The ninth toll of the bell rolled through the tunnels like a tidal wave of iron and ash. Ethan felt it reverberate deep inside his bones, shaking him to the core. Every time the sound struck, it was as if the world itself was reminding him that they were trespassers here, intruders in a city that did not forgive.
Selene walked slightly ahead, her flashlight sweeping across the rough stone walls of the narrow passage. Her composure was impressive—too impressive. No matter how hellish the circumstances became, she seemed to know exactly what to do, as if she had prepared for this nightmare long before Ethan had even set foot in it.
But Ethan was not blind. He saw the slight tremor in her hand when she thought he wasn't looking. He heard the subtle catch in her breath whenever the bell tolled. She was afraid—just as much as he was.
And that terrified him even more.
They walked in silence for what felt like hours, though time in the Hollow City was a fractured thing. Sometimes it moved like molasses, every second stretching into eternity. Other times, moments slipped away, leaving Ethan wondering if he had blacked out or simply lost himself in the haze of ash.
The air in this new tunnel was different. It was colder, sharper, as though each breath carried invisible blades. Ethan rubbed his arms against the chill. His clothes were damp with sweat and soot, yet he shivered as though naked.
Finally, Selene stopped. The passage widened into a circular chamber, its ceiling vanishing into darkness. The floor was uneven, formed of cracked stone tiles arranged in strange patterns. Ethan aimed his flashlight downward and frowned.
The tiles weren't random. They were mosaics—images painstakingly crafted from colored stone.
And all of them depicted mouths.
Rows upon rows of open mouths, screaming, singing, whispering, their teeth meticulously detailed, their tongues frozen in mid-cry. The floor was a sea of voiceless agony.
Ethan's stomach churned. "What the hell is this place?"
Selene knelt, brushing ash from one of the tiles. Her fingers lingered on the jagged teeth of a mosaic mouth. "The Choir Chamber," she murmured. "We're closer to the heart than I thought."
"The Choir Chamber," Ethan repeated, his voice uneasy. "Sounds… pleasant."
"It isn't." Selene stood again, her eyes fixed on the center of the chamber. "Stay behind me. And whatever you do—don't echo."
"Echo?" Ethan frowned. "What do you—"
The tenth toll of the bell cut him off.
The chamber awakened.
At first, it was subtle: a shift in the air, a vibration beneath their feet. Then the floor itself began to hum. The mouths carved into stone opened wider, their shapes distorting as if the mosaics had turned liquid. From each mouth, a faint sound emerged—low, trembling notes that merged into an eerie harmony.
It was music. Beautiful and horrifying, a thousand voices singing at once in tones that made Ethan's blood run cold.
"The Forgotten Choir," Selene whispered. Her expression was grim. "Souls that answered the bell long ago. Their voices are bound here for eternity."
Ethan's skin prickled. The music filled every corner of his mind, wrapping around his thoughts like vines. Part of him wanted to close his eyes and listen forever. Part of him wanted to run until his legs gave out.
The song shifted, swelling into a crescendo. The walls trembled, dust drifting down like snow. And then the voices began to form words.
Welcome…Welcome…One more for the choir…
Ethan stumbled backward, nearly tripping over a cracked tile. His flashlight flickered, sputtering in the oppressive sound. "They're talking to us."
"They're tempting us," Selene corrected sharply. Her hand shot out, gripping his wrist with bruising force. "Do not repeat them. Do not sing. Not even a whisper."
But the voices were insidious. They seeped into Ethan's head, worming past every defense. He heard them in his own voice, in his mother's, in Selene's. He heard laughter, sobbing, prayers—all woven into the endless hymn.
And then, one voice rose above the rest.
"Ethan…"
His heart stopped. He froze, his mind blank. That voice—impossible, unmistakable—was his mother's. Not distorted, not ghostly. Perfectly clear, as if she were standing beside him.
"Ethan, my boy… join me. Sing with me."
He felt tears burn his eyes. Against his will, his lips parted, breath forming the beginning of a note.
Selene's palm slammed against his mouth, silencing him before the sound could escape. Her eyes burned with fury. "I said don't echo."
Ethan trembled. His chest ached with unsung sound. It clawed at his throat, desperate to escape. Selene held him until the pressure slowly eased, until the false voice faded back into the cacophony.
When she finally released him, Ethan gasped for air, collapsing against the wall. "I… I heard her. I swear to God, Selene, I heard my mother."
Selene's jaw tightened. "That's how they break you. They take the voices you love most and twist them. Do you understand now? If you echo them, even once, your soul becomes part of the Choir. Forever."
Her words were a blade of ice through his chest. He nodded shakily, but the doubt still gnawed at him. What if it was her? What if his mother's soul truly was trapped here, begging for release?
They moved carefully across the chamber, stepping between the mouths as the voices rose and fell in haunting waves. Ethan kept his eyes fixed on Selene's back, terrified of slipping, of speaking, of listening too closely.
