WHISPERS OF THE HOLLOW

CHAPTER SIX: Hollowborn

The Hollow Realm - Present Day

Lena landed hard, her air leaving her lungs. For a minute, there was only blackness. Not a dearth of light, but an overwhelming presence of it—blackness so dense it pulsed, alive, sentient. The world adjusted around her. The dirt underneath her was frigid, more like petrified ash, fragile and muttering when she moved. She forced herself up, her hands hurting.

The air smelt of burnt lavender and wet stone. Above her, there was no sky at all, only a ceiling of bone-white branches stretching indefinitely, some moving like languid tentacles. She wasn't in Ravenmoor anymore.

She was in the Hollow. "Damien?" she asked, but her voice echoed oddly—as if ridiculed. No response. Lena stumbled forwards. She had touched the mirror, but it was no longer there. No indication of the manor. No door. Only infinite woodland and delicate, milky mist swirling at her ankles. She walked for what seemed like hours.

The landscape twisted oddly, with trails that looped back on themselves and trees that appeared to shift when she looked away. At one point, she came upon a woman who looked precisely like her mother, unmoving in a pool of dark water. When Lena blinked, the woman was gone. Whispers followed her. " You're late". "You're at home".

"You're the end".

She gripped her head. "Leave me alone!"

However, they didn't. They became louder and clearer until they formed one voice. A man's voice. Arius. "Hello, Lena Morwyn. "The Hollow remembers you."

She turned around. He was behind her now, tall, graceful, and with silvery eyes. Dressed in robes that sparkled with constellations that did not belong in any known sky. "You," she sighed. "You're him." He tilted his head. "You noticed me once, in the mirror. That was merely a fraction. I am more than you are prepared for." "I am not yours." "I do not belong here."

Arius moved closer." But you do. You were born from the blood that unlocked the entrance. Your relatives attempted to seal us. bury us. But we're patient. And now the Hollow has a queen again".

Lena backed away. "Damien will come for me." "He will try." Arius smiled gently. "He always does." She attempted to flee, but the jungle betrayed her. Roots wrapped around her ankles, bringing her to the earth. Her cry disappeared into the fog. When she opened her eyes again, she had left the jungle. She was standing in a cathedral made of stone and bone. Candles hovered in midair. A lengthy aisle stretched forward, ending with a throne.

It was carved from the same mirror she had touched—fractured, harsh, and resonating with power. The person sitting on it was herself. Not as she was. But as something else. Crowned. Robed in smoke. The eyes were pitch black, and the lips twisted into a wicked smile. Lena stumbled backwards. The vision-Lena rose and stepped down from the throne. > Do you see it now? "What are you?" "No," Lena muttered. "That's not me." > "This is what you could become. It only takes one choice. One word. "One moment."

Behind the vision, Arius approached again. "You've been misled, Lena. By Damien. By your forefathers. They you because they understood your strength. They kept it locked up. Bind your blood. "But the Hollow never forgets."

The vision flickered. The vision disappeared. Lena wafrighteneds alone again, until Arius extended his hand. "Let me show you who you truly are." Before she could speak, the chamber shook. Behind her, a tear of light opened. A portal. Damien emerged, bloodied and enraged, his blade drawn and his sigils flashing.

"Get away from her." Arius exhaled. "So predictable." Lena dashed towards Damien, but Arius flicked his wrist, and the ground cracked between them. A chasm opened.

Lena stumbled. Damien reached out, barely catching her hand. "You shouldn’t have come," she gasped. "You think I’d leave you here?" Arius raised both arms. The cathedral began to collapse. Shadows poured from every corner—screaming, clawed things with too many limbs. Damien pulled Lena behind him, sword blazing. "When I say run, you run." She nodded, tears streaming. "RUN!" They bolted. The shadows gave chase. They ran down crumbling halls, through a maze of stone and mirror. Lena could feel the Hollow trying to trap them again—twisting space, looping time. Each hallway led to a different view. Her mother stood there, sobbing. In another, her younger self floated still in a black river. Every corner was another nightmare.

Damien groaned beneath his breath, his eyes slightly blazing from the strain of his sigils. He cut through the shadows, leaving streams of glittering light in his wake. They emerged onto a field of mirrors. Hundreds. Thousands. Each represented a different version of Lena. One had wings. One was on fire. One had died. "Don't look," Damien advised. "They feed off your uncertainty." But one mirror drew her attention. It depicted Ravenmoor in flames. And she is standing near Arius. Her eyes expanded. He noticed her hesitation. Arius' voice whispered from behind the glass. > "You can save them all. You only need to become who you were meant to be." The mirror cracked. Lena turned aside just in time. They reached the final gate.

But standing before it was someone Damien hadn't seen in decades. Lyra. But this wasn't the sister he recalled. Her eyes were silvery. Her grin is incorrect. "Hello, big brother," she greeted. "Did you miss me?" Damien froze. Lena stared between them. "Damien…? "Who is she?" He lowered his blade carefully. "She is the reason I took the oath. The reason I vowed to protect the gate." Lyra stepped forward. "And now, I'm the reason you'll break it." She raised her palm, and the entire field of mirrors broke at once. The blast of glass blinded both of them. When the dust settled, Lena was gone. Damien screamed her name. But the only thing that responded... was the Hollow.