The silence broke.
Not with thunder. Not with screams.
With a breath.
The cracked cocoon inhaled, and the void itself bent with the sound. Every floating fragment of stone tilted inward, pulled by a force that felt older than language. Elara's ears popped. Her lungs froze. It wasn't air that filled the Hollow—it was weight.
Her wrist burned.
[00 Hours : 41 Minutes Remaining]
The digits seared so bright she wanted to tear her skin off.
She gasped, clutching her arm, panic rising like bile. "It's feeding on me—"
Aelric's laugh cut her off, ragged but alive. "Good. That means it notices you."
Elara whipped toward him. His body looked worse than before—black tendrils crawling higher up his neck, veins glowing faintly crimson beneath torn flesh. And yet… his grin remained, jagged, sharp, defiant.
"How—how are you still joking?" she whispered, shaking.
He tilted his head, coughing blood onto his chest. "Because fear's a leash. And I don't like leashes."
---
The cocoon exhaled.
The void screamed.
A gale of golden ash burst outward, sweeping the Hollow. The ground splintered beneath Elara's knees, cutting her skin. Her hair whipped wildly around her face, eyes stinging.
She looked up—and saw it.
A hand.
The cocoon split wider, and from its molten light emerged something vaguely shaped like fingers. But they were wrong—each joint bent in too many directions, each nail curved like glass, each vein glowed with rivers of light. The hand pressed outward, grasping against the veil of stone and void.
Elara's blood turned to ice. Her chest seized, her timer shrieking.
[00 Hours : 39 Minutes Remaining]
"No," she choked. "It's… it's waking. It's really waking—"
Aelric's tendrils lashed out, piercing stone fragments, anchoring him deeper. His corrupted arm throbbed, veins bulging black. His voice was a snarl now, beast and man overlapping.
"Then we hold it back. One second at a time."
---
Elara's hands shook violently. The broken lantern shards still burned faintly in her palms, but the warmth was fading. She could barely breathe, every inhale scraping like glass.
"Aelric," she whispered, tears streaming. "What if seconds aren't enough? What if we're too small?"
He turned his good eye to her. Despite the ruin of his face, his grin softened—not mocking, not sharp. Just… human.
"Then we die loud enough the world remembers."
Her heart cracked. She wanted to scream at him, hit him, beg him not to say things like that. But the words lodged in her throat.
Instead, she crawled closer, pressing herself against his side. Her trembling hand covered his corrupted one. It pulsed under her touch, hot, violent, wrong—and yet she held it tighter.
"Then don't you dare die without me," she whispered.
Aelric barked a laugh, blood flecking his lips. "Deal."
---
The cocoon shuddered again.
Another hand pressed outward. Then a face.
It wasn't human. Not even close. Its features bent and shifted as though refusing to settle—one moment too many eyes, the next too few, skin splitting like molten stone. But beneath the horror, Elara felt something worse: recognition. Like her blood knew this thing. Like every clock in every wrist across the world was bound to its breath.
Her timer flared, numbers racing.
[00 Hours : 37 Minutes Remaining]
She sobbed, clutching Aelric tighter. "It's draining me—I can't—"
"You can," Aelric snarled, cutting her off. His voice was sharp, unyielding. "You're still here. That's enough."
"But—"
"No buts," he snapped. His corrupted arm lashed, stabbing a stone shard and hurling it into the cocoon's glow. The impact sparked like fireworks, barely a scratch against the thing inside—but his grin widened anyway. "See? Even gods can bleed."
Elara's eyes widened. "That's not—"
"Shut up and believe it!"
His voice roared, defiance echoing louder than the void's pulse.
And for a moment—just one—Elara did.
---
The cocoon split further.
A wave of molten light cascaded outward, sweeping both of them. Elara screamed as her skin seared, her timer blazing so bright the digits blurred.
She fell forward, collapsing against Aelric's chest. Her tears burned down her face. "I'm sorry—I can't—"
Aelric's tendrils wrapped around her, holding her upright. His voice dropped to a whisper, raw, almost broken.
"Borrow my seconds, then."
She froze, eyes wide.
He pressed his forehead to hers, black fire flickering violently around his ruined body. "If yours are running out—take mine. Take everything. Just don't stop."
Elara's lips trembled. Her heart screamed. She wanted to refuse, to tell him no, to fight him. But his gaze—his one remaining human eye—pleaded with her.
And she realized… he wasn't offering. He was already giving.
Her timer flickered. The glow dimmed—just slightly—but it slowed.
[00 Hours : 38 Minutes Remaining]
She gasped, staring at him. "You… you gave me—"
Aelric's grin cracked wider, blood painting his teeth. "Told you. Steal every second you can."
Her tears fell harder. She pressed herself against him, clutching his ruined body like it was the only thing keeping her sane. "Then don't vanish on me."
His voice was hoarse, fading, but steady. "Drag me back. Like you promised."
---
The void roared again.
The god's head pressed further out of the cocoon, light spilling like an ocean. Its breath shook the Hollow, rattling the very marrow in their bones.
Elara's timer still ticked.
[00 Hours : 36 Minutes Remaining]
But she no longer stared at it in terror.
Not while her stolen seconds burned with Aelric's.
Not while his voice still laughed in her ears.
Not while they stood between the world and a god's first breath.