Chapter 10: The Hollow Throne

To face a fallen king is to face the ruin of what once was.

The ruins of the imperial palace loomed before them, swallowed by shadow and time.

Once, this had been the heart of the Starforged Empire, where emperors ruled and war councils shaped the fate of nations. Now, it stood as a broken monument to failure—a hollow husk twisted by the presence of something far worse than decay.

Kael felt its pull the moment they crossed the threshold.

The air inside was heavy, thick with something unseen, pressing against his skin like unseen hands reaching from the dark. The grand hall was shattered, its golden pillars cracked, its marble floors veined with black rot. The banners of the empire were torn and faded, but something else had been painted over them—sigils of the Hollow King.

Symbols of Dain's reign.

Lysara walked beside him, her fingers twitching toward the hilt of her dagger. "He's here."

Kael exhaled. "I know."

Kieran had said nothing since they entered. He walked ahead of them, his hood low, his steps steady—but there was tension in his posture, like a man standing on the edge of a blade.

And Vaeloria…

She was the only one who seemed unshaken.

She strode through the ruins like she had never been exiled at all, like she still belonged here. As if she had walked these halls a thousand times before and never truly left.

The Hollowborn stood silent in the shadows, watching from the edges of the broken hall. They lined the corridors, their empty eyes glinting with something wrong, something unnatural. They did not speak.

They did not need to.

Because the moment they reached the throne room, the silence itself broke.

The Hollow King

The great doors at the end of the hall creaked open, revealing what remained of the Imperial Throne.

It was warped beyond recognition.

Where once there had been a seat of marble and gold, there now stood a throne of bone and shadow. Dark veins pulsed through its structure, alive in ways it should not be. The very air around it rippled like a mirage, as if the space itself was fighting to hold its shape.

And at the center of it all, sitting upon his throne, was Dain.

He had changed.

The last time Kael had seen him, he had still looked human. Still looked like the prince he had once been—the heir who had lost everything.

But now…

His form was still wrapped in the remnants of imperial armor, but it had fused with something else. His cloak moved as if it had a life of its own, shifting like shadow-made-flesh. His fingers rested against the armrests of his throne, tipped with blackened claws.

And his eyes—

Kael had once known those eyes.

But the ones that stared back at him now were voids—pale and endless, swirling with something far older than him.

A king who had been hollowed out.

A vessel for something else.

Yet when he spoke, his voice was still Dain's.

"Vaeloria."

The name was spoken softly, almost fondly.

Vaeloria did not flinch.

"Dain," she answered, her voice even. "Or should I call you something else now?"

Dain's lips curled into something not quite a smile.

"I was exiled," he said. "Stripped of my name, my right, my place." He leaned forward slightly, his presence pressing against the air, heavy and suffocating. "The empire cast me aside. But the Hollow gave me purpose."

Kael clenched his fists. "You call this purpose?"

Dain's gaze flicked to him. "Kael," he mused. "You were always the loyal one."

His voice dripped with something Kael couldn't place.

Not mockery.

Not anger.

Something worse.

Understanding.

"You still believe in the empire," Dain continued. "Even after everything it's done."

Kael felt his breath hitch, but he refused to show weakness.

"I believe in something better than this," he said through clenched teeth.

Dain tilted his head slightly. "Then why are you here?"

The question was too simple.

Kael opened his mouth, but before he could answer—

Lysara stepped forward. "You know why we're here."

Dain's gaze slid to her, and something shifted in the air.

She didn't back down.

"We know what's happening to the Heart," she said. "And we know you're at the center of it."

The Heart of Aetheris. The lifeblood of the world. The source of the empire's power.

It had been dying.

And now they were certain—Dain was the one draining it.

Dain exhaled softly. "You assume I'm the one killing it."

Lysara's fingers twitched. "Aren't you?"

For the first time, something flickered across Dain's expression.

It was not anger.

It was not amusement.

It was something far more dangerous.

Something like sorrow.

And when he spoke, his voice was quiet.

"The Heart was already dying," he said. "I am the only one trying to save it."

Silence.

Kael's stomach twisted.

No.

No, that wasn't possible.

Dain had always been a liar.

Always twisted truths into things that suited his purpose.

But this…

This wasn't a lie.

Lysara stepped closer. "What do you mean?"

Dain's fingers tapped lightly against his throne. "The empire built itself upon the Heart's power, draining it for centuries. Did you truly believe it would last forever?"

Kael felt his pulse hammering in his chest.

The Hollowborn weren't the disease.

They were the symptom.

The Heart had been failing long before Dain.

Vaeloria spoke, her voice low and dangerous.

"And what have you done, Dain?"

Dain's gaze locked onto hers.

"I have found a way to keep it alive."

His voice was calm. Absolute.

"And if I must break the world to do so…"

The shadows around him deepened, twisting like something alive.

"…then so be it."

Kael drew his blade.

He didn't think. Didn't hesitate.

Dain's presence was too much—his words were too much.

"You're insane."

Dain exhaled.

And then he moved.

Not like a man.

Not like a warrior.

But like something else entirely.

A shadow unraveling from its source.

A whisper of darkness given form.

He was upon Kael before he could react.

And when he grasped Kael's wrist, his voice was gentle.

"I don't want to kill you, Kael."

Kael couldn't move.

The world tilted.

Dain's grip burned cold—not like frost, but like emptiness.

Like the void itself.

And in that moment—Kael saw.

For just an instant—

He saw what Dain had become.

And it was worse than anything he had imagined.