Night in Noctis Hollow was eternal — not merely because of the absence of sunlight, but because the walls themselves seemed to breathe shadow.
Jayden sat on the edge of a stone bench inside a cold training chamber, his thoughts tangled.
Around him, walls of obsidian held the silence. There were no windows, only one tall archway, guarded by a silent vampire in grey armor. Veyna had been called away. He was alone.
Alone… and watched.
---
A Restless Mind
He pressed his palms to his face.
"Shadow-Blood. Prophecy. Gods of the Shadows… What does any of it mean?"
He remembered growing up in Wyrmsford — the quiet town, the family that took him in, the warmth of laughter and Sunday dinners. His adopted father used to call him "miracle boy." His sister, Mira, braided his hair every time he was sad. They loved him.
They didn't know what he was.
He didn't either. Not until now.
"You feel it, don't you?"
The voice startled him.
A boy — no older than himself — stood at the entrance. His eyes gleamed violet, and his skin had a faint shimmer under the Hollow's blue torchlight.
"Who are you?" Jayden asked.
> "Call me Caziel. I've been here a long time. Heard the Council talking about you. The Hollow's buzzing because of you."
Jayden stood. "I didn't ask to be any prophecy."
"No one does," Caziel said, stepping forward. "But we all are something. Even the ones who don't want to be."
---
Eyes in the Walls
Unseen by either of them, high in the stone walls, a hidden glyph shimmered and faded — a surveillance rune. The Council was listening.
Jayden felt the chill in the air shift.
The Hollow didn't trust him.
But something worse was beginning to watch.
---
Elsewhere — The Forest of Withered Gods
The hooded figure knelt before a stone marked with forgotten runes. Fog curled around him like claws. In his hand, a vial of blood shimmered with dark light.
"He's here," he said to the massive creature behind him. "He's awakened."
The beast's breath steamed the cold air. Its eyes glowed gold.
"Do we strike?" it growled.
"Not yet," the figure replied. "We let the Hollow groom him. Let them shape him into what they think they control…"
He stood.
"And then, we remind the world what true prophecy really means."
---
Training Begins
Back at the Hollow, Jayden entered the lower courtyard with Veyna at his side once more. Swords hung from the walls. Stakes. Vials of crimson.
"You'll learn to survive among your kind," she said. "And defend yourself from them."
"You mean they'll attack me?"
"Not openly. But some don't want you here. Others want to use you. Either way… you must be ready."
Jayden gripped the cold hilt of a training blade.
"Do I really have a choice anymore?"
Veyna looked at him — not with pity, but a flicker of something like belief.
"No. But you still have a say in who you become."
---
Something Is Changing
That night, Jayden dreamt of blood.
A battlefield under twin moons. Shadows rising from the ground like smoke. A throne cracked down the middle.
He stood in the center — torn between two armies.
And above them all, in the sky, eyes made of starlight stared down, waiting.
When he awoke, his pillow was scorched.
---
TO BE CONTINUED…