The Escape
1427 Words
Chapter 6 –
(Malikye’s POV)
Cold air hit my face the moment we burst through the back door.
The alley behind Selene’s shop was narrow and dim, lit only by a flickering streetlamp at the far end. Trash bins leaned crookedly against the brick walls, and water from a leaking pipe dripped steadily into a puddle near the doorway.
Normally it would have been an unremarkable alley.
Tonight it felt like the entrance to a battlefield.
“Left,” Kael said sharply.
I didn’t argue.
We ran.
Footsteps pounded against the pavement as we rushed down the narrow passage. My satchel bounced against my side, the hidden book inside thudding with every stride.
Behind us, the Hollow exploded out of the shop.
Their shrieks echoed through the alley like broken glass scraping across stone.
“He runs!”
“The Moon Son runs!”
“Take him!”
I resisted the urge to look back.
That instinct lasted exactly three seconds.
I glanced over my shoulder.
There were five of them now.
Tall, skeletal shapes racing across the rooftops and walls like monstrous spiders. Their limbs bent wrong, too long and too thin, their eyes glowing faintly in the dark.
One of them leapt from the roof.
It landed behind us with a crack of bone and immediately lunged forward.
“Still coming!” I shouted.
“Yes,” Kael said calmly.
“Just checking!”
We reached the end of the alley and turned into a busier street. Neon lights flickered overhead from bars and late-night food stalls. A few people walked along the sidewalk, laughing and talking, completely unaware that nightmarish creatures were chasing us across the rooftops.
Selene slowed slightly.
“We cannot lead them through the crowds.”
“That would definitely ruin the evening,” I agreed.
Kael scanned the street quickly.
“This way.”
He darted toward a staircase leading down between two buildings.
We followed him down into a lower street where the noise of the city faded slightly.
The Hollow landed behind us again.
Their claws scraped across the pavement.
One of them hissed.
“He carries the mark…”
“Damon will reward us…”
“Break him…”
My stomach twisted.
“Do they always talk like that?”
“Yes,” Kael said.
“It’s unpleasant.”
Another Hollow dropped from the roof in front of us.
It landed directly in our path.
The creature stood taller than the others, its body twisted and wrong. Its skin looked stretched thin over sharp bones, and its eyes burned with a dull red glow.
It tilted its head slowly.
“Heir,” it croaked.
Kael stepped forward.
His blade flashed in the streetlight.
“Stay behind me.”
The Hollow lunged.
Kael moved faster than I expected.
Steel met claw with a sharp metallic crack. He twisted sideways, slashing across the creature’s chest before kicking it back several feet.
It shrieked but didn’t fall.
Behind us, the other Hollow closed in.
Selene grabbed my arm.
“Malikye.”
“I see the problem.”
“You must use your magic.”
“I am trying very hard not to accidentally destroy half the city.”
“This is not the time for restraint.”
The Hollow in front of us charged again.
Kael blocked the strike, but two others leapt down beside it.
Three against one.
That was not promising.
I looked at my hand.
The crescent mark glowed faintly beneath the silver bracelet Selene had given me.
Earlier the power had surged out of me without warning.
Now it felt like a distant storm beneath my skin.
I clenched my fist.
“Okay,” I muttered. “Let’s try this again.”
The Hollow lunged toward Kael.
Before they reached him, I stepped forward and raised my hand.
Moonlight spilled across the street from above.
For a moment nothing happened.
Then the mark in my palm ignited.
Silver light burst outward like a wave.
The power slammed into the creatures with explosive force.
Two of them flew backward into the alley wall. The third collapsed to its knees, shrieking as the light burned across its body.
The sound was terrible.
Like metal tearing apart.
I lowered my hand slowly.
“Well,” I said breathlessly, “that’s slightly better.”
Kael finished the kneeling Hollow with one swift strike of his blade.
Black smoke poured from the wound as the creature disintegrated.
Selene looked impressed.
“You are learning quickly.”
“Mostly through panic.”
Another Hollow screamed from above.
More shadows moved across the rooftops.
“More coming,” Kael said.
“Of course there are.”
Selene pointed down the street.
“There.”
I followed her gaze.
A narrow bridge connected two buildings across the street, forming a small covered passage between them.
“If we reach the bridge, we can break their line of sight,” she said.
“That sounds promising.”
We ran again.
The Hollow recovered quickly.
They followed us across the rooftops like hunting wolves.
Their whispers chased us through the dark streets.
“Moon Son…”
“He cannot escape…”
“Bring him to Damon…”
My pulse hammered in my ears.
We reached the bridge just as one of the creatures leapt down in front of us again.
Kael didn’t slow.
He tackled the creature midair.
Both of them crashed into the ground.
The Hollow clawed wildly, but Kael twisted its arm backward with brutal efficiency and drove his blade through its throat.
Black smoke burst into the air.
I grabbed Kael’s arm.
“Move!”
We crossed the bridge.
The covered passage swallowed us in shadow.
Selene threw something behind us as we ran.
A small glass vial shattered on the stone.
Silver powder exploded across the entrance.
The Hollow shrieked again.
The magic barrier slowed them for a moment.
We burst out the other side of the bridge and into a quiet courtyard surrounded by tall buildings.
I bent forward slightly, trying to catch my breath.
“Please tell me they can’t follow us forever.”
Kael scanned the rooftops carefully.
“They will try.”
Selene closed her eyes briefly.
Then she nodded.
“They are losing the trail.”
I straightened slowly.
“That’s good news.”
“For now,” she said.
I glanced up at the sky.
The moon hung high above the city now, bright and watchful.
My palm tingled again.
Not painfully this time.
More like… awareness.
Kael noticed.
“You feel it.”
“Yes.”
“The connection.”
I frowned.
“It feels like the moon is… calling.”
Selene nodded.
“That is normal.”
“Normal?”
“For you.”
That sentence still felt strange.
I had spent my life believing I was ordinary.
Now I was apparently connected to celestial forces.
Not exactly the travel experience I had expected.
Kael sheathed his blade.
“We need to move again before they regroup.”
“Where are we going?” I asked.
Selene met my gaze.
“To the only place Damon cannot reach you.”
“That sounds encouraging.”
She spoke the name quietly.
“The Silver Temple.”
The words sent a strange ripple through my chest.
I had seen that name before.
In the hidden message inside the book.
“Seek the Silver Temple…”
I looked at her.
“You know about it.”
“Yes.”
“Is it real?”
Selene smiled faintly.
“Oh, it is very real.”
Kael started walking toward the far exit of the courtyard.
“Then we should leave the city before Damon’s forces send something worse than the Hollow.”
I frowned.
“Worse?”
Kael glanced back at me.
“There are many things in Damon’s army.”
“That sentence makes me deeply uncomfortable.”
Selene stepped beside me.
“Malikye.”
“Yes?”
“This was only the beginning.”
I sighed.
“I suspected that.”
She looked up at the moon.
“Your awakening has changed everything.”
I followed her gaze.
The silver light bathed the rooftops.
Somewhere far away, I felt something stir in the darkness.
Something old.
Something powerful.
Something that had been waiting.
And somehow I knew it was connected to me.
My palm burned softly.
The crescent mark glowed again.
And for the first time since this madness began…
I realized something terrifying.
The Hollow weren’t just hunting me.
They were afraid of me too.
- Writer
