The corridor grew narrow, walls pressing close. Their steps echoed too loudly.
Then the voices started.
Not echoes — not theirs. These were old, strange, crawling straight out of the stone.
"Don't go left. The Warden waits.""I gave my voice for water.""Hollow walks again."
Kael froze. His chest tightened. That word again.
Riven laughed too loudly. "Great. Haunted hallway. Just what I needed." He waved at the wall. "Got any stew recipes in there?"
The wall hissed back: "You'll drown in your own shadow."
Riven blinked. "Tch. Rude."
The system scratched across Kael's head:
[Room Detected: The Whispering Wall] Rule: Answer with truth. Fail: The wall answers for you.
Kael's throat burned. He didn't like this rule.
Seren scribbled, shoved her note at him: Truth costs. Be careful.
The wall pressed harder, voices layering:"Who are you?""What do you carry?""Why are you alive?"
Kael swallowed. Staying silent was worse. The wall would speak for him. He forced it out: "Kael." Not Hollow.
The voices softened around him.
The wall turned on Riven. "What do you fear?"
Riven chuckled, nervous. "Easy. Running out of stew."
The wall hissed. "Lies."
Chains rattled in the stone. Shadows crawled higher up his legs.
"Alright, fine!" Riven snapped. "I fear being alone, alright? Happy now?"
The shadows stilled. The wall whispered: "Truth."
Seren's turn. "What do you regret?"
She froze, her hand shaking. Slowly, she wrote three words: Not fighting sooner.
The wall hummed, almost gently.
Kael's chest hurt. She'd carried that for too long.
They moved forward, step by step. The whispers grew sharper.
Halfway through, the wall hissed again: "Hollow. Hollow walks again."
Kael's throat locked. Seren grabbed his sleeve and wrote quickly: Not Hollow. Kael. She pressed the scrap into his hand.
He clenched it tight and kept walking.
At the far end, a seam of light split open. The system's tone followed:
[Room Cleared: The Whispering Wall] Reward: +1 Token Note: Hollow recorded.
Kael's stomach dropped. Recorded and always recorded.
They stepped through. From somewhere deeper came a laugh — sharp, human.
Lyra's laugh.
Riven groaned. "Oh, for fuck's sake. Not her again."
Kael didn't answer. The scrap in his fist felt heavier than any token.