The cocoon split like a wound.
Light bled into the Hollow, searing, merciless. Stones floated upward, bending toward the fracture in the sky. The air itself turned heavy, pulling Elara down like chains. She gasped, clawing at her chest.
Her timer flared:
[00 Hours : 35 Minutes Remaining]
She whimpered, clutching Aelric's sleeve. "It's—draining me—again—"
Aelric spat blood, his grin feral. "Good. Means it's real."
He planted his corrupted arm into the ground. Black tendrils ripped through the stone, anchoring them both as the god's first step pressed into existence.
---
The hand emerged fully.
It wasn't a hand—it was a cathedral of flesh and light, joints bending in too many ways, veins glowing like rivers of suns. Each finger ended in a nail shaped like glass knives. When it flexed, the Hollow's entire foundation cracked.
Aelric laughed through the blood on his lips. "Big bastard, aren't you?"
Elara's throat seized. "Aelric, we can't fight that—we can't—"
His good eye burned like fire. "We don't fight gods."
Her heart stuttered. "Then what—?"
"We mock them."
---
The god's face pressed forward, features shifting, melting, impossible to pin down. Too many eyes, then none. Too wide a smile, then no mouth at all. But beneath the chaos, Elara felt recognition—her timer was bound to it. Her life was chained to its breath.
The voice came.
Not sound—weight.
YOU ARE TIME'S WASTE.
Her ears bled. She screamed, collapsing onto her knees. Her digits blazed:
[00 Hours : 32 Minutes Remaining]
She sobbed, clutching her arm. "It's killing me—Aelric, I can't—"
His corrupted arm lashed, tearing stone from the ground. With a snarl, he hurled it into the god's hand. The impact was a spark against a sun, but it rang, echoing through the Hollow.
Aelric's grin widened. "You feel that, don't you? Even you can bleed."
The god's many-eyes blinked. The air screamed.
---
The hand descended.
Not a swing. Not a strike. A falling sky.
The palm pressed down toward them, crushing the Hollow itself beneath its weight.
Elara's panic broke. She clutched Aelric's chest, tears flooding. "We'll be crushed—we can't stop that—"
Aelric's laugh was sharp, manic. "Then we move sideways."
His corrupted tendrils exploded outward, lashing across the Hollow like grappling hooks. He grabbed Elara and pulled them both as the hand smashed down.
The ground shattered. Waves of molten light rippled outward, vaporizing stone.
They slammed into a wall of broken clockwork, Aelric's body taking the brunt. Bones cracked. He spat more blood, chest heaving.
"See?" he wheezed. "Not so tough."
Elara screamed, shaking him. "You're dying!"
He grinned wider. "Already was."
---
The god's voice shook the void.
YOU ARE ALREADY DEAD.
Elara's timer flared brighter, burning her skin.
[00 Hours : 30 Minutes Remaining]
She shrieked, clawing at it, as though she could tear the digits off. "It's true—it's true—I'm—"
"NO."
Aelric's voice cut her like steel. His corrupted hand seized her chin, forcing her to look at him. His grin was jagged, his eye burning.
"You're not dead until I bury you. Got it?"
Her tears streamed harder. "I can't—I can't breathe—"
"Then steal mine."
She gasped as his corruption pulsed. Seconds bled from him into her, numbers flickering on her wrist.
[00 Hours : 31 Minutes Remaining]
She choked. "You—again—you gave me—"
Aelric barked a laugh, even as blood dripped from his teeth. "Steal everything. Just stay loud."
---
The god's second hand tore free. It reached outward, not at them—but at the city.
Elara screamed as the horizon cracked, towers collapsing into molten light. The Hollow bled open, revealing distant shadows—millions of death clocks extinguishing all at once.
The god wasn't fighting them. It was feeding.
Her timer plunged.
[00 Hours : 28 Minutes Remaining]
She screamed, voice raw. "It's eating us all—it's drinking every second—"
Aelric's body shook violently. Corruption surged higher, veins pulsing red-black fire. His grin twisted into a snarl.
"Then we starve it."
---
He slammed his corrupted arm into the ground. Black tendrils ripped outward like roots, stabbing into the Hollow's foundation. The corruption spread, fighting the golden light. For a moment, black fire collided with molten divinity.
The Hollow shook.
Elara grabbed his shoulders. "You're killing yourself—stop—"
He laughed, eyes wide. "I told you, Elara. I don't play fair."
The god's many-eyes focused.
The voice roared:
YOU ARE CORRUPTION. RETURN TO ME.
Aelric screamed. His body convulsed, corruption tearing through him like wildfire. He staggered, dropping to his knees, tendrils thrashing wildly.
Elara grabbed him, desperate. "No—NO—you're not hollow—you're YOU—"
His good eye flickered, unfocused. The whispers surged in his ears.
You've always been ours.
He almost broke.
Almost.
Then her voice cut through the static:
"Aelric! If you give in—I die too!"
His eye snapped wide. His grin returned, bloody, savage.
"Then guess I'll never give in."
With a roar, he forced the corruption outward, stabbing his tendrils deeper into the cocoon's light. Sparks erupted. The god's hand faltered, light sputtering.
Elara gasped. "You hurt it—!"
Aelric coughed blood, smiling madly. "Told you. Even gods can bleed."
---
The cocoon split wider.
The god's head pressed fully through. Its breath shook every clock in existence.
Elara's timer plunged again.
[00 Hours : 25 Minutes Remaining]
Her tears blurred her sight. But Aelric's ruined grin burned in front of her, defiant, insane, alive.
And for the first time, she believed him.
Maybe gods really could bleed.