Kael stood frozen before the Core, his breath shallow as the light from the crystal dimmed. A heavy silence pressed down on him, thick and suffocating, the weight of the ancient chamber settling over his shoulders like a burden too great to bear.
The hum of the Hollowroot was no longer a resonant pulse—it was a low, throbbing ache that filled his chest. The figures, the whispers, everything had faded into the background, leaving only him and the fading light of the Core. It felt like the moment before a storm. A calm before chaos.
"What did I do?" Kael muttered under his breath, eyes scanning the chamber, searching for answers in the shadowed corners that refused to yield any. He had reached for the Core, embraced its pulse, and now… this?
"The Core's power is vast," Sarai's voice came, soft and distant, but clear in his mind. "You've touched a force older than this world itself. It is not something you can wield without consequence."
Kael closed his eyes, forcing down the rising panic. He had felt it. The surge of power. The way the Hollowroot had connected with him, as if it recognized him, as if it had been waiting for him. But what had he truly awakened?
The crystal before him pulsed again, once more, then dimmed completely. Silence filled the chamber.
"You've unlocked something within the Hollowroot," Sarai continued, her voice still faint. "Something buried deep, something lost. You are not the first to awaken it, Kael, but you may be the last."
A ripple of unease crept through him, and his hand instinctively clenched around his blade. "What are you talking about?" he asked, his voice rough, betraying the uncertainty gnawing at his insides.
The shadows around him shifted, and Kael's grip tightened as something moved in the periphery of his vision. He wasn't alone.
A figure stepped into the dim light—a tall, cloaked figure whose face was hidden behind a mask. The figure's presence was cold, the air around them crackling with energy. The faint glimmer of their eyes, like burning embers, was the only thing visible beneath the mask.
"So, it is you," the figure spoke, voice low and layered with an unnatural resonance. "The one who has awakened the Core."
Kael's pulse quickened, his instincts screaming at him to prepare, but his feet remained rooted to the ground. He didn't know who—or what—this figure was, but he knew that their presence was not an accident.
"Who are you?" Kael demanded, every fiber of his being on edge. The figure didn't answer immediately, their gaze simply locked onto Kael as though assessing him. Then, with a slow, deliberate motion, they lowered their hood, revealing a face that was both familiar and foreign.
It was an older version of Kael—his features twisted by time, his eyes dark and filled with a hollow emptiness. There was no mistaking it. This was a vision of himself. Or at least, it felt like it.
"I am the one who failed," the figure said, their voice echoing with a strange, haunting reverberation. "I am the one who sought the power you now seek, only to be consumed by it. And you… you are no different."
Kael's heart skipped a beat. He was facing a reflection of his potential future. But it wasn't just that. It was a warning.
"You were me?" Kael asked, his voice barely a whisper. He couldn't tear his gaze away from the figure.
"I was," the figure replied, their voice a hollow echo of something long gone. "And I sought the power of the Core with a heart filled with the same desire as yours. To change the world, to become something more. But the Hollowroot does not grant power freely. It demands… everything."
Kael stepped back, his mind racing. The weight of the figure's words was pressing down on him. "What happened to you?"
The figure's lips twisted into a grim smile, a cruel, empty thing. "I became the very thing I sought to destroy. Power is not something you wield, Kael. It is something that wields you. It makes you a tool, a vessel, a pawn. And when it has no more use for you, it discards you. Just as it did with me."
"And you're telling me that's what will happen to me?" Kael's voice rose, though he was shaking. The weight of this revelation was suffocating him. He wasn't prepared for this. He hadn't signed up for this. All he wanted was to understand—to survive.
The figure nodded slowly. "The Core is not a force that can be controlled. The moment you reached for it, you became its prisoner. The trial you passed was not one of strength or will—it was one of fate. You are its final test."
Kael swallowed hard, his mind struggling to process the gravity of the figure's words. He had thought that the trial was over—that he had won. But now, the truth seemed more dangerous than any enemy he had ever faced.
"There is always a price," the figure whispered. "And the price of power is not something you can escape. It is your life, your soul… everything you are."