The doorway sealed behind them with the heavy finality of a tomb. Alex and Mina stood in silence, their steps echoing in a vast chamber of black marble and polished glass. The floor was a mirror—so flawless it felt like walking on frozen water. Every surface reflected their movements, stretching their silhouettes into twisted shapes that writhed like living shadows.
The oppressive stillness pressed down on Alex's chest. It wasn't just empty; it was expectant, like a breath held for too long.
[Trial Zone: The Hollow Hall]
[Status: Memory Integrity Stress Test]
Mina scanned the walls, her blade drawn. "Feels wrong," she whispered. "Like we're inside a mind, not a room."
Alex nodded. "Not a mind. Mine."
The realization settled cold in his bones.
At the far end of the hall, a shape emerged.
It stepped forward slowly, each movement unnervingly synchronized with Alex's. It was him—a perfect copy. Same height, same posture, same scars along the jawline.
But its eyes were hollow pits, black voids swallowing all light.
[Manifestation Detected: Identity Residue Anomaly.]
[Designation: Hollow Host.]
Alex's pulse spiked as the Hollow tilted its head. Then, without a word, it began to move—mocking his stride, echoing his breathing. It was more than mimicry. It anticipated him, shifting a second before he did.
Mina circled warily. "Great. It's you, but worse."
The Hollow smiled—or something like it. Its face cracked, glitching like broken glass, revealing brief flashes of Alex's own expressions: joy, rage, despair.
"Alex," Mina said, tightening her grip on her blade. "If this is a reflection, killing it might mean—"
"I know," he muttered. "Hurting it could hurt me."
The Hollow stopped suddenly. Its voice, when it came, was a warped version of his own, layered with echoes of screams.
"Why do you keep trying to be more than you are?"
Alex stiffened. "You're not real."
The Hollow tilted its head further. "Aren't I? Every sin you buried. Every failure you hid. I'm the weight you carry—and you've been feasting on names that aren't yours. How long before they devour you?"
Mina stepped in front of Alex, blade raised. "Ignore it. It's a psychological bleed, trying to—"
The Hollow laughed. A horrible, glitching sound. "She doesn't know, does she? About what you did the night your father burned."
Alex froze.
Mina shot him a look. "What is it talking about?"
The Hollow's grin widened. "Tell her, Alex. Or I will."
Rage surged. Alex lunged.
Steel clashed against empty hands—but the Hollow moved like water, intercepting every strike with perfect precision. Every slash Alex threw, the Hollow mirrored—and matched with brutal force.
It wasn't just copying him.
It was better.
Each blow reverberated through Alex's body like he was fighting his own bones. Pain bloomed across his ribs when the Hollow struck, as if his reflection's fists were wired into his nervous system.
Mina joined the fray, her blade a blur, but the Hollow split—fracturing into multiple mirror-Alex forms, each moving in choreographed harmony.
"Alex!" Mina shouted over the chaos. "There's no winning this straight on!"
He staggered under a barrage of his own mirrored strikes. His breath came ragged, sweat stinging his eyes.
The Hollow whispered between blows: "You're weak because you cling to yourself. Let me take the weight. Let me wear your name."
Alex fell to one knee, his chest burning.
And then he understood.
"You want my name?" he rasped. "Take it."
He dropped his weapon.
Mina's eyes widened. "What the hell are you doing?!"
The Hollow paused mid-strike.
Alex spread his arms. "You're only strong because I keep fighting to prove I exist. So fine. No more proving. No more Alex Lane."
The name left his lips like a shackle snapping open.
The Hollow faltered. Its movements jittered. Its form cracked down the center like a porcelain doll.
"You… can't…" it hissed, voice shattering. "If you let go, there's no you to consume!"
"Exactly," Alex said—and drove his fist into its chest.
The Hollow screamed as its body imploded into shards of black glass, scattering across the mirrored floor like broken truths.
The silence that followed was deafening.
Mina ran to Alex, grabbing his collar. "Are you insane? You gave up your name?"
He met her gaze, his voice raw. "Names have power here. As long as I clung to mine, it controlled me. But now—" He clenched his fist, feeling the raw surge of energy from the shattered Hollow pouring into him. "—I'm more than just a name."
The system pulsed a message across their vision:
[Hollow Host Neutralized.]
[New Trait Acquired: Nameless Resilience.]
[Warning: Identity Stability at 62%.]
Alex exhaled, shaky but resolute. "We move forward. Before I start forgetting things I can't afford to."
Mina tightened her grip on his arm. "If you forget me, I swear I'll—"
A sound cut her off.
A low, hungry hiss.
The mirrored floor rippled like water.
From the fragments of the Hollow rose dozens of smaller reflections, each crawling, faceless, whispering in perfect unison:
"Nameless… Nameless… Nameless…"
The trial wasn't over.
And now, the hunger for names had multiplied.