Wind rushed past her ears as Leora plummeted.
Not through air—but through darkness. A suffocating, cold emptiness that swallowed light. Her golden flames sputtered like dying embers, flickering against an unseen ceiling far above. She tried to scream, but the void muted her voice.
Then—
She landed.
Not with a crash, but a soft thud. The ground beneath her felt like ash, but not warm. Cold. Dry. Dead.
She gasped, coughing as she sat up. The world around her was pitch black, but… strangely hollow. As if sound had been stolen from the air.
Her sigils lit up faintly, casting a golden circle around her. The space was… massive. Like an underground cavern without walls or sky. Something ancient was carved into the floor beneath her—runes too eroded to read.
"Kael?" she called out.
Nothing.
Her voice was swallowed.
She stood slowly, clutching her arms. The void whispered—not in words, but in feelings. Loneliness. Regret. Hunger. Emotions that pressed on her chest until breathing felt like a burden.
She whispered to herself, "Where am I?"
And the void answered.
"Home."
A voice—her own, but twisted—echoed in her mind. She turned sharply. No one.
"Who's there?" she asked.
"You," the voice whispered again. "The part you buried."
The sigils on her arms shimmered. One—just above her wrist—turned black.
Her breath caught. "No…"
"You burned a god of ash," the voice hissed. "But you never cleansed the embers inside yourself."
Leora stepped back, stumbling.
From the shadows ahead, a figure emerged.
It was her.
Not a vision.
A perfect copy, but with burning black eyes and charred skin where her sigils should be. She wore Leora's face, her body… but her aura was like a black flame. Hungry. Broken.
"I'm what you could become," the mirror-Leora said.
"You're not me," Leora said firmly.
"Oh?" the double smirked. "Then why am I the one the darkness listens to?"
---
Far above, in the real world, Kael leaned over the edge of the broken shard platform. The woman in the black veil had vanished in the explosion, but the chamber was still humming. Faint light from the shard pulsed slowly, as if marking a heartbeat.
He placed his hand on the cracked edge.
"She's still alive," he whispered. "I know it."
---
Leora circled her double in the void.
"What is this place?" she demanded.
"This…" the double said, arms spread wide, "is the Hollow Below. Where broken magic and broken people are sent. Where all things forgotten by the flame rot."
She pointed to the fading runes under their feet.
"You're a Starborn, but you haven't chosen. Not truly. You think power is light? Purity? No… it's pain. It's control. And it's waiting."
"Waiting for what?"
"For you to give in."
The double snapped her fingers.
Chains burst from the ash, wrapping around Leora's arms and legs. She screamed as the cold metal bit into her flesh.
"You can't fight yourself," the double said, kneeling beside her. "Not here."
Leora clenched her fists. "I'm not like you."
"You already are. You're afraid of what's inside you. Of what you saw in the Vault. The fire doesn't just cleanse… it consumes."
The chains began to tighten.
Leora gasped. Her vision blurred.
"Let go," the double whispered. "Give in. Burn the weakness away. Burn everything away."
For a moment—just a flicker—Leora's flames turned black.
---
But then…
A voice pierced the void.
"Leora."
Kael's voice.
Faint, distant—but real.
The chains shook.
The black flames flickered.
Her eyes widened. "Kael…?"
The double stood abruptly. "No. You are mine!"
Leora gritted her teeth.
"No," she said. "I'm not yours. I'm mine."
And then she did something unexpected.
She opened her arms—and embraced the double.
The mirror froze.
"I'm not afraid of you anymore," Leora whispered. "You are my fear. My shadow. But even shadows are born from light."
A golden sigil burned over her heart—bright, steady, pure.
The double screamed—but it was no longer a hateful cry. It was sorrowful. As if she didn't want to be destroyed.
"I'm not destroying you," Leora said softly. "I'm freeing you."
And with that, the chains shattered.
Light exploded from her chest—white and gold, flooding the Hollow Below. The shadows screamed, twisting into shapes, fleeing from her presence.
The ground beneath her feet cracked—light rushing through the lines of ancient runes.
---
In the Echo Vault, Kael leapt back as the broken shard suddenly burst into flame—golden, not red. A beam of light shot from the core to the ceiling, illuminating the entire chamber.
He shielded his eyes.
Then—
She emerged.
Floating up from the beam, cloaked in golden flame, her feet gently touching the stone platform.
"Leora?" he breathed.
She opened her eyes—calm, steady, aglow with power.
"I'm back," she said softly.
But her eyes weren't just glowing.
They had stars in them.
---
End of Chapter 12 Cliffhanger:
Leora falls into the Hollow Below—a place where forgotten power and inner darkness reside. There, she confronts a twisted reflection of herself, representing her fear of losing control. Through acceptance rather than denial, she conquers the void and returns to the surface stronger—and visibly transformed, with starlight in her eyes.