Chapter 32: The Awakening

The world spun around Selena as she fell. For a brief moment, the sensation of falling stretched on forever, the ground too far to reach. The swirling darkness pressed in from all sides, making it impossible to tell up from down, left from right. Her breath caught in her throat, and she fought to maintain control. There was no fear, only a burning determination. She had to reach her sister.

Then, the falling stopped.

Selena hit the ground with a jarring thud, but the impact didn't hurt. The floor beneath her felt soft, almost as if it were made of thick moss. She rolled to her feet in one fluid motion, her senses immediately alert. Her sword was still at her side, and she had no doubt that the danger wasn't over.

The world around her was dim and eerily quiet. The air hung heavy with a strange, metallic scent that she couldn't place. As her eyes adjusted, she realized she was no longer in the Valley of Echoes. This wasn't the valley at all.

It was something else.

The surroundings were dark and indistinct, like shadows within shadows. The air shimmered, almost as if the very atmosphere were alive, pulsing with an energy that Selena could feel deep in her bones.

A soft whisper echoed through the air, one that made Selena's skin crawl.

"You've come far, sister."

She froze.

The voice.

It was unmistakably Riven's.

Selena turned, searching for her sister. "Riven?" Her voice was hoarse, almost drowned out by the whispering wind. "Riven, where are you?"

The shadows parted, revealing a figure standing in the distance. Her heart skipped a beat.

It was Riven.

But something was wrong.

Her sister stood motionless, bathed in a cold, unnatural light. Her expression was unreadable, and her once-familiar face was now more like a mask—pale, emotionless, and cold. Her eyes glowed faintly, not with the warmth Selena remembered, but with a hollow light that seemed to reflect no emotion. No life.

Riven took a step forward.

"You shouldn't have come, Selena."

Selena felt a pang in her chest. "I've come for you," she said, her voice trembling with a mix of hope and fear. "I'm not going to leave you here. We can still fix this. We can still bring you back."

Riven's eyes narrowed. "There is nothing to fix." Her voice was flat, devoid of any warmth. "I've already made my choice."

A cold chill gripped Selena's heart. She stepped forward, unwilling to let her sister slip further away. "Riven, listen to me. This isn't you. I know you're still in there. I know you can hear me."

Riven's face flickered for a brief moment—just a flicker—but it was enough to make Selena's heart ache.

"No, Selena," Riven replied, her tone now tinged with something darker. "You don't understand. The Hollow isn't a prison. It's freedom. A release from the lies you've lived."

"I don't care about the Hollow!" Selena shouted, stepping closer. "I care about you! I'm not going to lose you to this!"

Riven's face hardened, her eyes turning cold again. "You've already lost me."

Before Selena could react, the shadows around them shifted, warping into shapes, forming into twisted figures that seemed to rise from the very ground beneath them. These shapes were dark, humanoid but indistinct, made of shadow and void. They circled around Selena and Riven, their eyes glowing with the same hollow light as Riven's.

Kael's voice broke through the tension. "Selena!"

She turned, finding Kael, Liora, and Garrik just behind her, all of them looking equally unsettled.

"Stay back," Selena warned, holding up her hand to stop them from advancing. "This is between me and Riven."

Garrik stepped forward, shaking his head. "Are you out of your mind? This isn't just about you anymore. Whatever this place is, it's not just a rift between you and your sister."

Liora nodded, her expression dark. "Something is controlling her, Selena. This is bigger than just the Hollow. It's pulling at her from the inside."

But Selena didn't move. She couldn't. All she could do was stare at Riven, the woman who had once been her closest ally, now standing on the other side of something she didn't understand. The person she had loved more than anyone else, her sister in blood and heart, was slipping away before her very eyes.

"I won't let you go," Selena said through clenched teeth. "You're still my sister. I'm not going to let this—this thing—take you."

Riven tilted her head. "You really don't understand, do you? There is no 'me' anymore. There's only the Hollow. And the Hollow is the only truth. It's what frees us."

Selena's grip on her sword tightened, but before she could say another word, the ground beneath them shifted again. A heavy, rumbling noise reverberated through the space, and the shadows began to coalesce into an even more terrifying form. The shape grew larger, its dark mass swirling and shifting, as though it were made from the very essence of the Hollow itself.

"Riven, stop!" Selena shouted, but her voice was drowned out by the noise.

The massive shadow figure loomed over them now, its eyes gleaming with an otherworldly power, far beyond anything Selena had ever faced. Its presence was suffocating, pressing down on them from all sides.

"You are too late," Riven whispered. "The Weaver has awakened. And soon, all will be consumed by its power."

"Not if I can help it," Selena replied, steeling herself for the battle ahead. She turned to her companions. "Get ready. This is going to get ugly."

The others immediately took up their weapons, moving into position, but it was clear to Selena that this wasn't a fight they were prepared for. Not like this.

The shadow figure growled, a deep, resonating sound that seemed to shake the very foundation of this strange realm. It reached out with long, dark tendrils, their tips sharp as knives, aiming directly at Selena and her team.

"Get out of the way!" Kael shouted, leaping forward to block the first strike. His blade collided with the tendril, sending sparks flying, but it barely slowed the attack. The tendril lashed out again, this time catching Kael by the arm and sending him sprawling to the ground with a pained grunt.

"Kael!" Selena cried, but before she could reach him, another tendril shot toward her, forcing her to dodge. She narrowly avoided the strike, her heart pounding in her chest.

"We need to weaken it!" Garrik shouted. "If we don't, it's going to tear us apart!"

Liora's voice was grim. "How? This thing is a force of nature."

"We fight it!" Selena shouted, eyes locked on the massive figure of the Hollow's manifestation. "We find a way to strike at its heart, where the Veil is thinnest. That's the only way we can stop it."

The shadow creature's dark eyes locked onto Selena, as if it had been waiting for her to make a move. With a roar, it unleashed a wave of darkness, sending the group stumbling back.

But Selena didn't back down.

She knew one thing with certainty: they couldn't wait any longer.

She had to end this.

With a battle cry, she charged forward, her sword raised high. The ground beneath her trembled as she ran, the shadows closing in, but she wasn't afraid. She could feel the pulse of the Hollow's energy, its essence vibrating through her veins. She was close—too close to fail.

She reached the shadow beast's core, the dark energy swirling around her. With all her strength, Selena drove her sword deep into the heart of the creature. For a moment, everything went silent.

Then, the ground shook violently.

The world around them began to fracture, crumbling under the weight of the Hollow's power.

But Selena held on, the sword still embedded in the heart of the beast. "This ends now!" she shouted, her voice fierce.

The darkness recoiled, and the creature screamed in agony. The air split open with a blinding light, and Selena braced herself, knowing that they were on the edge of something far greater than any of them had prepared for.

Riven's voice echoed through the chaos.

"You don't understand… you can't stop it."

But Selena wasn't listening anymore. She was fighting for something far greater than the Hollow. She was fighting for Riven.

And this time, she wouldn't fail.