Chapter 128 - Blood Oath

The cavern convulsed as though the Hollow itself had drawn breath. The scream that had ripped from Selena did not fade into silence it lingered, reverberating through stone and marrow until it no longer belonged solely to her voice but to the world itself. The air shook with its echo, as if her anguish had been swallowed whole by the Hollow and then exhaled again, transformed into a hymn of inevitability. Every jagged surface of rock carried the sound like a chorus, every fissure amplifying it until it no longer resembled the cry of one woman but the lament of creation itself. The walls groaned as though ancient ribs had been struck from within, trembling with an ache older than time. Sound became weight. Sound became blood. It spilled, invisible yet tangible, saturating the cavern with a vibration that threatened to tear her apart.