the crowns hollows

chapter 9

The bell stopped.

The silence that followed felt heavier than the sound itself.

Kael stood in the center of the training chamber, staring at his arm.

The black mark had faded again.

But the word remained in his mind.

Return.

He didn't know what it meant.

He didn't know where he was supposed to return to.

And he certainly didn't like the feeling that whatever had spoken to him expected him to obey.

Lyric watched him from across the room.

For several moments, neither spoke.

Then Kael said:

"You're hiding something."

Lyric's expression barely changed.

"Yes."

Kael looked at her.

She sighed.

"At least you're getting better at noticing."

"How long?"

"How long what?"

"How long have you known?"

Lyric looked away.

"About the Hollow?"

"About all of it."

She didn't answer.

Kael stepped closer.

"You knew what happened in the ruins."

Silence.

"You knew what happened to my father."

Nothing.

"You knew what was happening to me."

Lyric finally looked at him.

"I suspected."

"You always say that."

"Because the truth is complicated."

"Then give me the complicated truth."

Lyric studied him.

Then she walked toward the far wall.

There was a section of stone that looked completely ordinary.

She placed her palm against it.

Nothing happened.

Then she whispered something Kael couldn't understand.

The wall opened.

Not outward.

It simply ceased to be there.

Behind it was another corridor.

Kael stared.

"How many rooms does this place have?"

Lyric stepped through.

"Enough."

"That's not an answer."

"It wasn't supposed to be."

Kael followed.

The corridor descended.

Again.

Kael was beginning to hate stairs.

The walls were different here.

They weren't ancient stone.

They were black metal.

Smooth.

Cold.

Thin silver lines ran through them.

Every few feet, symbols appeared.

Some were familiar.

Some weren't.

But one appeared repeatedly.

A circle split by a vertical line.

Kael pointed at it.

"That one."

Lyric nodded.

"The Veil."

"What does it mean?"

"It's the symbol of an organization."

"What organization?"

Lyric stopped.

Then looked at him.

"The organization I'm part of."

Kael stared.

"You belong to an organization?"

"Yes."

"Secret organization?"

"Very."

"How secret?"

"If you tell anyone about it, I'll deny it exists."

Kael looked at her.

"That's comforting."

She continued walking.

"Your father knew about us."

Kael stopped.

Lyric continued another few steps before realizing he wasn't following.

She turned.

"What?"

"My father knew?"

"Yes."

"How?"

"Because he was one of us."

Kael stared at her.

The words seemed to take a moment to settle.

"My father was a member?"

"Not exactly."

"Then what?"

Lyric's expression became serious.

"He was a Keeper."

They reached the bottom of the stairs.

A massive chamber opened before them.

Kael stopped.

He had never seen anything like it.

The room was enormous.

Circular.

At least three stories high.

Stone balconies surrounded the walls.

Hundreds of books filled shelves carved into the rock.

Weapons hung from displays.

Some were swords.

Some were spears.

Others Kael couldn't identify.

Maps covered entire sections of the walls.

But the most striking thing was the center.

A massive circular table made from black stone.

Around it were twelve chairs.

Ten were occupied.

Kael looked at Lyric.

"Who are they?"

"Keepers."

One by one, the figures looked toward him.

Some were old.

Some young.

One was a woman with silver hair and mechanical eyes.

Another was a broad man covered in scars.

A young man sat with his feet on the table.

An elderly woman held a book.

A hooded figure stood in the shadows.

Kael suddenly felt like he had walked into the middle of something he wasn't supposed to see.

A man at the far end of the table stood.

He was tall.

Older.

Maybe sixty.

His hair was completely white.

A long black coat hung from his shoulders.

His eyes were sharp.

"Lyric."

"Master Orin."

His gaze moved to Kael.

The room became silent.

Orin looked at Kael for several seconds.

Then he said:

"He's changed."

Kael frowned.

"You've seen me before?"

"No."

Orin walked closer.

"But I've seen what you are becoming."

Kael's hand moved toward his knife.

Lyric noticed.

"Don't."

Kael didn't move his hand.

Orin stopped several feet away.

"Your father made the same mistake."

Kael's blood ran cold.

