Hollow Awakening

Darkness. Cold. Silence.

Kael drifted through the void.

No weight. No pain. No sense of body or form. Just... nothing.

Then came the voice—calm, inhuman, and patient.

[CHOSEN: You have unlocked the Hollow Core.]

The words rippled through the emptiness, vibrating against something deep inside himself.

[You will die in: 3... 2... 1...]

Kael braced for the end.

He wasn't afraid. Not really. Fear required the sense that something could still be lost, that something still mattered. For all intended purposes, he was beyond that.

There was just... acceptance.

But the end never came.

Instead—

[Error.]

A shudder ran through the abyss, as if the universe itself had hesitated.

Then the voice shifted, subtly adjusting, or calculating.

[Hollow Core Unstable. Emergency Override Activated...]

A cold pressure coiled around him, pressing against something deep inside—something that didn't belong. It sank into his skin, burrowing into his bones.

Then—

A pulse. Sharp. Immediate. And violent.

Suddenly—everything slammed back into focus.

Pain.

A rush of blistering cold tore through his veins, colliding with something hotter, and for an unknown reason--darker.

Kael gasped awake.

The first sensation that slammed into him was gravity. He felt it pressing down on his chest like the fists of a healer, forcing him to exist again. His body was heavy—his limbs tingling like they had been dipped in ice.

Then came the heat.

It wasn't the warmth of life, or the burn of the sun. It was something else. Something deeper. Something strange.

Kael sucked in a breath, and the air burned as it rushed into his lungs.

His chest heaved, in response, and he could feel his pulse pounding in a way he never could before. And in that moment, the world became blindingly sharp.

He looked down.

The wound in his chest—where Drevan's sword had run him through—was still there. But it wasn't bleeding. Nor was it open.

Instead, shadow clung to the wound like living ink, pulsing as it quickly sealed shut.

He tried to scream, but his breath shuddered out of him.

This wasn't healing. It wasn't anything human.

Finally, Kael managed to exhaled sharply, but the breath that left him felt different—deeper, and heavier. Like his body was relearning how to function. Like something had settled inside him, waiting.

Then his vision adjusted.

And for the first time, he didn't just see the battlefield—he felt it.

Shadows pulsed with movement. The air thrummed with hidden forces. The very earth beneath him whispered in silent echoes in a way that shouldn't have felt familiar.

It was all overwhelming. It was too much.

He sucked in another sharp breath, and his chest began rising too fast. Too many sounds. Too many details. His mind struggled to categorize it all, to separate the real from the impossible, but it all seemed impossible.

"What the hell is happening to me!"

Then—clarity.

Like something deep inside had flipped a switch, sudden, his senses balanced, adjusting just enough for him to process the change.

The world was the same.

However, Kael wasn't.

A slow clap echoed through the ruined convoy site, louder and more deafening than he expected a slow clap would be.

Kael's head snapped up.

Drevan stood at the edge of the wreckage, watching him.

His golden-red eyes flickered in the dim light, but Kael was focused on the fractured veins crawling deeper into his skin.

Instinctively, Kael's pulse stilled.

"Fuck! He's still here."

But something was wrong.

The way Drevan stood. The way his eyes watched him—not with the recognition of a leader looking at a soldier—but with interest. Cold, detached amusement.

Like he was looking at something new.

Drevan tilted his head.

"Curious."

The word came in two voices overlapping—one deep and human, the other guttural and monstrous.

"You should be dead."

Kael remained silent.

A shudder crawled down his spine, his body tensing without permission. Every instinct he had screamed danger.

But beneath the warning, something deeper stirred.

A pulse. Not in his heart, but in the thing inside him.

Drevan's presence called to it.

But Kael ignored the feeling.

Instead, he moved.

Shadows erupted.

Tendrils lashed forward—instinctive, and reflexive—aimed straight at Drevan's chest.

Kael felt them stretch before he saw them, the shadows responding to his will without effort.

Drevan twisted, evading most of them. But one tendril connected—slamming into his shoulder with a dull, wet impact.

He stumbled. A first.

As familiar as the power felt, it still surprised Kael, and his heart slammed against his ribs.

Then—Drevan laughed.

A deep, screeching sound that sent an involuntary shudder through Kael's regained frame.

"Not bad."

Drevan rolled his shoulder, inspecting the damage. His glowing eyes flicked up to meet Kael's.

And for the first time—he looked interested.

Kael's stomach tightened.

"You're fighting so hard for a cause that already abandoned you."

The words landed like a blow to the gut.

Kael, didn't understand it, yet he froze all the same.

Drevan took a step closer. Too close. Then Kael took a few back.

"You think this ambush was a mistake?" Hollowfied Drevan murmured. "Huh? That the mission was simply cursed?"

Kael's grip tightened, and the world around him blurred—his instincts screaming at him to move.

But Drevan wasn't finished.

"No, little Chosen. This was always meant to happen."

Kael remained still, though his pulse hammered against his ribs.

"You weren't supposed to survive."

Then—before he could react—

Drevan vanished.

****

Silence.

The battlefield was empty. The convoy was gone.

Kael's breathing came sharp and uneven. And, finally, the barrier lifted away with the passing wind.

'You weren't supposed to survive.'

The words clung to him like a stain.

Then, movement—a choked gasp.

Kael spun around.

It was Rendrik. He lay in the dirt, bleeding out.

"How is that fool still alive?"

His fire flickered weakly, and his hand barely rose.

Kael took a shaky step forward—his body lighter, stronger, and more... something.

Then—

Ding.

A new System prompt appeared before his eyes.

[Hollow Core Function Unlocked:]

[Consume or Resist.]

Kael's breath hitched, deeper this time.

Then—

[Absorb Hollow Energy to Stabilize Target?]

[(Yes / No)]

Kael stared.

He understood immediately.

The System was giving him a choice. If he absorbed Hollow energy, Rendrik would live.

But his own corruption would increase.

However, if he refused…

Rendrik would die.

Kael's hands clenched into fists, drawing blood as his nails tore through the skin.

Again, Drevan's words echoed in his mind.

'You weren't supposed to survive.'

He had a decision to make.

Whichever he would chose, one thing was clear:

The hunt had begun.

And this time—Kael wasn't the prey.