight, its beam flickering weakly.

Harper lunged forward, but Maddie grabbed her by the wrist and yanked her back.

“Don’t,” Maddie whispered sharply. “Stay back.”

Then, from the shadows opposite them, something began crawling into view.

At first, Harper thought it was Jax—same hoodie, same jeans, same messy hair. But then it turned its head.

And the skin didn’t fit.

It sagged unnaturally around the jaw, the seams stretched too tight along the neck. Blood oozed slowly where the flesh was stapled together, thick black stitches crisscrossing the cheek.

The thing wore Jax like a costume.

It scuttled into the chamber on all fours, its limbs bending wrong, jerking in sharp, unnatural motions. The hoodie slid back, revealing the raw, glistening muscles beneath.

Then it spoke, Jax’s voice warped and layered with something deeper:

“Why did you leave me?”

Liam fell against the wall, shaking violently. “Oh God… oh God oh God oh God…”

Harper raised the crowbar with trembling hands, but Maddie stepped in front of her calmly, the bloodstained key clutched tightly in her fist.

“That’s not Jax,” Maddie said softly.
“It’s a Skin Crawler.”

The creature lunged.

Harper swung the crowbar with a scream, the metal crunching into the thing’s shoulder. But it didn’t react—not even a flinch. It grabbed the crowbar with inhuman strength, ripping it from her hands, then hurled it across the chamber.

Liam scrambled backward on his hands and feet, kicking against the damp stone, until he hit the wall and froze.

The Skin Crawler turned its head toward him, the jaw splitting wider than it should, tearing fresh seams into Jax’s face.

“Liiiiiaaaam…” it hissed, voice breaking into three tones at once.
“You left me behind.”

Harper grabbed Liam, dragging him to his feet. “RUN!”

They sprinted back into the tunnels, feet slamming against wet stone, the sound of skittering claws close behind them.

Maddie didn’t run.

She walked calmly, turning slowly to face the chamber. Her black eyes burned faintly in the dark, her lips curling into a faint smile.

“Come and try,” she whispered.

The creature lunged—and Maddie drove the bloodstained key into its chest.

The Skin Crawler shrieked, a high-pitched, piercing sound that made the walls tremble violently. The skin along its limbs began to bubble and split, peeling away like wax under a flame.

The thing convulsed, claws scraping deep gouges into the stone, before collapsing in a twitching heap. The seams holding Jax’s skin together tore open, and the flesh slid away, leaving nothing but a skeletal, eyeless mass beneath, its body jerking violently before finally falling still.

Harper and Liam stared, shaking and pale.

Maddie pulled the key free, wiping the black ichor onto her hoodie.
“Keep moving,” she said softly. “We’re not alone down here.”

As they limped onward, the whispers began again—but different this time. Not begging. Not pleading.

Laughing.

From inside the walls, deep beneath the stone, hundreds of distorted voices laughed in unison.

And Harper realized something cold and sharp.

They weren’t trapped in the Hollow Veil.

The Hollow Veil was playing with them.

Chapter 5 – The Origin of the Veil

Royal Nation: Bloodline of the Bleeding Shadows – Part 2

The tunnels finally opened into a massive chamber.

Harper staggered forward, chest heaving, sweat and grime mixing on her skin. The faint beam of Liam’s flashlight danced across the walls, revealing dozens of ancient, rusted iron doors surrounding the circular room. Every door bore the same symbol:

A spiral of bleeding shadows carved into the metal, grooves dark with something crusted and old.

Liam’s voice cracked as he whispered, “This isn’t just part of the asylum… this is older.”

Maddie stepped into the center of the room, the bloodstained key clutched tightly in her pale hand.
“It’s not older,” she said softly. “It’s the beginning.”

The others stared at her, breathless and silent, waiting for her to explain.
She tilted her head slowly, her void-black eyes reflecting the light like a predator’s.

“This place,” she began, “wasn’t built to treat the insane. That was just a cover story. It was built to create them.”

Liam frowned, shaking his head. “Create what? What are you talking about?”

