The Hollow breathed with him now.
Kael moved quietly, each step softened by the dense moss and ash-veiled soil, the silence stretching wide between the trees like a memory unwilling to be spoken aloud. The deeper he walked, the more the Hollow unraveled itself—not outward, but inward, as though the land had been grown around grief rather than the other way around.
Twice, the wind carried a sound that did not belong to him.
Once, the crunch of leaves.
Once, a voice—small, boyish, and wondering.
"Kael?"
He stopped.
No one.
Only the great trunks of fire-burned trees and the glint of moisture pooled between their roots. His reflection shimmered in one of the puddles. Not his face. Not exactly. Older. Sadder. Eyes he didn't recognize.
[System Notification]:Warning. Core reality signature desynced. Chrono-emotional bleed detected.
[…Error Parsing:]"REMEMBERME_REMEMBERME_REMEMBERME"
The words bled into each other on the interface, their edges flickering in and out like static caught between frequencies. He blinked, and the message was gone.
But the feeling wasn't.
There was something in this Hollow watching him.
No. Remembering him.
He reached a wide clearing wrapped in thorned roots—interwoven as if to guard something. At its center, a stone ring lay partially sunken in the earth. Ash and soil had crept into its grooves, but symbols still pulsed faintly beneath the surface.
He knelt beside it.
Three glyphs. One meant "child." Another, "home." And the last—
He hesitated.
"Fall." Or maybe… "lost."
His hand hovered above it, uncertain.
[System: Passive Echo Detected]Origin: Unrecovered Sleeping HeartDesignated Codename: "Unknown_Entity_7"Behavioral Profile: Protective. Recurring presence. Not hostile.
Kael frowned.
"Then why does it feel like he's afraid of me?" he whispered aloud.
The clearing answered with stillness. Except… not entirely.
A small rustle behind him.
Kael turned. Nothing.
But in the far thicket, a boy-sized silhouette lingered—too still to be wildlife, too ethereal to be real. Not threatening. Just… waiting.
When Kael stepped forward, the figure vanished like breath on glass.
Later, by a dying campfire he didn't remember lighting, Kael stared into the flames. Not because he feared the Hollow. Not tonight.
But because he feared what it remembered about him.
The dreams returned in fragments now—Elijah. A burning palace. A crown dropped in blood. And a hand reaching through smoke, smaller than his own, gripping his sleeve—
"You promised you'd stay."
He woke before he answered.
The next morning, Kael stood at the edge of the Hollow, uncertain whether he had learned something… or lost it.
Behind him, the clearing had grown quiet again. Too quiet. Like someone was holding their breath.
Ahead, the sky shimmered pale and silver.
His next step was forward.
But somewhere behind, the earth whispered a name that wasn't his.