the crowns hollows

chapter thirteen

Kael woke to the taste of blood.

For several seconds, he didn't move.

He stared at the ceiling above him.

It was made of rough black stone, crossed by thin silver veins that pulsed faintly beneath the surface.

Once.

Twice.

Like a heartbeat.

Kael held his breath.

The pulse continued.

He slowly turned his head.

Lyric was sitting beside him.

She was asleep against the wall, her sword resting across her lap.

Her dark hair had fallen over one side of her face.

There was dried blood on her cheek.

Kael immediately tried to sit up.

Pain exploded through his ribs.

He hissed.

Lyric's eyes opened instantly.

Her hand went to her sword.

Then she saw him.

"You're awake."

Kael swallowed.

"You're hurt."

She touched the blood on her cheek.

"Not mine."

He relaxed.

"Where are we?"

"Underground."

"That's not very specific."

"It's the best I can do."

Kael looked around.

The chamber was small.

There were four lanterns burning around them.

Darius sat against the opposite wall, asleep with his axe across his chest.

Orin was awake.

He sat near the doorway, studying an ancient map.

Kael looked at him.

"How long was I out?"

Lyric hesitated.

"Almost six hours."

Kael frowned.

"Six?"

"You collapsed shortly after we escaped the chamber."

"I don't remember."

"You weren't exactly conscious."

Kael looked down at himself.

His clothes were torn.

His hands were bruised.

But the transformation was gone.

Only the strange symbol remained.

A broken black crown beneath the skin of his chest.

He touched it.

A faint warmth spread through his fingers.

Lyric noticed.

"Does it hurt?"

"No."

"Anything?"

Kael thought about it.

"Not pain."

"What, then?"

He stared at the symbol.

"It feels like..."

He searched for the right word.

"Something is sleeping."

Lyric's expression tightened.

"That's worse."

A Dream That Wasn't a Dream

Kael closed his eyes.

He immediately regretted it.

Darkness swallowed him.

He was standing somewhere impossible.

There was no ground beneath his feet.

No sky.

No horizon.

Only an endless black ocean stretching in every direction.

The surface was perfectly still.

Until something moved beneath it.

Kael backed away.

The water rose.

Not from a wave.

Something enormous had passed beneath him.

He couldn't see its body.

His mind refused to understand what he was looking at.

Then he heard footsteps.

Kael turned.

A woman stood behind him.

She wore a long black dress.

Her hair was dark.

Her skin almost impossibly pale.

She looked familiar.

Not familiar like a stranger he'd seen before.

Familiar like a memory he had forgotten.

"Who are you?"

The woman didn't answer.

Kael stepped closer.

"Where am I?"

Her eyes remained fixed on him.

Then she raised one hand.

Kael looked down.

The broken crown on his chest was glowing.

He grabbed it instinctively.

The woman spoke.

Her voice was soft.

Almost sad.

"Your mother is waiting."

Kael froze.

"My mother?"

The woman nodded.

"Where?"

She pointed behind him.

Kael turned.

A door stood alone in the middle of the black ocean.

The same door he'd seen in his visions.

The same impossible black door his father had warned him about.

Kael looked back.

The woman was gone.

"Wait!"

Nothing.

Then a voice came from behind the door.

A woman's voice.

"Kael."

His mother's voice.

He reached for the handle.

The moment his fingers touched it—

Kael woke.

Six Hours Later

Kael sat bolt upright.

His breathing was ragged.

Lyric was immediately beside him.

"What happened?"

He looked around.

The chamber.

The lanterns.

The stone.

Lyric.

Real.

"I saw my mother."

Lyric went still.

"Again?"

Kael nodded.

"But this time she wasn't a memory."

"What did she say?"

"She said she was waiting."

Lyric's eyes narrowed.

"Where?"

Kael rubbed his forehead.

"I don't know."

"Did she tell you anything else?"

"A door."

Orin looked up.

"What door?"

Kael turned toward him.

"The black one."

Orin slowly stood.

"What did you see?"

"An ocean."

Orin's face tightened.

"A black ocean?"

Kael nodded.

Orin looked at Lyric.

Then at Darius.

Then back at Kael.

