The roar thundered across the mountains, so powerful that the trees themselves bent beneath its force.
Frank dropped to one knee, gripping the artifact as blinding light poured from the cracks beneath the gate. The energy pulsing through the ruins felt ancient… alive.
Elara rushed to his side. "Frank!"
"I'm fine," he muttered, though his voice sounded strained even to himself.
Another tremor shook the ground.
The massive stone doors began to open.
Slowly.
Grinding against centuries of dust and forgotten time.
Beyond them lay only darkness.
But something inside was moving.
Rhea's face had gone pale. "This can't be happening…"
Frank looked up sharply. "What is down there?"
Rhea hesitated.
Then finally whispered, "The first creation of the artifacts."
Even Caelum turned serious.
"The Ancients called it the Hollow King."
The name alone sent a chill through the air.
Elara frowned. "A king?"
"No," Rhea said quietly. "A weapon."
The darkness beyond the gate shifted.
Then two enormous glowing eyes opened deep within the ruins.
The pressure that followed nearly crushed the air from Frank's lungs.
Instinct screamed at him to run.
But instead, the artifact reacted.
Golden energy exploded from its surface, surrounding Frank and Elara in a protective aura.
The glowing eyes narrowed.
It had noticed them.
Suddenly, a colossal hand slammed against the inner walls of the gate.
Stone shattered instantly.
A creature emerged piece by piece from the darkness—towering armor fused into blackened flesh, glowing cracks running across its massive body like molten veins. Chains hung broken from its arms, dragging across the ground with deafening weight.
The Hollow King had awakened.
Villages would have called it a god.
Armies would call it extinction.
Elara stared upward in horror. "How do we fight something like that?"
Caelum stepped forward calmly, shadows swirling around him.
"We don't," he said. "Not directly."
Frank's eyes narrowed. "You knew this would happen."
"I knew the vault would open." Caelum glanced toward the creature. "But it awakened sooner than expected."
The Hollow King released another roar.
A shockwave burst outward, destroying part of the forest behind them.
Frank immediately grabbed Elara before debris could hit her.
Rhea shouted over the chaos. "If it fully breaks free, the entire region is doomed!"
The artifact in Frank's hand pulsed rapidly.
Then a voice echoed inside his mind once more:
Synchronize completely… or perish.
Frank froze.
Completely?
Before he could process the warning, the Hollow King moved.
For something so massive, it was terrifyingly fast.
Its giant arm swung toward them.
"MOVE!" Caelum yelled.
The group scattered just as the impact obliterated the ground where they had stood moments earlier.
Frank rolled across broken stone, coughing through dust and smoke.
Elara pointed toward the creature's chest. "There! That crystal!"
Embedded deep within the Hollow King's torso was a massive glowing core—similar to the shadow remnants they had fought earlier.
Frank realized instantly.
"That's its heart."
Rhea nodded grimly. "Destroy it, or nothing else matters."
The Hollow King suddenly raised both arms.
Dark energy gathered above the ruins, forming hundreds of glowing spears in the sky.
Elara's eyes widened. "Frank…"
He looked upward.
There were too many.
Even Caelum seemed alarmed.
Then the spears fell.
And the battlefield vanished beneath a storm of destruction.