Oliver’s scream ripped through the plain as black fire poured from his chest, wings unfurling wider, their span blotting out the sky. The ground fractured beneath him, stone splitting into jagged shards.[System Alert: Hollow Transformation, 74%][Warning: Host Integrity Unstable]The rebels collapsed under the pressure, clutching their heads, their weapons forgotten. Garrick staggered, his burned arm trembling, his voice hoarse with rage and fear. “You see?!” he shouted over the storm. “He’s not human anymore! He’s the Hollow itself!”Some of the rebels sobbed, others screamed prayers, but none dared move closer. Mara shielded Elias with her body, her burned arms shaking as she forced herself to her feet. Blood streamed down her skin, her breath ragged, but her eyes locked on Oliver. “Oliver!” she shouted, her voice raw and fierce. “You’re still here! I know you can hear me!”His head turned slowly, crimson eyes burning like twin suns. His sword lifted, dripping shadowfire, the Holl

The blade descended. Time slowed, every breath stretching into eternity. The edge of shadowfire hissed against Mara’s skin, close enough that she smelled the burning air. Her eyes didn’t close. They locked on Oliver’s face, searching for the man she knew. “Do it,” she whispered, steady even as her heart thundered. “If you’re gone, then take me with you.”Inside Oliver’s mind, the void screamed. The Hollow Seed towered, a beast of endless masks and writhing shadows. Its voice shook the dark. “She yields herself to you. End her. End the boy. Then nothing can chain you again.”Oliver’s body shook violently. His sword blazed with fire, caught between striking down Mara and resisting the Hollow’s call.Then a small hand touched his arm. Oliver gasped, spinning. Elias stood beside him, not as frail as he was outside.But whole, glowing with faint threads of light that wrapped around his small body like a second skin. His eyes were bright, though exhaustion lined his face. He looked up at O

The silence stretched heavy over the battlefield. Oliver stood with his head bowed, his sword trembling in his grip. The shadows clung faintly around his body, weaker than before, but still there, crawling like smoke that refused to fade.The Hollow’s whisper coiled inside his skull. “Let them see. Let them fear. They already know what you are. A monster. A curse. End them before they end you.”His hands shook, claws threatening to break through his skin again. He clenched his jaw hard enough that blood ran down from his lip.Mara moved first. She shifted Elias gently into her lap, her bloodied hand brushing the boy’s hair from his face. Then she turned her gaze on Oliver, sharp, burning, unwavering. “Look at me.”He flinched but didn’t lift his head. Her voice cut like a blade. “I said, look at me.”Slowly, he raised his eyes. Crimson, glowing faint, pain etched deep in them. Mara’s voice broke, but her words stayed fierce. “Don’t you dare carry this alone. Don’t you dare throw his

The battlefield had turned into a storm of fear. Rebels shouted, blades clashed in sparks, voices fractured, half crying for Garrick, half crying for Oliver. But all of it fell quiet the moment Elias’s whisper broke the air again. “Chains…”The boy’s lips barely moved, but the sound carried like thunder. Golden threads flickered faintly over his chest, curling around his ribs before fading.Mara’s arms tightened around him, her eyes wide. “Elias… what chains? What are you saying?”Her voice cracked with desperate hope. Oliver stared, frozen, his crimson eyes wide. His chest heaved, his sword hanging loose in his hand.He wanted to believe the boy was back. He wanted to believe the whisper was his. But the word gnawed at him, sinking deep. “Chains.”The same word that had bound the Hollow. Inside his mind, the dark hissed and rattled. “Yes… chains. My prison. He is nothing more than the echo of my chains. He is gone, and what you see is only me bleeding through him.”Oliver clutched hi

The plain shook as if the earth itself could no longer bear the strain. Golden cracks split the ground in jagged lines, light spilling upward like molten fire. Ash whirled in spirals, drawn toward Elias as though he were the center of a storm. Mara held him tighter, though the heat of the glow burned her skin raw. Her teeth clenched against the pain, but she didn’t loosen her grip. “You’re still here,” she whispered fiercely into his hair. “I don’t care what words you speak. I don’t care what light burns in you. You’re still Elias, and I’m not letting you go.”The boy shuddered in her arms. His golden eyes flicked toward her, for a heartbeat softer, almost familiar. Then the light flared again, harsh and wild. “The chains… will shatter,” his voice echoed, layered and vast.Mara’s tears spilled fresh. “Then I’ll chain you myself if I have to. But I won’t lose you.”Oliver staggered closer, his sword blazing dark in his grip, his crimson eyes wide with grief and desperation. His ches