The morning broke grey and heavy, the mist around the Verdant Hollow clinging to the earth like a living thing.
Every step closer to the forest's edge felt like wading deeper into a dream half-remembered — or a nightmare yet to come.
Gnarled trees towered overhead, their twisted branches knitting together into a canopy that strangled the light.
The air was thick with the scent of rot, of earth and decay and something… else.
Something hungry.
Kaelen led the way, sword drawn but pointed down.
Riven flitted through the undergrowth like a shadow, scouting ahead.
Vaelion walked at Lyra's side, his staff humming softly, attuned to the fluctuations of magic that danced madly here.
The Starborn Heart pulsed against Lyra's chest, warm and urgent, as if recognizing the Hollow's latent power.
"Stay close," Kaelen muttered without looking back.
"The Thorned don't like visitors."
"Neither do I," Riven's voice drifted back through the mist, dry as bone.
"Yet here we are."
They pushed forward, the mist growing thicker with every step.
Strange shapes loomed on either side — trees twisted into obscene parodies of human forms, faces frozen in silent screams.
Once-beautiful statues lay shattered among the roots, overgrown with vines that seemed to twitch at the corner of Lyra's vision.
Hours passed.
Or maybe days.
Time seemed uncertain within the Hollow's embrace.
They spoke little, relying on hand signals and instinct.
Every noise — every whisper of branches, every distant crack — set their nerves on edge.
This was a place that remembered death.
And it was eager to create more.
At last, they reached a clearing.
A pool of stagnant water reflected the broken sky.
At its center, half-submerged in muck and vine, stood a monolith — ancient, cracked, covered in glyphs so old even Vaelion frowned in confusion.
And wrapped around its base, pulsing with a sickly green light, grew the Thorned.
They were horrific.
Human-shaped but wrong — limbs elongated, bodies covered in bark-like armor, faces hidden behind masks of thorns.
Their eyes glowed with a malevolent, root-deep hunger.
And as Lyra and her companions stepped into the clearing, those eyes turned toward them in unison.
"Aw, hell," Kaelen muttered.
The Thorned moved, silent and swift.
One moment they were statues; the next, they were surging forward like a tide of nightmare flesh.
"Form up!" Kaelen barked.
Vaelion slammed the butt of his staff into the earth, sending out a shockwave of starlight that momentarily slowed their advance.
Riven disappeared into the mist, reappearing behind one of the Thorned and driving a dagger deep into its exposed spine.
It shrieked — a sound like tearing metal — but did not fall.
Lyra drew on the Heart's power, feeling it surge through her veins like molten silver.
She raised her hands, weaving the starlight into a shield just as a Thorned leapt at her.
Its claws raked harmlessly across the barrier, and Lyra countered with a blast of concentrated energy that hurled it backward into a tree with a sickening crunch.
"They're tougher than they look!" Riven shouted, ducking under a sweeping claw.
"Aim for the core!" Vaelion called back, pointing to the faint green light pulsing beneath their chests.
"That's where the corruption roots!"
Kaelen engaged two at once, moving with brutal efficiency.
He parried a strike, spun low, and drove his blade upward through one creature's core.
It convulsed, thorns retracting as it fell apart like rotting wood.
The second Thorned raked his side, but Kaelen gritted his teeth and retaliated with a savage backhanded slash.
Lyra moved instinctively, the Heart guiding her.
She unleashed a barrage of starlight bolts, each one searing into the Thorned and forcing them back.
But they kept coming.
For every one that fell, two more seemed to emerge from the mist.
"We're not going to hold them forever!" Kaelen growled "We need a plan!"
Vaelion's eyes gleamed.
"The monolith! It's a tether — a binding point!"
"Then we break it," Lyra said, feeling the certainty bloom inside her.
Riven reappeared at her side, blood dripping from his blades.
"I'll cover you."
"Go," Kaelen ordered, holding the line with grim determination.
Lyra sprinted toward the monolith, weaving between Thorned that clawed at her.
Riven danced around her, intercepting any that got too close.
Vaelion unleashed another pulse of starlight, momentarily blinding the creatures.
They reached the base of the monolith.
It was immense — taller than three men standing atop one another — and covered in pulsating vines.
"There's a sigil here," Vaelion said, tracing his fingers along a groove filled with glowing sap.
"A Seal of Binding, Ancient."
"Can you break it?" Lyra asked.
"With your help."
Lyra placed her hand against the stone, feeling the Starborn Heart resonate with the ancient magic.
Together, she and Vaelion channeled their power into the sigil.
The vines writhed, shrieking as if alive.
The Thorned howled in rage, sensing their anchor was threatened.
Kaelen and Riven fought like men possessed, holding the horde at bay.
Cracks spiderwebbed across the monolith.
The ground trembled.
The mist thickened into choking tendrils.
Lyra gritted her teeth, pouring everything she had into the effort.
With a final, deafening crack, the monolith shattered.
A blast of pure starlight erupted outward, vaporizing the nearest Thorned and sending the rest reeling.
The vines blackened and withered.
The mist recoiled.
The Hollow shuddered — as if the land itself exhaled.
When the light faded, silence fell.
The surviving Thorned had vanished, absorbed back into the cursed forest.
The pool of stagnant water boiled away into mist.
The way forward lay open.
Lyra stumbled, exhausted, and Kaelen caught her before she could fall.
"Easy," he said gruffly "You did it."
She smiled weakly.
"We did it."
Vaelion stepped forward, retrieving a shard of crystal from the remains of the monolith.
It pulsed with familiar energy — another Fragment of the Crown.
He handed it to Lyra.
"One step closer."
She accepted it, feeling the Heart absorb it.
The light inside her grew stronger.
They camped that night beyond the Hollow's edge, too drained to continue.
The sky overhead was clearer now, the stars peeking through the ragged clouds.
Lyra sat beside the fire, the new Fragment resting in her palm.
Kaelen joined her, tossing a stick into the flames.
"You're getting stronger," he observed.
Lyra nodded, watching the light dance.
"But so are they."
Kaelen grunted in agreement.
"Always the way of things."
Vaelion sat a little apart, lost in ancient tomes he had salvaged from the ruins.
Riven was sharpening his knives, humming an old battlefield song under his breath.
For the first time in what felt like forever, Lyra allowed herself a moment of peace.
They had survived the Hollow.
They had recovered the Fragment.
And tomorrow, the road would call again.
But for tonight, beneath the broken heavens, they were safe.
And for tonight, that was enough.