Maddie crouched near one of the doors, running her fingertips over the spiral. “The asylum was part of a project. A government-funded program called The Hollow Veil Initiative. Decades ago, they experimented on patients… on prisoners… on anyone they could disappear quietly.”

Harper took a step back, heart pounding. “Experiments… like what?”

“Not on the body,” Maddie whispered.
“On the mind.”

The sound of dripping water filled the silence.

Maddie continued, her voice low, almost reverent.
“They discovered something buried beneath the asylum. An anomaly. A void… a place where reality itself thins, where consciousness unravels. They called it the Veil. At first, they tried to map it. Study it. But they realized the Veil… was alive.”

Liam swallowed hard, his face pale.
“Alive? How can a… a place be alive?”

Maddie turned toward him, and for a moment, Harper swore she saw something move beneath Maddie’s skin, like shadows writhing under her flesh.

“Because it feeds,” Maddie said simply.
“It feeds on fear, on suffering, on memory. Every person who dies in its presence is… absorbed. Their minds. Their screams. Their souls.”

Harper’s throat tightened. “And the missing Royal Nation members…”

“They aren’t missing,” Maddie whispered, her voice breaking. “They’re inside it now.”

The room went silent.

Then Liam’s flashlight flickered, buzzing with static. He smacked it against his palm, but the light dimmed further.

From somewhere beyond the doors came the faintest sound.
A soft, rhythmic tapping.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Harper froze, whispering, “What is that?”

Maddie stood slowly, her expression unreadable. “They’re calling to us.”

“Who?” Liam snapped, backing up toward Harper.

Maddie smiled faintly, though there was nothing kind in it.
“The ones who gave themselves to the Veil.”

The tapping grew louder, quicker, until it was coming from every door at once.
Dozens of hands slapping metal, clawing at it, pounding from the other side.

Harper pressed her hands over her ears, trying to drown out the deafening sound.
“Make it stop! Maddie, MAKE IT STOP!”

Maddie didn’t answer. She raised the key instead and stepped toward the largest door in the chamber.

Liam grabbed her arm.
“What the hell are you doing?”

She looked at him calmly. “Opening it.”

“Have you lost your damn mind?!” Harper screamed. “We’re barely hanging on and you want to—”

“—Find answers,” Maddie interrupted sharply. “You want to survive? Then we need to know what’s inside.”

Against all reason, Harper let go.

Maddie slid the key into the door’s ancient lock. A slow, heavy click echoed through the chamber, and the spiral symbols began to pulse faintly, as though veins of light ran beneath the metal.

The door creaked open, the air beyond colder than ice.

A stench rolled out, thick and rotting, burning their throats.

Liam gagged, covering his mouth. “God, what the hell is in there?”

Maddie stepped inside without hesitation.

The room beyond was cavernous, carved directly into the stone. The walls were covered in symbols—hundreds of them—etched in blood so deep it had blackened over decades. Chains dangled from the ceiling, broken restraints still bolted to the walls.

In the center of the chamber stood an altar.

Harper’s breath hitched. “What… the… hell…”

On the altar lay something wrapped in layers of decayed cloth, its outline vaguely human.

Maddie approached slowly, tracing the carvings in the stone with her fingertips.
“They called this room the Cradle,” she murmured. “The very first subject was kept here. They say he was the first to cross the Veil and return.”

Liam’s voice trembled. “Return as… what?”

Maddie’s black eyes met his.
“As something that wasn’t human anymore.”

Before Harper could speak, the cloth-wrapped figure on the altar moved.

Just a twitch. A finger.

Liam stumbled back, slamming into the wall, his breath ragged and sharp.
“It’s… it’s alive,” he choked.

The thing began to stir fully, the ancient wrappings falling away piece by piece, revealing a figure pale and desiccated, its skin stretched tight over bone. Its mouth opened in a silent scream, lips torn and rotting, and when its eyes snapped open, they glowed the same pitch-black void as Maddie’s.

Harper whispered, “Oh God…”

The figure raised one skeletal hand, pointing directly at Maddie.