Halfway across, the song shifted again. The harmony fractured, splintering into jagged screams. The tiles beneath them glowed faintly, pulsing with each note.
And then the mouths opened wider.
Ethan staggered as the ground beneath him yawned open. Rows of stone teeth stretched into impossible chasms, the air filled with the reek of decay. From the darkness below, shadowy hands reached upward, grasping, clawing.
Selene cursed, pulling him away just as a hand latched onto his ankle. Its grip was cold, brittle like bone, yet impossibly strong. Ethan kicked wildly, but the hand tightened, dragging him toward the gaping mouth.
"Don't fight it!" Selene shouted. "Sing against it!"
"What?"
"Not their song. Yours. Anything. Fight sound with sound!"
Ethan's mind went blank. Sing? Here? In this hell? His throat locked up, terror strangling him. But the hand was pulling harder, dragging him into the abyss. In desperation, he opened his mouth.
And he sang.
It was rough, broken, barely more than a scream on pitch—but it was his. Not the Choir's. His voice cut through the suffocating song like a jagged knife. The hand recoiled, screeching as it crumbled into ash.
The mouths shrieked, their voices turning furious. The chamber shook violently, dust cascading from the unseen ceiling. Selene grabbed Ethan's arm and hauled him forward. "Move!"
They sprinted the rest of the way, the floor buckling beneath them, mouths snapping hungrily at their heels. The Choir screamed louder and louder, their voices rising to a deafening crescendo.
Just as Ethan thought his eardrums would burst, Selene shoved him through a narrow archway at the chamber's far end. They stumbled into another tunnel, collapsing in a heap as the stone door slammed shut behind them.
Silence.
Ethan lay on his back, chest heaving, ears ringing. The phantom echoes of the Choir lingered in his head, refusing to fade. He covered his face with his hands, shaking.
Selene sat beside him, equally breathless. For the first time, Ethan saw her façade crack. Her shoulders trembled, and when she spoke, her voice was hoarse. "We got too close. They almost had you."
Ethan lowered his hands, staring at her. In the faint glow of her flashlight, she looked younger, almost fragile. The iron mask she always wore had slipped, and beneath it was a woman just as human as him.
He swallowed hard. "Selene… if I hadn't—"
"You did." Her gaze locked on his, fierce again. "You fought back. Remember that. You're stronger than you think."
A silence stretched between them, heavy with unspoken truths. Ethan wanted to thank her, to confess the fear gnawing at him, to admit how much her presence was keeping him alive. But the words tangled in his throat.
Instead, he said softly, "You saved me."
Selene looked away, her jaw tightening. "Don't make me regret it."
They rose slowly, continuing down the tunnel. The air here was different again—warmer, thicker, carrying a faint metallic tang. Ethan's stomach turned as he realized what it was.
Blood.
The walls glistened with it, dark streaks running downward into the floor. The tunnel sloped deeper, leading them further into the heart of the Hollow City.
Ethan's legs ached, his body heavy with exhaustion. But he kept moving, following Selene's steady pace. The memory of the Choir haunted him, its song lingering like a phantom itch in his mind.
As they walked, the silence between them grew unbearable. Finally, Ethan broke it. "Selene… why do you know so much about this place? About all of this?"
Her steps faltered for the briefest moment. Then she said, "Because I've been here before."
Ethan stopped cold. "What?"
Selene didn't turn. "Not fully. Not like this. But I've walked the edges of the Hollow City. Studied its patterns. Heard its bell. And I swore I'd never come back."
"Then why did you?"
She finally turned, her eyes shadowed but intense. "Because you brought it back with you, Ethan. When you heard the bell in your dreams, when you stepped into the abandoned streets—that was the Hollow City calling you. And if I hadn't come… you'd already be part of the Choir."
Ethan's chest tightened. "So this is my fault."
Selene's gaze softened, just slightly. "Fault? No. Fate."
Before Ethan could respond, the tunnel opened into a vast cavern.
And what lay before them stole his breath.
The cavern was a cathedral of bones. Towers of skulls rose like pillars, ribs arched into bridges, spines wove together into grotesque staircases. At the center, suspended by chains of iron, hung the source of the bell.
A colossal mass of bone and ash, shaped like a heart. It pulsed slowly, each throb echoing through the cavern with the deep, resonant toll they had heard since entering.
The Heart of the Hollow City.
Ethan's legs went weak. His voice was a whisper. "Oh God…"
Selene's eyes were fixed on the monstrous heart, her expression unreadable. "We found it."
The tenth toll resounded, shaking the cavern. The chains rattled, ash raining down in thick clouds. And from the shadows beneath the heart, figures began to emerge.
Dozens of them. Hundreds.
Some were human, their eyes empty, their mouths moving in silent hymns. Others were twisted, skeletal, half-formed abominations of bone and ash. All of them turned toward Ethan and Selene, their steps slow and deliberate.
The Choir had found them again.
And this time, there was nowhere left to run.
What do you think Ethan and Selene will do at the Heart of the Hollow City? Share your thoughts below!