Chapter 29: Shattered Eternity

The echo of their footsteps against the stone floor of the throne room filled the silence left in the Hollow King's wake. Caius could still feel the remnants of time's distortion clawing at the edges of his perception, but for now, he was grounded in the present. For now, reality was his own.

Selene gripped her daggers tightly, her sharp eyes scanning the chamber. "He's toying with us," she muttered. "He could have killed us back there."

"Or worse," Elias added, his knuckles white around the hilt of his sword. "He could have rewritten us."

Caius exhaled sharply. He knew what Elias meant. The Hollow King had a mastery over time that went beyond what Caius himself could control. If he wanted, he could erase them, rewrite them into something else, twist their fates to serve him. And yet, he hadn't.

"He's waiting for something," Caius said, turning toward the shattered throne. The once-magnificent seat of power now stood in ruins, its golden inlays tarnished, its gemstone centerpiece cracked. A symbol of a kingdom that had already fallen long before this battle had begun.

A wind swept through the hall, cold and unnatural. It carried whispers—not from the present, but from the echoes of the past. The voices of the dead, the regrets of kings long lost to time.

It was never yours to claim…

The cycle cannot be broken…

Run while you still can…

Caius clenched his jaw. "No more games. We find him. We end this."

Elias stepped forward. "Then we follow the only path left. If the Hollow King controls time, he'll be where time itself bends the most. The Nexus."

Selene nodded. "The core of his power. Where the threads of fate converge. But that place... it doesn't follow the rules of our world."

"It doesn't have to," Caius replied. "I'll make my own rules."

A tremor ran through the castle, as if responding to his defiance. The torches flickered violently, their flames distorting, stretching unnaturally before vanishing into darkness. The walls groaned, the air thickening with an oppressive weight. And then—

The world shifted.

One moment they stood in the throne room. The next, the stone beneath them dissolved, replaced by an endless abyss of shifting sands, a sky split in two—half drenched in the hues of dawn, the other swallowed by the void of midnight. In the distance, a lone structure loomed—a spiraling tower suspended in time, its very presence an anomaly against the fractured horizon.

Elias let out a low breath. "We're here. The Nexus."

Caius steadied himself, his heart pounding. This was it. The Hollow King's domain. A place where time was unchained, where reality twisted upon itself. One wrong step, and they could be lost forever in the currents of forgotten timelines.

Selene shot him a wary glance. "Caius. You sure about this?"

He met her gaze, his resolve unshaken. "There's no turning back now."

They moved forward, stepping onto the bridge of floating stones leading toward the tower. Each step sent ripples through the air, the very fabric of time reacting to their presence. Memories flashed in the corners of Caius's vision—moments from lives he had never lived, choices he had never made.

A life where he had never met Selene.

A life where he had died before this battle even began.

A life where he had become the Hollow King.

He shook his head, forcing the images away. Focus.

The entrance to the tower loomed before them, an archway pulsating with golden energy. As they stepped through, the weight of time itself pressed against them. The walls shimmered, shifting between states of decay and grandeur, as if the very structure couldn't decide whether it had already fallen or was yet to be built.

And at the center of it all, waiting upon a throne of fractured glass and flowing sands—

The Hollow King.

He smiled as they entered. "At last. You have come."

Caius stepped forward, gripping his sword. "And we're here to end you."

The Hollow King tilted his head, amusement flickering in his ancient eyes. "Are you certain, Caius? Have you considered what it is you truly fight for? Or have you simply been running in circles, bound by a fate you do not yet understand?"

The room trembled. The battle had begun.

End of Chapter 29