Kael's breath came in ragged gasps, his pulse hammering in his chest like a drumbeat that refused to slow. He took a step back, trying to steady himself, but the floor seemed to shift beneath him. His mind raced as the figure before him—his older, hollowed-out self—remained silent, watching him with those cold, lifeless eyes.
The words lingered in the air, thick with a haunting truth. "You are its final test." The Core was not just a power to be wielded. It was something else. Something more dangerous.
"What happened to you?" Kael demanded again, his voice sharp, desperate for an answer that would give him a way out, a thread of hope.
The figure—his twisted reflection—tilted its head. "You're asking the wrong question, Kael. What happened to me doesn't matter. What matters is that you will be given the same choice I was. The same path."
Kael clenched his fists, the rage building inside of him. His heart pounded in his chest, a steady drum of defiance. "I won't become you."
The older Kael smiled—an expression devoid of warmth. "You don't get to choose. That's the price of power. The Hollowroot doesn't bend to your will, boy. It owns you. It owns everything."
Kael shook his head, stepping forward. "I'm not afraid of you. Or of this… thing."
The figure's eyes darkened, the shadows around it thickening like smoke. "Fear is what makes you human. But it is also what will destroy you. You think you're the exception, Kael? You think you can defy fate? No one can. Not even you."
The words burned in his mind, settling like poison in his thoughts. He was terrified—but not of the figure before him. Not of the Hollowroot. Not of the ancient power thrumming through his veins.
No, Kael was afraid of himself. Of what he might become if he let this power take root. He could feel it—deep within his soul—whispering to him, urging him to take control, to seize what was rightfully his.
And what if he did? What if he gave in? Would he become this shell of a man, staring into the abyss of his own ruin? Would he lose himself completely, just like this… ghost of his future?
The hollow version of Kael stepped forward, raising a hand as if to touch his shoulder, but Kael flinched back, instinctively gripping his blade. The air around them grew heavier, charged with the weight of inevitability.
"I'm not you," Kael growled, meeting the figure's gaze with all the defiance he could muster. "I don't have to be you."
The figure's expression faltered for the briefest of moments, and for the first time, Kael saw something flicker behind those empty eyes—something like regret. Or was it fear? Perhaps both.
"Then prove it," the older Kael said, his voice suddenly tinged with a hollow sorrow. "Prove that you can resist what lies ahead. Prove that you are not like me."
Before Kael could respond, the air around them began to distort. The walls of the Hollowroot shook, their ancient stones groaning with the force of the shifting resonance. The Core, still glowing faintly, pulsed in time with the growing tremors.
The ground beneath Kael's feet cracked, and the figure of his older self began to fade, dissolving into smoke and shadows. The whispers of the Hollowroot grew louder, but not with words—this time, it was a low, guttural growl, like the world itself was awakening, hungry.
Sarai's voice echoed in his mind once more. "Kael… the Core is not something you control. It is a force of nature, one that cannot be denied. But you—"
Kael clenched his teeth, shutting her out for a moment. He had made his choice. The Hollowroot could try to break him. It could throw visions of the past, or future, at him. But he would not bow to it.
He wasn't the reflection of some shattered man. He wasn't bound by fate.
"I will fight," he whispered to himself.
As if answering his defiance, the Core suddenly flared to life, and Kael was thrust forward. The light blinded him, its power surging through his body like liquid fire, coursing through his veins and searing his very soul. His vision warped and twisted, and for a moment, he was lost in a flood of memories—of faces, of places, of things long forgotten.
But this time, he fought back. He dug into himself, reaching for the core of who he was, not as a vessel of some greater power, but as Kael—the one who survived, who fought, who refused to bend.
The light shifted. The Core roared with an unnatural fury, as if angry that he resisted, but Kael could feel the pulse syncing with his own. For a moment, it was as if he stood at the edge of everything—like he could reach into the fabric of the world itself and change it.
The moment broke. The light faded.
Kael staggered back, breathless. His body felt heavy, as though he had just run a marathon. But there was no relief. No victory.
"This is only the beginning," Sarai whispered in his mind, her voice sounding strained, distant. "The Core has chosen you… but the cost is more than you realize."
Kael sank to one knee, exhaustion threatening to overwhelm him. But there was no turning back now.