The rift pulsed like a second heart.
Alina and Selene stood side by side beneath its growing mouth, staring up at the veil of red light stretching like torn silk across the sky. What had once been a clean wound—sharp, angry—was now something else entirely.
A door.
And it was opening.
From its center, a figure began to emerge. Not smoke, not shadow. Flesh. Limbs too long. Skin too pale. Eyes that shimmered without irises. It crawled, not walked, as if the weight of this world was too much for it. And it smiled—without a mouth.
Selene stepped forward, magic already alive in her palms. "This isn't a creature," she whispered. "It's a hunger."
Alina didn't respond. Her body was locked, every nerve screaming.
The thing dropped from the rift and landed silently.
The ground didn't shake.
It didn't need to.
"I've read about these," Selene said, her voice cracking. "This is what the oldest texts warned about. Not demons. Not gods. Just... the Forgotten."
Alina raised her blade. "Then let's make it remember pain."
She lunged, slicing toward its side. The blade passed through—no blood, no resistance. The thing shimmered and reformed, like water disturbed.
Selene threw fire. It consumed the creature. For a breath, Alina thought they had won.
Then it stepped out of the flame, unharmed.
"Magic won't hold it," Selene said. "It doesn't obey our laws."
"Then we need new ones," Alina muttered.
The Forgotten spoke—not in sound, but directly into their bones:
"You are marked. You tore the veil. You are the beginning."
Selene shook her head. "It thinks we're its anchor."
"Then we break the anchor," Alina said. "Break me if you have to."
"No." Selene's voice cracked with something fierce. "I'm not losing you to this."
The creature surged toward them. This time, Alina didn't dodge.
She let it hit her.
And the moment it did, her cursed mark flared.
The Hollow exploded with golden light.
Memories—hers, Selene's, even Damien's—flashed through the chamber in streams of color. Pain, laughter, betrayal, the first kiss, the last goodbye, the promise not yet made.
And through it all: a choice.
Alina understood.
The Forgotten wasn't here to fight.
It was here to feed.
And it could only feed on regret.
She had to choose.
Alina turned to Selene and whispered, "Kiss me again. Mean it this time."
Selene didn't hesitate.
Their lips met—and the Hollow screamed.
The rift began to collapse.
But not before something else came through.
Something in chains.
Something that knew Alina's name.