The hollow ones

Ellie's skin prickled under the woman's gaze. The words echoed in her mind—

"You were Chosen."

She swallowed hard. "Chosen for what?"

The woman didn't blink.

"To walk between worlds."

The ruins seemed to darken at her words. The wind whispered through the cracks in the stone, like the world itself was listening.

Malcolm's grip tightened on his knife. "What does that mean?"

The woman tilted her head slightly.

"The Hollow marks those who belong to it. Those it has claimed. But you—" her fingers hovered over Ellie's arm, where the mark pulsed faintly, "—you are something else."

A slow, cold dread curled in Ellie's stomach.

The woman continued.

"You stand on the edge of two realities. The Hollow will not let you go. And neither will the Forgotten."

Sam let out a sharp breath. "Fantastic. We escaped one nightmare just to end up in another."

Ellie's mind was racing.

She looked up at the woman, forcing her voice to stay steady. "What are the Forgotten?"

The woman hesitated.

Then, she lowered her hood.

Ellie's breath caught.

She wasn't human.

Her skin was ashen, her eyes black as the void. Veins of golden light pulsed beneath her skin, like something not entirely alive, not entirely dead.

She looked like Ellie's mark.

"We were once like you." Her voice was softer now, almost… sad. "People, pulled into the Hollow's grasp. But we did not become its shadows. We became something else. Something... lost."

Ellie's pulse pounded.

"You are on the same path, Ellie."

Her name, spoken in that voice, sent a chill down her spine.

"If you do not learn to control it, the Hollow will take you back. And next time—" the woman's black eyes bore into hers, "—you will not return the same."

A shiver ran through her.

Ellie opened her mouth, about to ask more—

Then—

A sound.

Deep, guttural, vibrating through the ruins like a distant growl.

The woman's expression darkened.

"It is already searching for you."

Ellie felt it too.

The air shifted. The ruins shook.

Sam's eyes darted around. "Okay, that definitely sounded bad—"

A shadow moved at the edge of the ruins.

Low, hulking, something wrong.

A Hollow Beast.

Malcolm cursed. "We need to move."

The woman looked at Ellie one last time.

"Find the next door. Before it finds you."

Then—

She vanished.

Ellie barely had time to process before—

The Beast lunged.

The Hunt Begins

Ellie barely had time to react before the Hollow Beast lunged.

It was huge, a shifting mass of darkness barely holding the shape of a grotesque wolf-like creature. Its limbs twisted unnaturally, its gaping mouth filled with rows of jagged teeth, dripping with something that hissed as it touched the stone.

Ellie threw herself to the side.

The Beast's claws ripped through the air, barely missing her. The force of its attack shattered a stone pillar, sending debris flying.

Sam yelled, grabbing Malcolm by the arm and dragging him back. "Run!"

But Ellie couldn't move.

The mark on her arm burned, like fire in her veins. The Beast wasn't attacking blindly—it was focused on her.

It was hunting her.

The woman's words echoed in her mind.

"It is already searching for you."

It had found her.

Ellie's vision blurred as something rippled through her mind—

A flash of a dark corridor. A door, covered in symbols.

Then—

Pain.

Like something was pulling at her soul, trying to drag her back into the Hollow.

No.

She wasn't going back.

Ellie gritted her teeth, forcing herself to stand.

Malcolm had his knife drawn, eyes darting between her and the Beast. "Ellie, we need to move—now."

The Beast let out a low, guttural growl.

Then—it charged.

Ellie barely registered Malcolm shoving her aside before the creature's massive claws slammed into the ground where she had been standing.

Stone shattered. Dust filled the air.

Ellie hit the ground hard, gasping as the impact rattled through her bones.

The Beast's hollowed-out eyes locked onto her.

It lunged again—

But this time, Malcolm was faster.

He moved like a blur, his knife flashing.

The blade sliced through the shadowy mass, and for a brief moment, the Beast reeled back, shrieking.

Ellie's eyes widened. "That hurt it?"

Malcolm didn't look away from the creature. "Barely."

Sam grabbed Ellie's wrist. "We can't fight this thing! We need to find the door—now!"

Ellie's mark flared again.

That vision. The door.

She knew where it was.

"Follow me!" she yelled.

They ran.

The ruins blurred as they sprinted past crumbling pillars and broken archways. Ellie's heart pounded in her chest, her skin prickling with the Beast's presence behind them.

Then—

The door appeared.

A massive stone archway stood at the edge of the ruins, its surface covered in glowing markings.

Sam gasped. "That's it!"

Ellie's mark burned brighter.

The Beast let out a bone-rattling roar.

It wasn't going to let her escape.

Ellie didn't stop.

She threw herself forward, slamming her marked hand against the archway.

The symbols flared to life.

The door ripped open—

And then—

Everything vanished.