The corridor twisted tight, the kind that made every step echo back like someone was walking right behind them.
Kael kept one hand on the Key in his cloak. The Compass pressed warm at his chest, needle twitching uselessly, like it didn't want to pick a path.
Seren scribbled on a scrap: Feels wrong. She didn't need to hand it over — both of them already knew.
Riven stretched his shoulders anyway, voice sharp to hide the edge in it. "If the next room asks for blood, I'm donating yours, Kael. You've got the moody hero thing going. Tastes better."
Kael rasped, "Try it."
"Ha!" Riven grinned, a little too wide.
The corridor bent again — and then the voices started. Not echoes. Not whispers from walls. These ones pressed straight into the skull.
"Kael — Hollow.""Riven — Owes again.""Seren — Silent, silent, silent."
Kael staggered, teeth clenched. His name in that voice felt carved, not spoken.
The system whispered too, cold and plain:
[Event: Ledger Whispers] Rule: Deny, or it becomes truth. Condition: All three must answer.
Riven swore under his breath. "The hell does that mean? What if I just shut up?"
The wall hissed back instantly: "Silence means yes."
Riven flinched. "Shit."
Seren grabbed his arm, scribbled fast, shoved the scrap at him: Say your name. Real. Not lies.
Kael's throat burned like fire, but he forced it out. "Kael."
The whispers eased a little, but the word Hollow still lingered, low and mocking.
The wall turned on Riven. "Debt-boy. Say it. Say what you owe."
Riven's jaw clenched. For once, no jokes. His voice cracked. "Riven Marr."
The whisper pressed back, sly: "Alone, alone."
Riven spat on the floor. "Not anymore."
The dark shivered. The Ledger didn't like defiance.
The voices turned on Seren last. "Mute. Empty. Nothing."
Her pencil scratched fast. She shoved the paper against the wall itself: Seren Vale.
The stone drank the word. For a second, the whispers cut off sharp, like breath held.
Then the gong hit.
BOOOONG.
The sound rolled deep, shaking dust from the ceiling. The corridor groaned.
The system's note came one last time:
[Ledger Whispers Resisted] Reward: +3 Tokens Warning: Marks reinforced.
Kael's chest felt tight. The word still echoed — Hollow. Always Hollow.
Riven rubbed his arm, muttering. "I swear, if that wall whispers at me in my sleep, I'm burning the whole Labyrinth down."
Seren scribbled: Idiot. Then another scrap: We deny it every time.
Kael tucked her note into his cloak beside the others. He didn't say it, but he thought it: One day, the Ledger won't care if I deny it. It'll make it true anyway.
The corridor stretched ahead, silent again. Too silent.
The last trace of the gong lingered, patient, like a hand writing a new line.