The world felt heavier after Lira's words.
She slept restlessly, curled beside a dwindling flame. I could hear her murmurs in the dark—fragments of things I didn't understand. Names. Prayers. Warnings.
But I stayed awake.
Watching the trees.
Listening to the silence beyond the ruin.
The Spiral Moon hadn't moved. Not once. It hovered like a hole punched into the sky, an ever-turning eye that spun silently without ever shifting from its place.
Just what kind of world is this?
Morning didn't come the usual way. The darkness simply thinned—gray and cold, like color had been leeched from the forest. I helped Lira to her feet. She was quiet but stronger, and when she met my eyes, I knew she was ready to move.
"I remember this place," she said, staring at the roots twisted around the broken stones. "There's a shrine… not far. That's where they brought the others."
"The others?"
She nodded slowly. "I wasn't the only one."
The path wound deep through the forest, narrower than before, half-consumed by moss and stone. We passed toppled effigies—stone bodies broken beneath spiral-marked trees. Some looked humanoid. Others… didn't.
Eventually, the path gave way to steps.
Old ones.
Stone steps that led down—into a clearing shrouded in hanging vines and fog.
The shrine was there.
If you could call it that.
It was less a temple and more a pit—a yawning mouth in the ground, surrounded by curved stone walls etched with spirals upon spirals. Blackened bones littered the outer circle. Ash blew like dust on the air.
Lira clung to my arm.
"This is where they did it," she whispered. "The Binding Flame."
"What is it?"
"They burn people. Not to kill them. To empty them." Her eyes glazed with the memory. "They call it hollowing. It makes a space for something else."
[System Notice: Cursed Domain Identified – Hollow Shrine]Environmental Debuff: -15% MP RegenerationPassive Effect Active: Soul Tension – Host's presence disturbs residual ritual energies
My skin prickled. The air felt… dense. Not heavy like before. Tight.
I stepped forward. The ground cracked beneath my boot.
Then the voices started.
Not loud.
Just… around me.
Whispers.
Lira fell to her knees.
"They're here," she said. "The ones who didn't leave."
And then the ground split open.
Black ash erupted, forming shapes—charred, half-formed bodies bound in strips of spiral cloth. Their eyes glowed red, but not with life. With hunger.
[System Notice: Cursed Remnants Awakened – Hollowbound (x3)]Threat Level: Moderate – Coordination Detected
Initiating Combat Mode
I stepped between them and Lira.
One of the Hollowbound lunged—limbs jerking like a puppet. I dodged low, drawing their attention away from her.
"Clawing Swipe!" I roared.
My fingers tore across its side, leaving a glowing mark of red. It stumbled but did not fall.
The second came from behind.
I spun and released Spiral Pulse.
A wave of force exploded outward, launching the creature into a stone pillar. It shattered—bone, not the pillar.
The third raised its arm—etched with flaming glyphs.
"Careful!" Lira shouted. "It's a fragment bearer—!"
Flames surged toward me.
Too slow to dodge.
But I raised my hand and shouted: "Sigil Brand!"
The mark ignited on my palm just as the flame struck—redirecting the force around me in a spiral shield. My body still burned from the heat, but I stayed upright.
And I ran it through with the claw.
It fell, whispering a name I didn't recognize.
The others dissolved into dust.
[Enemies Defeated – Hollowbound (3)]+64 EXP earnedSoul Echo Triggered:
Stat Gained: +1 Willpower
Skill Fragment: Ashbrand Glyph (Rank C) Acquired
I dropped to one knee, panting.
The whispering stopped.
The air, though still cursed, thinned slightly—as if the shrine itself had sighed.
Lira stepped forward.
"There's more below," she said. "Deeper. That's where they keep the memories."
"Memories?"
She nodded. "Of the Singularity. Of who I was."
Then she looked up at me, eyes fierce.
"I want them back."
And for the first time, I believed her strength wasn't gone—it was buried.
Just like me.