"Tell me everything."

Kael did.

When he finished, Orin didn't speak.

He returned to his map.

Kael watched him.

"What?"

Orin didn't answer.

"Orin."

The old Keeper unfolded another map.

Then another.

He placed them beside each other.

Kael stepped closer.

At first, he saw nothing unusual.

Then he noticed it.

A symbol.

A black circle.

Seven lines extending from it.

A small crown in the center.

Kael pointed.

"That's it."

Orin nodded.

"Where is it?"

"Everywhere."

Kael frowned.

"What?"

Orin tapped the maps.

"These were drawn centuries apart."

He placed another beside them.

"And these were drawn by people who never met."

Kael stared.

"Yet they all show the same place."

Orin looked at him.

"The First Door."

The First Door

Darius finally woke.

"The First Door?"

He sat up.

"You're kidding."

Orin shook his head.

"I wish I were."

Darius looked at Kael.

"What did you see?"

Kael told him.

Darius's humor disappeared.

"That's bad."

Kael frowned.

"Everyone keeps saying that."

"Because it keeps being true."

Orin stood.

"The First Door predates the Keepers."

"How old?"

"We don't know."

"Thousands of years?"

"At least."

Kael looked at the map.

"What is it a door to?"

Orin's expression became distant.

"That's the question that killed most of the people who tried to answer it."

Kael waited.

Orin continued.

"The oldest records describe a civilization that discovered something beneath the world."

"The Hollow?"

"We don't know."

"Then what?"

"Something."

Orin's voice became quieter.

"They called it the Outer Dark."

Lyric frowned.

"That's just a name."

"Yes."

"What was it?"

Orin looked at Kael.

"No one agrees."

"Some believed it was another world."

"Some believed it was another dimension."

"Others believed it was the space between realities."

Kael looked at the black crown beneath his skin.

"And the Hollow?"

Orin's answer was barely a whisper.

"Some records claim the Hollow wasn't born in our world."

Kael's stomach tightened.

"Where did it come from?"

Orin looked toward the sealed doorway.

"That's what the First Door was built to discover."

The City Beneath the City

They left the chamber.

The tunnels stretched farther than Kael thought possible.

The deeper they went, the stranger the architecture became.

The rough stone disappeared.

Smooth black walls replaced it.

Then columns.

Then arches.

Then enormous statues.

Finally, the tunnel opened.

Kael stopped.

There was a city beneath them.

Not ruins.

A city.

A dead city.

Buildings rose from a vast cavern.

Some were hundreds of feet tall.

Bridges connected towers across enormous gaps.

Streets disappeared beneath layers of black dust.

Statues stood in every plaza.

Kael stared.

"How did anyone build this?"

Orin answered:

"Magic."

Kael looked at him.

"That simple?"

"No."

Orin studied the city.

"Magic is never simple."

They descended a massive staircase.

Kael noticed something strange.

There were no bodies.

No bones.

No evidence of battle.

The city looked abandoned in the middle of ordinary life.

A chair sat beside an old table.

A broken cup remained on a windowsill.

A child's toy lay in the street.

It was as if everyone had simply disappeared.

Kael crouched beside the toy.

It was made of dark wood.

A small figure with two carved eyes.

He touched it.

The moment his fingers made contact—

he heard screaming.

Kael jerked his hand away.

Lyric grabbed his shoulder.

"What happened?"

"Nothing."

She knew he was lying.

"Kael."

"I heard something."

"What?"

He looked at the empty street.

"People."

The Tower

At the far end of the city stood a tower.

Unlike everything else, it appeared untouched by time.

Its walls were perfectly black.

No cracks.

No dust.

No decay.

At its highest point was the broken-crown symbol.

Kael felt the mark beneath his skin grow warm.

Lyric noticed.

"That's where we're going."

Orin nodded.

"Yes."

Darius looked at the tower.

"I don't like it."

Kael glanced at him.

"You don't like anything underground."

"I especially don't like mysterious towers that appear to be waiting for us."

Fair point.

They approached.

The enormous doors opened by themselves.

Nobody touched them.

Kael stopped.

"That's unsettling."

Lyric drew her sword.

