The interior was eerily empty, the faint light from the shattered windows casting long shadows across the floor. Dust hung in the air, undisturbed by time or movement.
Raven moved deeper into the building, his steps cautious. He didn't know what he was doing there, but something about this place felt... off. Not "off" in a bad way, but more in the sense of being different despite it being the same.
As he turned a corner, his eyes caught a faint glow emanating from a doorway at the end of the hall. The light was dark, almost paradoxical, an undulating shadow that caught his attention despite his instincts screaming at him to turn back.
His breath hitched as he stepped closer.
The room beyond the doorway was a stark contrast to the rest of the building. The walls were smooth and unblemished, timelessly sheltered to the outside world. At its center, embedded in the cracked floor, was the source of the glow: a dark, metallic orb resting in a shallow crater.
The orb pulsed faintly, its surface smooth and polished, yet it seemed to ripple as though it were alive. Shadows danced around it, otherworldly hypnotic.
He knelt above the crater, trembling as the pull of the orb became irresistible. He reached out, brushing against its smooth, cold surface, and immediately recoiled as a sharp pain shot through his palm.
Blood welled up in the opening of the shallow wound and a bead of blood rolled from it, landing squarely on the orb.
The reaction was immediate and violent.
The orb flared with a dark, pulsing light that seemed to consume the room, extinguishing every trace of natural illumination. The shadows erupted outward, coiling around Raven like sentient tendrils.
Raven's heart pounded as the darkness closed in, binding his arms, his legs, his chest—squeezing, suffocating.
He let out a strangled gasp as the shadows forced their way into his skin, threading through his veins like molten fire.
Every nerve screamed in agony as the living darkness began to merge with him. It was a feral, overwhelming force that clawed its way through his very being.
Inside his body, the changes began.
Under his skin, the Dark Hollow spread like a black spiderweb, merging with his bones and muscles. It burrowed into his cells, its tendrils latching onto his DNA and rewriting it strand by strand.
His entire body convulsed as the Dark Hollow merged with him, relentless and invasive. If one could peer into his body, they would see his DNA shifting and growing.
Chromosomes, plasmas, nucleic acids, RNA and more could be seen forming within his DNA helix. What once resembled human chromosomes now twisted into something far more alien, their structures expanding, pulsing with irradiated energy. Segments of his DNA glowed faintly, coated in a shadowy mist that clung to his genes like a symbiotic fog.
The Dark Hollow was relentless, tearing apart what Raven had been and rebuilding him into something else entirely. His body swelled, his muscles bulging as the alien substance reshaped him.
His height surged upward, his bones stretched as his frame expanded beyond human proportions. He could feel his very essence changing into something monstrous.
Raven's screams filled the room, but it was soon drowned out by the roar of the storm that now raged around him. The air crackled with electricity as the building shook violently, cracks spidering across the walls and floor. The shadows that had enveloped him now solidified into a sleek, black armor that rippled like liquid metal.
The armor clung to him, molding to his every contour, its surface a seamless, predatory design that shimmered faintly with an otherworldly glow. Tendrils of darkness swirled around him, whipping through the air like living entities.
He looked down at his hands—hands that were no longer his own. They were larger, clawed, and covered in the same sleek black material that coated his body. The armor felt alive, shifting and rippling with every subtle movement and twitch of his muscles.
Then came the helmet.
It surged upward, covering his head in a smooth, reflective mask. Two glowing white eyes flared to life, their menacing light cutting through the darkness. The mouthpiece shifted into a smaller smile, jagged teeth forming as the substance mimicked his facial movements.
When he opened his mouth to let out a scream, the helmet's maw parted, revealing sharp fangs and a long, serpentine tongue that flicked out like a predator tasting the air.
Raven instinctively reached up, touching the helmet's surface. It moved with him, responding to his touch like a living organism.
The transformation wasn't just physical. The world around him seemed to react to this change. The air grew colder and heavier as an oppressive darkness spread outward from his body.
Outside, the alien sky darkened, the faint, swirling hues of violet and crimson replaced by an endless, suffocating black. Thunder cracked in the distance, though there were no clouds. The ground trembled, fissures spidering outward from the building as waves of energy rippled through the earth.
The beast that had been hunting him let out a terrified roar, its confidence shattered as it cowered in the distance. The predator had become prey.
Raven straightened, his towering new form radiating raw, unbridled power. He flexed his hands, feeling the strength coursing through his veins, the symbiote responding to his every thought.
A weight materialized in his hand, and he glanced down to see a sleek, black long sword. The hilt and cross guards oozed and shifted around similar to the Dark Hollow.
Ebonfang.
The name just appeared in his mind. Its blade gleamed with a faint, sinister light, its edges impossibly sharp. It felt like an extension of himself, a weapon born from the same darkness that now flowed through his body.
The transformation was complete.
Raven stood at the center of the storm, his glowing white eyes scanning the ruined room. He was no longer the boy who had stumbled into this desolate place, he was a survivor fighting to stay alive.
