Chapter Nineteen: Into the Hollow
245 Words
Athena leaves at first light.
She doesn’t wake anyone. Doesn’t pack more than what she can carry. Doesn’t say goodbye.
Because something in her knows: this isn’t a rescue.
It’s a reckoning.
The forest swallowed sound the moment she passed the warding stones.
No birdsong. No wind. Just the snap of twigs beneath her boots and the faint rustle of memory.
She kept her senses sharp. Nose to the air. Fingers near her blade.
No scent of blood. No fresh tracks. No sign of struggle.
Too clean.
She reached the ridge by midday. The one where Nyt had last checked in.
And found nothing.
No burnt trees. No signs of rot. It's just a clearing.
And silence.
Athena knelt.
The ground looked untouched—except…
There. A line. Barely a shadow. Like something had stood here too long. Too still.
She stood again, heart thudding harder now.
Then something shifted.
Not in the trees. Not in the wind.
In her.
The bond—
snapped.
Like a scream behind her ribs. Like a heartbeat being ripped out of her chest.
She staggered, hand to her sternum, breath caught on nothing.
“Nyt—”
Gone.
Not dimmed.
Not blocked.
Gone.
Her knees hit the ground. The world tilted. Her vision blurred.
Then, a whisper. Right behind her ear.
“Too late, sister.”
She turned—blade drawn.
But no one was there.
Only the trees.
Only the silence.
Only the hollow she never saw coming.
- Writer