"It gets worse."

They entered.

The doors closed behind them.

Darius sighed.

"I hate doors."

The Tower

The interior was far larger than it should have been.

The staircase spiraled upward.

They climbed.

One floor.

Then another.

Then another.

There were no windows.

No torches.

Yet the tower was faintly illuminated by silver light.

The walls were covered in carvings.

Kael recognized some.

The Hollow.

The Crown.

The Veil.

And people kneeling before something enormous.

He stopped.

"Orin."

The Keeper looked.

Kael pointed.

"What is that?"

Orin stared at the carving.

"I don't know."

"It's the same thing from my vision."

Orin's face tightened.

"Keep moving."

"Why?"

"Because some answers are dangerous before you're ready for them."

Kael looked at him.

"Everyone keeps telling me I'm not ready."

"Perhaps that's because you're not."

Kael continued upward.

But the image stayed in his mind.

Something enormous.

Something beyond the Crown.

Something that seemed to be watching.

The Woman

They reached the top.

The staircase ended in a circular room.

A woman stood at the far end.

Kael froze.

Long black hair.

Pale skin.

A simple black dress.

She stood with her back toward them.

For a moment, Kael thought he was still dreaming.

Then the woman turned.

Kael stopped breathing.

His entire world seemed to collapse into one word.

"Mom?"

The woman stared at him.

Her eyes filled with tears.

"Kael."

He couldn't move.

Twenty years of anger.

Twenty years of questions.

Twenty years of wondering whether she had died.

All of it came crashing down.

Then he ran.

Lyric took a step after him.

Orin caught her arm.

"Wait."

Kael didn't hear.

He crossed the room.

His mother opened her arms.

Kael crashed into her.

She held him.

For several seconds neither spoke.

Kael's face pressed against her shoulder.

She smelled exactly as he remembered.

Smoke.

Lavender.

Home.

His voice broke.

"I thought you were dead."

"I'm sorry."

"I thought you abandoned us."

"I know."

"I hated you."

His mother closed her eyes.

"I know."

Kael pulled away.

Tears were running down his face.

"Then why?"

She touched his cheek.

"Because I couldn't come home."

"You could have tried."

"I did."

"When?"

"Every day."

Kael shook his head.

"You weren't there."

"I know."

"Then where were you?"

She looked toward the black walls.

"Hiding."

"From what?"

Her eyes moved to the broken crown beneath his skin.

"From them."

The Secret of the Crown

Kael followed her gaze.

"The Crowned?"

"No."

She shook her head.

"Not the people wearing it."

Kael frowned.

"Then who?"

His mother walked toward the center of the room.

There was an ancient pedestal there.

On top sat a single object.

A piece of black metal.

The same material as Kael's crown.

She touched it.

"This was made before the Hollow was understood."

Kael stared.

"Who made it?"

"People."

"Which people?"

"The ones who came before us."

She looked at him.

"The first civilization to survive contact with the Hollow."

Kael felt uneasy.

"And the Crown?"

His mother smiled sadly.

"The Crown was never created to control the Hollow."

Kael frowned.

"That's what the Keepers believe."

"The Keepers were wrong."

Orin stepped forward.

"What are you saying?"

Mara looked at him.

"You've spent centuries fighting the wrong battle."

Orin's expression hardened.

"Then tell us the truth."

Mara's eyes moved toward Kael.

"The Crown was never a weapon."

"What was it?"

"A lock."

Kael felt the broken symbol beneath his skin pulse.

"A lock for what?"

His mother looked toward the ceiling.

"For the Veil."

The Real Enemy

Kael stared.

"The Veil?"

Mara nodded.

"The barrier between our reality and what lies beyond it."

"And the Hollow?"

"The Hollow is what's leaking through."

Kael's mind raced.

"Then the Hollow isn't the enemy?"

Mara's expression became grim.

"Not exactly."

Lyric finally stepped forward.

"Then what is?"

Mara looked at her.

For the first time, Kael saw recognition in his mother's eyes.

"You."

Lyric froze.

"Me?"

Mara studied her for several seconds.

Then she looked at Kael.

"You brought her."

Kael frowned.

"Yes."

