Chapter 31
They said no one entered the Hollow of Names and came out with the same face.
Because names were more than letters there.
They were truths.Weapons.And sometimes—lies so old they had become real.
Eliendara stood at the edge of the canyon that marked the border of the Hollow. The sky above it was a void—no stars, no clouds, no wind. Even Kael, steady as steel through everything, hesitated.
"You don't have to go in," he said.
She didn't answer right away.
Because deep within her chest, the Scorched Crown pulsed slowly. Like a beast in its den… sensing threat.
"I have to," she said finally. "If there's a part of me buried here, I need to find it."
"And if the crown tries to stop you?"
She met his eyes. "Then I'll tear it off, even if it burns me from the inside."
She stepped forward.
The canyon opened.
Not like earth cracking—but like a mouth opening, hungry, waiting. A staircase unfolded from the shadows—each step marked with names carved in forgotten tongues. Some were scratched out. Some still bled.
Eliendara descended.
Kael followed, sword ready.
Inside the Hollow, time bled sideways.
Memories clung to the walls like vines—visions of childhood she didn't remember living, voices that called her by names she'd never spoken, lovers she never kissed, lives she never lived.
It was… her.And not her.
They reached a chamber at the center—dark, round, with a single mirrored pool at its core. Words floated across the surface, flickering and fading:
"Truth is what survives forgetting."
And above the pool—
A figure waited.
Cloaked.
Masked.
But when it turned, Eliendara knew instantly.
The shape of his eyes.
The tilt of his shoulders.
The chain around his neck—once his.
"Ravien," she breathed.
Her brother.
He removed the mask.
And smiled.
Not kindly.
Not cruelly.
But sadly.
"You shouldn't have come," he said.
"You're alive."
"No," he replied. "Not exactly."
She took a step closer.
"I saw your death. I felt your flame go out."
"I let you believe that."
Kael drew his blade slightly. "Why?"
Ravien looked at him, then back to her.
"Because if you knew the truth about the Eighth Name… you'd never let anyone seal it. Not even yourself."
Eliendara shook her head. "The crown chose me. It protected the gates. It made me whole again."
Ravien's smile disappeared.
"The crown is a chain, Eli. Not a gift. It turns you into a gate because it fears what you really are."
"What I really—?"
He raised a hand.
The mirror-pool shimmered.
And reflected not a girl.
Not a flame.
But a gate made flesh.
"You were never meant to guard the Eighth Name," Ravien said.
"You are the Eighth."
🔮 Next Chapter Preview – Chapter 32: I Was the Gate
The truth unravels.
Eliendara wasn't chosen to wear the crown—She was created to contain what the gods feared most.
But if she is the Eighth Gate…
Then the war wasn't about protecting the world.
It was about protecting it from her.