The tremor was no longer just in the walls—it had spread to the sky. Outside the Hollow, storm clouds churned in unnatural spirals, forming runes that blinked in and out of existence.
Alina stepped out from the stairwell, blade now cold and humming in her grasp. Selene followed, her expression wary.
"You feel that?" she whispered.
"I feel everything now," Alina replied, voice distant.
The power of the curse had changed her. Not just her strength—but her senses, her soul. She could hear the grief of the earth, the regret of the wind, the silence of the dead.
They exited the Hollow to find the sky torn open.
But it wasn't the rift from before.
This was older.
Above the horizon, a colossal shadow moved behind the clouds, too large to comprehend. A serpent of ash and memory. The true source of the curse's origin.
Selene gripped Alina's hand. "What is that?"
Alina's voice dropped. "The one they never named. The one the Listeners feared."
A roar cut through the clouds—not sound, but feeling. Despair. Longing. And rage.
The shadow descended, pieces of it unraveling and slithering toward the ruined altar.
Suddenly, the blade in Alina's hand burst into flame.
"It has awakened," said the voice of the curse. "And it knows you've returned."
Selene pulled Alina close. "You don't have to face this alone."
Alina's eyes flared gold. "I'm not. You're my tether."
Together, they stepped forward.
The sky split.
And the ancient serpent saw its new heir.