Chapter 26: Into the Hollow Deep
Wind howled across Halcyon Ridge as Aiden stood on the precipice where the fissure had appeared hours earlier. The moon hung at its zenith, pale and indifferent, casting a chill silver glow over the abandoned valley. Aiden tightened the straps of his gear, the leather creaking softly. Beside him, Kael adjusted his twin blades and muttered something about suicidal decisions disguised as heroic ones.
"Thought you'd change your mind," Kael said, stepping beside him.
Aiden shook his head. "It's not letting me rest."
Kael snorted. "I figured. The Void doesn't seem like the patient type."
Aiden closed his eyes, letting the cold night air settle over him. The Void within him pulsed—steady, rhythmic, and unmistakably guiding. A subtle tug, pulling downward… beckoning.
Just as before.
Just like in the council hall.
"You ready?" Aiden asked quietly.
Kael rolled his shoulders. "I was ready when you said 'with or without the council.' Not a fan of the 'without' part, but hey—here we are."
Aiden smirked faintly. "Let's go."
The two descended into the valley, boots crunching over scattered stone. The world was eerily silent; no monsters, no rift distortions, no shifting shadows—nothing except the thin threads of fog curling around the ground.
Too quiet.
Kael noticed it too. "Either everything's hiding from you, or something scared them off."
"Neither option is comforting," Aiden muttered.
The Void pulsed again.
Aiden followed.
When they reached the spot where the earth had cracked earlier, they found no fissure. No mark. No abnormality. The ground was intact, smooth, untouched.
Kael frowned. "Don't tell me it healed."
"No," Aiden whispered. "It's still here."
The Void surged inside him, matching the silent rhythm below. He stepped forward and knelt, placing a hand on the soil. It vibrated faintly beneath his touch.
"It's hidden," Aiden murmured. "Beneath layers. Like it sealed itself."
Kael crouched beside him. "So how do we get in?"
Aiden didn't answer immediately. He closed his eyes and reached inward—toward the Void.
At first, it resisted.
Then it yielded.
A low hum echoed through his bones.
Black tendrils of energy seeped from his fingertips, sinking straight into the ground like ink spreading through water. The soil responded instantly, rippling outward like flesh reacting to a touch.
Kael stepped back instinctively. "Uh—Aiden—"
The ground split open.
This time slowly, deliberately.
A perfect circular opening carved itself into the earth, revealing a spiraling descent made of stone and shadow. Void mist drifted upward like breath from a buried beast.
Aiden exhaled shakily.
"I think it's… letting me in."
Kael stared at him. "Do you hear yourself?"
Aiden didn't respond. He stepped toward the descent.
Kael grabbed his shoulder. "Hey. Whatever's down there—it wants you. That alone makes this a bad idea."
Aiden looked at him, expression steady. "Then it's better if I meet it before it decides to come up."
Kael hesitated… then sighed and drew his blade.
"Fine. But if this thing tries to claim your soul, I'm slicing reality open to drag you back."
Aiden gave him a small, grateful nod. "Let's go."
They began the descent.
The staircase was steep but solid, carved with strange interlocking patterns that pulsed faintly under the moonlight. The walls hummed with a low resonance—a vibration that matched Aiden's heartbeat.
Halfway down, Kael exhaled sharply.
"You feel that?"
Aiden nodded. "Pressure."
"Feels like we're walking into the lungs of a sleeping titan," Kael muttered. "One we really shouldn't wake."
Aiden didn't disagree.
When they reached the bottom, the staircase opened into a vast chamber—so massive it felt impossible that it existed beneath Halcyon Ridge at all. Stone pillars the height of towers stretched toward a ceiling lost in shadow. Pools of black liquid, shimmering like polished obsidian, dotted the floor.
Aiden stepped forward.
The air shifted.
The pools rippled.
Kael raised his weapons instinctively. "Movement—left, right—everywhere—"
Aiden held up a hand. "No. Wait."
The ripples gathered and rose, forming small spheres of Void-like energy. They floated around the chamber, glowing faintly.
Kael watched them with narrowed eyes. "What are these—"
Then one drifted close to Aiden and hovered inches from his hand.
He reached toward it—
And it unfolded.
Not physically, but like an opening memory.
A flash—
A towering figure made of black light.Stars dying in its silhouette.A voice that wasn't sound but gravity.A presence that filled universes.
Then darkness.
Aiden stumbled back, heart racing.
Kael grabbed him. "Aiden! What happened?"
Aiden pressed a hand to his temple. "It showed me something. Or someone. Void-born. Massive. Ancient."
"Like a vision?"
"More like a memory."
Kael stared. "Your memory?"
"No," Aiden whispered. "The Void's."
The spheres glowed brighter.
And something stirred deeper within the chamber—beyond the pillars and obsidian pools.
Heavy. Slow. Deliberate.
Aiden and Kael both turned sharply toward the far end.
There—shrouded in darkness—stood a structure. Not natural. Not carved by human hands.
A monolithic archway.
Black. Pulsing faintly.
A gateway.
And as they approached, the Void inside Aiden thrashed like a living thing.
Kael gritted his teeth. "That arch is reacting to you."
Aiden could barely breathe.
The archway hummed.
BOOM.BOOM.BOOM.
Three pulses.
The same as before.
Then…
A deep, resonant voice rolled through the chamber—not external, but inside Aiden's skull. A voice that shook the very air.
You descend at last.Bearer of the Lost Fragment.Child of the Void's Remnant…Welcome to your origin.
Aiden's blood ran cold.
Kael's eyes widened. "What did it say?!"
Aiden whispered weakly, "It didn't speak words. It spoke identity."
"What identity?"
Aiden swallowed hard.
"It called me… the Lost Fragment."
Kael paled. "Fragment of what?"
Aiden stared at the archway—now glowing brighter and brighter.
"Of itself," Aiden whispered.
The deep voice echoed again, vibrating through the chamber.
Return… and remember.
Aiden's knees trembled as the archway erupted with blinding black light.
The world fractured into pieces.
And something ancient reached for him from beyond.