And then it spoke, voice rattling like dry leaves:

“Keeper…”

Maddie froze, every muscle locked. Her hand gripped the key so tightly that blood trickled down her palm.

“Don’t call me that,” she hissed.

The thing sat up slowly, its joints cracking loudly.

“You are mine now…”

Suddenly, every spiral symbol in the room lit up, the walls trembling violently as a deep rumble echoed through the stone.

Harper grabbed Liam and screamed, “WE HAVE TO GO!”

But Maddie didn’t move. She stared at the figure, lips trembling, and whispered:

“I… remember you.”

The thing on the altar smiled. Its lips split, tearing wider until its grin reached ear to ear.

“And I… remember all of you.”

The spiral symbols pulsed brighter, blinding light filling the chamber—then, without warning, the doors slammed shut, sealing them inside.

And from the walls, hundreds of voices began whispering in unison.

“Join us.”

Chapter 6 – Ashes Between Us

Royal Nation: Bloodline of the Bleeding Shadows – Part 2

The chamber doors exploded open in a blast of cold air and shattered stone, hurling Harper, Liam, and Maddie into the adjoining tunnel.

Harper slammed against the wall, gasping for breath, her ribs aching. Dust rained from the ceiling, coating her hands and face as she dragged herself upright.

Liam lay sprawled on the ground a few feet away, wheezing, one hand pressed to his chest. He coughed violently, spitting up blood-streaked saliva.

And Maddie… Maddie was just standing there, perfectly still, her back to them. Her pale hoodie was streaked with dirt and blood, the bloodstained key still clutched tight in her fist.

The silence in the tunnel was suffocating.

Harper finally croaked, “What… what the hell just happened back there?”

Maddie turned slowly, her blackened eyes still faintly glowing. For the first time since the asylum, she actually looked shaken.

“That thing,” Maddie whispered. “It knew me.”

Liam sat up slowly, shaking his head. “No. No, no, no. Don’t do this.” He jabbed a trembling finger at her. “You’re not one of us anymore, Maddie. You knew things before we did. You… you’re part of this.”

Harper stiffened but didn’t intervene—not yet.

Maddie’s jaw tightened. “I’m not part of it,” she said, voice low, dangerous. “I was chosen.”

“That’s exactly what I’m talking about!” Liam barked, his voice cracking. “You’re different now. We all see it.” He turned to Harper. “Tell her, Harp. Tell her she’s not the same person we came here with.”

Harper hesitated. She wanted to defend Maddie—God, she did—but the words caught in her throat. Because Liam was right. Maddie was different. Her stillness. The void behind her eyes. The way the walls themselves seemed to bend when she spoke.

The silence stretched.

Maddie finally broke it.

“You don’t understand,” she said softly, stepping closer to them. “The Veil is everywhere. It’s in these walls. It’s in us now. That’s why we’re still alive and the others aren’t.”

Liam laughed bitterly, shaking his head. “Alive? That’s a joke. You saw what happened to Zoe. You saw what happened to Jax.” His voice cracked again, and he dug his hands into his hair, pulling until his scalp reddened.

Harper reached for him, but he pulled away violently.

“They’re gone, Harp. And Maddie’s next. And if we don’t get the hell out of here, we’re gonna end up just like them.”

Maddie stared at Liam coldly, her voice calm but heavy with something unspoken.
“There’s no getting out.”

Liam froze, blinking at her. “…What?”

Maddie’s gaze slid down the tunnel, toward the endless blackness ahead.
“The Hollow Veil doesn’t let people leave. It lets them wander until they give up. Until they choose to stay.”

“That’s insane,” Liam said, his voice breaking. “We’ll find a way out. We have to.”

“No,” Maddie said softly. “We have to go deeper.”

Harper stepped between them, raising her hands. “Enough. Both of you.”

She turned to Maddie, her voice firm but gentler than Liam’s anger.
“Look, maybe you’re right. Maybe the only way out is through. But you can’t just expect us to trust you, Maddie, not after everything we’ve seen.”

