The Hollow Reborn

Ashren

He never wanted to lead.

But now they bowed to him.

In the shattered capital of Arvex, former rebels, wayward nobles, and survivors of the Queen's reign gathered beneath black banners stitched with ash and iron. They had no king, no council, no guiding light.

Only him.

Ashren stood before them atop the remnants of a burned-out cathedral, cloaked in silence.

"You fought for freedom," he told them, voice sharp as steel. "Now you beg for order."

No cheers.

Only listening.

"You won't find a throne here. Not like hers. If you want a ruler, forge your own crown. If you want peace, earn it."

Someone in the crowd shouted, "What of the cursed lands? What of the Hollow?"

Ashren met their eyes.

"It's not dead. It's waiting."

---

Liora

She watched the speech from the edges of the crowd.

Ashren had changed.

He no longer flinched at power.

He commanded it.

When the gathering dispersed, she approached him.

"You've become the thing they feared."

"And yet they follow," he said.

Liora frowned. "Don't let their worship poison you."

"It already did," Ashren replied quietly. "I just survived it."

---

Far East – The Drowned Crypt

The priest bled into the well again.

This time, something bled back.

Veins of fire split the ground, and a body clawed its way from the stone—skin pale as bone, eyes black as dried blood.

Not a queen.

Not a god.

Something older.

"She stole the Hollow," it rasped. "He stole her death. But I… will take his soul."

The priest bowed.

"Then rise, Hollowborn."

---

Selene

She stood before Ashren that night.

"You can't hold this all alone."

"I'm not," he said. "But the Hollow isn't gone, Mother. It just changed hosts."

Selene's expression tightened. "What are you planning?"

Ashren turned his eyes to the east.

"To meet the thing that's coming. The Hollow remembered me. But this one… it forgot how to fear."