The fall should have killed them.
Stone shattered, dust billowed, echoes rang for what felt like forever. But when Aelric and Elara landed, the impact was swallowed—not by earth, not by stone, but by something else.
A softness that wasn't soft. A ground that pulsed like flesh.
Elara stumbled, nearly collapsing. When she placed her hands against the floor, it rippled beneath her palms—warm, alive, breathing.
Her eyes widened, horror rising in her chest. "This isn't the city anymore…"
Aelric stood above her, shoulders heaving. Smoke curled from his corrupted arm, black flame twitching against the pale surface. His grin was jagged, thin. "No. We're inside it."
---
The Hollow wasn't darkness. Not completely.
Glowing veins of gold ran through the walls, throbbing like arteries. Every few seconds, the entire chamber shook with a heartbeat that wasn't theirs. The hymn was no longer distant—it vibrated through their bones, shaping each breath.
Offer. Surrender. Sleep.
Elara pressed her palms against her ears, but the voice was still there. "It's inside me. I can't—Aelric, I can't make it stop—"
He crouched in front of her, gripping her chin with his corrupted hand. His touch burned, but it grounded her.
"Look at me."
Her tears blurred his grin, his half-blackened face. "I'm scared."
His voice rasped, raw with smoke. "Good. That means you're still you. The Hollow wants to eat that fear. Don't let it."
---
[03 Hours : 58 Minutes Remaining]
Her timer burned red against the golden dark. The digits jumped violently, as if the system itself was breaking under the god's pull.
Aelric's grin flickered when he saw it. His corrupted eye twitched, static spilling into his voice.
"You've got three hours, maybe less. That's enough. We've killed every hour it's thrown at us, haven't we?"
She wanted to believe him. She wanted to hold onto that madness. But every heartbeat of the god beneath her feet told her otherwise.
---
They walked deeper.
The Hollow stretched endlessly, a labyrinth of veins and chambers, each one pulsing in rhythm with the hymn. Shapes moved within the walls—faces pressed against the flesh, eyes opening only to dissolve into gold.
Elara stumbled back when she saw one of them looked like herself.
Her voice broke. "That's me—"
"No." Aelric's grip tightened around her wrist. His grin sharpened, almost feral. "That's bait. It wants you to believe you're already swallowed."
She shook her head, trembling. "But what if I already am—"
He laughed—ragged, too loud. "Then I'll drag you back out, screaming."
---
[03 Hours : 42 Minutes Remaining]
The air thickened the deeper they went. Every breath burned, filling Elara's lungs with fire. Her body shook under the weight of exhaustion.
At one point she collapsed entirely. Her lantern slipped from her hand, flickering weakly on the pulsing ground.
"Aelric," she whispered, voice so faint it was almost gone. "I can't. I don't want to die here."
For a moment, his grin faltered. He crouched beside her, his corrupted arm trembling, smoke pouring from the cracks in his skin.
"You won't," he rasped. "Not while I'm still breathing."
Her tears blurred her vision. "But you're barely alive yourself—"
He leaned close, pressing his forehead against hers again. His grin returned, bloody and sharp. "Then I'll barely keep you alive with me. That's still enough."
---
The hymn changed.
It no longer sounded like voices. It sounded like her.
"Elara," it whispered, in her own tone. "Let go. End it before it hurts more."
She screamed, clutching her head. "It's me—it's using me—"
Aelric's corrupted arm lashed against the wall, tendrils ripping through golden veins. The chamber shuddered, the hymn stuttered.
His grin was pure madness. "I'm getting real tired of its mouth."
But his veins spread further across his chest. His human skin was almost gone.
---
[03 Hours : 15 Minutes Remaining]
They reached the Hollow's heart.
A vast chamber opened before them, so massive it swallowed sight. In its center hung a cocoon of light, throbbing with every beat of the god's heart. Tendrils stretched from it into every vein, feeding the city, feeding the hymn.
Elara's knees gave out. She collapsed, clutching her chest as her timer burned.
[03:15] → [03:14] → [03:13].
Her tears dripped into the living floor. "This is it. This is where it wakes."
Aelric stood tall, his grin sharp despite the blood streaming from his mouth, the smoke leaking from his eyes. His corrupted arm twitched like it had a will of its own, black tendrils writhing against the gold.
"Then this is where we hold it down."
---
She looked up at him through her tears. "You're already almost gone. You can't fight it."
His grin widened, teeth bared. "You think I haven't been gone for a long time?"
Her breath caught. He crouched, pressing his smoking forehead against hers one last time. His voice was low, broken, but steady.
"Elara. Listen. You don't have to win. You just have to last. That's the only law."
Her tears spilled over. "But what about you?"
His grin cracked, jagged and fierce. "Me? I'll break every law until it chokes on me."
---
The cocoon of light split.
A tendril burst outward, followed by another, then dozens. The god's heart screamed, a sound that shattered the air, that bent the world itself.
Elara clutched the lantern to her chest, her body trembling, her timer blazing red.
Aelric spread his arms wide, his corrupted hand snapping into a storm of black flame. His grin was wild, terrifying, magnificent.
"Come on then," he roared, smoke pouring from his throat. "You want hours? You'll choke on mine first!"
The Hollow shuddered.
And the final trial began.