The figure stepped forward, boots crunching over scattered feathers and ash.
Aira's heart stopped. Ezrah's fingers hovered near his blade.
But the voice? It was impossible to forget.
"Renzo?" Ezrah breathed.
The boy they'd buried three weeks ago. Slashed open in a Hollowborn ambush. No one had survived that night—except them.
But here he stood.
His skin pale as snow. Eyes too calm. Movements too smooth.
Aira narrowed her gaze. "That's not him."
Renzo tilted his head. "But I remember everything. You two left me. You ran."
Ezrah took a step forward. "We saw you die."
"I did die," Renzo whispered, smiling faintly. "But they brought me back. Gave me something better than life."
Behind him, three more figures emerged. All Hollowborn. But different—less beast, more human. Stillness in their bodies, thought in their eyes.
Ezrah felt his throat tighten. "They're learning to possess the dead."
Aira's voice was like ice. "No. They're learning to mimic what we love."
Between the Breaths
"Why are you here?" Aira asked, blade steady but not yet raised.
Renzo's ghost looked at her.
"Because I miss the way we used to be," he said softly. "We laughed. You called me 'sun boy' because I smiled too much."
She didn't blink. "You're not Renzo."
"But I remember you crying the night your mother vanished," he continued. "And how you hated the cold, so Kaien gave you his blanket."
Ezrah stepped closer. "Stop talking like you know her."
"I am her past," the thing said. "That's what we are. We wear your losses like skin."
The Hollowborn around him shifted, moving closer.
Not attacking.
Just circling. Watching.
As if waiting for something
Fire in the Ashes
Aira didn't hesitate.
She drove her blade through Renzo's chest.
Not because she was sure.
But because she couldn't be.
The creature gasped—not in pain, but in surprise.
"You still bleed," she whispered. "Good."
The illusion shattered. Renzo's form twisted—flesh turning to grey threads, melting into ash. The creature underneath screeched, revealing a long mouth stitched shut by black thread.
Ezrah stepped in, swinging hard. The second Hollowborn lunged toward him, claws slicing the wind.
Steel met bone.
Blood spilled.
Two more circled around Aira, but she spun in time. Her rage was methodical. Each strike was calculated, ruthless—like she wasn't just fighting them, but every silent wound she carried.
And maybe she was
What Remains
When the battle ended, the crater was quiet again.
Bodies gone. Just dust.
Ezrah knelt, panting. "They're trying to break us."
"They're trying to be us," Aira said, eyes still locked on where Renzo's face had been. "And if they ever succeed…"
She didn't finish.
Ezrah stood. "Let's move. Before more come."
But Aira lingered.
She knelt again, pulling from her pocket something small—Kaien's dog tag.
She placed it gently on the burnt soil, right at the center of the crater.
"I'll never forget the only boy who saw me as more than a weapon," she whispered.
Ezrah waited, silent.
Then, they turned and walked away.
But behind them…
…something under the soil twitched.
And somewhere deeper, a new Hollowborn opened its eyes.