Light In the Hollow
718 Words
The city was still waking when Renji slipped between the shadows of the Lower District, his fingers warm with the weight of stolen coin. "Four silvers, two coppers, and a day-old biscuit," he whispered to himself, tucking the pouch into his belt. "Feast of kings."
He hopped over a crumbling wall and emerged near the old toll gates. Ahead, a large metal wheel creaked and turned, hoisting small woven baskets on thick cables up into the clouds—the Basketline, a rickety cable system that served as the only way into the Hollow Market, the floating city of trade, secrecy, and desperation.
A cloaked attendant reached out. "Three silvers."
Renji clicked his tongue. "Their askin’ for robbery at a robbery hub?" Merging into the shadow of a nearby paying customer. Renji hitched a free ride back to the Hollow Market. The basket swayed as it rose, wind howling through holes in the weave. Below him, the slums of Vaelor shrank into smudges. Above, the strange towers of the Hollow drifted closer—tethered to the clouds, flickering with warm, crooked lights and the sharp clang of merchants shouting deals.
The Hollow Market unfurled before him like a twisted maze of tents, rope bridges, chimneys, and air. As the small group left the basket Renji moved again. This time latching onto the shadow of a passing cloaked figure—riding the silhouette like a current, hopping from one shadow to the next. He moved with the rhythm of the crowd until he passed groups of whisper rats darting between crates, a girl bartering broken teacups for ink, and a man balancing on a barrel selling birds that had no eyes.
He kept walking. “Home sweet awful home.”
As he peeled the stale biscuit open with his teeth, he spotted a flyer nailed to a bent pole: “Food. Shelter. Training. For Benders in Need. Apply to the Council of Five for Salvation.”
Renji snorted and crumpled it. “Fancy wordin’ for a cage.”
That’s when they scattered—the whisper rats.
Someone rich was nearby.
That's what the small rodents were bred for, to carry messages and steal from pockets. Used by urchins and spies. Their enchanted rune-burnt eyes were wildly used by urchins to sniff out rich customers. So how could Renji pass up an easy payoff.
Then he saw him.
Pale, radiant, like he’d walked straight out of a dream. Dressed in robes too fine for the filth around him, standing still outside a shop while an old, bloated man barked into a nearby stall then walked into a shop. The boy clutched a small bag to his chest like he’d never held anything alone in his life before.
Renji's breath caught. “Stars above…” He said looking up as he made his way towards the frightened boy.
He straightened his cloak and stepped out from the shadows, flashing his best grin.
“Hey. You look lost, Sunshine.”
The boy blinked, wide-eyed and frozen. He said nothing, just looked at Renji with a strange mix of fear and wonder.
“You alright?” Renji asked, tone softening. “I don’t bite… much.”
The boy didn’t reply—but he didn’t move either. Just stared, like he wanted to speak but didn’t know how. “You got a name, Sunshine?” Renji asked as he circled him. There was something caged about him, something sad. "That we'll fed man—is he your father?" Nothing again this ball of light was like a brick wall. Renji tried once more. "Is he your lov—?" Before Renji could say more, the fat man lumbered back, placing a hand on the boys shoulder.
And Renji vanished before they could even turn around.
He reappeared in a nearby narrow alley, shaking off the glow that still danced behind his eyes.
But before he could catch his breath—
“Please—wait!”
A voice cracked through the silence. He turned, heart jumping.
Nayara. Cloaked, panting, eyes wild with panic. Her hands were glowing faintly, and something was off about the way the air bent around her.
She stumbled forward. “I—I need your help.”
Great Renji thought to himself, meeting someone twice in one day was very bad luck.
- Writer
