The Hollow groaned as if the entire sky were made of bones snapping under their own weight.
Chains of corruption cracked apart, scattering like burning glass. The ribs of the god bulged outward, each shudder a quake that clawed through the city's corpse.
And at the center of it all—Aelric knelt in the rubble, Elara pressed against his chest.
Her timer glitched faintly. Not numbers. Not time. Just jagged fragments of light, stuttering like a broken lantern refusing to die.
His crimson eye blazed at the sight, half with triumph, half with madness.
> [Subject: Elara Veynar.]
[Status: Expired.]
[Anomaly detected.]
[State: Half-expired.]
The System's fractured voice echoed around him. It was like listening to a machine choke on its own wires.
---
Aelric laughed. A ragged, blood-soaked sound that belonged more to a beast than a man. "Half-expired? You hear that, Elara? That means you're still half mine."
Her chest didn't rise. Her lips didn't move. But he swore—he swore on every drop of blood in his veins—that he had heard that breath before.
And if he had heard it once, he would hear it again.
---
The god thundered through the Hollow, molten voice cracking reality itself.
YOU CANNOT STEAL FROM TIME. SHE IS MINE.
Aelric lifted his head, his corrupted arm twitching violently, veins glowing like black lightning under his skin. His grin was jagged, wild.
"Then come rip her out of my hands."
He pressed his forehead against Elara's, voice lowering to a desperate whisper. "You fight me if you have to. Just don't let go. You hear me? Don't let go."
The glitch on her wrist flickered faintly, like it was listening.
---
> [Warning. Anchor (Aelric Veynar) destabilizing.]
[Corruption surge: +7%.]
[Current: 84%.]
The System screamed louder now, static and bells colliding.
> [If tether persists, Anchor will collapse.]
Aelric spat blood into the rubble and laughed again. "Collapse? Do you think I give a damn? I'll collapse a thousand times if it means she opens her eyes once more."
---
The ground lurched as the god's ribs finally shattered, molten light pouring through the cracks. Chains snapped like dying screams.
The Hollow shook itself apart. Buildings collapsed into black fire.
Aelric staggered to his feet, holding Elara against his chest with one arm, his corrupted arm whipping outward, tendrils stabbing into the ground to steady him.
His grin turned feral. "If this is where the world ends, then it ends with me cheating it one last time."
---
The Hollow lunged. Its molten body reared through the chains, a tidal wave of burning flesh and bells.
Aelric's crimson eye burned brighter. He thrust his corrupted arm into the storm, corruption colliding with divine fire.
Screams filled his head—his own, Elara's, the Hollow's, the System's—an orchestra of breaking.
And in the middle of it all, faint. So faint.
A whisper.
"…Aelric…"
---
He froze.
The world went silent. The molten light froze mid-air, his own veins stopped burning. For one impossible heartbeat, everything waited.
He looked down at Elara.
Her lips hadn't moved. Her eyes remained shut.
But he had heard it. Clearer than any System bell.
His grin broke into something almost human. Something raw. His laugh turned into a sob.
"That's it. That's all I need. Keep fighting. Don't stop. Don't stop now."
---
The System's voice stuttered again, filled with alarm.
> [Override persists.]
[Anchor sacrifice imminent.]
[Subject revival—0.7% probability.]
Aelric snarled through his teeth, forcing his corrupted veins tighter around her glitching wrist. "Then I'll push it to one hundred."
---
The Hollow roared. SHE IS MINE.
Aelric roared back, veins bursting black fire. "NOT YET!"
His tendrils lashed outward, stabbing into the Hollow's molten ribs. He poured everything into it—his curse, his blood, his seconds.
The Hollow convulsed, molten light cracking like shattered bells.
Elara's wrist flickered brighter, fragments trying desperately to form digits.
[00:—:57]
Incomplete. Fragile. But real.
Aelric's laughter shook the Hollow apart. "There you are. You've still got seconds left. Take them. Take them from me if you have to!"
---
The System's scream broke into distortion.
> [Time structure destabilized.]
[Subject state: Undefined.]
[Anchor state: Collapsing.]
But Elara's chest moved. Barely. A single shudder of breath.
It was enough.
Aelric's eyes burned, crimson fire and madness mixed with tears. He whispered against her hair, "If the world wants you dead, then the world can fight me for every second it takes."
---
The Hollow screamed louder, collapsing into fire.
And the System's bells tolled, shattering like glass.
> [Night 2 Survived.]
Remaining Nights: 1.
[Warning: Anchor corrupted beyond threshold.]
---
The rubble fell silent. The Hollow dissolved into ash.
And Aelric—bleeding, half-consumed by corruption, eyes burning with fury and hope—cradled Elara tighter, whispering into her ear even as his own body trembled on the edge of collapse.
"You're not leaving me. Not now. Not ever."
Her wrist flickered one last time.
[00:—:56]