Maddie’s expression didn’t change. “You don’t need to trust me,” she said simply. “You need to follow me.”

Liam scoffed. “Over my dead body.”

Maddie looked at him for a long, quiet moment, and for a heartbeat Harper thought she saw something shift behind Maddie’s expression—something cold, ancient, and impossibly patient.

They sat in silence for what felt like hours, resting against the damp walls of the tunnel.

Liam refused to look at Maddie. Harper kept glancing between them, rubbing her temples as if she could massage away the pounding headache clawing at her skull.

Somewhere far above, stone groaned, and a faint rumble rolled through the tunnels. Harper tensed immediately.

“Was that… an aftershock?” she asked.

Liam shook his head, pale as ash. “That wasn’t an aftershock. That was movement.”

Before anyone could respond, the walls began to whisper again.

At first it was faint, almost like static in the distance, but slowly the sound grew louder, words forming at the edges of comprehension.

“…come deeper… we’re waiting…”

Liam bolted upright, shaking his head violently. “Nope. No. I’m done. I can’t—”

“Shut up,” Maddie snapped, and to Harper’s surprise, Liam did. The whispers faded as suddenly as they’d begun, leaving behind a silence so heavy it hurt her ears.

Maddie closed her eyes for a long moment, one hand resting lightly on the wall. When she finally spoke, her voice was calm, almost serene.

“They can’t reach us here. Not yet.”

Liam stared at her, trembling. “What do you mean ‘not yet’? You sound like you know them. Like you’re one of them.”

Maddie didn’t answer. She just kept walking deeper into the darkness.

Harper sighed, running a hand through her tangled hair, then grabbed Liam’s arm and gently pulled him along. “C’mon. For now, we stick together.”

Liam glared at Maddie’s back as they followed, muttering under his breath.
“This is gonna get us all killed.”

After another hour of walking, they found an abandoned break room buried deep beneath the asylum. The walls were cracked and mold-eaten, the tables overturned and half-rotted, but for once, there were four solid walls around them instead of endless tunnels.

They barricaded the door with a metal cabinet and collapsed onto the filthy floor.

For a moment, there was peace. No whispers. No skittering. No blood.

Harper almost cried from the quiet.

Liam leaned against the wall, clutching his chest, his voice hoarse when he finally spoke.
“If we make it out of this… I’m done with Royal Nation. I’m deleting everything. Screw followers. Screw views.”

Harper laughed softly, bitterly. “You think any of this is gonna let us leave? Even if we make it to the surface, Liam, we’ve seen too much.”

Maddie sat silently in the corner, knees drawn to her chest, her eyes fixed on the bloodstained key resting in her hand.

“We’re already part of it,” she murmured. “Whether you like it or not.”

And for a moment, no one argued.

Because deep down, they all knew she was right.

Chapter 8 – Echoes of Defiance

Royal Nation: Bloodline of the Bleeding Shadows – Part 2

The corridors of the asylum stretched on endlessly, dark and slick with condensation. The air was heavy with a metallic tang, thick and suffocating. Whispered voices crawled along the walls, barely audible at first, then growing steadily louder, until they pressed against the ears and skulls of Harper, Liam, and Maddie like waves of static.

“This place… it’s alive,” Harper whispered, her voice trembling. She pressed the crowbar into her hands, knuckles white, trying to steel herself.

Liam swallowed, staring at the shadows ahead. “Alive and hungry.”

Maddie led them with measured steps, her pale feet silent against the wet stone floor. The bloodstained key in her hand seemed to pulse faintly, like a heartbeat, as though it knew the path forward better than she did.

The first sign of progress came in an unexpected form: a faint symbol etched into the wall, glowing slightly in the darkness. It matched the symbol of the Hollow Veil spirals they had seen before—the bleeding shadow spiral, the mark that had led to the Cradle and the Feeding Chambers.

Maddie crouched, pressing her hand against the wall. “It’s a waypoint,” she whispered. “The Veil leaves traces of itself. If we follow them carefully, we can avoid its ambushes… or at least anticipate them.”