"Good."

Lyric looked confused.

"Why?"

Mara didn't answer.

Instead, she looked at Kael.

"Your father told you not to trust the Veil."

Kael nodded.

"Yes."

"He was right."

"Then what is beyond it?"

Mara hesitated.

Kael had never seen fear in his mother's eyes before.

Not even in his memories.

Now he saw it.

Pure fear.

"Something that has been trying to enter this world for thousands of years."

"What?"

Mara whispered:

"Something that isn't alive."

Kael frowned.

"Then what is it?"

She looked directly into his eyes.

"A will."

Silence.

"A mind without a body."

"A consciousness without a soul."

"And it has been searching for one."

Kael felt the broken crown burn.

Mara's voice dropped to a whisper.

"It found you."

The Door Opens

A deep sound echoed through the tower.

Boom.

Everyone froze.

Boom.

The walls trembled.

Kael looked toward the floor.

"That heartbeat."

Mara nodded.

"It's getting closer."

Orin raised his weapon.

"What is it?"

Mara looked at him.

"The thing your Keepers have called the Hollow for centuries."

Another tremor.

Dust fell from the ceiling.

"But that's only the shadow it casts."

Kael's skin prickled.

"What is the real thing?"

Mara looked at him.

"The thing inside the Hollow."

The tower shook violently.

A c***k appeared across the floor.

Black light spilled through it.

Kael's crown burned.

His body began transforming.

Black armor crawled over his shoulder.

His claws emerged.

His vision sharpened.

Lyric grabbed his hand.

"Stay with me."

Kael nodded.

"I'm here."

Mara looked at them.

Then something appeared behind her.

A tall, black silhouette.

Kael recognized it immediately.

The same shape from his vision.

The same impossible presence.

It stood behind his mother.

Watching.

Waiting.

Mara's expression changed.

"Kael."

He stared.

"What?"

"Don't let it touch you."

The thing moved.

Not toward her.

Toward him.

Kael raised his claws.

The creature stopped.

For a moment, everything was silent.

Then it spoke.

Not aloud.

Inside Kael's mind.

WE REMEMBER YOU.

Kael staggered.

Lyric caught him.

"What happened?"

Kael stared at the creature.

"It knows me."

Mara whispered:

"Of course it does."

"Why?"

She looked at him with tears in her eyes.

"Because you weren't born by accident."

Kael's blood went cold.

"What does that mean?"

His mother stepped closer.

"You were created to be the door."

The black symbol beneath Kael's skin exploded with light.

The tower screamed.

Not the people.

Not the stone.

The tower itself.

And somewhere beneath the city, something ancient began to wake.

Mara grabbed Kael's face.

"Listen to me."

Her voice shook.

"You have very little time."

"Time for what?"

She looked toward the dark figure.

"Before it remembers how to enter."

Kael stared at her.

"And how do we stop it?"

Mara's expression broke.

"We don't."

She looked at the Crown beneath his skin.

"We have to find out what you really are."

A tremendous c***k split the tower.

The floor collapsed.

Kael grabbed Lyric.

Orin grabbed Darius.

Mara disappeared into the darkness.

"Mom!"

Kael reached for her.

She caught his hand.

For one moment, mother and son stared at each other across the collapsing floor.

Then she whispered:

"Find your father."

Kael's eyes widened.

"But he's dead."

Mara shook her head.

"No."

A tear ran down her cheek.

"He isn't."

The darkness swallowed her.

Kael screamed.

"Mom!"

No answer.

Only the deep, impossible heartbeat beneath the city.

BOOM.

BOOM.

BOOM.

Kael stood at the edge of the collapse, staring into the darkness.

Lyric came beside him.

"She's alive."

Kael looked at her.

"You heard her."

"Yes."

"Then we're finding her."

Lyric nodded.

"And your father."

Kael looked at the broken crown beneath his skin.

Then toward the darkness beneath them.

Something moved far below.

Something enormous.

Something that had been waiting for him since before he was born.

Kael closed his fist.

For the first time since discovering the Hollow, he wasn't running from what he was.

He was going to find the truth.

Whatever it cost him.

Even if the truth turned out to be worse than the monster.