Chapter 8: The Empress of Ruins

Not all rulers wear crowns. Some wear exile like armor.

Vaeloria Starbane stood motionless beneath the ruins of the Fallen Spire, her silver-streaked hair rippling in the storm-touched wind.

Kael had imagined this moment a hundred different ways. He had expected her to be dead, broken, or desperate.

But she was none of those things.

She stood like a queen who had never truly fallen.

And that made her even more dangerous.

Lysara was the first to break the silence. "You should be dead."

Vaeloria smirked. "So should you."

Kael exhaled slowly, resisting the urge to reach for his dagger. There were too many questions. Too many things that didn't make sense.

The empire had collapsed when she fell. And yet—here she was.

Watching. Waiting.

"How long have you been here?" Kael asked.

Vaeloria turned her gaze to him. "Long enough to know you're wasting time."

Kieran stepped forward. His voice was calm, but sharp. "Then let's not waste it."

For the first time, Vaeloria hesitated.

Just a flicker of a pause—a crack in the unshaken mask.

She looked at Kieran the way someone looks at a ghost they never expected to see again. "You survived."

Kieran's expression didn't change. "Barely."

Something unspoken passed between them.

Then Vaeloria's gaze hardened, and she turned away.

"If you've come looking for answers," she said, "then you already know the truth."

Lysara took a step closer. "Then say it."

Vaeloria tilted her head slightly, her icy blue eyes gleaming in the stormlight. "Prince Dain died here."

A heartbeat of silence.

Kael clenched his jaw. "He didn't just die, did he?"

Vaeloria exhaled. "No."

The wind howled through the ruins, stirring the dust and ash around them.

Kieran watched her carefully. "Then tell us what really happened."

Vaeloria turned her gaze to the shattered remains of the Spire, as if reliving something only she could see.

And then, finally—she spoke.

The Fall of the Prince

"It wasn't supposed to end like this."

Vaeloria's voice was quiet, but filled with something heavy.

"The empire was dying, but Dain believed he could save it. He thought the Heart of Aetheris had failed us, that the power meant to sustain the empire was fading. He wasn't wrong."

She exhaled.

"But he was desperate. He searched for answers, for forbidden magic that could stop what was coming. And eventually—he found something."

Kael's stomach twisted. He already knew what came next.

Lysara narrowed her eyes. "The Hollow King."

Vaeloria nodded. "An ancient entity older than the empire itself. It promised Dain the power to forge something stronger. To build a new world from the ashes."

She turned back to them. "But the Hollow King never gives. It only takes."

Kieran's voice was quiet. "And Dain became its vessel."

Vaeloria held his gaze. "I tried to stop him."

Her expression flickered—just for a moment. A rare, almost painful honesty.

"I begged him to turn back. To let it go. But by the time I realized what he had done—"

She looked toward the ruins again.

"—it was already too late."

The wind howled around them, whispering through the ruins like ghosts repeating her words.

Lysara crossed her arms. "Then why didn't you tell the world the truth?"

Vaeloria's expression turned sharp. "Because they never would have listened."

She looked at them all in turn.

"The empire needed a villain. They chose me."

Silence stretched between them.

Kael exhaled slowly. It made sense.

The empire had turned against Vaeloria after Dain's fall. They had accused her of treason, of failing to protect the throne. But if what she was saying was true—

Then she had never betrayed the empire.

The empire had betrayed her.

Kieran's voice was unreadable. "Then why are you still here?"

Vaeloria's gaze darkened.

"Because I am the only one who remembers what he was before."

She stepped closer, lowering her voice.

"And because I know the truth about the Hollow King."

Lysara stiffened. "What truth?"

Vaeloria tilted her head slightly.

"The Hollow King isn't just inside Dain."

Her voice was quiet. Unforgiving.

"It's still growing."

A chill ran down Kael's spine.

"What do you mean?"

Vaeloria's fingers curled into a fist. "The Hollow King is a parasite. It isn't just feeding on Dain—it's feeding on the world itself."

Lysara inhaled sharply. "You're saying the Hollow King is why the Heart of Aetheris is dying."

Vaeloria nodded.

"The empire believes the Heart is fading naturally. That it was always meant to weaken. But that's a lie."

She exhaled.

"It's being consumed."

The wind lashed against the ruins, as if the world itself was reacting to the truth spoken aloud.

Kael clenched his jaw.

If what Vaeloria was saying was true—then they weren't just fighting Dain anymore.

They were fighting something far older.

And far worse.

Kieran finally spoke. "Then tell us how to stop it."

Vaeloria turned toward him.

"There's only one way."

She took a slow step forward, her voice steady.

"We have to break the Hollow King's hold."

Kael frowned. "And how do we do that?"

Vaeloria's gaze was unreadable.

"We have to go to the one place where its power is strongest."

Kael's stomach twisted. He already knew what she was going to say.

She exhaled.

"We have to find Dain."

The words hung in the air like a death sentence.

Kael swore under his breath. "You want us to walk straight into the Hollowborn's hands?"

Vaeloria's expression didn't change. "You don't have a choice."

Lysara crossed her arms. "And where is he?"

Vaeloria's eyes gleamed in the dying light.

"At the heart of his kingdom."

Kael exhaled sharply. They were running out of time.

And now—they had to walk straight into the Hollowborn's lair.