CHAPTER NINE: What Remains
993 Words
The Hollow Realm—After the Light
Lena strayed. There was no floor or ceiling, simply a huge, formless expanse of recollection and light. Her body floated weightless, her limbs free from gravity and agony. She was unsure whether she was dead or something else entirely. Her heartbeat rang softly in her ears. She tried opening her eyes. They felt weighty. Her breath was shallow, but real. Her fingers twitched, brushing against something soft—moss?
Then, the world settled. She was lying in a clearing. Real grass. Real sky—gray-blue and endless. Birds circled high above. Trees ringed the meadow, tall and ancient, their leaves silver like moonlight. The Hollow was… quiet. Different.
Lena sat up slowly. Her body ached, but not as much as it had previously.
The ache was genuine and deserved, like a burn caused by holding onto something too powerful for too long. Her fingertips were still glowing somewhat. She wiped sweat or tears from her cheek.
The pedestal, cathedral, and grimoire were all gone. However, she could still feel them inside her. Her spell had worked. It had not devastated the Hollow.
It had revised the rules. Or tried to. "You should be resting." Lena turned fast, her pulse racing.
Damien walked out from behind a tree. He looked worse than she did—shirt ripped, face bloodied, and one shoulder wrapped in vines like a makeshift bandage. However, his eyes expressed relief. And there's something deeper. "You're alive," she whispered.
He knelt alongside her, and the ground bent to suit him. Even here, the Hollow appeared to recognise him.
"Thank you. That light—you broke its hold. "Arius... has left." Lena nodded slowly.
"He was not merely a person. He was The Hollow. "Or part of it." Damien touched her hand. "And now?" She looked around. The trees rustled softly. The breeze hummed—not a menace, but a soothing lullaby. "Now it is waiting. "For something new." He tilted his head. "You?" She did not respond right away. Instead, she stood, her legs wobbling slightly. The meadow was enormous. Quiet. But the edge of it shone like a mirage. Beyond it, the Hollow remained wild. We're still watching.
"I changed it," she explained. "But not entirely. That would require more than a single spell. Maybe it's not just me." Damien rose beside her. "You don't need to stay. We can find our way back. "Close it for good." She turned to face him. "If we close it now, what happens to everything inside? To the pieces still broken?" He hesitated. "They stay broken." Lena frowned. "Then I can’t leave. Not yet." A long silence passed between them. A bird called overhead. Damien’s voice was low. "You’re becoming something else, Lena. I see it in your eyes." "Am I still me?" He stepped closer. "You’re more you than ever. That’s what makes it terrifying."
They stood there for a moment, the weight of unspoken words between them. Lena finally broke the silence. "I saw my mum. Not a vision. A reminiscence. She gave everything to protect me. And I never knew."
"She would be proud," Damien remarked.
"About what you did.
"Whatever you chose." Lena gulped.
"Would you have done the same?" "If it were you?" Damien looked aside.
"I do not know. I have only ever known how to fight.
"Not how to forgive." She touched his arm.
"Then maybe it's time we learn." Before he could react, the meadow rocked. The sky darkened. A person appeared from the trees beyond, tall and slender, with shadow-like hair knotted with thorns. Her eyes shone crimson.
Lyra.
She appeared...different. Less hollow. More complete. A tiny white glow pulsed beneath her skin, resembling moonlight trapped in veins.
"You banished him," Lyra remarked.
"But the Hollow cannot be eradicated. Not exactly. "It needs a keeper." Damien stood protectively in front of Lena.
"She's not your heir." Lyra ignored him. Her attention was fixed on Lena.
"You think you have rewritten the rules, tiny queen. But you've only scratched the first page."
Lena stood tall. "Then teach me." Lyra blinked.
"What?" "You were a part of it for years," Lena remarked.
"If we're going to make this place something else—something that doesn't feed off fear—then I need someone who's walked that edge."
Lyra stared at her brother, then back at Lena. Her voice crackled. "You'd trust me?"
"I'd try," Lena said.
"That's something this place has never had.
"A second chance." The Hollow stirred.
The grassland rustled. And at that moment, something deeper—more delicate than magic—shifted. Hope. Damien sighed.
"You two are going to get us all killed." Lena smiled.
"We'll rebuild it." "You sure about that?" She took his hand.
"Not at all." "But it's better than running." The wind picked up behind them. And more voices emerged from the forest—echoes of people who had become lost within the Hollow, lured to the shift in power, the new heartbeat that was now pulsating through the realm. Not the queen. Not a monster. However, a female chose her own name.
Then the air suddenly became frigid. The sky shivered like a ripped veil.
Lena turned, and the forest beyond the meadow broke like glass. A jagged and unnatural gap sprung up. From within, a figure emerged. It wore the Elders' robes, which Lena recognised from the old documents Damien had given her.
But the man's face was formed of shadows. His voice sounded like thunder across the pitch.
"Who gave you the right to alter the Hollow?" Damien moved forward, but the man flicked his wrist, and Damien was blown backward like a leaf in a storm.
Lyra's strength soared, but her hands trembled. Lena's heartbeat stopped.
The man's face began to alter, starting with Arius'. Then her father's. Then her own.
And he says: "You think you've finished something, youngster. But you have only opened the door"
- Writer