Harper stared at her, awe and disbelief warring in her chest. “You mean… we can fight it?”

Maddie’s lips curved faintly. “Not fight… survive. That’s all we can do. For now.”

The next hour was tense. Every step forward brought them closer to the heart of the Hollow Veil, yet it also sharpened the terror. Whispers turned to growls, scratching and shuffling in the walls grew louder, and shadows twisted unnaturally in the corners of their vision.

But the Royal Nation members weren’t completely paralyzed this time.

Harper set up flash traps, throwing shards of broken bulbs across key corridors. The sudden flares of light caused some of the shadows to recoil, giving them a brief window to advance. Liam, shaking violently, discovered he could manipulate the static from old electrical wiring to short the flickering lights, creating temporary pockets of darkness where they could hide from the Choral scouts.

Even Maddie’s connection to the Veil became an advantage. She could sense the Choral creatures’ presence, their breathing, the echo of their claws scraping against walls. She whispered directions to Harper and Liam, guiding them through paths that kept them just out of reach of the Veil’s hunting eyes.

Their first victory came when they cornered one of the Choral creatures in a narrow corridor. It hissed, joints bending unnaturally as it lunged toward Harper. But Harper, remembering Maddie’s instructions, slammed a door shut just as the creature passed, trapping it in the side passage.

Liam grinned weakly through his exhaustion. “That… that actually worked.”

Maddie’s eyes glowed faintly. “It’s only a start.”

They continued forward, moving more quickly now, using the hollowed-out walls to their advantage, crawling through forgotten crawlspaces and avoiding the wide-open areas the Veil favored. They began filming their journey, using a mix of old phone cameras and Maddie’s phone to document the environment, leaving markers and clues in case anyone else survived to follow.

The Royal Nation TikTok ethos — documenting, broadcasting, connecting — became a strange kind of weapon. The Veil hated being observed, its whispers distorting and becoming erratic whenever the cameras recorded the corridors. Every flash, every recording, every broadcast disrupted its presence just enough to give them a margin for survival.

But the Hollow Veil was learning.

It adapted quickly, sending Echoes — partial projections of missing Royal Nation members — to stalk them, whispering lies and trying to fracture their cohesion. Liam froze when a familiar voice called his name.

“Liam… why did you leave me behind?”

He turned slowly, and Harper had to drag him away as a shadow detached itself from the wall. It was Zoe, or at least what had been Zoe, crawling on all fours, limbs bending unnaturally, eyes black voids like Maddie’s but twisted in agony.

Maddie stepped in front of them, holding the key high. “It’s not her,” she said firmly. “It’s part of the Veil. Don’t look at it directly, don’t engage with it. It feeds on hesitation and fear.”

They moved past the projection, but the Veil’s presence was suffocating, pressing against their chests and ears as they pressed onward.

Hours later, they reached a chamber unlike any before. The walls glimmered with an oily, black sheen that rippled like liquid. The spirals were everywhere, carved deep into the floor and ceiling, bleeding faint light like veins of darkness.

And in the center… a massive, pulsating shadow, writhing as if it were alive, feeding on the echoes of their fear.

Maddie took a deep breath. “That’s the Heart.”

Harper stared in disbelief. “The… the Veil’s heart?”

“Yes,” Maddie whispered. “It’s what’s keeping the rest of the Hollow Veil in motion. And if we destroy it… or at least wound it… the rest of the creatures will weaken.”

The plan was risky.

They spread out, Harper and Liam improvising makeshift weapons from metal pipes and sharp debris, Maddie guiding them carefully, whispering the Choral creatures’ movements in real-time. They began coordinating, using their phones to signal each other silently — flashes of light, brief audio beeps, gestures.

For the first time, Royal Nation was not just surviving. They were fighting back.

It wasn’t clean. It wasn’t safe.

The Heart reacted violently. Tendrils of shadow shot outward, clawing at the walls, at the ceiling, at their very thoughts. The floor shook, throwing Harper off balance. Liam screamed as an Echo reached out, fingernails scraping across his shoulder, leaving black streaks that burned like acid.

