Root stood alone in the Temple of Hollow Motion. The smooth stone beneath his feet seemed to hum with dormant energy, as if the floor itself remembered battles fought and lessons learned. A faint shimmer of sigils danced across the walls—illusions or echoes of past trainees. He couldn't tell which.
He rolled his shoulders.
It had been three days since his first combat trial in the inner space. Three days since he'd ripped a creature apart with his bare hands and unlocked the martial path called Way of Hollow Motion.
The training dummy before him shifted into a more advanced form—an armored silhouette with moving joints and faintly glowing weak points. Root had just enough Hollow Points left to activate his current form of Shadowstep again. He needed the practice.
He needed control.
The screen pulsed.
⸻
[Skill Activated: Shadowstep – Tier 1]
+Speed | +Fluidity | Passive: Flow-Linked Counter
Duration: 3 minutes
Cooldown: 8 hours
⸻
Root moved.
He blinked from one end of the dojo to the other, chaining glides with sliding footwork. Each strike flowed from the last—his fists twisting at angles that defied his old instincts. He ducked a counter-swing from the dummy and snapped upward with a spiraling elbow.
Crack.
The head joint snapped free. The dummy reformed immediately. Another one slid into place.
He didn't stop.
He couldn't.
Because the moment his momentum faltered, he felt it.
A breath behind his thoughts.
A whisper at the base of his skull.
Not words.
Not Veyr.
Something… less formed. More raw.
He flinched mid-strike. His knee clipped the dummy's leg. Pain shot through his thigh.
He stumbled.
The screen pulsed.
⸻
[Shadowstep – Deactivated]
Cooldown Begun
⸻
Root fell into a defensive stance, panting. Sweat dripped from his chin to the floor.
The presence… faded.
But it had been there.
Something inside the Veinbind was shifting again.
He tapped the side of his temple. "Veyr?"
No answer.
That was strange. The summon usually had something to say every few hours—even if just to insult his progress. But for the last day, Veyr had gone silent.
Root left the dojo and returned to his inner chamber. The candle flickered low. The pool at the center of the platform remained still. No sign of Veyr.
He sat cross-legged.
Focused.
Breathed.
Inhale. Hold. Exhale. Focus.
And then—something twitched.
A scroll unrolled in the air.
⸻
[Hollow Quest Available]
Quest: The Veinbind Stirring
Objective: Meditate within the Inner Space and endure its call
Time Limit: 10 Minutes
Reward: +6 Hollow Points | Unlock Veinbind Node 2
Failure Penalty: System Downtime (4 hours)
Begin? [Y/N]
⸻
Root hesitated.
This was new. Meditation wasn't usually dangerous. But if there was a penalty tied to it…
He pressed [Y].
The platform rumbled.
The clouds shifted.
And Root's body fell still as his mind began to bleed into the Inner Vein.
Root's awareness sank.
Not fell. Sank—like a stone drawn into the marrow of something deeper than space. The platform faded, but he didn't fall. The clouds dissolved, yet he didn't float.
He simply… existed, in the vein-threaded dark.
And then it came.
The Call.
A pulse.
Then another.
Boom.
Boom.
His heartbeat echoed louder than thunder. But it wasn't just his.
It was the Veinbind's.
From every corner of the void, pale silver lines began to thread inward—veins of hollow light, converging toward him. Each pulse carried weight. Pressure. Memory.
Root grit his teeth.
His arms trembled. His mind felt like it was unraveling—stitched tight by instincts that weren't his. Ancient echoes coiled around his thoughts, brushing his senses with memories that didn't belong to him.
A battle in a broken temple.
A scream beneath black rain.
A whisper: "Unworthy. Unworthy. Unwo—"
"STOP!"
Root's shout didn't echo. It broke the space.
The veins flared.
A silver shape lunged forward from the dark—
—Not a creature.
Not Veyr.
A version of himself.
But twisted.
Emaciated. Eyes hollow. Veins exposed and glowing, crawling like roots along his neck and jaw. His mouth moved, but no sound came. Only that same whisper bleeding from every part of him.
"Unworthy."
Root stood. "I'm not you."
The hollow-Root lunged.
Root met it head-on.
Their fists collided midair—an explosion of flickering energy surged through the space. Every punch was a memory. Every counter, a rejection of fate.
He ducked a strike to the throat, rolled beneath a spinning elbow, and slammed his fist into the figure's ribs.
The body dissolved into ash.
And then—
⸻
[Quest Complete]
+6 Hollow Points Earned
Veinbind Node 2 Unlocked
[New Feature Unlocked: Martial Vein – Link Slot 1]
Passive Boost: Summon Synchronization (Locked)
⸻
Root dropped to his knees, chest heaving.
He wasn't just exhausted—he felt like he'd survived something personal. Like facing a part of himself that wasn't dead… but wasn't alive either.
A gentle voice pierced the silence.
"Took you long enough."
Veyr.
But not fully formed.
His voice echoed, slightly distorted. As if speaking through water.
Root didn't open his eyes.
"You were watching."
"I am you, Root. Just the part you keep ignoring. The part you buried to make yourself tolerable to others."
Root exhaled. "So what now?"
A pause. Then:
"Now you learn to fight like you mean it. Unlock the first martial vein. Because soon, you'll meet something worse than yourself. And when that happens…"
The space flickered.
The pool of silver returned.
Veyr's faint silhouette hovered above it—still faceless, still cloaked.
"…you'd better be more than just a survivor.