Echoes Beneath the Ruins
The journey to the tomb took three more days.
The mountains of the Sky Province were cruel — steep cliffs, thin air, and icy winds that whispered voices at night. Tsukihana traveled beside Renjiro in silence for most of the trek. He didn't speak unless he had to, and when he did, it was never about himself.
She wanted to ask more about Akarui. About the truth. About what really happened fifteen years ago.
But every time she looked at Renjiro's face, she saw pain behind his calm eyes.
It wasn't the kind of pain that cried. It was the kind that never left.
Day Four – The Edge of the Forgotten City
At last, they reached the high ridge that overlooked a vast, shattered ruin buried in snow.
Tsukihana stepped to the edge, pulling her cloak tighter.
Beneath them, stone towers jutted out like bones from the earth. Half-collapsed buildings, broken bridges, and crumbled statues stretched across the frozen valley. A heavy fog rolled between the wreckage, swallowing the lower levels in mist.
"This was once the capital of the Sky Province," Renjiro said behind her. "Before the war."
Tsukihana glanced at him. "What happened to it?"
"Same thing that happens to every place that touches the Hollow Vein," he replied quietly. "It fell."
He led her down the winding path into the ruins. As they descended, Tsukihana noticed strange carvings along the walls — symbols she had never seen before. Spirals within spirals. Veins shaped like snakes. Eyes with no pupils.
They weren't just warnings.
They were seals.
At the base of a broken tower, Renjiro stopped.
"This is the place," he said. "The Tomb of Empty Names."
Tsukihana stepped closer. The entrance was half-buried under ice, with a stone door taller than a house. Strange metal chains hung from it, wrapped in ancient script.
"Can we open it?" she asked.
"We shouldn't," Renjiro said. "But we will."
He placed his hand on the center of the door and closed his eyes. The air around them shimmered. The symbols on the door glowed — and then began to unravel like threads being pulled loose.
Tsukihana felt the change immediately. The ground vibrated beneath her boots. The energy in the air thickened. Cold. Hollow.
With a rumbling groan, the door slid open.
Darkness waited inside.
Inside the Tomb
The tunnel beyond the door sloped downward, deeper than the mountain's heart. The walls pulsed faintly, as if alive. Faint whispers echoed around them, too soft to understand, but impossible to ignore.
Tsukihana kept one hand on her dagger. "I don't like this."
"No one does," Renjiro said. "That's how you know it's working."
They reached a wide chamber lit by dim, unnatural light. Veinlines glowed across the floor — not white or gold like the other provinces, but black and violet, moving like smoke.
In the center of the room stood a single stone coffin.
No name.
No mark.
Just chains wrapped tightly around the slab — pulsing with seals and old blood.
Tsukihana stepped forward slowly. "Is he in there?"
Renjiro didn't answer right away.
Then finally: "He was."
She turned sharply. "What do you mean?"
"I came here two years ago. Hoping to speak to him. Hoping he'd answer."
"And?"
Renjiro clenched his jaw. "The coffin was empty when I opened it."
Tsukihana's breath caught. "Then where is he now?"
"I don't know."
They stared at the sealed tomb in silence.
Then Tsukihana asked, "What happened to him, Renjiro? What happened after the sealing?"
Renjiro sat on a cracked pillar and looked up at the ceiling. "Akarui didn't die sealing the Hollow Vein. He merged with it. Became part of it. That's why the world was spared — for a while. But power like that doesn't just stay buried. The Hollow Vein wanted to survive. So it used him."
"Used him?"
"He was already broken," Renjiro said. "After the war, after losing… everyone, something inside him changed. The Vein whispered to him. Promised him peace. Promised him purpose."
Tsukihana's eyes narrowed. "And he believed it?"
"He didn't have anything else to believe in."
She stepped closer to the tomb, her fingers brushing the stone. It felt warm — like a heart still beating beneath the surface.
Suddenly, the chains rattled.
She jumped back.
Renjiro stood. "Something's wrong."
The air shifted.
The light dimmed.
From the far corner of the room, a shape stepped out of the shadows — tall, cloaked, and faceless.
Veins glowed on its body — but they shifted constantly, never staying the same.
Tsukihana whispered, "Mirror Veins…"
But this one was different. Its energy didn't pulse like hers. It hissed. Wild. Unstable.
Renjiro drew a short blade from his side. "It's one of the Originals."
"Originals?"
"The first Mirror Vein users," he said. "Created during the final months of the Hollow War. Not born… manufactured."
The figure raised its hand — and three more figures stepped from the darkness.
Each one different.
One had no arms, but blades grew from its back. Another floated off the ground, its body stitched from ash. The third was child-sized, but its eyes glowed with cold fire.
Tsukihana's heart pounded.
"They were waiting here," she said. "Why?"
Renjiro's voice was grim. "Because they were never meant to leave. This tomb wasn't built to keep Akarui in…"
He raised his blade.
"It was built to keep them down."
Cliffhanger Ending
Suddenly, the child-like figure stepped forward and spoke in a voice that was not its own — a voice that echoed across the room, low and full of rage.
"She has it."
The others turned to Tsukihana.
"The last fragment. The Hollow core."
Her body tensed as her arms began to glow, purple veins pulsing uncontrollably.
Renjiro's eyes widened. "Tsuki… run!"
But the chains snapped.
And from behind her, the stone coffin cracked open — slowly — as black mist poured out.
A voice whispered from within.
"You should not have come here."