Chapter 9: Echoes of the Past

The fire crackled softly in the center of their small campsite. Shadows flickered across Seraphine's face, making her silver-lit eyes seem even more haunted than usual.

She sat across from Eliam, silent, staring into the flames.

He could tell she was holding something back. Something big.

Eliam leaned forward, his voice steady. "Seraphine… what happened after you disappeared?"

She inhaled sharply.

For a moment, he thought she wouldn't answer. Then, finally, she spoke.

"I ran."

The words were quiet, almost ashamed.

Eliam watched her carefully. "From who?"

Seraphine lifted her gaze, and in the firelight, he saw something raw behind her eyes.

"Everyone."

Eliam remained silent, letting her continue at her own pace.

"I was being hunted," she said, her voice distant. "Not just by the Inquisition. Not just by bounty hunters."

She swallowed hard.

"The gods wanted me dead, Eliam."

His breath hitched.

The gods.

Seraphine shook her head. "I wasn't supposed to exist. Not like this. I was marked for something… unnatural. And the moment they realized it, they sent everything after me."

Eliam frowned. "Why?"

Seraphine hesitated, then looked him straight in the eyes.

"Because of what I am."

Eliam tensed.

"What are you, Seraphine?"

She exhaled slowly. Then, barely above a whisper, she said

"A mistake."

The fire crackled, filling the silence.

Eliam's jaw tightened. "I don't believe that."

Seraphine's lips curved into a bitter smile. "Then you don't know the whole story."

She reached up, pulling back her sleeve.

Beneath the dim firelight, Eliam saw the markings carved into her skin—dark, twisting symbols that pulsed faintly, as if alive.

The sight made his blood turn cold.

He had seen markings like these before. Once.

And they had only been found on those who had been touched by something beyond the gods.

Seraphine's voice was steady, but her hands trembled.

"This… this is what made me run."

Eliam forced himself to breathe. "And this is what led you to the Hollow One."

Seraphine closed her eyes. "Yes."

Eliam stared at Seraphine for a long moment, his pulse steady but his mind racing. The markings on her skin… they weren't just curses or simple runes. They were something older.

Something that shouldn't exist in the mortal realm.

He had only ever seen such markings once etched into the bones of a long-dead priest, a man who had been torn apart after glimpsing something he was never meant to understand.

But Seraphine was alive.

And that terrified him more than anything.

Eliam's voice was low, careful. "What do they mean?"

Seraphine's fingers curled against her wrist as if she could scratch them off. "I don't know. Not fully."

A bitter laugh escaped her lips. "I thought they were a curse at first. That I'd been marked for death by something beyond my comprehension. But the more I ran, the more I felt them. And eventually, I realized…"

She exhaled, her silver-lit eyes locking onto his.

"They weren't killing me. They were changing me."

Eliam's stomach twisted.

That explained why the gods had sent their hunters after her. Why the Inquisition had turned its gaze toward her just as it had with him.

Because whatever Seraphine had become it was something the divine could not control.

Eliam's hands tightened into fists. "And the Hollow One?"

Seraphine hesitated, then slowly, she pulled her sleeve back down, covering the marks. "I sought it out."

Eliam stiffened.

"You went to it?"

She nodded. "I didn't have a choice. The gods were closing in. The Inquisition was relentless. I needed something stronger."

Eliam exhaled sharply, his frustration rising. "Seraphine, you don't bargain with something like that. The Hollow One isn't an ally. It isn't even an enemy. It's…"

He struggled to find the right words.

Seraphine finished for him. "It's hunger."

Eliam's jaw clenched. "Then why are you still here?"

Seraphine's gaze flickered, her expression unreadable. "Because I gave it something before it could take me."

Eliam's breath caught.

"What did you give it, Seraphine?"

Silence.

Then

"I don't know."

The words were quiet, barely a whisper. But they struck harder than any blade.

Eliam felt cold. "You traded something without knowing what it was?"

Seraphine's face twisted, a flicker of something almost like fear crossing her features. "I thought I was dying, Eliam. I thought I had no choice. So I made a deal, and when I woke up… I was different."

She swallowed hard. "Something is missing. I can feel it. But I don't know what it is."

Eliam ran a hand through his hair, his frustration mounting.

This was worse than he thought.

The Hollow One was unknowable. It didn't just take. It unmade.

If it had taken something from Seraphine, then it hadn't just erased it from her memory. It had erased it from existence itself.

And the most terrifying part?

Eliam had no way of knowing when the cost of that deal would come due.

He exhaled slowly, forcing himself to stay calm. "We need to figure out what it took."

Seraphine smiled faintly, but there was no humor in it. "Good luck with that. If I knew what it was, I wouldn't be this afraid."

Eliam stared at her. "You are afraid."

She didn't answer.

But the silence was enough.

He leaned back, his mind working through the implications. "The gods want you dead. The Inquisition is still after me. And now we have something even worse lurking in the shadows."

Seraphine let out a slow breath. "Sounds about right."

Eliam rubbed his temple. "You really know how to make life complicated, Seraphine."

That time, she actually laughed soft and weary. "You were always the one running headfirst into danger, Eliam. I just make sure you don't get yourself killed."

He snorted. "You disappeared for years. I'd call that a terrible job of watching my back."

Seraphine's smile faded. "I know."

Eliam sighed, shaking his head. "What now?"

Seraphine's silver-lit eyes darkened. "Now? We figure out what's coming for us. And we prepare."

Eliam met her gaze, steady and unwavering. "Then we do it together."

A flicker of something passed through her expression something unreadable.

Then, slowly, she nodded.

"Together."

The fire crackled between them, sending embers into the night sky.

Neither of them knew what the future held.

But whatever was waiting in the darkness whatever secrets still lay buried in their pasts they would face it side by side.

No more running.

No more hiding.

This time, they would fight back.