The world shifts the moment we step outside.
The cobblestones stretch like taffy. Streetlamps flicker, then melt into shadows. Buildings lean inward, whispering things I refuse to hear. The air smells like wet stone and old breath. Reality's having a breakdown again.
Caelan walks ahead, sword drawn, cloak billowing like he rehearses it. I follow, boots silent, dagger warm in my hand. We don't talk. Talking attracts attention. And in this version of the world, attention gets you eaten.
The Hollow Side is a parallel world—twisted, monstrous, alive. It doesn't want us here. But it won't let us leave until dawn.
Every night, we survive.
Every night, we fight.
Tonight, the realm is restless. Something new is hunting. We feel it before we see it—like a thought you didn't mean to think. All because of that damn curse.
We move through the bone forest, weapons ready. The monsters here don't follow rules. They mimic. They evolve. Unfortunately, They remember too.
Caelan stops suddenly. "There."
We're hunting a mirrorwraith...one that has been attacking our base- the small sanctuary in the Valemont Mansion, where we're finally able to talk freely...not that it's completely safe. Just feels closer to something I know,
It took a child from the orphan quarter—slipped through a cracked window, left behind a trail of frost and a lullaby no one remembers learning. It knows who to target- those sad souls in despair who just want a peaceful life- one filled with happiness and love.
I know.
I used to be one of the fools who believed in that.
The breach opened an hour ago and If we don't close it soon, the wraith will nest. And once it nests, it starts copying people...REAL people from my world.
Last time, it copied a priest. That was... messy.
We reach the alley where the breach began.
The walls are slick with shadow. The air pulses. Caelan raises two fingers. I nod. We split.
I take the left path, past a broken fountain that's whispering my name. I ignore it. I'm not in the mood for haunted plumbing.
The child's trail is faint—tiny footprints in ash, a scrap of cloth snagged on a nail. I follow it into a courtyard that shouldn't exist. The sky above is wrong. Too close. Too loud.
And then I see it.
The mirrorwraith.
It's crouched beside the child, who's curled up and shivering. I can feel myself softening, wanting to reach out and hug that cutie with all my might. Sometimes, all you wish for is a hug of comfort..
I flinched as I looked at the monster. Its face is a shifting blur—sometimes mine, sometimes Caelan's, sometimes Seraphine's.
I hate when they wear my mother's face. It brings back horrifying memories- from the point in my life where everything went so wrong.
It looks at me. I look at Caelan. His eyes gleam with a confident stance, and my own lips raise in a beautiful smirk. Damn. It's gonna get interesting.
I move first.
The fight is fast and brutal.
The wraith splits into three. One version attacks Caelan, another circles me, the third goes for the child. I whisper the binding spell. My scar splits open. Elaris roars inside me.
The air thickens. The realm recoils, as I create a spear- tall and sharp from the dark energy around me, using the power of Elaris to feed my own. The dagger acts like the blade of the spear, as I thrust it directly into it's heart- or the beating slimy sludge inside its chest, and watch as it splatters into pieces, blood painting the ground red as it's insides fall at my feet.
Caelan's sword sings as it cuts through the first wraith. I catch the second with my dagger, pinning it to a tree. It shrieks, then melts into shadow..a remanant, that'll be back to it's monstrous form soon.
The third reaches the child.
I scream.
NO! I CAN'T LET THAT HAPPEN!
Elaris erupts from me in a wave of violet flame. The wraith burns, howling, twisting into a shape that's almost human. Then it's gone.
The child sobs. Caelan picks her up. I collapse to one knee, trying to calm my racing heart, as unwanted memories surface.
Caelan appears beside me, breathing hard. "You good?"
I nod. "Just tired."
He looks at me for a moment longer than necessary. He knows what I mean. Not tired from the fight. Tired from everything.
Those people that think I'm arrogant...
They don't know about the sleepless nights. The scars. The way my hands shake after every breach. They don't know I was cursed before I could speak. That I've been fighting monsters since I was seven, and how my heart broke every time they tore apart my love.All because I know, that if I don't defend my world from these monsters- damned souls that affect the cursed in uncountable ways, then it'll end in a catastrophe. I'm forced to bear this curse...and I've seen how it can destroy others since that incident in my past.
That I can't even share my sadness to others, except the cursed.
That's why I'm grateful for Caelan.
Dawn breaks.
The Hollow Side fades.
We wake in our beds, covered in sweat and blood. No one asks where we've been. No one knows.
They think I'm arrogant. Cold. Untouchable.
They don't know Caelan is the only person who understands.
We met in the royal gardens when we were kids. He was crying. I sat beside him. We didn't speak. We didn't need to.
We've been surviving together ever since.