Raven barely had time to comprehend the power coursing through his veins, the Dark Hollow armor clung to his transformed body, when the world around him shifted.
The shadows that had erupted during his transformation thickened, swallowing the room in an impenetrable blackness. He felt himself being pulled—not physically, but spiritually—into a place beyond comprehension.
When his vision returned, Raven found himself standing in a void so dark it defied imagination. This was no ordinary darkness. It was a living, breathing force, an abyss that stretched endlessly in every direction. It swallowed sound, light, and thought, leaving behind a silence so profound it felt as though even time had stopped.
Raven turned, searching for anything in the black expanse, but the darkness was absolute. The only thing that broke its oppressive monotony was a faint, crimson glow in the distance, flickering like a heartbeat.
He moved toward it, though his legs didn't feel like his own. Each step felt as if the void itself resisted. Yet he pressed on, drawn to the glow as though some unseen force willed it.
As he drew closer, the glow intensified, revealing the outline of a figure emerging from the depths of the abyss.
The figure stood an impossible 10ft tall, skeletal yet imposing, its body wreathed in shifting, writhing shadows that seemed to breathe with malevolent intent. Its silhouette flickered, blurred at the edges, as though it didn't quite belong in any one reality.
The only clear feature was the glowing red insignia on its chest—a insect-like emblem that stretched from its upper ribs to where its navel are. The legs of the insect wrapped around its ribcage, their pointed ends disappearing into the shroud of shadows along its back.
Its eyes glowed like twin crimson stars that pierced through the darkness with a cold, otherworldly intensity. They locked onto Raven, freezing him in place, and for a moment, he felt as though he was staring into the very fabric of the abyss.
Then, the figure's mouth stretched into a manic, twisted smile, its teeth sharp and uneven like shards of broken glass.
"Haha," the figure chuckled, the sound low and grating, reverberating through the void.
It raised its head, smile widening as if it had just found a long-lost sibling. "I thought I was the only one born of the Hollow."
Its voice was a deep rumble. It wasn't loud, but it demanded attention. The words weren't spoken—they were felt, sent straight into the core of Raven's being.
Raven's body tensed, his hands clenching into fists as he stared up at the skeletal monstrosity. The shadows around him writhed like they were alive, but he forced himself to meet the creature's glowing gaze.
"What... are you? What's the Hollow?"Raven managed to ask, his voice unsteady but defiant.
The figure's grin widened, its fangs gleaming in the crimson light. "You will learn soon enough, little brother. The Hollow is where all life stims. The Living Void. Quickly, time is short. So, first..."
It raised one of its clawed, bony hands, reaching forward with deliberate, almost gentle care.
The shadows around Raven tightened as the figure's hand passed through his chest—not physically, but reaching into the very essence of his soul.
Raven gasped as a searing cold spread through him, radiating from where the figure's hand had entered. His vision blurred, the void around him spinning as he felt something foreign being placed within him.
The figure's clawed fingers twisted, embedding a fragment of its power into Raven's soul. The sensation was indescribable—a mixture of pain and euphoria.
The figure chuckled again, its deep, guttural laugh echoing through the darkness. "A gift, brother," it said, its glowing eyes narrowing. "You will need it."
As the words reverberated through him, the figure raised its other hand, its skeletal fingers curling as the void surged forward.
The shadows came alive, crashing into Raven like a tidal wave.
He screamed as the darkness enveloped him, its cold, unyielding touch carving into his flesh, his bones, his mind. He felt his soul being torn apart, every fragment of his being laid bare and reassembled. The power of the Dark Hollow wasn't just merging with him—it was reforging him into something new.
Raven's body convulsed as the shadows burned through him, their touch both agonizing and exhilarating. He could feel the gift the figure had given him settling into place, a cold, throbbing presence that pulsed in time with his heartbeat.
When the darkness finally receded, Raven was left standing in the void, his breathing hitched and body trembling. He looked down at his hands, flexing them as he felt the raw power coursing through his veins. The shadows around him no longer felt oppressive—they felt like an extension of himself, a part of his very being.
The figure watched him with its glowing eyes, its manic grin still plastered across its skeletal face.
"You are now truly one of us," it said, its voice a cold whisper. "Embrace the Hollow, brother, and carve your path through the darkness."
Before Raven could respond, the void surged again, pulling him back with an overwhelming force. The figure's laughter echoed in his mind as the darkness swallowed him whole.
Raven's eyes snapped open, and he found himself back in the ruined building. His chest heaved as he struggled to catch his breath.
The symbiote armor clung to him like a second skin, its living texture rippling faintly in the dim light. He knew exactly what the orb was: a fragment of living darkness called the All-Dark.
But he was different now even without the symbiote.
Whatever that god-like being had done to him, it had changed him in ways he couldn't yet comprehend.
Before he could even begin to process and think about the events that had transpired, a black transparent screen with red lettering appeared in front of him.
[Sovereign in Black System Activated.]