The toll's echo rolled through the mountains like a storm that refused to end.
Every sound after it—the wind, the crunch of snow, even Aelric's ragged breathing—felt smaller, swallowed by that single, thunderous chime.
Elara tightened her grip on the dagger until her knuckles whitened. The hollows were already crawling out from the snowdrifts—shadowy shapes of cracked glass and dust, moving like they'd forgotten what walking meant.
Aelric's corrupted arm thrashed, tendrils snapping against the ground. His eyes flickered between defiance and agony. "They're faster this time…"
"Then so are we," Elara said, voice trembling but steady enough to sound brave.
He grinned weakly. "You say that every night."
"And every night, you're still alive. So maybe it works."
She said it like a joke, but her heart was pounding.
---
The first hollow lunged.
Aelric met it halfway. His pipe swung like a hammer, caving through its chest. Shards scattered into black mist, but even as it fell, another replaced it. And another.
They came in dozens—crawling from cracks in the stone, forming from air that shimmered unnaturally. The world itself seemed to tear open for them.
Elara slashed at one, ducked under another, her breath forming clouds in the freezing air. Her dagger moved quick, precise—every move learned from watching Aelric fight, but driven by her own desperate rhythm.
Aelric fought beside her, half-human, half-corruption, all fury. Every strike was followed by a pulse of black energy that shook the ground. The veins across his body pulsed brighter, feeding on the chaos.
> [Corruption Level: 81%]
He winced but didn't stop. "Stay behind me!"
"Not a chance!"
They fought back-to-back, surrounded by snow, stone, and smoke. The hollows didn't bleed—they shattered. But each one that broke left behind whispers, fragments of voices, faint echoes of laughter, pain, and names that once belonged to real people.
Elara tried not to listen.
Because among those whispers, one voice sounded almost familiar. Hers.
---
From the ridge above, Kaelen watched it unfold.
His hunters stood behind him, crossbows raised, blades drawn, waiting for the order. Their eyes reflected the eerie glow of the corruption spreading across the battlefield.
One of them whispered, "He's losing control."
Kaelen's jaw tightened. "No. Not yet. Look at his stance. He's still fighting it."
The hunter hesitated. "Sir, if we wait any longer—"
Kaelen cut him off with a raised hand. "Not yet. I want to see which side wins—the boy or the thing inside him."
The next moment, a hollow burst apart under Aelric's strike, and for a heartbeat, Kaelen's eyes softened.
"Just like your father," he murmured.
No one heard him.
---
Elara slipped on the ice. A hollow lunged at her, claws wide. She rolled aside, barely in time, but it caught her arm, ripping fabric and skin. Pain flared white-hot.
Aelric saw it.
He roared—an animal sound—and hurled his pipe through the air. It smashed straight through the hollow's head. Black shards scattered like dying stars.
But when he turned back, his eyes weren't human anymore.
For a second, Elara froze. The corruption had reached his face—veins glowing like burning roots beneath the skin. His pupils had narrowed to thin, golden slits.
"Aelric…" she whispered.
He looked at her—but the recognition flickered, weak and uncertain. His corrupted arm flexed, tendrils spreading out like claws.
> [Corruption Level: 89%]
Elara took a slow step toward him, ignoring the pain in her arm. "Listen to me. You're still here. You can fight this."
He shook his head, trembling. "I—I don't know if I can."
"Yes, you can." She lifted her dagger, not to threaten, but to steady herself. "Because if you were gone, you wouldn't be warning me."
Something in his eyes changed—a small flicker of humanity clawing its way back through the storm. He staggered back, gasping.
"Elara… run. Please."
"No!" she shouted, and then the mountain itself seemed to answer.
The ground cracked beneath them. A shockwave ripped through the snow as the hollow swarm began to merge—melding into one enormous shape.
Aelric's face went pale. "A Confluence…"
The monstrous figure rose, made of dozens of hollows fused together. It had no real shape—just limbs, faces, and screaming mouths twisting in the dark.
Elara took a step back, whispering, "We can't fight that."
Aelric clenched his jaw, dragging himself upright. "We don't have a choice."
He thrust his corrupted arm forward. The tendrils shot out, piercing the ground, spreading through the earth like roots.
> [System Override: Forbidden Technique - Shadow Inversion Initiated.]
The snow around him blackened, steam rising as corruption bled into the air. The hollows screeched, thrashing violently.
Elara shielded her face from the wind. "What are you doing?"
"Buying time," he shouted over the noise. "This thing feeds on me. So I'll feed it myself until it chokes."
---
Up on the ridge, Kaelen's eyes widened. "He's invoking Inversion…"
The hunters shifted nervously. "That's suicide."
"Worse," Kaelen muttered. "If he fails, the corruption won't just consume him—it'll spread across every shard still awake."
He drew his blade. "Enough waiting. Move in!"
The hunters descended.
---
Aelric dropped to one knee, sweat dripping into the black snow. The veins across his chest glowed like molten lines, his arm pulsing in sync with the Confluence's movements.
He was controlling it—barely. Forcing the hollows to fight each other, to devour themselves in a loop of destruction.
Elara ran to his side, grabbing his shoulder. "You can't hold it—stop!"
He gritted his teeth. "Almost… done…"
Then, before he could finish, an arrow whistled past her ear and buried itself in the ground beside Aelric.
Elara spun, eyes wide. Figures were approaching—hunters, armed and masked, their crossbows aimed directly at Aelric.
Kaelen's voice echoed from behind them. "Step away from him, Elara."
She froze. "Kaelen?"
He lowered his hood, revealing the same sharp, cold face she remembered from the old council chambers. "You've done enough. Let us end this before it spreads."
Elara shook her head, tears welling. "You don't understand—he's fighting it! He's still Aelric!"
Kaelen's expression didn't change. "So was his father. Until he wasn't."
Aelric's head lifted at that, weak but defiant. "You… knew him?"
Kaelen's eyes softened for a fraction of a second. "I trained him. I buried him. And I won't let history repeat itself."
The air grew tense. The hunters took aim. Elara stepped in front of Aelric, arms wide. "You'll have to shoot me first."
Kaelen's jaw tightened. "Don't make me do that, Elara."
"Then don't," she said quietly.
Aelric's corrupted hand touched her shoulder. "Elara… move."
"No."
"Please."
Their eyes met—and in that instant, the Confluence screamed, breaking free from his control. The entire mountain shook.
Kaelen shouted, "Fall back!"
Aelric stood, barely holding himself up. "Go, Elara. I'll finish this."
Her tears froze in the cold air. "If you do this, you'll die."
He smiled faintly, the same reckless grin she had seen a hundred times before. "Then at least I'll die fighting for something real."
And before she could stop him, he turned toward the Confluence and let the corruption loose.
The world erupted in black light.