Kael wandered the ember valley, unsure of how long he'd been walking. The light didn't change, and there was no sun above—only an endless ash-colored sky.
Every so often, the ground pulsed beneath his feet.
Each time it did, something changed. He saw glimpses—figures in the corner of his vision, shadows with faces he could almost remember.
He didn't speak to them.
They didn't speak to him.
Until one did.
---
The girl sat on a crumbling stone near a withered flame tree.
She had no shadow.
Her eyes were mirrors—polished, not glass. Her skin was gray like volcanic dust, and her hair drifted as if underwater.
> "You're the wrong one," she said softly. "But the flame picked you anyway."
Kael froze.
She stood, not quite moving—more like shifting realities.
> "The Hollow watches, and the Hollow chooses. It always chooses wrong… that's why it wins."
Kael narrowed his eyes. "What are you?"
She tilted her head, smiling without joy.
> "A leftover. An echo. Like you."
Before he could speak again, she raised one finger to her lips.
The world shifted.
Suddenly, Kael stood before a mirror of glass—not real glass, but memory formed solid.
And inside it, a version of himself screamed—trapped, burning from within.
> "Every Hollow has a price," she whispered. "Yours… has yet to be named."
---
Kael stepped back, pulse racing.
The mirror shattered without a sound.
When he looked again, the girl was gone.
But where she sat, a mark remained—a glyph etched in ember: an eye, with a flame for a pupil.
It didn't burn. It watched.
Kael reached out.
The mark sank into his palm.
And the voice returned.
> [Trait Acquired: Ember-Eyed Reflection]
See echoes across veils.
Resist mental intrusion.
Hollow-bound decisions become visible.
---
From above, a bell rang—distant, fractured.
Kael looked up.
Somewhere far above the valley, the sky split just for a second, and light poured through like golden glass.
---
Elsewhere
In the Veiled Hollows, the Archivist stirred in his thousand-eyed cocoon.
And in House Virdane, Lady Elaira blinked suddenly during meditation.
She felt it—the sting of her son's soul being marked.
And far to the north, General Khoren Steelmaw received word:
> "The Ember Vein has opened. And the boy survived it."
---
Progress:
Trait Gained: Ember-Eyed Reflection
Memory Veil Interaction Enabled
Emotional Stability +2
Hollow Marker Active