But Maddie’s connection held. She raised the bloodstained key, her voice rising as she whispered a rhythm only she could hear, calling to the Veil on their terms.

The Heart faltered, pulsing violently, screaming without sound. For a moment, the creatures lost cohesion, their movements erratic and desperate.

In that instant, Harper lunged forward, striking the Heart with a metal pipe, leaving a deep gouge that burned the shadows. Liam followed, swinging with everything he had. The Heart thrashed, but the Royal Nation team pressed on, relentless.

And then, with a final, ear-splitting shriek, the Heart recoiled, sucking back into the floor, leaving the chamber dim and silent — but not empty.

Harper collapsed, gasping for air. “We… we did it… we actually—”

Maddie’s hand shot out, gripping her shoulder. “Don’t celebrate yet.”

The shadows in the corners began stirring, darker than before, forming shapes that hadn’t existed until now.

“They’ll come back,” Maddie said softly, her eyes reflecting something almost unholy. “And next time… they’ll be smarter. Faster. They’ll know exactly who to take.”

Liam looked around the room, breathing hard, blood smeared on his arms. “Then… what now?”

Maddie held up the key, her black eyes glowing brighter than ever.
“Now… we plan. We fight. We survive. And Royal Nation… becomes the beacon for the ones who come after us.”

Harper nodded, a flicker of determination in her eyes. “Then we keep moving. Together.”

The camera lights of their phones captured the flicker of shadows behind them — glimpses of eyes watching, waiting — but for the first time in days, they felt a spark of control.

The Veil had not won.

Not yet.

Chapter 9 – The Shattering

Royal Nation: Bloodline of the Bleeding Shadows – Part 2

The asylum groaned as though it had taken a deep, deliberate breath. Every step Harper, Liam, and Maddie made echoed against walls slick with moisture, the shadows stretching and contorting in ways that defied logic.

The Heart of the Veil had retreated, yes, but the Hollow Veil itself was far from defeated.

Whispers erupted from the walls, louder than ever. At first, they were distant, then they became intimate, clawing at the edges of consciousness.

“You cannot escape. You cannot hide. You belong.”

Harper gritted her teeth, gripping her crowbar. “They’re learning. The Veil’s learning.”

Maddie’s pale fingers clenched the bloodstained key. Her black eyes scanned the shadows like a predator. “Yes,” she said softly. “And now… we must adapt faster.”

Liam’s voice trembled. “I can’t do this again. I can’t survive another… another Zoe… another Jax…”

Maddie didn’t answer. She just led them deeper into the twisting corridors, toward the source of the next signal: the Veil itself.

They entered a chamber that seemed to shift as they walked, walls bending slightly, floors tilting, and ceilings stretching higher and lower without warning. Harper stumbled, catching herself on a wall that felt wet, almost breathing beneath her hands.

From the darkness, figures emerged — at first human, then grotesquely distorted. Echoes of Royal Nation members they had lost: Zoe, Jax, even Jamie. But each one was twisted, limbs bent impossibly, faces a hollow mockery of their former selves.

“Join us…” the Echoes hissed in unison, voices layered and inhuman.

Harper swung the crowbar, but it passed through the nearest Echo like a shadow through smoke. The realization hit all three: these weren’t physical creatures. They were psychological weapons, born of memory, fear, and the Veil’s hunger.

Maddie stepped forward, holding the key high. The black veins along her arms pulsed as if alive.

“They feed on hesitation and guilt,” she whispered. “We cannot let them touch our minds.”

The first Echo lunged at Liam, wrapping around him with impossible flexibility. He screamed as it merged with him, whispering all the times he had faltered, every doubt, every regret.

Harper swung, trying to pull Liam free, but Maddie placed a hand on Harper’s shoulder. “Stop! You’ll only strengthen it!”

Instead, Maddie whispered a low incantation, the key vibrating violently in her grip. The Echo screamed, pulling back from Liam’s body, retreating into the shadows.

