Chapter Twenty-Six: Beneath the Hollow Root

The Hollow had grown still, but stillness didn't mean peace.

In the days following Nyra's fall, a quiet unease settled over the land. The flora bloomed with new life, and the corrupted spirits faded into restful slumber—but every whisper of wind, every vibration in the soil beneath their feet hinted at something slumbering far deeper.

Elira stood at the edge of an ancient wellspring deep within the forest. The Grove Elders had guided her there—though even they admitted it had long been sealed and forgotten, buried beneath centuries of growth and silence.

"Beneath this," said Elder Mora, her vine-like fingers brushing against the moss-covered stones, "is the Root Core. Where the Hollow's magic once originated."

Elira raised a brow. "Once?"

"Before the Wardens. Before the kingdoms. Before names."

Caelum stood behind her, arms folded, tension lining every muscle. "And now something is stirring beneath it."

Elira knelt, brushing away the moss. A faint pulse of red glimmered in the cracks between the stones.

Not Thornbrand magic.

Older. Deeper.

"We need to go down," she said.

Mora stepped back. "It has been sealed for a reason."

"So was the Thornbrand," Elira answered. "And look what happened when it broke free."

With Caelum's help, she pried open the ancient seal.

A spiral staircase revealed itself, carved from roots so ancient they had turned to stone. The air that wafted up was cold—unnaturally so—and carried the scent of soil that hadn't breathed air in a thousand years.

Without hesitation, Elira descended.

Caelum followed, his claws gently scraping the walls as he moved.

The deeper they went, the colder it became.

Light crystals embedded in Elira's belt barely illuminated the path, but what little they revealed showed carvings—stories etched in the roots. Not of Wardens. Not of gods.

But of things with no faces.

Entities of scale and mist. Serpents that coiled around worlds. Beasts without names or forms.

"This… this isn't Hollow history," Caelum whispered. "This is something else."

Elira touched one of the carvings—a creature spiraling through a sky made of roots, devouring stars. "No wonder they buried it."

They reached the bottom.

A vast chamber stretched before them, roots forming cathedral arches, glowing faintly with red light. In the center: a pedestal made of obsidian.

Upon it, a seed.

Not a normal seed.

It pulsed like a heartbeat. A crack ran down its middle, leaking tendrils of dark light.

Elira approached carefully. "This… is it. This is what the Thornbrand was feeding."

Caelum's voice was low, urgent. "Elira—step back. That thing is alive."

The seed suddenly pulsed.

A voice boomed—not aloud, but inside their minds.

"So… one of flesh and one of beast. Together, again."

Elira staggered. Caelum reached for her, but the air around them thickened like water.

"You've broken the chain… freed the Hollow from its leash… and in doing so… unlocked the prison of the Rootborn."

"Elira, we need to go—now!"

The chamber trembled.

The seed cracked again, a sliver of black mist leaking into the air like venom.

But Elira stood her ground. "What are you?!"

The voice answered with a low rumble that seemed to shake through the roots of the world itself:

"We are what came before the Hollow. Before magic. Before memory."

A shadow formed above the seed—tall, vaguely humanoid, but shifting with every blink. It had no eyes. No face. But its presence was crushing.

Caelum's claws extended.

Elira reached for Verdant Fang—but the blade refused to ignite.

The entity laughed.

"Your little light cannot burn here. Not beneath the Root."

Then, it raised a spectral hand—and the chamber exploded into chaos.

Roots whipped around like serpents, aiming for Elira's throat. Caelum tackled her to the ground, narrowly avoiding a vine that split a stone pillar in half.

"We can't win here!" he shouted.

Elira nodded, eyes wide. "We need to collapse the passage!"

She reached into her pack, pulling out a Grovefire vial—a forbidden explosive used only in emergencies.

"This will bury the chamber," she said.

Caelum looked at her, expression grave. "And trap whatever that is inside…"

"Or at least slow it down."

He helped her prime the vial. As she tossed it toward the pedestal, the entity shrieked—a sound that seemed to pierce reality itself.

Then—impact.

The explosion rocked the Root Core, fire swallowing the pedestal and cracking the seed in a burst of ash and shadow.

Elira and Caelum ran, barely outrunning the collapse.

They emerged back into the Hollow's surface, gasping for breath as the ground sealed shut behind them with a thunderous crash.

Mora was waiting.

"What did you find?" she asked.

Elira looked up, eyes hollow with fear and awe.

"Something old," she whispered. "Something awake."