The Hollowborn rose.
It stood—its body a patchwork of forgotten flesh, twisted and warped with the touch of time, of fire. Its eyes, hollowed by eternity, gazed into Kazuki's soul with something that felt too much like recognition. Recognition of the past. Of the blood. Of the curse that had followed him since the day he first held the blade.
The air around them thickened, as if the world itself was holding its breath. The stone beneath Kazuki's feet groaned in protest, the very earth shuddering under the weight of something ancient, something monstrous. Rin stood next to him, her figure tense, a shadow cast by the monstrous presence in front of them. Her eyes flickered, sharp, calculating. Every instinct screamed at her to act, to fight, but she, like Kazuki, was trapped by the enormity of what stood before them.
The Hollowborn tilted its head, the sound of bones creaking, the scrape of stone against stone echoing in the silence. Then, it spoke. But not in words—no, it was something deeper, something older, a language carved from the marrow of forgotten gods.
"My king…"
The voice—no, the voices—came not from the Hollowborn's lips but from the darkness itself, from the air that clung to its twisted form. It was a thousand voices, whispering in unison, but the weight of the words crushed the air between them.
Kazuki's pulse quickened.His throat tightened.That voice—it was hers.
His mother.The one who had screamed at him.The one whose face had burned, twisted in agony as he held the Hollowblade.
Kazuki gasped, his chest rising and falling with desperation. He wanted to run. To escape this nightmare. But his feet refused to move. His hands—already clenched around the hilt of the Hollowblade—felt like they were rooted to the earth. It wasn't just the weight of the blade; it was the weight of his past. Of the fire that had consumed everything he had ever known.
"You… you're not real," Kazuki whispered, his voice breaking. "This… this can't be real."
But the Hollowborn didn't answer.It only stared.And that stare—it felt like it could pierce through to the very core of him. To the part of him that was broken. To the part of him that knew, deep down, this was no coincidence. This was no mistake.
"You're a king," the voice repeated, the chorus of whispers now louder. "My king. My vessel."
Kazuki stumbled back, the air thick with the scent of fire and ash. He wanted to scream. To shatter the silence with the raw fury that had been building inside him for years. But he couldn't. Not yet. Not until he understood what was happening. What had happened.
"What is this?" Kazuki gasped, his voice barely a whisper. "What are you?"
The Hollowborn didn't answer. It didn't need to. Its eyes—the eyes that were nothing but empty sockets, endless voids—held more meaning than any words ever could.
The ground beneath their feet shuddered. Dust fell from the ceiling, drifting in the still air. The temple itself seemed to pulse, as if it had awakened from some long, slumbering nightmare. The walls groaned with the weight of forgotten knowledge, of ancient truths that had been buried in the ashes of time.
Rin took a step forward, her hand hovering over the hilt of her sword. Her eyes, sharp and cold, never left the Hollowborn. "Kazuki," she murmured, her voice low and dangerous, "we need to leave. Now."
But Kazuki couldn't move.Not because he didn't want to.But because something inside him was drawn to the Hollowborn, to the darkness that clung to its form like a second skin.
"You can't leave," Kaien's voice cut through the tension, smooth and cold. He stepped out from the shadows, his figure a stark contrast to the monstrous being before them. He was calm, too calm. A cruel smile played at the edges of his lips, like a predator savoring the fear of its prey.
Kazuki turned his gaze to his brother. His heart thundered in his chest. Kaien looked different now. The years had hardened him. His once-soft features were now sharp, chiseled with the kind of command that only a true ruler could carry. His robes—white and pristine, embroidered with sigils of flame and binding—glowed faintly in the low light, as if he himself were made of fire, a living embodiment of the wrath that had once consumed their world.
"You've been waiting for this," Kazuki said, the words slipping from his lips like a curse. The anger burned in him, hot and bitter. "All this time, you've been waiting."
Kaien's smile widened, and for a moment, Kazuki saw something that reminded him of the boy he once knew. Before the Hollowblade. Before everything changed. "Not waiting, Kazuki. Preparing."
"For what?" Kazuki growled, his grip tightening around the Hollowblade. "What are you planning?"
Kaien's eyes flickered to the Hollowborn, and his smile faded. "The Hollowborn are the beginning. They were created to be a weapon—an army—before the First Flame. But they were too powerful. Too dangerous. So they were locked away, buried beneath the earth, where no one could find them. No one, except you."
The Hollowborn shifted, the eerie silence that had followed Kaien's words now broken by the low hum of its breath. It was alive, waiting, its movements a grotesque dance of muscle and bone.
"Me?" Kazuki breathed. "I'm not… I didn't—"
"You're the key, Kazuki," Kaien interrupted, his voice low and filled with an unsettling calm. "You always were. The Hollowblade is not just a weapon. It's a lock, a door that opens into the abyss. And you—you—are the one who opened it."
Kazuki's world tilted.The ground beneath him swam.And for the first time, he understood. He understood what the Hollowblade was. What it had always been.
"I didn't mean to," he whispered, the words broken, fragile. He had been a boy when they put the blade in his hand. A child who had not known what it would awaken. What it would unleash.
"The gods feared the Hollowborn," Kaien continued, his voice now taking on an almost reverent tone. "They feared them because they are not gods. They are something older, something beyond death. And now—now they are awake again."
Kazuki's gaze flicked back to the Hollowborn, which had taken another step forward. The whispers around them grew louder, filling the space with their endless chanting. "My king… my vessel… we are reborn…"
And then, for a brief, horrifying moment, Kazuki saw it.The Hollowborn—its body twisted and inhuman—was not the only thing rising.There was something else inside it.Something more.
The air grew colder.The shadows deepened.The silence was shattered by a low, guttural growl.
"Rin…" Kazuki whispered, his voice hoarse. "We need to stop this. Now."
Rin stepped forward, her sword drawn. But her eyes were wide, her body tense, as if she, too, had realized the true weight of what they were facing.
"You can't stop it," Kaien said softly, almost pityingly. "None of us can. Not now."
The Hollowborn's eyes locked onto Kazuki's.And for the first time, Kazuki understood.It wasn't just watching him.It knew him.
He was its king.Its vessel.And it was hungry.