WHISPERS OF THE HOLLOW

CHAPTER FOUR: Sisters of the Hollow

Present Day — Morwyn Manor

The air crackled like glass.

Lena froze when the temperature dropped. Her breath misted in front of her face, and the fog inside the manor thickened like a living creature. The mirror at the end of the corridor stood erect, its frame pulsing with faint red light and casting strange shadows on the walls.

Damien moved in front of her, blade up and body tense. "Stay behind me." Avoid speaking. "No matter what they say." Lena nodded quietly, her heart pounding. The surface of the mirror rippled again. Three women emerged from the depths, moving through the glass like they were on water.

They stood tall, their robes made of tattered veils, and their faces were bone-white and featureless—except for hollow sockets and mouths sewn shut with black thread.

Their names were not mentioned. But Damien recognised them. The Marrow Sisters. The Hollow's brides. The first who ever answered its call. And now, they had returned.

One of them tilted her head toward Damien, threads pulling tight at her lips. The middle sister raised a hand, long fingers stretching unnaturally. "Guardian," a voice whispered—not from her lips, but from the shadows themselves. Damien did not lower his blade. "You're early." "She awakened us."

Their gaze turned to Lena. She stepped back automatically, her spine slamming against the wall. A peculiar pressure rose in her chest, like a weight on her lungs, as if her own breath no longer belonged to her.

"She's got the blood. The Hollow stirs. "It recalls her." Damien came closer, entirely protecting Lena. "She's not ready. "You will go through me first."

"We intend to." With an inhuman howl, the left sister pushed ahead. Damien intercepted her in midair, steel tearing through shadow-flesh. The blade hissed, and the sister cried before vanishing in a flash of vapour. But she was not gone. They reformed together, slowly and deliberately. Their movements synchronised like a ceremonial dance as they circled the hallway.

Lena could feel it—the pull and the luring. Her veins vibrated like strings being tuned. As her vision dimmed, she heard voices in her head saying, "Come home." Come down. Become. She gripped her head and gasped. Make it stop. Damien—" He turned and grabbed her hand. His skin was quite heated. "Lena, you need to fight it. You are still you. They feed off of your fear. "Don't give them anymore."

The Marrow Sisters stopped. The middle one lowers her arms. "Let her see what she truly is." The mirror behind them blazed. And Lena saw herself. Not like she was now. But as something else.

A queen in a gown of ash and bone. Her eyes were bottomless voids. Her mouth whispered

Spells that cracked the ground.

"No," Lena said quietly, shaking. "That is not me. "I do not want this."

"But you're Hollowborn", the sisters cooed. "You've always been".

The walls of the manor shook. Books fell off shelves. Paintings divided. The hallway groaned, as if the house were rebelling. Damien flung a symbol from his coat—a silver charm—that landed on the floor with a bright spark. The sisters recoiled, snarling, their bodies twisting.

"That's enough!" Damien roared. "Do you want her? You'll have to go through another thousand of me."

"We already have," the left sister snarled. They lunged forward. Damien confronted them head on, blade spinning, body moving like liquid fury. Steel battled with shadow. Magic charred the walls.

Lena fell to her knees, overwhelmed. Her mind raced with images of a burning orchard, a rising crimson moon, and a town shrouded in red fog.

And then— The mirror cracked. A solitary fracture runs through its centre. The last of them returned with a sigil flare, panting.

The sisters screamed. Damien slammed it In the silence that followed, Lena stood slowly. The mirror now displayed a door. Old. Wooden. Carved with her family sigil. It pulsed.

"Open it," muttered a voice from within her own bones. Lena reached out, captivated. Damien turned just in time to see her fingers brush against the glass. "Lena, no!" Too late. The mirror broke, and the world around them torn apart.