"What mistake?"

"Believing the Hollow could be understood."

Kael stared at him.

"Where is he?"

Orin's expression softened slightly.

"I don't know."

"You're lying."

"No."

Orin looked toward Lyric.

"He's telling the truth."

Kael clenched his jaw.

"Then what are the Keepers?"

Orin turned toward the massive table.

"We are what's left."

The First War

Orin walked toward a giant map covering the wall.

It depicted the world.

But it wasn't the world Kael knew.

There were cities marked where no cities existed anymore.

Oceans had different names.

Entire regions were covered in black.

"Thousands of years ago," Orin said, "humanity discovered that magic wasn't the only thing living beneath reality."

Kael listened.

"There were places where the world was thin."

Lyric stood beside him.

"Places where something from outside could touch our world."

Kael remembered the creature.

"Outside?"

Orin nodded.

"Not another kingdom."

"Not another continent."

"Another reality."

Kael felt cold.

"You're saying the Hollow isn't from this world."

"We don't know where it comes from."

Orin pointed toward a black region on the map.

"But we know it doesn't belong here."

Kael looked at the map.

"Then what is it?"

Orin's expression hardened.

"An intelligence."

Kael frowned.

"A creature?"

"Calling it a creature would be like calling an ocean a puddle."

Kael said nothing.

Orin continued.

"The Hollow doesn't conquer."

"Doesn't invade."

"It doesn't even understand our world the way we do."

He turned.

"It learns."

Kael remembered the word.

Adapt.

Orin saw his expression.

"You've heard it."

Kael nodded.

Orin's face darkened.

"Then it's already inside you."

Kael looked at Lyric.

"You knew."

She nodded.

"Some of it."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because I needed to know if you could survive hearing it."

"How did I do?"

Lyric looked at the black lines on his arm.

"Better than most."

Kael didn't know whether that was comforting.

Orin continued.

"The Hollow has appeared throughout history."

He pointed to several locations on the map.

"Every few centuries, a fragment manifests."

Kael stepped closer.

"Fragment?"

"Pieces of it."

"Like the black stone?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because the Hollow cannot fully enter our reality."

Kael looked at the stone.

"So it sends pieces."

"Exactly."

"And those pieces change people."

Orin nodded.

"Sometimes."

"Sometimes?"

"The Hollow doesn't simply possess people."

He paused.

"It studies them."

Kael's stomach tightened.

"Studies?"

"Fear."

"Memory."

"Magic."

"Death."

"Pain."

"Love."

"Everything that makes a human being what they are."

Orin looked directly at him.

"Then it adapts."

Kael felt the mark on his wrist pulse.

"And eventually?"

Orin answered quietly.

"Eventually, it can create something that can survive here."

Kael looked at his transformed hand in his memory.

"You."

The word hung in the chamber.

Kael didn't respond.

The Keepers

Lyric walked toward the table.

"The Keepers were created after the First Hollow Event."

Kael followed.

"How long ago?"

"Three thousand years."

"Three thousand?"

"Approximately."

"How has nobody heard of you?"

The scarred man at the table laughed.

"Because we're very good at our jobs."

Lyric glanced at him.

"That's Darius."

The man raised a hand.

"Hello."

Kael nodded.

Darius grinned.

"You look less terrifying than I expected."

Kael raised an eyebrow.

"Thanks?"

"Give it time."

Lyric continued.

"The Keepers don't rule kingdoms."

"We don't seek political power."

"We don't even fight ordinary magical wars."

She looked toward the massive doors at the far end of the chamber.

"Our purpose is simple."

She paused.

"Keep the Veil intact."

Kael looked at the symbol.

"The Veil separates our reality from whatever is outside."

"Yes."

"And the Hollow is trying to break it."

"Not exactly."

Kael frowned.

"Then what?"

Lyric's voice dropped.

"The Hollow isn't trying to break the Veil."

"It is trying to learn how to become part of it."

A chill moved through Kael.

"How?"

Lyric looked at him.

"Through people."

Kael didn't speak.

"The Hollow needs a living bridge."

Orin stepped forward.

"A person whose soul can adapt to its presence without being destroyed."

Kael looked at his arm.

