Kaia

The ruins stretched before me like the jagged teeth of some ancient beast, weathered and forgotten, the ground cracked underfoot like brittle bones. The dark room was nothing but decay now—once a place of rituals, now a hollow graveyard for those long dead. The wind whispered through the broken stone, carrying with it the distant cries of my past. The echoes of their suffering never left me.

I could still hear them. The screams. The pleading. The final, twisted cry of the cult that raised me, the one I destroyed. A sickening feeling washed over me, but I push it down.

I'll feel better tomorrow, but i'll still be the same girl.

The stones beneath my feet crumbled as I moved, my boots heavy, my heart heavier. My breath burned in the dry air, a bitter taste in my mouth. The darkness is always there, I thought, tightening my grip on the hilt of the dagger at my side. The blade didn't help—nothing helped. Not anymore.

There had been a time when I thought the pain would end. When I thought escaping the cult and burning their twisted temple would cleanse me. But it hadn't. No, it had only unleashed the full depth of the void that lived within me.

In the silence of the Ashlands, I could feel it stir. The voice of Vokthar, the god they'd worshipped—his presence was still there, buried in the depths of my mind, waiting. And as the days wore on, it only grew louder. My connection to him had become a tether, a chain I could never break. It was as if I were always on the edge of madness, that whisper, that call, just out of reach.

I was the Vessel. The one they feared. The one who would either drown the world in despair or cleanse it with the weight of her suffering.

The air thickened as I continued my path. Even here, even so far from the ruins of my past, the power was still tied to me. Shadows shifted unnaturally around me, curling and twisting in the corner of my vision, just out of reach.

I need the Nexus.

The Obsidian Nexus. The artifact that could give me control, that could rid me of this cursed existence. Or at least… it could give me a choice. I had to believe that, or else I would crumble under the weight of it all. But the path to it was fraught with danger.

The Nexus was no myth, no mere legend. I had felt its pull, sensed its presence, just beyond the veil. Somewhere in the depths of this forsaken land, its power called to me, a beacon in the darkness.

But that same darkness… it didn't want to let me go.

I stumbled over a shattered column, my mind wandering, as the sound of something rustling caught my attention. Someone's here.

I froze, my hand automatically going to the dagger again. But nothing appeared. No one stepped out from behind the ruins. Only the faint crackling of the wind against scorched stone. The dread, the tension in the air—it was like being watched from the edges of reality.

I sighed, shaking my head. It's just the mind playing tricks again. But I couldn't help the chill running down my spine. Ever since the massacre, I had never truly been alone. There is always someone watching.

The wind kicked up again, swirling the ash around my feet. It felt… wrong. I need to focus.

I closed my eyes for a moment, forcing my breathing to steady. It was then I truly felt it. A presence. Not a person, but something more… distant. A shadow in the distance, lingering but never showing itself fully. The hollowing force that always lingered just beyond the edge of my sight.

I exhaled through my nose, clenching my jaw. The shadows at my feet responded to my discomfort, stretching further, black tendrils reaching up as if to shield me from the world. I could feel the darkness stirring inside me. It wasn't a choice. It was an instinct.

Focus, I thought. Stay focused.

I needed to find the Nexus before whatever this was found me.

With every step, the weight of the world grew heavier. The presence in the distance followed, a quiet observer in the Ashlands. If it was another Hollow, I wasn't sure I could handle it. My power was a double-edged sword, and each time I called upon it, it cost me more. The power that saved me was the same that threatened to consume me.

I pressed forward, forcing my body to move through the desolate land. The horizon blurred as the shadows deepened, stretching farther, their tendrils flickering and reaching. They seemed to want to take me, to pull me into their depths. But I resisted.

Then, a voice whispered, soft and malicious, slipping through the cracks in my mind. 

You can't escape, Kaia. The Vessel is you.

I didn't flinch, but my heart stilled. The voice wasn't Vokthar. It was… something else. Something darker, deeper. Not now.

I forced the voice away, focusing on the Nexus. The only hope I had left.

I would find it, even if it meant walking into the depths of madness.

The shadows shifted again—closer now, watching me. I could feel their cold fingers at the edge of my mind.

But I couldn't stop. Not yet. Not until I found the answers. The Nexus.

I need to be free.

The words burned in my chest like an open wound, but they were true. The darkness was there. Always. But for the first time in years, I felt something else. A spark of hope. Maybe the Nexus wasn't just my only escape. It might be the key to finally shutting off the whispers in my mind, to rid myself of the endless darkness that had defined my existence.

And if I failed, then I would let it consume me. I'll take the world with me.