The Veil reacted. The chamber twisted further, corridors stretching into infinity, shadows splitting into hundreds of forms, each clawing, grasping, and whispering in maddening unison.

Harper grabbed Liam, shaking him awake as his eyes rolled back. “We have to fight through! We have to keep moving!”

Maddie’s voice was calm, but unnerving: “Not through force. Through focus. Through memory. Through connection.”

She reached out, placing her hand on Liam’s chest. Her black eyes locked with his.
“Remember who you are. Remember Royal Nation. Remember why you fight.”

A pulse of light burst from the bloodstained key, and the shadows shrieked, recoiling. The chamber shifted again, momentarily giving them solid ground.

But the Veil was not defeated.

From the darkness came a new horror: The Shard.

Unlike the Echoes, this creature was physical, crystalline yet black, jagged edges tearing the floor as it moved. Its limbs bent in angles that should have been impossible, and its “face” was a mirror of the viewer’s worst fears — reflecting Harper’s guilt, Liam’s terror, Maddie’s connection to the Veil itself.

It lunged at them with incredible speed, and Harper barely dodged, feeling a claw scrape along her arm, leaving black ichor in its wake.

Maddie’s eyes glowed brighter than ever. “We end it here,” she said, voice reverberating in the chamber.

Harper and Liam exchanged a glance, both realizing that “end it” didn’t mean destroy — it meant survive together, guided by Maddie’s link to the Veil.

They devised a desperate plan: Harper would draw the Shard toward a narrow corridor while Liam prepared an improvised trap from debris and wiring. Maddie would anchor the Veil, holding its psychic grip back just long enough for them to execute it.

The plan was chaotic, brutal, terrifying — but for the first time, Royal Nation worked as one unit, blending brains, courage, and raw instinct.

The trap worked — partially.

The Shard screamed as it was caught, shards of black crystal splintering around them. Harper and Liam barely avoided being impaled. But as the creature fell, Maddie’s body convulsed violently.

The connection had cost her something. Black veins spread across her arms and neck, creeping toward her face. For a heartbeat, Harper thought they had lost Maddie entirely — then she blinked, eyes returning to their familiar void-black, and the key hummed, pulsing with renewed energy.

They collapsed together in the debris-strewn corridor, breaths ragged. For a moment, there was silence — not peace, but a pause.

Harper broke it first. “We… we survived. Somehow.”

Liam sat, trembling. “For now.”

Maddie’s gaze swept the corridors, already sensing the Veil’s next move. “This is far from over,” she said softly. “The Hollow Veil adapts. It will learn from tonight. We have delayed it… but the next encounter… could claim everything.”

Harper nodded, gripping the crowbar tighter. “Then we’ll be ready.”

Liam shivered, looking down the endless tunnels. “I just hope we’re not too late.”

And somewhere deep below, the Hollow Veil watched, its Heart pulsating faintly in the shadows. It had learned. And it would not forget.

Chapter 10 – The Keeper’s Choice

Royal Nation: Bloodline of the Bleeding Shadows – Part 2

The chamber of the Heart was alive in a way that no darkness had ever been. The air vibrated with low-frequency hums that made bones ache. Shadows moved independently of their sources, coiling like serpents around the walls.

Harper, Liam, and Maddie entered cautiously. Their footsteps seemed to echo, but each echo carried whispers — fragments of memory, fear, and warning.

“You belong. You belong. You belong…”

Maddie stopped at the center of the chamber, where the Heart pulsed, black veins of energy rippling outward. The spirals carved into the floor glowed faintly, forming a protective circle — the only place where the Veil’s tendrils couldn’t reach without resistance.

“This is it,” Maddie whispered. Her hands trembled slightly around the bloodstained key. “The Heart. We stop it here… or we become part of it.”

Harper swallowed. “Stop it? Do you even know how?”

Maddie shook her head, a faint smile playing at her lips. “Not destroy. We weaken. We delay. I… I anchor it long enough for us to escape. But I may not come back the same.”

