Hollowed Awakening
Darkness.
Cold.
The first thing Eris noticed was the biting chill. It sank into her bones, wrapping around her skin like a second layer. Her breath came in shallow, uneven gasps, misting faintly in the gloom.
She lay sprawled on hard stone, her limbs stiff with numbness. A sharp, metallic scent burned the back of her throat—blood.
Not just hers.
A dull, throbbing pain bloomed through her skull as she forced her body to move. Her fingers trembled as she pushed herself up, her vision swimming.
The world around her was wrong.
Jagged spires jutted from the cracked ground, their surfaces etched with eerie, glowing runes. The sky above wasn't a sky at all—just a swirling abyss of violet mist, pulsing faintly like a dying heartbeat. The air was thick, heavy, suffocating.
Something was watching.
The stone beneath her was damp. She glanced down—
And froze.
A thick, sluggish river of blood seeped through the cracks in the ground, pooling beneath her fingers. It clung to her skin, warm and sticky. The color was too dark, too fresh.
Her stomach lurched.
This was no ordinary place.
And she wasn't alone.
A wet, scraping noise echoed behind her.
Shhk.
Shhk.
Something was dragging itself forward.
A gurgling exhale followed, raspy and strained, like a dying man's final breath.
Her pulse pounded in her ears.
She didn't dare move.
But the sound came closer.
Slowly, she turned.
A Hollowed.
Its stretched limbs bent at unnatural angles, jagged bones piercing through rotting flesh. Its head twitched violently, its mouth hanging open too wide—like a puppet with broken strings. Something writhed beneath its torn skin, pulsing as if it were alive.
And behind it, more emerged.
The Hollowed had found her.
Eris's breath caught.
Run.
Her muscles screamed as she pushed off the ground, slipping on the blood.
The creatures lunged.
She barely rolled away in time. A clawed hand slammed down where she had been, stone shattering on impact. The force sent her tumbling, her back colliding with a jagged pillar.
Pain exploded through her ribs. A sharp, fractured cry tore from her lips.
No time to recover. The Hollowed swarmed.
Her fingers twitched. Magic surged to her call, golden sigils flaring to life in the air.
Chains.
Spectral chains lashed out, wrapping around the nearest creature's limbs. It twitched—but didn't stop. Instead, it snapped its own arm off at the joint, letting the useless limb fall.
And it kept coming.
Her stomach twisted. It didn't feel pain.
It only wanted to consume.
A Hollowed pounced.
She barely raised her arm—claws slashed through her shoulder.
A sharp, burning agony.
Blood sprayed.
She choked on a gasp, staggering. Vision blurring.
The Hollowed grinned.
No. No.
Eris forced her magic to flare again, reinforcing her chains.
This time, the spectral bindings burned brighter, thicker.
The creature jerked to a stop.
It struggled.
It couldn't move.
A violent shudder ran through it—then, with a sickening crack, its spine twisted the wrong way.
The Hollowed collapsed, motionless.
But there were still too many.
She ran.
Bolted through the ruins, breath ragged, her wounded shoulder throbbing with white-hot pain. The Hollowed pursued, their bodies twitching unnaturally fast.
Her foot slipped on blood.
She crashed down hard.
A fresh wave of agony shot through her side, ribs screaming in protest.
No. No. Move.
A shadow loomed over her.
She rolled away.
Too slow.
Claws ripped across her side.
Eris screamed.
Her vision fractured as pain thundered through her nerves. Blood poured from the fresh wounds, staining her clothes.
Her magic flickered—weak.
The Hollowed circled her now.
They were waiting.
She wasn't strong enough.
Her breath came in ragged, painful gasps. She could barely lift her arm.
One of the creatures crawled closer, twitching.
Its mouth stretched wide, splitting at the corners.
It was going to devour her.
Then—
Something slammed into the creatures, sending two flying.
A blur of violet light.
Eris barely processed what happened before a voice cut through the chaos.
"Not bad, but you're bleeding all over the place."
She looked up.
A girl stood nearby, floating slightly above the ground, her body suspended by near-invisible threads of shimmering violet energy.
Her short, uneven hair was tied messily at the nape of her neck. Dark clothing clung to her frame, splattered with blood—none of it hers.
She tilted her head, smirking.
"You're new here, huh?"
Eris couldn't answer. She was too exhausted.
The first Hollowed rose again, its shattered limbs snapping back into place.
The girl sighed. "Persistent."
She lifted her hand.
For the first time, Eris felt it.
A heavy, invisible force pressed against her skin—like unseen strings pulling at her limbs.
Then—threads.
Thin, glowing filaments shimmered into existence, twisting in the air like spider silk.
They shot toward the Hollowed, wrapping around its joints, throat and spine.
Threads.
Her magic was threads.
Eris clenched her teeth, her fingers curling instinctively. The golden chains around her own hands flickered, still faintly glowing.
Aven's magic was Neutral High. Just like mine.
But it didn't feel the same.
Aven wielded her ability like it was an extension of herself—sharp, precise, effortless. She didn't hesitate. Didn't fumble. The way she moved, the way she controlled the battlefield—she wasn't just surviving. She was dominating.
Eris had the same tier of magic, yet she had spent her whole life being dismissed, overlooked. A neutral high-ranked ability meant nothing if the wielder wasn't strong enough to use it properly.
And right now, standing there with her body trembling and blood dripping down her arm, she felt painfully aware of how weak she was.
The fight between Eris and the hollowed continued.The creature froze.
For a brief second, it twitched violently, fighting to break free.
The girl's fingers curled.
The threads pulled.
Limbs snapped. Its head twisted too far.
The Hollowed collapsed.
Silence.
Eris shuddered.
The girl exhaled, shaking her fingers slightly.
A flicker of strain.
Then—a blur of movement.
Another Hollowed rushed them.
The girl flicked her wrist, but—too slow.
Eris saw it.
The monster was too close. Too fast.
The girl clicked her tongue, twisting her body, barely avoiding the swipe.
Eris gritted her teeth. She still had magic left.
Golden chains lashed out.
The Hollowed stumbled.
The girl's threads shot forward.
They wrapped around its throat—and yanked.
The Hollowed stopped moving.
Silence.
Eris breathed hard, trembling.
The girl turned, golden eyes flickering.
No smirk now. Just a quiet, assessing stare.
"You gonna pass out?"
Eris forced herself to her feet, legs shaking.
The girl raised a brow, then huffed a short laugh.
"Alright. You'll do."
She turned toward the shadows ahead.
"Come on. More will show up soon. If you wanna live, follow me."
Eris hesitated.
She didn't trust her.
But she had no choice.
Taking a shaky breath, she stepped forward.
The girl glanced back, golden eyes glinting under the Hollow Realm's sickly light.
"Name's Aven, by the way."
And with that—she walked into the dark.
Eris followed.