It started with silence.
Not the peaceful kind — but a silence so deep it felt like the world had stopped breathing. No birdsong. No wind. Not even the sound of blood moving in Elara's ears.
She awoke just before dawn, clutching her chest.
The Eighth Marker was burning.
And in the darkness, she heard a whisper:
> "I see you now, Elara."
---
A Warning in Stone
The group had stopped at an old stone sanctuary in the canyon pass. Once a haven for timewalkers, it now lay in ruins. Elara traced the etchings along the walls. They were worn, nearly erased by age — but Mira found a fragment still intact.
> "When the Hollowing awakens, memories bleed backward."
> "Do not speak your name in its presence — or it will wear it."
Kael studied the markings. "It eats identity?"
Mira nodded grimly. "And replaces it with nothing."
Liora paced like a caged wolf. "So how do we kill something that doesn't exist the way we understand it?"
Elara didn't answer. She was staring at her reflection in the cracked wall — and for a second, her eyes weren't her own.
---
Dreamless
That night, Elara didn't dream.
Instead, she stood in an infinite gray field — no sky, no horizon. Just an endless void. And from it, a voice echoed:
> "You are not real."
She turned in circles, but there was nothing. No wind. No direction.
Then a figure emerged — her reflection again. But distorted. Empty. Its eyes were mirrors.
It stepped forward.
> "You don't belong to yourself. You never did."
Elara tried to speak, but no sound came.
The reflection smiled.
> "When you forget… I will become you."
---
A Rift Opens
Mira jolted Elara awake just before dawn. The ground trembled — not with power, but with absence. Kael was already on his feet, sword drawn.
"What is that?" Liora muttered, looking past the hills.
Then they all saw it.
A rift — jagged, pulsing — opening in the canyon floor like a wound. From it poured a gray mist, cold and suffocating. Within it… shadows moved. Not like people. Not like monsters.
Like echoes.
Elara gripped her chest. "It's not just a creature. The Hollowing is a place."
---
Into the Hollow
Against Mira's protest, Elara stepped toward the rift.
"I have to go," she said. "It's calling to me."
Kael grabbed her wrist. "Then I'm going with you."
She looked at him, heart aching. "You might not come back."
"I already told you. I'll follow you into anything. Even nothing."
Mira and Liora exchanged a glance — then stepped forward.
Liora sighed. "Well, let's go ruin another perfect death."
And so they descended — into the Hollowing.
---
Inside the Void
It wasn't darkness. It was the removal of all light.
The moment they stepped in, sound vanished. Time slowed. Even thoughts felt heavier.
The ground beneath their feet shifted like ash. Shapes flickered at the edge of vision — people they knew, places they'd loved — but wrong. Corrupted.
Elara saw her mother.
But her face was blank.
Kael saw his younger brother — the one he lost — smiling, whispering lies.
Mira dropped to her knees as something in the mist took the form of a woman she once loved. "It's not real," she gasped. "None of it's real."
"It wants us to believe it," Elara whispered. "Because belief makes it strong."
---
A Mirror Cracks
At the center of the Hollowing stood a tower of bone and silver — tall, spiraling, impossible. No door. No roof. Just... openings in the mind.
And at its base — a mirror. Larger than any before.
This time, it didn't reflect Elara.
It showed Kael.
And he was alone.
He reached toward it instinctively.
Elara shouted, "No—!"
Too late.
The moment his fingers brushed the glass, it shattered inward, and Kael collapsed, unconscious.
---
The Echo of Kael
Elara dropped to her knees beside him. "Kael! Kael, come on—wake up!"
His body was cold, but still breathing.
Mira scanned him. "His mind's gone somewhere. Locked in a loop."
"To where?" Liora demanded.
"The part of him he never healed," Mira whispered.
Elara didn't hesitate. She placed the Eighth Marker over Kael's heart and closed her eyes.
"Let me in."
---
In His Mind
She found herself standing in a burned field.
Kael was kneeling beside a grave — no name on the stone.
"Elara?" he asked, brokenly.
She came to him slowly. "This is the day you lost him, isn't it? Your brother?"
Kael didn't look up. "I told him I'd protect him. I failed."
"No," she said, kneeling beside him. "You carried him. Every moment since."
He turned, tears on his face. "If I couldn't save him, how can I save you?"
Elara cupped his face gently. "You don't have to save me. Just stay with me."
He reached for her hand.
And together, they left the grave behind.
---
The Hollow Knows Her Name
When Elara opened her eyes, Kael was breathing normally again.
But something had changed.
The tower pulsed.
A deep, echoing voice filled the Hollowing:
> "Elara Veyra."
Mira's eyes widened. "It knows your name!"
> "Come further, flame-born. Let us finish the forgetting."
Liora stepped in front of Elara. "We fight here. Or we fall later."
Elara stood, eyes glowing with the light of the Eight.
"No," she said.
"We remember."
And the Hollowing screamed.