The walk back down the mountains was silent.
Ezra moved first. Rei limped behind him, her hood pulled low, face pale beneath the bruises. The wind howled through the jagged cliffs of the Black Spine, carrying the scent of mana-burned air and scorched blood.
Hollow Mercy was different now.
The third Gem Slot had awakened. Space. The blade shimmered faintly every time his thoughts drifted. Sometimes it would pulse in sync with his heartbeat. Other times, it beat on its own, like a heart that belonged to something else entirely.
He hadn't told Rei, but Hollow Mercy was whispering now.
Not words.
Not commands.
Just… hunger.
Every time Ezra blinked, he saw moments. Folds in space. Cracks in time. Images that didn't belong to him: gates that hadn't opened yet, people he hadn't met, cities that hadn't burned—yet.
"Stop," Rei muttered, her voice barely above the wind. "I need a break."
Ezra paused beneath a twisted obsidian outcrop. He didn't say anything, just knelt beside her and offered a canteen.
Rei took it with shaking fingers. "We should've died in there."
"We didn't."
"You keep saying that like it's enough."
Ezra turned his gaze to the trail behind them, now swallowed in grey fog.
"I'm starting to think survival's the punishment."
Rei didn't answer right away.
Then: "When we get back, we need to find somewhere to rest. Not hide. Rest. You're burning through yourself. I see it."
Ezra opened his mouth to reply—
And froze.
Something shifted in the air.
The world went quiet.
[Warning: Domain Detected]
Class: Sovereign-Level Construct
Affiliation: Unknown – Codename Match: Veil Court
Ezra's skin prickled.
Rei dropped the canteen. "What the hell was that?"
Before he could answer, the fog parted—not like wind, but like a curtain pulled by invisible hands.
A figure walked through.
They didn't crunch leaves or kick gravel. They didn't move so much as glide—a woman wrapped in robes the color of ash and starlight. Her skin was dark, smooth, unmarred. Her eyes were glowing pinpricks of gold set in sclera black as void. Behind her trailed two others—tall, veiled, utterly silent.
She stopped ten feet away.
The air around her bent.
[Name: Antevya, Warden of the Third Veil]
Title: Dreamcaller | Authority Level: Sovereign-Equivalent
Affiliation: Veil Court – First Seat
Objective: Acquisition or Elimination of Hollowborn Entities
Ezra's grip tightened around his scythe.
"Who are you?"
The woman tilted her head slightly.
"I am the voice between waking and forgetting," she said, her voice musical, strange. "I speak with the consent of the Veil. I have come… for you."
Rei drew her blade. "Try it."
Antevya smiled softly. "I will not harm you, little knife. You are not yet on the list."
Ezra stepped forward. "You didn't answer my question."
"No," Antevya said, "I didn't."
The Veil Court
They hadn't been heard from in decades.
Not since the post-Surge purges. The Veil Court had claimed neutrality—neither Guild nor criminal, neither Order nor rebellion. They were a shadow faction said to serve the balance between system and soul. Half myth. Half execution squad.
Now they stood in front of Ezra. Real. Radiating Sovereign-tier power.
"You have claimed three Gems," Antevya said. "You now possess a weapon that once silenced an entire world. The last time it was seen, we lost half the First Line."
Ezra's jaw clenched. "I'm not my mother."
"No," she agreed. "You're more volatile. Less contained. The world has begun to notice you. That cannot be undone. Only shaped."
Ezra watched her eyes carefully. "What does the Court want?"
She raised one hand.
"Submission."
Ezra's undead twitched behind him. Gravetusk growled low, its soul-infused plates shimmering beneath its rotting hide.
Antevya's robes fluttered without wind.
"Join us. We will give you answers. Resources. Paths to the remaining Gems. Control over your weapon's hunger. And when the time comes, you will kneel at the Grand Eclipse and choose the fate of the Hollow Line."
"And if I refuse?"
Antevya's smile vanished.
"Then we send others."
Rei took a step forward. "Send all you want. He doesn't kneel."
"Careful," Antevya said, without looking at her. "You speak on behalf of a man who hasn't yet decided."
Ezra studied her. The way she moved. The way her words landed. She wasn't threatening—she didn't have to. She knew power, because she was power.
He looked at the sky.
Then at Rei.
And then back at Antevya.
"I don't kneel," he said quietly. "Not to Guilds. Not to monsters. Not to myths wrapped in velvet."
Antevya sighed.
"Then the world will bleed."
She raised her hand.
The Veil around her shimmered.
[Domain Expansion Detected – "Sanctum of Sleep"]
Ezra felt the pressure begin to crush his lungs.
But then—
The Bone Rat leapt.
It howled, a sound no undead should ever make—a sound so full of defiance and rage it cracked Antevya's Domain mid-form.
Ezra's scythe reacted on instinct.
[Chrono Rift – Triggered]
Time twisted.
Ezra and Rei blinked fifteen feet away as the Domain collapsed in on itself, shattering like a dream denied.
Antevya stumbled back.
She didn't scream. She just looked… surprised.
The Bone Rat landed beside Ezra, half-burned from mana backlash, and hissed again.
Ezra caught his breath.
Rei was bleeding from one ear. "We can't win this."
"Not today."
He turned to Antevya.
"Tell your Court something for me."
She tilted her head again.
Ezra's voice was ice.
"I don't belong to the system. I don't belong to the Surge. I don't even belong to death. I belong to every second this world abandoned the weak and crowned the cruel."
He lifted Hollow Mercy.
"I'm the inheritance they thought they buried."
Antevya's lips twitched. Almost a smirk.
"Then I look forward to your rebellion, Ezra Vale."
She vanished in a blink of light.
Aftermath – The Cave Beneath the Ridge
They didn't speak for hours.
Rei sat beside a dying fire inside a hollowed cave, breathing heavily, her hands still shaking.
Ezra sat with his back against the wall, Hollow Mercy across his knees.
The Bone Rat slept beside them, chest rising shallowly. It had saved them. Again.
"How long before they come again?" Rei finally asked.
Ezra didn't look up.
"Not long."
"You could've said yes."
"I could've."
"But you didn't."
Ezra exhaled.
"I'm not looking to join another chain."
Rei shifted closer.
"You think you're still in control?"
Ezra met her eyes. "Aren't I?"
"No," she said gently. "Not fully. You don't see it, but I do. Every time that scythe drinks, you go a little quieter. A little colder."
Ezra didn't reply.
She leaned in, resting her forehead against his shoulder.
"I just don't want to lose you before you even become who you're meant to be."
Ezra closed his eyes.
"I don't think I know who that is."
Rei's hand found his.
"That's the part you still get to choose."
System Notification – Midnight
[Soul Slot Stability: Declining]
Gem Harmony Threshold Reached. Hollow Mercy now influences user decisions during critical moments.
Warning: Extended exposure to Guardian Echoes without mental buffer may result in fragmentation of identity.
Recommended: Seek Anchor.
Ezra stared at the message.
And for the first time in a long time…
He felt fear.
Not of the world.
Of himself.
Elsewhere – Veil Court, Inner Sanctum
Antevya stepped into a spiraling temple of light and void.
Around her stood three other figures. Each wore a mask shaped like an emotion: Grief. Glory. Hunger.
A voice spoke from all directions.
"Well?"
"He has Nyra's soul. But something else too. A refusal we did not anticipate."
"And the scythe?"
"Three Gems awakened. The fourth will complete its foundation."
A pause.
Then—
"Let him walk. For now. But prepare the Garden."
"The Garden?"
"Yes," the voice whispered. "Let him see what happens when a Hollowborn truly loses control."