You don't douse a wildfire — you feed it until it devours everything.
---
3:45 A.M.
Ashless Safehouse – Below a Decommissioned Library
They believed they were safe.
They believed Hollow wouldn't come for his own dissenters.
They were wrong.
The door doesn't explode. It simply opens.
And Silas walks in.
White hair like a ghost.
Golden eyes like a god.
No mask.
Just a silenced pistol.
And a black duffel full of death.
---
3:46 A.M.
Security Footage – Grainy, Unreleased
No sound.
Just blood.
Silas moves like something inhuman.
A bullet to the chest.
A blade across a throat.
A wire strangling from behind.
One by one, the Ashless fall.
Begging. Screaming.
Some try to run.
None make it.
---
3:54 A.M.
Kai's Arrival – Seconds Too Late
He finds the bodies stacked.
Piled like forgotten ideals.
On the wall, scrawled in red spray paint:
> "SILENCE IS TREASON."
Kai drops to his knees.
> "You killed balance."
From the shadows:
> "Balance never saved anyone."
Silas steps forward, face speckled in blood. Calm.
> "They thought they could rewrite me."
"Now they're a footnote."
---
4:12 A.M.
Naomi's Apartment – Emergency Broadcast Alert
A new Hollow message floods the networks.
Silas's voice. No modulation.
> "Let it be known: there is no Hollow council."
"There is no compromise. No negotiation."
"Those who claim to speak for the fire will burn in it."
Behind his voice, images flash:
The Ashless corpses.
Their manifestos, soaked in blood.
Their faces, eyes wide in terror.
And one final phrase on the screen:
> "BELIEF DOESN'T GET TO DISAGREE."
---
5:40 A.M.
Naomi's Drive – Toward the Kill Site
She parks one block away.
Draws her gun.
Enters the building alone.
What she sees turns her stomach:
Bodies. Young. Barely adults.
Executed. Efficiently.
One girl has a phone still clutched in her dead hand.
The draft message reads:
> "We don't want to fight Hollow. We just want to survive."
Naomi stumbles back.
And whispers:
> "He's not a symbol anymore.
He's a serial god."
---
7:00 A.M.
Silas – Watching a New Generation of Fear
Across social media, the reaction is immediate:
> "The Ashless were traitors."
"Hollow is back."
"He's watching again."
But buried deep in a quiet corner of the internet:
> "He killed kids."
"He doesn't care anymore."
"This isn't justice. This is genocide."
Silas doesn't respond.
He just watches.
---
9:27 A.M.
Kai – Alone, Underground
He holds the drive he once offered Silas.
The files on the Ashless.
Their thoughts.
Their fears.
Their doubts.
He watches one video.
A girl saying:
> "I still believe in Hollow. I just think he forgot what made him powerful."
He closes the video.
And deletes everything.
---
10:12 A.M.
Naomi – At Her Old Desk
She places a single folder down.
On it: every image from the Ashless massacre.
To the officer beside her:
> "Find me anyone who still believes in him."
The officer raises an eyebrow.
> "To arrest?"
Naomi shakes her head.
> "To remind them."
---
Final Scene
Silas stares into a mirror.
He whispers:
> "I gave them truth.
They gave me worship.
Now they'll give me the world."
He picks up his knife.
And carves a new truth into the wall:
> "TRUTH FOURTEEN: DOUBT IS A SIN."
---
Final Line:
> "There are no rebels. Only fuel." — The Hollow
---