"Me."

Nobody answered.

He already knew.

Why Kael?

Kael walked away from the group.

He needed air.

There wasn't any.

He needed distance.

There wasn't much either.

Finally he stopped beside one of the ancient maps.

"Why me?"

Lyric followed.

"I don't know."

"Your father was involved."

"Yes."

"My mother knew about it."

"Apparently."

"I was exposed to the fragment."

"Yes."

"And now I can transform."

Lyric nodded.

Kael turned.

"That isn't coincidence."

"No."

"Then what is it?"

Lyric hesitated.

"We think your family has been connected to the Hollow for generations."

Kael stared at her.

"My family?"

"Not your father's family."

She paused.

"Your mother's."

Kael felt the room tilt.

"What do you know about her?"

"Not enough."

"Tell me."

Lyric shook her head.

"Not yet."

Kael's expression hardened.

"Why?"

"Because the records about your mother were deliberately destroyed."

"By who?"

"The Keepers."

Kael stared at her.

"You destroyed them?"

Lyric nodded.

"Why?"

"Because someone inside the organization was trying to find her."

"Who?"

"We don't know."

Kael laughed bitterly.

"Of course."

Lyric stepped closer.

"But there is one thing we do know."

"What?"

"Your mother wasn't merely connected to the Hollow."

She looked directly into his eyes.

"She survived direct contact with it."

Kael went still.

"No one survives that."

Lyric's expression was grim.

"Exactly."

A deep vibration passed through the chamber.

Every Keeper went silent.

Kael felt it in his chest.

The black mark on his arm began glowing.

Orin immediately turned toward him.

"Everyone back."

Chairs scraped across the floor.

Lyric stepped beside Kael.

"What is it?"

Orin stared at Kael.

"He's reacting to something."

Kael felt the pressure building.

Not pain.

Recognition.

The sensation from the ruins returned.

Something beneath the city had noticed him.

Then—

A sound.

Not a bell.

Not a voice.

A heartbeat.

Thump.

The chamber shook.

Thump.

Several magical lamps shattered.

Thump.

The black lines on Kael's arm spread.

Lyric grabbed his shoulder.

"Kael."

He looked at her.

"I can control it."

"Can you?"

"I think so."

The shadow beneath his feet began moving.

Kael closed his eyes.

He remembered the training.

Breathing.

Memory.

Identity.

Who he was.

He thought of Mara.

His father.

His mother.

The life he had before this began.

The shadow stopped.

Kael opened his eyes.

The mark dimmed.

The Keepers stared.

Darius slowly smiled.

"Interesting."

Orin didn't smile.

"No."

He looked toward the ceiling.

"Not interesting."

His voice was almost a whisper.

"Terrifying."

Kael looked at him.

"Why?"

Orin pointed toward the floor.

"Because the Hollow has never responded to anyone like that."

"What do you mean?"

Orin looked at Lyric.

Then Kael.

"It didn't try to control you."

Kael frowned.

"What did it do?"

Orin's face became pale.

"It answered you."

Silence.

Kael looked down at his hands.

"What does that mean?"

Nobody answered.

Then the doors at the far end of the chamber opened.

A Keeper rushed inside.

His face was bloodied.

His clothes were torn.

"Master Orin."

Everyone turned.

"What happened?"

The Keeper struggled to breathe.

"The eastern wards."

Orin's face hardened.

"What about them?"

"They're gone."

Silence.

All around the chamber, the Keepers began standing.

The messenger swallowed.

"And there's something else."

"What?"

He looked at Kael.

"The Hollow has opened a path."

Kael's stomach dropped.

"Where?"

The Keeper pointed directly at him.

"Here."

The black mark on Kael's arm ignited.

The chamber lights went out.

And from somewhere impossibly far away...

something whispered his name.

Not through his mind.

Not through his ears.

Through the entire room.

Kael.

Lyric drew her blade.

Orin reached for an ancient weapon.

The Keepers prepared themselves.

And Kael finally understood what Lyric had been afraid to tell him.

The organization hadn't brought him here to protect him.

They had brought him here because they were running out of places to hide.

And for the first time in three thousand years...

the Keepers of the Veil were afraid.