The Betrayer’s Mark

Selene

The blood circle pulsed violently—like a wounded heart fighting to beat.

Selene gritted her teeth, drawing on every ounce of her power to keep the glyphs sealed. The spell was eating her from the inside, but she refused to fall. Ashren was too close now. The Hollowborn had been wounded. There was a chance.

Until she felt it.

A pull in the wrong direction.

A rune blinked red.

Then—black.

Her eyes snapped to the left.

Liora stood still, hands hovering above her sigils. But her eyes… they were no longer hers.

They were void.

---

Liora

Or whatever wore her now.

"You thought the Hollow only wanted Ashren," the thing inside her whispered.

Selene stepped back, rage and dread coiling in her gut.

"What are you?" she demanded.

The voice that answered was calm, cold.

"I am the insurance. The fracture buried in your foundation. The other door the Hollow carved long before you ever learned to seal one."

Selene's pulse spiked. "You're a sleeper. A vessel."

"A fail-safe," the creature said, and shattered three outer runes with a single word.

---

Ashren

He felt it immediately.

The magic weakened.

The circle frayed.

And the Hollowborn grinned.

"Even your blood betrays you."

Ashren didn't flinch.

Instead, he drove his blade deeper into the Hollowborn's shoulder, pinning it to the fractured summoning circle.

"You're bleeding more," he said calmly.

"You're breaking."

The Hollowborn hissed, struggling against the bonds, but for the first time—it looked afraid.

Then it turned toward Liora.

And smiled.

---

Selene vs. the Betrayer

She struck first.

A whip of silver flame lashed out, searing across Liora's chest. The creature staggered, howled, flickered—but didn't fall.

"You always loved her," it spat. "That's why she was perfect."

"I'll mourn her later," Selene growled, summoning a second chain of fire. "Right now I'm ending the thing that stole her face."

The circle dimmed around them. The collapse was beginning.

She had minutes.

---

Ashren

"Seal it now!" he shouted. "I can hold it!"

Selene bled from both palms, forcing her soul into the runes. But with every passing second, more of the circle failed.

And the Hollowborn?

It began to change.

Not into something new.

But into everything it had ever been.

Ashren faced the sum of centuries.

And held steady.

"I see you," he whispered. "Not as a god. Not as a myth."

"As a mistake."