It began with silence.
Not the peaceful kind, but the silence that swallowed sound, swallowed presence, swallowed memory. The kind that made you forget why you were breathing. Or that you'd ever been alive at all.
Ruoxi shivered on instinct, even though the wind didn't blow.
"This place…" she said. "It's wrong."
They stood at the edge of the Eternal Spine, a vast ridge of broken divine vertebrae piercing the sky like a god's remains turned to stone. At its peak, a citadel hung in reverse—built downward from the stars, its walls made of starlight trapped in eternal dusk.
Yue Lian spoke without looking up. "That's where they are. The ones watching."
Lin Feng nodded once. "Let them see me coming."
And he began the climb.
Every step up the Eternal Spine drained something intangible. Lin Feng felt it before he understood it.
The first step stole his certainty. The second his intent.
By the third, Yue Lian stumbled. "I can't… remember why we're here."
Ruoxi caught her. "They're trying to erase us before we arrive."
Lin Feng clenched his fist. The Hollow Eye burned in his chest, pushing the void through his blood like cold iron.
He spoke a word not meant for this world: "Ashevaren."
And reality blinked.
Their memories returned, anchoring to Lin Feng's presence.
"I'll carry you both," he said.
They nodded.
And ascended.
At the summit waited a hall with no doors, no walls—only watchers. Each a monk in white, faces wrapped in veils of ash, floating above the floor in silent formation. Their hands never moved. Their mouths never opened.
But Lin Feng heard them.
"You trespass."
"You disturb the view."
"You will not blind us."
A final voice cut through the air.
"You cannot hide from eyes that see nothing."
Caelir stepped from behind the throne at the center, robes of voidlight cascading around him like living parchment.
"Welcome, Sovereign," he said. "Did you enjoy the Hollow?"
Lin Feng's voice was sharp. "Did you enjoy running?"
Caelir laughed. "Oh, I didn't run. I ascended. While you played king, I became their chosen."
He gestured, and the monks raised their hands.
Reality fractured.
The monks did not attack with power.
They attacked with clarity.
They revealed Lin Feng's most hidden thoughts.
They showed Yue Lian a world where she betrayed her sister.
They showed Ruoxi a future where Lin Feng turned tyrant.
And then… they made those futures real.
Yue Lian cried out, frozen as her hands turned red with imagined blood.
Ruoxi dropped her blade, whispering "It's not true…"
Lin Feng staggered. His own mind filled with memories that had never happened—but felt truer than real ones.
Caelir smirked. "They don't lie. They simply see."
He fell to one knee. The Hollow Pact flared—useless here.
The watchers chanted.
He saw himself on a throne of skulls. Ruoxi chained beside him. Yue Lian dead at his feet.
He whispered, "No. I… choose."
And from within him, a voice replied.
Not one of the Keys. Not one of the Hollow Kings.
A voice older.
"Then unsee."
Lin Feng stood.
And closed his eyes.
He unshackled himself from sight.
And in doing so, made their vision meaningless.
He struck with his eyes shut, guided by memory, will, and void.
One by one, the monks faded.
Caelir screamed.
"No! You can't fight what you don't see!"
Lin Feng raised his blade.
"I don't need to see. I remember."
And he cut.
The Citadel collapsed.
The sky dimmed.
Caelir's body dissolved—but not his voice.
"You think you've won? You think blindness is power? The true Seers have not awakened. But they will. And they remember you."
He vanished.
Ruoxi collapsed into a sitting position. "That... was the worst hallucination I've ever had."
Yue Lian shook. "I saw… myself. Doing things I never would."
Lin Feng sat down beside them.
"They showed us what we fear we are," he said.
"And what if one day… it's not just fear?" Yue Lian asked.
Lin Feng didn't answer.
Above them, clouds formed an eye.
Watching.
Waiting.
To be continue...