Liam clenched his fists. “Then we fight together. No one stays behind.”

Maddie’s eyes flicked to him. “I won’t let you die.”

The Veil reacted immediately. Tendrils of shadow shot from the Heart, twisting reality. The chamber bent and stretched, the walls pulsating like lungs. Echoes of the missing Royal Nation members rose from the floor, ceiling, and walls, whispering and shrieking in unison.

Harper swung her crowbar, striking one of the Echoes, but it passed through harmlessly, dispersing into a cloud of writhing shadows.

“Focus on the Heart!” Maddie shouted.

She stepped forward, raising the bloodstained key. Veins of black energy coursed across her arms, rising toward her shoulders, encasing her in a dark glow.

Harper and Liam flanked her, using makeshift weapons to disrupt the Veil’s tendrils. Sparks from broken wiring and shards of glass scattered across the spirals, briefly illuminating the chamber and stunning the Echoes.

The Heart pulsed violently, responding to Maddie’s presence. The air itself seemed to press down on them. Maddie’s voice rose, a low, guttural chant that echoed unnaturally.

The Veil screamed — a sound that tore at sanity, bending space and thought. Harper clutched her head, hearing the worst fears whispered aloud: her friends dead, Liam lost, Maddie consumed.

Liam tried to rally. “Harper! Don’t listen! Fight it! Focus!”

But the Veil was relentless. Shadows reached out, grabbing at their limbs, whispering seductively:

“Give in. Be one with us. Surrender. You’ll never be afraid again…”

Harper shivered. For a heartbeat, she almost did — almost let go. But Maddie’s voice cut through.

“No! Focus!”

Maddie pressed the key to the Heart. A pulse of light exploded outward. Tendrils recoiled. The Heart screamed again, black and liquid, writhing violently as if in pain.

Time fractured. Reality twisted.

Harper saw glimpses of herself and Liam — twisted versions, pulled into the Veil, screaming silently. Maddie’s body shimmered, becoming something inhuman, shadow and flesh intertwined.

She glanced at them. “I may not come back as I am,” she said. “But I will anchor the Heart.”

Harper’s eyes filled with tears. “Then… we do this together. One last push.”

Liam nodded, swinging a pipe that shattered part of the chamber’s ceiling. The rubble hit the Heart, cracking its black surface, pulsing violently in response.

The Veil’s scream rose to an unbearable crescendo. Shadows converged, then exploded outward in a wave of darkness that pushed the walls outward. Harper and Liam were slammed to the floor, gasping. Maddie remained standing, veins of black energy crawling across her skin, eyes void-black and infinite.

“I’m the Keeper now,” Maddie whispered.

She pressed the key once more, and the Heart shuddered violently before collapsing in on itself, leaving a hollow silence.

Harper crawled toward Maddie. “Maddie?”

Her form flickered, almost human, almost shadow. She smiled faintly. “I’m still me… for now. But the Veil… it remembers. It waits. And it will call again.”

The chamber grew still. The walls no longer moved. The echoes were silent. The Veil had retreated — for the moment.

Liam helped Harper to her feet. “We… we survived.”

Maddie looked toward the tunnels, her voice low, almost a warning:
“This is only the beginning. There are other places… other hearts like this one. Royal Nation… we aren’t done. We’ll face them. We’ll fight them. But next time… the Veil will be waiting.”

Harper and Liam exchanged glances. They understood. The horrors were not over. The world was full of haunted places — and they were the ones who would face them next.

Maddie’s hands, still glowing faintly from the key, rested lightly on the floor. She had become the Keeper, the bridge between the Veil and the living — and Royal Nation had survived, scarred, shaken, but ready.

“Let’s get out of here,” Harper said.

Liam nodded. “And be ready. Because the next place… it’s not going to be this forgiving.”

As they left the asylum, the shadows behind them pulsed faintly, as if watching, waiting. The Bloodline of the Bleeding Shadows had endured, but the world held many more horrors — and Royal Nation would answer their call.

The End…. or is it?!?