Part 6: "The Hollow Beast"
Deep within the Vault's first corridor, Cael and the other Hollows begin their descent. As the mist thickens and direction vanishes, strange whispers stir—calling each by name. When one of them panics and runs, the Vault responds. A creature made of bones and silence attacks. Cael freezes—until something ancient takes over. For the first time, the Hollow inside fights back.
---
He turned and walked on.
And the gate sealed behind them.
---
The clang of the Vault door locking behind them echoed endlessly, swallowed by the darkness. It was the kind of sound that made the heart sink, not because of its volume—but because of its finality.
No more light. No return.
The world inside the Vault was not dark—not entirely. The black stone glistened like wet obsidian. Veins of dull red light pulsed beneath the surface of the walls, rhythmic and slow, like the heartbeat of something ancient and alive.
The mist curled around their ankles, cool and clinging. It smelled of wet copper and scorched bone.
"Everyone together," Ryle said, his voice hushed and urgent. "Don't spread out. We go slow. We don't talk to it. We don't listen." He said with a commanding tone.
Dren scoffed, but kept pace. Tolen twitched at every sound. The girl still hadn't spoken.
Cael moved in silence, every step calculated. The air here was too still, too thick. He felt like he was walking through breath, through lungs that didn't belong to him.
They moved deeper.
---
No turns. No doors. Just one long tunnel, sloping and endless.
The Vault pulsed. Every few seconds, the veins brightened slightly, revealing strange patterns in the wall. Not carvings. Scars.
They weren't alone.
Whispers started. Subtle, ghostlike. Almost imagined.
"TOLEN..." The voice mumbled.
The boy stiffened. "What was that?"
"Keep moving," Ryle whispered. "Ignore it."
"TOLEN... COME BACK TO ME... IT'S WARM HERE... IT'S SAFE..."
"That's her," Tolen breathed. "That's my mother's voice."
Cael frowned. "It isn't real." "Ignore it.you have to"
Tolen's eyes were wide. "She used to say that. Every night before bed. No one else could have known."
Ryle grabbed his arm. "It's not her, it's the Vault. That's what it does."
But the boy pulled away.
"She's calling me..."
And he ran.
"Tolen!" Ryle screamed out,panic in his voice.
---
The mist swallowed him. Then came silence.
Followed by something worse.
CLICK... SCRATCH...CLICK.
Bone on stone.
The mist parted just long enough for them to see.
A nightmare born of anatomy and hate. Bone lattice fused with cords of muscle. It slithered, dragged, stalked with inhuman grace. Its eyeless skull lit from within.
It moved with grotesque grace,while the scraping of bone caused everyone's ears to scream out in pain.
Ryle gagged. Dren stepped back. Even the silent girl gasped in fear.
It didn't growl.
It didn't roar.
It clicked.
CLICK...SCRATCH...CLICK..
A sound designed to draw breath and keep it.
Tolen screamed.
For a moment.
Then the wet sound of tearing.
Then nothing,pure intense silence.
---
"Back!" Ryle shouted.
The beast turned.
No eyes. But it knew
Cael felt it. Something connected him.
Like recognition. Like reunion.
"Move!" Dren shouted.
But Cael stepped forward.
Something ancient surged.
The creature lunged with grace and immense power!
Blackness exploded from Cael's back.
Tendrils. Shadow. Smoke. Reality bent and twisted. They struck the creature, wrapped it, crushed it. Twisted it.
A shriek like reversed thunde bellowed out from the creature and then...
Gone.
Just like that.
Cael stood trembling,his entire body screaming at him
"What are you?" Ryle asked.
Cael looked down at his hands.
And the voice inside him whispered:
SOON.