Echoes of the Weavers

The moment Orion's mind returned to reality, the ruins felt smaller. Colder. The Hollow Remnants no longer loomed at the edge of perception; they had retreated, satisfied with the knowledge they had imparted.

Lyra's hands remained firm on his shoulders, her silver eyes flickering between concern and frustration. "What the hell happened?" she demanded.

Orion exhaled sharply, shaking the lingering images from his mind. "I saw them," he murmured. "The Weavers. Before the Hollow existed."

Lyra stiffened. "That's impossible."

He glanced past her, to where the path of nothingness still stretched into the abyss. "No. It's real. The Hollow wasn't always there. It was made—and whatever made it wasn't them."

The ruins seemed to breathe in response, the obelisks pulsing again with that eerie silver light. A whisper passed through the air, just faint enough to make him wonder if he imagined it.

"They are waiting."

Orion gritted his teeth. The Weavers had built something—not just the ruins, not just the Veil. Something deeper. And now, something else was using it for its own purposes.

Lyra stepped back, eyes narrowing. "You don't look right."

"I don't feel right." The knowledge burned at the edges of his mind, half-formed memories that weren't his trying to take root.

She frowned. "You need to rest. We should get out of here before—"

A crack split the air.

Orion barely had time to react before something shifted in the abyss.

The Hollow was moving.

Not the bridge. Not the ruins. The Hollow itself was awakening.

And it was no longer content to wait.

---

A tremor ran through the stone beneath them, and the obelisks darkened. The air thickened, as though gravity had doubled in an instant. Lyra's sword ignited again, its spectral light struggling against the sudden void pressing in around them.

Orion turned toward the Hollow Remnants. "What's happening?"

They did not answer. They did not move.

They were fading.

Lyra took a cautious step backward, her gaze darting toward the abyssal bridge. "Orion, we need to leave. Now."

The Hollow shuddered.

Then it reached for them.

A tendril of absolute nothingness erupted from the void, moving faster than thought. Orion barely managed to throw himself aside as it lashed toward him, slicing through the stone like it was water.

Lyra wasn't so lucky.

The tendril snared her ankle.

She didn't scream. She didn't get the chance.

She was yanked toward the Hollow in an instant.

Orion lunged, grabbing her wrist just before she was pulled off the edge. The force nearly ripped his arm from its socket, but he held on, his heels digging into the crumbling stone.

Her silver eyes went wide. "Orion—"

The abyss pulled harder.

Orion clenched his jaw. "Not this time."

The symbiont awoke.

For the first time since entering the ruins, Orion felt the golden light flicker through his veins, the fragments of the Weavers' knowledge intertwining with his own. The Hollow had been made. That meant it could be undone.

The tendril of void pulsed against Lyra's leg, its hunger palpable.

Orion let go.

Not of her—of control.

The knowledge of the Weavers surged through him, and for a single, impossible moment, he understood.

He reached out—not with his hands, but with the energy burning inside him.

And the Hollow broke.

The tendril unraveled into dust, and Lyra collapsed into his arms, gasping for breath. The abyss screamed, the ruins shaking as the unnatural force was ripped apart from the inside.

Then, just as suddenly as it began—it was over.

The obelisks flickered. The Hollow Remnants were gone. The bridge of nothingness had vanished.

And the ruins fell silent once more.

---

Lyra sat up slowly, wincing as she tested her leg. The mark of the Hollow lingered, a faint shadow wrapped around her ankle, but it no longer pulled. No longer tried to take.

She exhaled, staring at him. "What the hell did you just do?"

Orion ran a hand through his hair, still shaking from the sheer weight of what had just happened. "I think…" He swallowed hard. "I think I just told the Hollow no."

Lyra let out a short, breathless laugh. "Right. Sure. Like that's something normal people can do."

Orion didn't reply. Because deep down, he knew the truth.

He wasn't normal.

Not anymore.

And whatever had created the Hollow—it knew he was here.