Crowded kingdom
Eryndale had never felt fear like this. One moment, the skies shone with gold and silver, and the next… darkness swallowed everything. Not just a shadow, but a void that stretched from the beginning of the night to the end, unbroken, suffocating.In the grand court of the palace, echoes of footsteps bounced off the marble floors. Ryan stormed in, face red, fists clenched.
“Hey!You’re a dumb head! I’ve been looking for you for an hour! What were you even doing, man?”
Elias didn’t even glance up from his notebook. His long white coat shimmered under the faint torchlight, golden stripes running along the sleeves and back like streaks of sun on snow. The coat looked ceremonial, but his posture made it feel practical, deadly even. A pen danced in his fingers as he scribbled notes, every movement precise.
“Nothing… just following this blood trail,” Elias said calmly. “It seems… interesting.”
Ryan groaned. “Ugh, here we go. Mister Holmes, the great detective. Your habits are so… weird,Honestly man.”
Elias looked up briefly, the hint of a smirk on his lips. “Have I ever been wrong before?”
Ryan froze. He stared at the wall. That was his trick—avoid giving an answer that might prove Elias right.
“I’m still waiting,” Elias said, voice soft but sharp, like a knife sliding through silk.
“Okay, fine,” Ryan muttered, rubbing his temples. “You have… super senses or whatever. But that doesn’t matter here. This is a royal murder. Not some petty robbery or normal street crime.”
Elias tilted his head, golden stripes catching the faint light as he leaned back on his heels. “You’re right. I’m actually… surprised they called our bureau for this. This kind of work should be a high alert .”
“Wait, why?” Ryan.blinked, confused.
Elias pointed at the floor, where a dark, slick trail led through the palace halls. “Look at this. Every mark, every smear… this isn’t random. This is the work of an expert. No, an elite killer. Precision, style, control… someone trained to kill without leaving anything behind.”
Ryan’s hands trembled slightly. His face turned pale. “Elias… this isn’t a joke,If this where them that’s mean they can threat the king and put the kingdom in danger.”
Elias scribbled a few more notes, pen flying over the pages like lightning. “I’ve seen a lot of murders, Ryan. But this… this is something else. Whoever did this doesn’t just kill. They leave a message,They want us to know they were here.”
Ryan slammed a fist on the marble table. “A message?! That’s insane! It’s a royal… a high member of the court! Someone is dead, and we’re just… analyzing trails like it’s a game?”
Elias didn’t flinch. “Exactly. And that’s why it’s dangerous. Because they’re not playing a game. They’re playing our rules, and they’re rewriting them.”
Ryan took a deep breath, trying to control his rising panic. “I hate this. I hate everything about this. Why do they always make it so… personal?”
Elias finally looked up, eyes sharp under the hood of his coat. “Because they know we care. They know we’ll chase every clue, every shadow, every thread. That’s what makes them… dangerous.”
Ryan shook his head. “I don’t want to chase shadows. I want justice. Real justice. Not… this madness.”
Elias smirked faintly. “Justice and madness are often the same thing, Ryan. It’s all in the eyes of the beholder. Right now, we follow the trail. That’s the only choice we have.”
The court was silent except for the faint scratching of Elias’s pen, the soft drip of blood somewhere down the hall, and Ryan’s uneven breathing.
“This is… unreal,” Ryan meutered
Elias didn’t answer. He was already moving, coat trailing like a comet of white and gold. He knelt near the blood trail, inspecting each smear, each drop. “Step carefully, Ryan. Every step counts. One wrong move… and we won’t just fail. We’ll be part of the message.”
Ryan followed reluctantly, heart hammering in his chest. “I hate this… I really hate this.”
“And yet,” Elias said, still crouched, pen poised like a scalpel, “here you are. Just like always.”
Ryan gritted his teeth. “Yeah… just like always.”
The darkness outside pressed in against the palace walls. Somewhere, far away, the world seemed to hold its breath. But here, in the court, two men prepared to face something that was neither human nor forgiving.
