Chapter 9: Echoes and Embers
The land changed as they moved east.
The trees thinned. The skies dimmed. The path ahead became twisted and unmarked, as if the world itself had forgotten how to speak the name Drakmor Hollow. Each night was colder than the last. Fires crackled but didn't warm. Food turned sour quicker. Even Kael, ever silent, seemed wary as they neared the border of a place whispered only in myth.
Ajay hadn't spoken much since the battle with the Twins of Nightfall. Something inside him had shifted. His flames no longer burned bright—they simmered beneath his skin, patient, controlled. He no longer feared the storm within him. He was beginning to understand it.
They stopped beneath a dead willow on the fourth evening. Kael crouched, sketching a map in the dirt with his dagger. "This ridge leads down into the Hollow. We'll reach the outer veil by sunrise."
Ajay sat beside him, eyes closed.
"I saw them," he said. "My parents. In the vision."
Kael looked up.
"My father tried to protect the Stone. My mother… she sealed it. Used her blood to hide it from the Crimson Order."
Kael nodded. "They were right to. The Stone is more than a relic—it's the last key to true hybrid power. With it, you won't just be stronger. You'll be… chosen."
Ajay's voice dropped. "But chosen for what?"
Neither of them had the answer.
Far away, deep within the shadowed ruins of what had once been a vampire temple, the Crimson Order held its first full council in a decade.
Thirteen robed figures stood in a circle, each masked, each ancient. Their leader, known only as Vaelion, removed his hood. His skin was pale blue, his fangs long and polished. His golden eyes gleamed with rage.
"The boy has awakened."
Whispers rippled through the room.
"The Twins of Nightfall failed to kill him," said another voice. "Worse—they returned empty, shaken."
Vaelion stepped forward. "He is headed for Drakmor Hollow. He seeks the Stone."
A woman in red silk hissed. "If he finds it, we lose the war before it begins."
Vaelion raised a hand. "He won't. I've sent someone stronger."
A silence fell. Then one voice dared to ask, "Who?"
From the shadows behind the council emerged a man none of them recognized at first—tall, elegant, with eyes like silver ice. But Vaelion spoke his name with venom.
"Ajay's uncle."
Gasps followed. The man bowed deeply, smiling.
"You raised him," said one of the elders.
"I did," the uncle replied calmly. "And I will end him."
Meanwhile, far from councils and shadows, in a private ward of a ruined hospital, Diya stood at a window overlooking the broken city.
She was not the same girl from months ago. Her face still bore the scars of the accident, but her eyes were different now—fierce, tired, and sharp with hidden knowledge.
A woman entered the room. Elderly. Hooded. A healer. "You've had another vision, haven't you?"
Diya nodded. "Ajay's in danger. He's unlocking it."
"The Stone?"
"Yes. But that's not what worries me."
The healer waited.
Diya turned, her voice shaking. "He doesn't know what he'll become when he touches it. Not fully."
"What did you see?"
Diya closed her eyes.
"A dragon. A vampire. But something more. Something ancient. Not just a prince… a destroyer. A king of endings."
The healer stepped back in fear.
Diya clenched her fists. "I need to reach him before he finds it."
"Even if it means standing in his way?"
Diya whispered, "Especially then."
By the next morning, Ajay and Kael reached the edge of Drakmor Hollow.
It was a wound in the earth. A valley covered in black mist, twisted trees arching like bones, and the sound of nothing but whispering wind. The entrance pulsed with energy, ancient and wrong.
Kael handed Ajay a small vial. "Dragonroot. It will steady your mind. The Hollow distorts thought."
Ajay took it, then turned to face the veil.
He could feel it—calling to him. The Stone. It throbbed like a heartbeat, deep within the cursed ground.
"Once we enter, nothing stays the same," Kael warned.
Ajay stepped forward. "Then let's not turn back."
As he crossed the threshold, the world changed.
Not just around him—but within him.
He heard voices.
His mother. His father. Diya. Even the Twins of Nightfall. Each word layered on top of the other, dragging at his mind.
Then he saw it.
A flash—his uncle, standing in a clearing ahead, waiting.
And behind him?
A stone, floating in midair, wrapped in fire and shadow.
The Stone of Origin.
Ajay's blood burned.
Everything had led to this.
And everything could end here.
He took a step forward—and the Hollow swallowed him whole.