The Black Hollow remained awake long after the survivors arrived.
Torches burned across the underground chambers while armed guards moved through the stone corridors carrying messages between rooms. The atmosphere inside the ruins felt tense now. Not frightened yet.
But tense.
Word of Garron's destruction had already spread.
Dozens dead.
Two failed assaults.
An entire raiding force shattered outside Falmouth.
That alone was enough to shake people.
Daren sat near one of the lower chambers while a medic wrapped fresh cloth around his wounded arm. The pain had finally started settling in now that the adrenaline faded.
Across from him, Marrick quietly drank water beside a stone pillar.
Neither man spoke much anymore.
Honestly—
There was not much left to say.
They failed.
And somehow, despite everything they witnessed, Daren still felt like he did not fully understand what destroyed them.
One of the Hollow guards eventually approached.
