Episode 11: Hollow Heart
The streets of Rhino Valley no longer felt beautiful. Sirens wailed in the distance as Pillar enforcers in white-blue tactical gear swept the arts district. The crew had barely made it back to Devonte's loft after the rooftop battle, but the illusion cover was thinning.
"We need to move again," Nathan said, packing ammo and Glimmer suppressants. "Devonte, any back routes out of the city?"
Devonte shook his head. "They're locking the bridges. But there's talk of something else out in the Burning Wastelands — about two hours east. A lone Wrathborn who's been tearing through Helsing hunter squads. Might be an ally… or another enemy."
Kevin's circuits pulsed uneasily. "Helsing?"
"Glimmer hunters," Peter grunted. "Fanatics who think all Wrathborn are abominations. They've got tech and training specifically for killing us."
The Burning Wastelands
Far beyond Rhino Valley's green hills lay a scorched hellscape of blackened earth, cracked glass dunes, and constant wildfires — remnants of an old Shattering cataclysm. Smoke choked the sky.
In the heart of this wasteland stood Damon May.
He was twenty-four, lean and wiry, with ashen skin, messy dark hair, and haunted eyes that had seen too much death. Burn scars covered his neck and arms. His chest glowed faintly beneath his torn jacket — a constant, smoldering ember where his heart should be.
Damon clutched a broken Helsing rifle, blood (not all his own) dripping from his hands. Around him lay the corpses of six elite Helsing hunters — specialized Glimmer killers in silver-and-black armor.
"They took everything…" he whispered, voice raw. "Mom. Dad. Little sister. All because we awakened weak Glimmers. Now they hunt me like a dog."
His power — Hollow — awakened the night his family was slaughtered. A burning void in his heart that consumed pain, emotion, and energy itself, turning it into devastating bursts of nullifying force.
One surviving Helsing hunter crawled backward, plasma pistol shaking. "You're a monster, May. The Hollow freak. The Pillar will pay us double for your core."
Damon's eyes darkened. He pressed a hand to his burning chest. The glow intensified.
"Hollow."
A sphere of absolute nothingness erupted from his heart. It swallowed the hunter's plasma shot mid-air, then expanded in a silent pulse. The man's armor crumpled inward as if crushed by an invisible black hole. Flesh and bone disintegrated into ash. Nothing remained but a scorched silhouette on the glass sand.
Damon fell to his knees, breathing hard. The burning in his chest never stopped. It was always there — the hollow agony of everything he had lost.
Back in Rhino Valley – Hours Later
The crew's escape convoy (two stolen vans) was ambushed on the eastern outskirts. More potion-born hunters and a squad of Helsing mercenaries working with the Pillar attacked simultaneously.
Kevin shattered a group of attackers with a Rampager blast. Peter tanked heavy fire. Nathan confused enemies with illusions. Derek and Ferrum provided heavy support. Devonte used his Echo Pulse to disrupt communications. Wyatt fought fiercely at Kevin's side.
But they were being overwhelmed.
That's when the wasteland wind carried smoke and a new presence.
Damon May emerged from the smoke like a ghost, drawn by rumors of the Rampager — the one Wrathborn the Pillar feared most.
He walked straight into the crossfire. A Helsing hunter fired a Glimmer-nullifying round at him. Damon placed his hand over his burning heart.
Hollow.
The bullet vanished into nothingness inches from his chest. Then he retaliated. A wave of hollow energy rippled outward, erasing the weapons and armor of three hunters in an instant. They screamed as parts of their bodies simply ceased to exist.
Kevin stared in shock. "Who the hell are you?"
Damon looked at the crew with empty, exhausted eyes. "Damon May. They call me Hollow. Lost my entire family to Helsing butchers. Heard the Pillar is scared of you, Rampager. If you're fighting them… I'm in."
Peter eyed him warily. "That power of yours… it's dangerous. You look half-dead already."
Damon smiled bitterly, the ember in his chest flaring. "Good. I've been dead inside since they burned my sister alive. This heart just hasn't stopped burning yet."
A massive Pillar transport ship appeared on the horizon, white-blue lights blazing. More forces incoming.
Nathan quickly wove an illusion to hide the group. "We can't fight them all here. Damon — you know the Wastelands?"
"Well enough to disappear."
The crew retreated with their new, broken ally into the Burning Wastelands under Nathan's cover. As they moved, Damon walked beside Kevin.
"The Garden Behind the Fence…" Damon muttered. "I've seen glimpses in the flames. It's not salvation. It's a mouth. And your power, Rampager… it might be the only thing that can feed it. Or seal it forever."
Kevin felt the Mythical Matrix respond to Damon's burning heart — two destructive forces recognizing each other.
Behind them, the combined forces of the Pillar and Helsing began their hunt into the wasteland.
End of Episode 11