The sky above Arclight was pale. Not the softness of dawn or the gentleness of winter, but a sickly shade like bones bleached too long in the sun. Clouds dragged themselves across the horizon in sluggish rolls, heavy with smoke and ash that never seemed to leave.
The city breathed uneasily beneath it.
Elias Ren sat by the cracked window of his apartment, knees pulled up to his chest. His pale fingers tapped restlessly against his shin, the same nervous rhythm they always carried. Below, the streets writhed with noise: merchants hawking cheap bread; children darting between rusted cars; the distant throb of sirens. The world hadn't ended, not officially, but it had collapsed into something less than living.
He had dreamt again. The same dream.
A forest of bone, endless and suffocating. Branches of ribs tangled above his head like white thorns, and roots made of vertebrae clawed through the earth. In that place, the air reeked of rot and marrow, and the only sound was the creaking laughter of something faceless.
Every time Elias woke, sweat drenched his sheets. His throat ached, as though he had been screaming in silence.
Tonight had been no different.
He pressed his forehead against the cold glass of the window. His reflection stared back at him: messy black hair falling into tired, wide eyes. Skin so pale it looked translucent. He hated mirrors. They always made him look like a ghost.
Another scream cut through the night outside. Not from his dream this time real. Elias flinched, heart lurching. Down on the corner, a woman was shouting at her child to hurry inside. The reason became clear when two armored patrol cars screeched past, red lights flashing.
Another Hollow, he thought. His stomach turned.
Hollows had been growing more frequent these past months. At first, they were just stories: rumors whispered in alleys, tales of men who swallowed glowing fragments called Seeds and returned changed. They said the Seeds either killed you outright, burning through your insides like wildfire, or transformed you into something… else.
Most never survived.
But those who did… weren't human anymore.
Some retained their minds and became Maskbearers. Dangerous, unpredictable, each with powers that twisted their bodies. Others lost everything and emerged as Hollows grotesque, unstable creatures that killed for no reason other than hunger and madness.
Elias hugged his knees tighter. He had no intention of joining either category. He just wanted to live quietly, unnoticed. But lately, it felt like the world no longer allowed quiet lives.
The next morning, Elias forced himself into worn jeans and a faded hoodie. The hood shadowed his pale features as he walked through Arclight's market district. His hands wouldn't stop trembling, so he shoved them into his pockets.
People bartered loudly at stalls; the air was thick with spices and smoke. Yet underneath the noise lay tension. Everyone avoided the soldiers who patrolled in groups of four. Everyone avoided eye contact.
Everyone knew.
Seeds were out there, circulating like contraband. Hollows appeared weekly. The city was no longer a place to grow it was a place to survive.
"Elias."
The voice was low, calm. Elias turned to see Daikin Shun leaning against a rusted lamppost. At eighteen, Daikin was tall, broad-shouldered, with short dark hair cropped close. His posture was rigid, almost military, though no uniform clung to his form. His expression gave away little, but his eyes missed nothing.
"You're late."
"I—overslept," Elias muttered.
"You always oversleep."
Before Elias could argue, another voice cut in.
"Well, at least he showed up," Selene Mori said, stepping out from behind a vending stall. Her long black hair, streaked with silver, was tied in a messy braid that bounced as she moved. Her sharp eyes glittered with mischief, and a playful smirk tugged at her lips.
Selene was Elias's opposite in every way bold where he hesitated, reckless where he trembled. She flicked a shard of glass between her fingers like a coin.
"Come on, boys," she said. "You hear the rumors too, right? Another batch of Seeds hit the underground last night."
Daikin's jaw tightened. "You shouldn't be chasing that kind of danger."
"Danger is where the fun is." Her grin widened. "Besides, aren't you curious? People say even a single Seed can change your fate. Unless you're a coward." Her gaze darted to Elias.
His stomach twisted. He wanted to deny it, to walk away, but his feet wouldn't move. Part of him was curious. Not about glory or power but about the dreams. The whispers. Maybe the Seeds had answers.
"Look," Selene said, slipping the shard back into her pocket. "There's a place we can check. No promises, but…" She leaned in, voice lowering. "They say Maskbearers gather there."
Elias's blood chilled.
The trio slipped into the city's underbelly as the sun bled toward dusk. They passed through alleys where the smell of urine and smoke mixed until it was choking. Shadows stretched long between broken streetlights.
The place Selene led them to was an abandoned factory, its windows shattered, its roof caved in. Faded graffiti covered the walls: prayers, curses, sigils that made Elias's skin crawl.
Inside, the stench of blood was unmistakable.
The trio froze. In the center of the ruined hall lay bodies. Ten, maybe more, twisted and broken as if chewed apart by machinery. Blood pooled black on the concrete. And standing over them was something Elias couldn't name.
Its limbs were too long, its joints bending wrong. Flesh peeled in strips to reveal bone glistening underneath. Its mouth gaped wider than any human jaw should, filled with teeth that clicked like knives.
A Hollow.
Elias's knees buckled. His heart pounded so hard it hurt.
The creature turned toward them, eyes like pits of tar, and screamed.
The sound wasn't just noise it was vibration, a sickening resonance that rattled Elias's ribs. His hands flew to his ears, but it didn't help. The scream lived inside his bones.
"Move!" Daikin barked, grabbing Elias and shoving him behind a rusted pillar. Selene darted the other way, pulling a shard of glass from her sleeve.
The Hollow lunged, claws scraping sparks from the concrete. It moved wrong, jerky and too fast, like a marionette pulled by broken strings.
Elias couldn't breathe. His dream flashed before his eyes bone forests, faceless laughter. His body wanted to run, but his legs wouldn't obey.
Take the Seed, a whisper hissed inside his skull. Embrace the Hollow. Become more than human.
The fight was chaos.
Daikin grabbed a length of pipe, swinging it with precision, forcing the Hollow back. His strikes were disciplined, each blow aimed at a joint or tendon. But the monster barely staggered.
Selene slashed with her shard, the glass cutting deeper than it should, like it carried a will of its own. She grinned even as blood sprayed across her cheek.
Elias cowered. His nails dug into his palms until blood dripped between his fingers. He hated himself for it, hated how useless he was. The Hollow's shriek rattled his skull, and still he did nothing.
"Elias!" Selene shouted, dodging a claw that carved a pillar like butter. "Do something!"
He couldn't. He wasn't strong like Daikin. He wasn't fearless like Selene. He was nothing.
And then
A laugh cut through the chaos.
The Hollow froze mid-lunge, as though recognizing the sound. The trio turned, their breath catching.
High above, on the rooftop of a half-collapsed skyscraper, stood a figure. His clothes were ragged, fluttering in the sick wind. His face was… wrong. Sometimes it was blurred, sometimes featureless, sometimes smiling, sometimes weeping. Looking at it too long made Elias's stomach churn.
The Hollow Harlequin.
Stories whispered his name. A man who had rejected Masks, who walked between Hollow and human, who danced with the Abyss itself.
"This…" His voice carried effortlessly across the distance, smooth and mocking, yet heavy with truth. "…is the story of how humans turn into monsters… and monsters turn into humans."
The Hollow snarled, shrinking back as though even it feared him.
"Everything is black and white…" the Harlequin continued, spreading his arms. "…but it's also gray."
And then, without ceremony, he stepped forward.
His body fell into the abyss below.
Elias stood frozen, his breath caught in his throat. The Hollow screeched again, tearing their attention back to the fight. But the Harlequin's words lingered like poison in Elias's chest.
Because for the first time in his life, he wondered if he was already halfway to becoming a monster.