Chapter 7: The Hollowing Calls
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The sky pulsed.
Not with light. Not with sound. With something deeper.
A presence unfolded above me, vast and incomprehensible. Not a god. Not a demon. Something older.
Something waiting.
The Hollowed Ones knelt lower, their broken forms trembling. Their voices merged into a single, wordless prayer.
And I understood.
They weren't worshipping me.
They were worshipping what had answered me.
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The man grabbed my shoulder. His fingers dug into my skin, his voice sharp with something close to panic.
"You need to stop."
I turned to him, and for the first time, I saw him clearly.
Not as a guide. Not as a survivor.
As something lesser.
His presence was small. Distant.
Like an insect speaking to a storm.
"You don't understand what you've done," he hissed. "You've given it a door."
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I opened my mouth to respond—
But I never got the chance.
Because the sky split open.
A tear in reality, stretching wide above the city.
From within, something shifted.
Not a form. Not a body. A concept given shape.
A hunger beyond worlds.
It had no eyes, but I knew it was looking at me.
"You have called, and I have come."
My pulse thundered. My breath turned to ice.
Because I understood now.
I wasn't in control.
I was never in control.
I was just a conduit.
A vessel for something greater.
And now, it wanted more.
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The Hollowed Ones convulsed. Their bodies warped—stretched—twisted beyond the limits of flesh.
Limbs merged. Skin peeled.
And they didn't resist.
They embraced it.
Because this was what they were meant to be.
This was what I was meant to be.
And the presence above whispered in a voice only I could hear.
"Do not resist."
"Become."
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The man's voice broke through the chaos.
"Fight it."
I barely heard him.
Because the hunger inside me roared.
And for the first time, I didn't push it down.
I let it in.
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The city trembled.
The streets melted into something new. Veins of darkness crawled through the concrete, pulsing, spreading.
Not decay.
Transformation.
My fingers twitched. My vision blurred.
And I knew—if I took just one more step—
There would be no turning back.
I would no longer be human.
I would be something far worse.
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The man reached for me again.
This time, I stopped him.
Not with my hands.
With my will.
The moment our eyes met, I saw it—
His fear.
Because he knew.
I wasn't Ren anymore.
I was something else.
And the Hollowing had only just begun.
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TO BE CONTINUED…