The Hallow Gate
1220 Words
The wind howled through the canyons of Threnakar, echoing with a sound that did not belong in any natural world. It was the kind of sound that made skin crawl and breath catch—a whisper woven with ancient hunger. Liora stood on the edge of a jagged ledge, her cloak whipping behind her, eyes fixed on the colossal arch of obsidian rising from the heart of the chasm.
The Hollow Gate.
It towered above the ravine, taller than any fortress wall, crafted from stone that drank in light and gave none back. Veins of red flickered across its surface like the glow of slumbering magma, and the space within the arch shimmered like a disturbed reflection—neither solid nor air, but something between.
Behind her, Kael climbed the last few steps of the narrow ridge path, his blade drawn, face lined with caution. Dalen followed, leaning on his staff, breath shallow but determined.
Liora didn’t turn. “It’s awake.”
Kael approached slowly. “The Gate?”
She nodded. “It hums. Like it’s waiting.”
Dalen stared into the chasm. “There are three Veil rifts within the mountain range. But this one—this is no tear. It’s a wound.”
Liora took a breath, the air sharp in her lungs. “It’s where he’ll come through.”
Kael glanced at her. “Ashkarin.”
Dalen didn’t argue. “If the Hollow Gate opens fully, the Veil won’t just leak into our world—it’ll pour.”
A gust of wind pushed at them, laced with warmth, as though the Gate exhaled. Liora stepped back instinctively.
“What do we do?” she asked.
Kael turned to Dalen. “Can you seal it?”
The mage was silent for a moment. Then, grimly: “No. Not alone. And not with fire or steel. The Hollow Gate is tied to the Flamebound line. Only one of her blood can command its lock.”
Kael looked to Liora. “Then it has to be you.”
Liora’s throat tightened. The sigil on her arm was already reacting—flaring faintly as if called by the Gate. “And if I can’t?”
“Then we fight Ashkarin here,” Kael said. “And we die.”
Dalen added gently, “The sigil chose you for more than survival, Liora. It’s memory. Will. Sacrifice. You carry the key to an ancient promise.”
She stepped forward slowly, approaching the Gate. With each step, the air grew heavier, humming louder in her bones. She could feel it now—the pull of the Flameward, the echo of her ancestors. The Gate wasn’t just stone—it was a seal. A prison.
And something within it was stirring.
She raised her hand toward the arch. The sigil on her skin blazed in answer, lines of fire crawling down her arm toward her fingertips. The Gate responded—the shimmer between its frame warping violently, as if it recognized her.
Visions crashed into her mind: a great war, towers crumbling beneath veiled skies, the roar of fire against endless shadow. She saw a woman with eyes like hers standing alone before the Hollow Gate, pouring flame into its heart.
Then pain.
So much pain.
Liora gasped and dropped to one knee, clutching her head.
Kael rushed to her side. “Liora!”
She gritted her teeth. “It’s… it’s memories. The ones bound in the flame.”
Dalen knelt beside her. “The Hollow Gate remembers the sealing. It demands a reenactment.”
Liora looked up, panting. “So I have to finish what she started?”
“Yes,” Dalen said. “But the cost… sealing the Gate the first time required the Flamebearer’s life.”
Kael stiffened. “No.”
Liora rose slowly, face pale but set. “I’m not her. Maybe it doesn’t have to end the same way.”
Before Dalen could protest, a tremor ran through the mountain. The Gate surged with light—deep crimson veins now glowing bright, pulsing faster. Something moved within the veil.
A figure.
No longer hidden behind prophecy or dreams.
Ashkarin stepped through the Gate.
He wasn’t what Liora expected. Not a monster, but a man wrapped in royal black, silver armor etched with runes, a crown of bone and ember upon his brow. But his eyes were hollow, voids where flame once dwelled. The moment he stepped into the world, the land recoiled. Trees wilted. Stones cracked.
He looked at Liora and smiled.
“So… the Flame still resists.”
Kael stepped between them, sword raised. “You won’t pass her.”
Ashkarin didn’t even look at him. With a flick of his hand, Kael was thrown backward, crashing into the cliffside.
Liora surged forward, fire trailing her steps. She threw a spear of flame—pure and golden—at Ashkarin’s chest. He caught it with one hand, the fire hissing in his palm, then crushing to ash.
“I’ve burned brighter things than you, child.”
But Liora didn’t stop.
She wasn’t attacking.
She was drawing him away from the Gate.
Ashkarin followed, walking slowly, speaking as he came. “You’re too late. The Veil is already thin. My presence in this realm means its laws break. Soon your world will mirror the Hollow.”
Liora turned, sigil pulsing. “Then we’ll change the laws.”
She stopped atop a flat plateau of scorched stone. Behind her, Dalen began a new incantation, weaving symbols into the air, feeding her strength. The Gate behind them shuddered.
Ashkarin raised a hand. “You cannot contain me.”
“No,” Liora whispered. “But I can bind you again.”
She drove her hands into the rock.
Flame burst outward in a circle, forming runes etched in molten lines. The symbol of the First Flame pulsed at the center. Ashkarin stepped inside, unfazed—until the trap snapped shut.
Flame arced upward, forming a dome around him.
He howled.
It wasn’t pain—it was rage. “You dare—”
Liora poured everything she had into the seal. The memories. The sigil. Her blood, even—she bit her palm and let it fall onto the rune. The Gate roared behind her, pulsing with rejection.
Ashkarin struck the barrier.
Cracks formed.
Dalen shouted. “You have to finish it now!”
Kael limped up the ridge, sword bloody, eyes wild. “Liora!”
She looked at them all.
Then she turned to the Gate and stepped forward.
It recognized her fully now.
The shimmer parted.
And behind it—light. Endless. The source of the Flame. The origin of all the sigils. It wasn’t destruction. It was rebirth.
She raised her arms.
The fire responded.
The Gate screamed.
And the world held its breath.
Then—
Blinding white.
When the light faded, the Hollow Gate stood silent. Closed. The shimmer gone.
Ashkarin was no longer in the circle.
Liora lay unconscious in the center of the seal, sigil dim, smoke rising from her palms.
Kael reached her first, cradling her gently. “Liora…”
She stirred, eyes fluttering open. “Did it work?”
Dalen looked at the Gate, then nodded slowly. “For now… it’s sealed.”
She closed her eyes. “Good.”
Then darkness took her.
- Writer
