The Silt didn't just fight. It swarmed.
Dozens of the faceless grey soldiers lurched out of the fog, swinging rusted blades that materialized from the dust. Voss was a blur of motion, his rifle barking with rhythmic precision. Every shot turned a Hollow Man back into a cloud of harmless particulate.
"They are infinite!" Voss shouted, spinning to club a soldier with the stock of his weapon. "The environment is generating them faster than I can delete them!"
"Keep shooting!" Kael roared, severing a ghost's head with his iron sword.
But the Silt wasn't the real threat.
Kael felt it before he saw it. A cold pressure, seizing his heart. It wasn't fear. It was gravity.
His obsidian arm jerked violently, dragging him to his knees.
FOUND YOU.
The voice didn't come from the air. It vibrated in his marrow.
"Kael!" Elric screamed, swinging his rebar staff at a closing circle of ghosts.
Kael couldn't answer. The world was tilting. The grey fog turned black. The sounds of battle—the rifle fire, Elric's shouting—faded into a muffled hum.
He wasn't on the Rust Plains anymore.
He was floating in the dark.
And he wasn't alone.
The Anomaly was there. It didn't look like a shadow now. It looked like a reflection. It took the shape of Kael—but a Kael made of oil and teeth. It wore his face, but the eyes were missing, replaced by weeping holes capable of infinite hunger.
You stole a piece of me, the Reflection said. It pointed at Kael's obsidian arm. Thief. Parasite.
"I didn't steal it," Kael said, his voice echoing in the void. "I was cursed with it."
A curse is just a gift you don't understand yet, the Reflection sneered. It stepped forward. Give it back.
It lunged.
Kael raised his sword to block, but he wasn't holding a sword. His hand was empty. He tried to summon the Oath-fire, but there was no warmth here.
The Reflection slammed into him, driving him down. Its hands—clawed, wet—clamped around Kael's throat.
You want to be strong? the thing whispered, its breath smelling of old copper. You want to burn the world? Let me in. I am the fire.
Kael gagged, clawing at the thing's wrists. His obsidian arm felt hot, searing hot, like it was melting.
"No," Kael choked out.
Yes, the Reflection hissed. You are empty, Kael of the Ash. You gave your memory to the Spire. You are a hollow shell. I can fill you.
It was right. He was hollow. He could feel the gaps in his soul where his childhood used to be. The Shadow poured into those gaps, thick and suffocating.
It felt... good. Powerful.
If he let go, he wouldn't have to hurt anymore. He wouldn't have to be the survivor. He could just be the weapon.
That's it, the Reflection cooed. Just sleep.
Kael's vision greyed. He stopped fighting.
Then, he heard a sound. A clicking.
Click. Whir. Snap.
The sound of a camera lens focusing.
Voss.
Real world. Elric. The First Sword.
Kael's eyes snapped open. The obsidian arm wasn't melting. It was glowing.
"I'm not empty," Kael snarled.
He drove his obsidian fist into the Reflection's face.
The impact didn't feel like flesh. It felt like hitting a bell. A massive, resonant gong that shattered the silence.
The Reflection screamed—a sound of glass breaking—and shattered into a thousand shards of darkness.
REALITY RESTORED.
Kael slammed back into his body.
He was on his knees in the Silt. Voss was standing over him, his rifle smoking, the barrel glowing red hot. The circle of Hollow Men was gone, blasted into dust.
"Cardiac rhythm returning to nominal," Voss said, sounding relieved. "I was about to administer a high-voltage jumpstart. It would have been unpleasant."
Kael gasped, clutching his chest. His arm was smoking. Not the black smoke of the Void, but steam.
"It was here," Kael wheezed. "In my head."
"It has found a connection," Voss said grimly. "Your prosthetic. It is acting as a receiver."
"Can we turn it off?" Elric asked, helping Kael up.
"No," Kael said, looking at the black hand. "But we can use it. It's a two-way street. It knows where I am..."
He looked towards the dark horizon, where the Silt grew darker, denser.
"...but now I know where it is."
He pointed. "Straight down."
The ground beneath them groaned. A crack, loud as thunder, split the dune they were standing on.
"Structural integrity failing!" Voss yelled.
"Run!" Kael shouted.
But there was nowhere to run. The Silt wasn't just cracking. It was opening. A massive sinkhole swallowed the world beneath their feet.
They fell. Again.