The false sun burned pale over Hollow City, but its warmth never reached the skin.
The streets were quiet—too quiet. Even after surviving the third night, the silence felt heavier, almost… expectant.
Elara clung to Aelric's arm as they approached the Clocktower. For the first time, its doors stood ajar. A faint hum pulsed from within, like a heartbeat waiting for them.
Aelric's corrupted arm twitched violently as they stepped closer.
"It wants us inside," he muttered. "Which means… answers or traps. Maybe both."
Elara's voice was barely a whisper.
"Do we… really have to?"
He gave her a sharp look, his eyes cold but steady.
"If we don't, we die anyway."
---
The tower's interior swallowed them in shadows. Massive gears creaked high above, each rotation slower than the last, as if time itself were rotting.
Along the spiral staircase, faded murals stretched across the stone. Elara brushed dust away with trembling hands.
"They're… people."
Aelric leaned closer. His sharp eyes caught the details—figures holding hands, gathered in circles, refusing to walk forward. At the mural's end, the same people were faceless, hollow outlines.
His voice was grim.
"They stopped moving forward. And the City erased them."
---
Halfway up, the System's chime echoed, cold and deliberate:
> [Warning: Knowledge bears weight.]
[Archive Penalty: +2% Corruption per revelation.]
Elara froze. "What does that mean?"
Aelric chuckled dryly.
"It means we're not supposed to understand. Every truth we uncover… brings us closer to being hollow ourselves."
> [Corruption Surge: +2%]
Current: 68%
The black veins crawled further across his chest, but his eyes only burned sharper.
So the System punishes knowledge too. Perfect. The game really is rigged.
---
At the top of the stairs, they entered a vast chamber. A colossal pendulum swung back and forth—except its movement was unnatural. Every swing stopped halfway, stuttered, then resumed. Time itself was breaking.
At the center of the room stood a pedestal. Upon it: a cracked hourglass.
Sand leaked upward instead of down.
Elara's breath caught. "What… is this?"
Aelric stepped forward, reading the faint script etched around it. His lips moved as he deciphered:
"Time belongs to the ones who move. To stop is to be devoured."
The words cut deep. He glanced back at Elara.
"That's the City's core law. Stagnation equals death."
---
As he touched the hourglass, visions slammed into his mind.
He saw the Hollow City alive—people laughing, living, choosing not to fight anymore. Choosing peace.
Then the sky cracked. Shadows poured in. The System's voice thundered:
Progress is law. Refuse it, and you are nothing.
The people's faces stretched into static, their bodies collapsing into silhouettes. The City was swallowed whole, reborn as a prison.
Aelric staggered back, blood dripping from his nose.
> [Archive Revelation Acquired.]
The Hollows are not monsters. They are stagnation given form.
Corruption Surge: +4%]
Current: 72%
Elara grabbed his shoulders. "Stop! If you keep going, this corruption will—"
He cut her off, his voice razor-sharp.
"If I don't keep going, we'll die blind."
---
The System chimed again.
> [New Rule Unlocked: The Pendulum Trial.]
To leave Hollow City alive, the Clock must be forced to move forward.
Failure to restart the Pendulum results in assimilation.
Elara's face drained of color. "…We have to restart time itself?"
Aelric grinned despite the blood on his lips.
"Finally, a challenge worthy of its cruelty."
---
They descended from the tower, the false sun already dimming. Night approached too quickly.
Aelric's corrupted arm pulsed violently, whispers clawing at his mind.
Why fight? Why endure? Stop moving. Rest.
He whispered back through gritted teeth:
"If stagnation is death… then I'll keep moving. Even if it kills me."
Elara looked at him, her hands trembling.
"You're not the same anymore. Every truth you find… it's eating you alive."
Aelric didn't respond. His gaze was on the horizon, where shadows already stirred.
"Then let it eat me. As long as I stay one step ahead."