The fire had burned itself out by the time the false sun rose.
Ash choked the library air, the smell of smoke clinging to their skin.
Elara sat slumped against the shelves, her eyes swollen from exhaustion. The timer on her wrist flickered faintly, still frozen.
Aelric paced. His corrupted arm throbbed, each pulse stronger than the last. But his mind—sharp, calculating—wouldn't stop.
"Light weakens them," he muttered. "Not enough to kill, but enough to hold them back. Meaning… their nature is tied to darkness itself. Or more accurately—absence."
Elara's voice cracked.
"Absence?"
He stopped, glancing at her.
"This city… look around. Empty buildings, empty streets, empty lives. These things—" he gestured to the scorched marks on the floor, "—they're not monsters. They're absences. Hollow copies of people who used to live here."
Her breath caught. "Copies?"
He nodded grimly.
"Which means the city itself is feeding them. Every memory, every echo, turned into shadow. We're not just fighting monsters. We're fighting the city itself."
---
The System's chime interrupted.
> [Daylight: 06:00:00]
Use this time wisely.
Aelric sneered. "Always watching, aren't you?"
Elara tried to stand, wobbling on her legs. "Then… what do we do? We can't just hide every night."
He tightened his grip on his pipe.
"No. Hiding won't last. We need knowledge. If this place is a construct, there will be cracks. We find them, we exploit them."
---
They left the library, stepping into the pale light.
The city looked different in daylight. The hollow figures were gone, but the streets bore marks—scratches on the ground, shattered windows, smeared black stains where shadows had burned away.
Aelric crouched, running his fingers over the marks.
"Not random. Patterned. Almost like… a ritual."
He followed the scratches, Elara trailing nervously. The trail led to a plaza at the city's heart.
There, a massive clocktower loomed. Its hands were frozen at [12:00], the numbers half-erased, gears rusted but still humming faintly.
At its base: piles of rubble. But carved into the stone… hundreds of names.
Elara whispered.
"…A memorial?"
Aelric's eyes narrowed. "No. A record. These are the residents. And when the hollows consumed them… the city rewrote them into shadows."
---
He touched one of the names.
> [New Discovery: Archive Fragment Unlocked.]
Lore Acquired: "The Hollows were once alive. The City devoured them when they stopped moving forward."
Aelric's heart skipped.
"Stopped moving forward…"
Elara frowned. "What does that mean?"
He stared at the frozen clock.
"It means this place doesn't punish failure. It punishes stagnation. Anyone who stopped fighting, stopped enduring… the City hollowed them out."
Elara's eyes widened. "Then… if we ever give up—"
"—we join them," Aelric finished, voice grim.
---
The day waned too quickly. The countdown appeared again:
[00:10:00] until Nightfall.
They rushed back to the library, reinforcing the barricade. This time, Aelric dragged mirrors and glass from nearby shops, arranging them to reflect and spread the lantern's light.
Elara watched him, worry etched into her face.
"You're preparing like you already know what's coming."
He adjusted a shard of glass, his face unreadable.
"I don't know. But I know one thing: the second night is always worse than the first."
---
The clock struck zero.
Darkness bled across the city.
But this time, it was different.
The hollows emerged as before—shadows pooling, bodies forming. But some of them… shifted. Their shapes distorted, growing longer arms, warped jaws. Their empty outlines flickered violently, like corrupted film.
Elara gasped. "They're… changing."
Aelric's jaw clenched. "Adaptation. The System escalated them."
---
The first wave slammed into the barricade. The glass shards reflected lantern-light across the walls, splitting beams of light like knives.
The hollows hissed, shrinking from the glare—but the warped ones pressed harder, their bodies smoking but unyielding.
Elara screamed as one slammed through a window, its jagged limbs clawing inside.
Aelric swung his pipe, striking its head. The hollow burst into static—but shards of shadow clung to his arm, burning into the corruption.
> [Corruption Surge: +3%]
Current: 57%
His vision blurred, whispers flooding his head.
Let go. Become hollow. It is easier.
He grit his teeth, smashing the whispers down with sheer will.
Not yet. Not while she's alive.
---
Hours dragged on. The warped hollows attacked relentlessly, their bodies burning in the fire but never ceasing.
Elara fought too, wielding broken glass, slashing at hands that reached through cracks. Her fear never vanished—but beside Aelric, she stood firm.
Finally, as the false dawn broke, the creatures dissolved into nothing.
The System chimed:
> [Night 2 Survived.]
Remaining: 5 Nights.
---
Elara collapsed, panting. Blood streaked her arm from shallow cuts.
Aelric leaned heavily against the wall, his corrupted arm trembling violently.
"Five nights…" he muttered. "And they're already evolving."
Elara stared at him, fear in her eyes. "How long… can you really endure this?"
He didn't answer. His gaze was on the clocktower through the cracked window, its frozen hands still pointing at twelve.
But deep inside, he whispered to himself:
There's a way out. There has to be. And I'll find it before the seventh night… or die trying.