In Vitality – The Hollow, Breached
The air shimmered. Radiant Chain dropped from trees and cliff edges in formation—swords raised, familiars trailing spectral fire. Dozens of them, led by Vossbane, their guildmaster.
> "Anomaly detected. Synapse bounty authorized."
"Zone classified as corrupted. Prepare for purge."
The Hollow remained quiet. The villagers still looped—smiling, sweeping, painting air. Unaware.
Then came the scream of impact—arrows raining down on the village square. A house collapsed under impact. Cassian arrived seconds later, Veil blazing.
---
StarViper fought like a cyclone—her dual daggers slicing into enemy lines as she shouted at Cassian: "We need a plan!"
Cassian's HUD screamed:
> "System Stress Exceeding Limits – Echo Patterns Failing"
The Hollow was breaking.
He dodged a hammer strike, redirected an explosive rune blast, then countered with a Veil-triggered time-shift—barely slowing the Radiant Chain's advance.
The Everdreamers began to stutter. One child's loop jittered—eyes flickering, mouth open in frozen joy.
> If the system fractures completely, their consciousnesses might splinter.
---
"We can't hold them," StarViper yelled. "Even if we win, the zone won't survive!"
Cassian nodded—silent, cold-eyed.
He opened a developer command prompt within the Veil.
> [ARCHIVE INSTANCE: OBSIDIAN-NODE-HOLLOW]
[MASK INSTANCE AS BINARY GRAVEYARD // GHOST NODE]
"WARNING: Instance will become untraceable. Inaccessible to standard users. Locked."
Cassian paused—then confirmed.
The ground pulsed. Light swallowed the Hollow like fog drawn into a lung.
Radiant Chain screamed. Their attacks passed through illusions.
The real Hollow flickered… then vanished.
Players collapsed, booted from the zone.
---
Only Starviper and Cassian remained in the false shell.
She stared at him. "You sealed them in."
"I preserved them."
"No one can reach them now. Not even you."
"I know."
"They'll never wake up."
"They didn't want to."
---
She stepped back. "You made the call alone."
"I always do."
She looked at him like she might cry—or hit him. Instead, she said, "We fight for people to be free. But that… that didn't feel like freedom."
Then she walked away.
Cassian stood alone in the empty shell of what was once a dream.
He whispered, "It was mercy."
---
SynapseCorp HQ – Watchtower Room
> "Operation Result: Zone sealed. Threat level increased."
Subject Alias: 'Architect'
New Classification: SYSTEM BREACH – OBSIDIAN ACCESS
Begin Phase II: Live Trace Deployment
Elias Voss stood by the window, smiling faintly.
> "He's back. And now he's bleeding."
---
End of Chapter Ten