WHISPERS OF THE HOLLOW

CHAPTER EIGHT: The Unspoken Name

The Hollow Realm—Heart of the Rite

The flames exploded around Lena like a flowering inferno, violet and gold, curling upward as if seeking for stars that did not exist in this world.

Time slowed.

The air thickened. She hung between breath and consequence, her voice scarcely rising above the first syllable of the rite. "I..." One word. One more, and everything would change. Forever.

Damien's voice reached her like a distant bell through the gloom. "Don't do this, Lena." She turned her gaze to him. The man who had rescued her, protected her, lied to her. He appeared terrified—not of her, but of her. That caused a twist in her chest.

Arius stood to her left, his silver eyes shining with a soft fire. Lyra observed him from behind, her head tilted like a raven perched on a corpse. The grimoire floated now, its pages poised in midair, the symbols shining brighter. The Hollow was listening.

Waiting.

You were born to do this. " Finish it".

"What is your name, Morwyn's child? Lena lowered her hands. "What happens if I finish the rite?"

Arius moved closer. "You become who you were supposed to be. Your power has been unlocked. You have a clear mind. You will see the world for what it truly is—and command it."

"And if I refuse?" He did not blink. "Then the Hollow will take what it requires by force. "And you'll shatter."

Damien spoke up. "Listen to me, Lena. I have seen what it does. The Hollow doesn't give; it consumes. I tied myself to it once to save Lyra. "Look what she has become.

" Lyra smirked. "I became free." Lena's hands trembled. Her heart pounded. She took a step away from the floating book.

Arius's face altered only slightly, but his smile faded. "You hesitate." "I guess," she responded softly. "I want to know the truth first. All of it. No riddles. No poetry. "Just the truth." Silence fell. Even the flames subsided. Damien lowers his weapon.

Arius exhaled. "Very well." When he gestured, the chamber rippled. The candles dimmed, and the grimoire closed. The floor underneath them shimmered and became a mirror.

Memories lie beneath the glass surface. Lena gave a gasp. She saw her younger mother, dressed in scarlet, standing behind Arius. Her palms were pushed against a warded altar as she whispered a commitment. If my daughter survives, take my soul. Bind my blood. Hide her from the Hollow. Another image shows her father hiding Lena in the forest, gifting her a carved wooden pendant and kissing her on the forehead before vanishing into a pillar of shadow.

Damien—barely more than a boy—kneeled in the exact circle where she now stood, cutting his oath into the stone with a bloodied blade. " I will protect her. Even from herself. The visions faded". Lena gripped her arms. Her legs felt like stones.

"They all knew," she muttered.

"They all knew." Damien moved closer. "I didn't tell you because I wanted you to have a choice, not one based on fear or prophecy. But now I realise that option was always yours."

Arius' voice sounded like thunder wrapped in silk. "Now you've got it. Choose Lena. Will you rise? "Will you fall like the rest of your queue?"

She gazed at Lyra. Her eyes no longer resembled her own. They were limitless. She looked at Damien. His eyes held both anguish and optimism. Then she looked inward. She saw the girl who used to fantasise of the stars. To avoid rumours, the girl hid in the woods. The girl who now stood in the midst of the most ancient power in existence.

" I'm not my mother".

" I'm not my fear".

" I'm something new". She returned to the pedestal. Arius smiled.

Damien did not breathe. She put her hand on the book. The pages flipped not to the Hollowbirth Rite, but to another. Her forebears did not write that spell. A new incantation. She wrote in her own hand. A spell for unbinding. A spell that will cut the Hollow's link.

Arius' smile wavered. "What is this?" Lena looked up, her eyes flashing a pale silver.

My name is Lena Morwyn. And I choose freedom." She began chanting.

The chamber trembled. The flames flickered, then flared in protest. Arius yelled something and charged forward, but Damien met him halfway, cutting in a silver arc. The two fought in a tempest of shadow and fire.

Lyra attempted to intervene, but the floor burst with roots—Lena's roots—that anchored her in place.

The Hollow howled. The spell reached its c****x. And Lena uttered the final phrase. "Break." A pillar of light broke through the roof, tearing through the dark sky. The mirrors above have cracked. The earth trembled. Arius shouted as his shape collapsed. Lyra vanished with a shriek of smoke. And Lena collapsed. The world disappeared around her. Darkness claimed her.

But it was not cold.

It was clean.