The gateway to the Hollow Realm stood atop the Celestial Spire—an ancient monolith lost among floating isles and torn skies. Few dared approach it. Fewer returned. It was a fracture between dimensions, a wound in the world where time twisted and souls unraveled.
But Jin Long stood at its base, his hand pressed to its weathered runes.
Behind him, Yue Lan adjusted her robes, the wind tugging at her silver-bladed spear. Beside her, Valen cracked his knuckles, embers dancing in his palms.
"This place reeks of forgotten gods," Valen muttered. "Why are the strongholds of power always built in places that want to eat your soul?"
"Because true power never comes without sacrifice," Yue Lan replied, her eyes meeting Jin Long's. "Are you sure this is the path?"
Jin didn't answer with words. Instead, the Genesis Core pulsed at his chest, releasing a wave of light that flowed into the gate. The monolith trembled. Its runes ignited, forming a spiraling vortex of violet and gold—a doorway to the Hollow Realm.
They stepped through.
At once, the world bent.
The sky was a swirling sea of mirrored fragments, reflecting their memories, fears, and dreams. The ground shimmered like glass, and islands of reality floated in an endless void, connected by bridges of thought and willpower.
The Hollow Realm was alive—and watching.
Jin Long stumbled as he stepped onto a bridge of shifting light, disoriented by the voices whispering through his mind.
"You are not worthy."
"She will fall because of you."
"You will become Zhan Wuhen."
He clenched his fists, pushing forward.
Suddenly, a scream echoed from a nearby fragment—a piece of shattered reality shaped like a temple. Figures clad in robes of glass and ink stood over a burning altar, dragging a chained boy toward it.
"That's not just a vision," Yue Lan whispered. "That's real."
Without hesitation, Jin leapt into the fragment.
They landed on broken stone. Flames licked the air, and the robed cultists turned in unison, hollow eyes glowing. The chained boy looked up—his eyes were silver like starlight.
"Help… me…" he croaked.
Valen blasted one cultist with a torrent of fire. Yue Lan's spear flashed as she danced through the enemies, her form a blur. Jin Long rushed the altar, his blade meeting a robed leader's in a crack of energy.
"You do not belong here!" the leader snarled. "The boy is the Mirrorborn—his soul opens the Temple!"
"Then he lives," Jin growled, driving his blade through the man's chest.
With the last cultist down, the burning altar extinguished itself. The boy collapsed into Jin's arms, trembling.
"Who are you?" Jin asked softly.
The boy looked up, and for a moment, something ancient flickered behind his eyes.
"My name… is Kael. I was born from a prophecy. And I know where Zhan Wuhen is heading."
Jin exchanged a glance with Yue Lan and Valen.
They hadn't just crossed into another realm.
They had entered the beginning of the final war.