The walls around Kael shifted as he stepped deeper into the Hollowroot. The air was colder here, but it wasn't the chill of the underworld; it was the cold of something ancient—something that had seen too much time pass. The veins of energy that ran through the walls shimmered faintly, pulsing in rhythm with his heartbeat. Each step forward felt like walking through a dream, something alive, yet dead, vibrant but buried in decay.
The path narrowed as he pressed forward. Massive arches loomed above, each one flanked by strange runic symbols, worn and faded, but still potent with an energy he could feel deep within his chest. His mind hummed, stretching beyond itself, yearning to touch something bigger, something whole.
He stopped before a large doorway. Unlike the others, this one had no light. No resonance. Just an emptiness that drew him in.
"What's this?" Kael murmured, half to himself.
"A place of great significance," Sarai replied, her voice distant and soft, as if the very nature of the Hollowroot was stealing her presence. "Do not mistake this for a safe place. The Core watches. The trial is not over."
Kael's grip tightened on his blade. He had already fought the Hollowed. He had faced himself. What more could this place throw at him?
With a reluctant hand, he pushed the doors open.
Beyond them, a massive chamber stretched, impossibly vast. At its center, a great pillar of aether reached from the floor to the ceiling, coiling and twisting like a living thing. It hummed with an ancient power, and the sound was not just audible; it was felt deep within his bones. It was as if the entire world was resonating with this one point, this one nexus. It was the very core of the Aeon, the heart of everything.
And there, cradled at its base, lay something that made Kael's breath catch—a crystal, pulsating with light, suspended in a field of suspended time.
The Aeon Heart.
For a moment, Kael forgot to breathe. It wasn't just a relic; it was the very soul of the fallen empire. The pulse of this crystal, its light—everything about it was the echo of what the Aeons had built. The same pulse that had once rippled through the whole world, guiding it, sustaining it. This was the legacy they left behind.
But this was no relic.
The world around him shifted again. The walls creaked, and the very air seemed to shift, as if it were folding in on itself. Figures emerged from the shadows—hollow figures, their bodies only partially visible, their faces obscured by masks of shifting shadow. They spoke in whispers, voices that seemed to echo from everywhere at once.
"You have come… to claim the Core."
Kael's grip on his blade tightened. "I didn't come to claim anything."
"You are the chosen." Their voices swirled. "The Aeon's will still beats. The Core's pulse still echoes in your veins. You cannot escape your destiny."
"I don't believe in destiny."
The figures moved forward, their hands reaching for him. But as they drew close, Kael pushed forward, letting his body resonate with the pulse within him, focusing all of his energy into a single force.
The ground around him cracked. The shadows recoiled.
The pulse that responded was not his, but the Core's. It flooded the chamber, filling the air with an overwhelming resonance. For a moment, Kael couldn't breathe, couldn't think—everything was consumed in a sea of raw power, crashing into his consciousness like waves against a cliff.
"This is your burden, Kael."
It was Sarai's voice, clearer now. More present.
He stumbled, falling to his knees. His vision blurred. The air itself felt like it was suffocating him.
"The Hollowroot is not simply a key. It is a test, and the Core is your trial. You must choose: let the pulse consume you, or take control."
The hollow figures began to shift once more, their voices a rising cacophony. They were the Hollowroot—fragments of the Aeon consciousness, pieces of the past, lost and decayed but not entirely gone. They whispered in fragments, their words lost in the storm of resonance around him.
Kael's heart pounded, and for a moment, he was terrified. He felt small. He was just one man, standing before the broken legacy of an empire long gone. But even as the weight of it all pressed down on him, something inside him surged—a fire, a defiance. He wasn't a vessel for someone else's will. He wasn't a puppet to be controlled.
He stood.
And he made his choice.
With a howl of defiance, Kael reached out, his fingers grazing the surface of the Core. The resonance flooded him again—but this time, it didn't break him. It surged through him, amplifying his power, feeding into his essence. He could feel the hollow figures retreating, their voices lost in the wind as they faded into nothingness.
The Core's pulse synchronized with his own. His heartbeat. His breath.
For the first time since his awakening, Kael felt… whole.
The Hollowroot's resonance softened, but not its power. The figures in the shadows dissipated, leaving Kael alone before the Core. The overwhelming energy subsided, leaving him breathless but unbroken.
"You have passed, Kael."
Sarai's voice returned, stronger now. "You have chosen your path. The Core has accepted you, as you are. No longer a prisoner of fate. But now…"
Kael glanced around. "Now what?"
"Now the real test begins."
A rumble shook the Hollowroot. The crystal in front of him pulsed—once, twice—before its light began to dim.
And then, from the darkness, a voice, deep and ominous, reverberated through the chamber:
"You have activated the Core. But the price of its power is yet to be revealed."