The path to the Hollow Convergence was a broken vein carved through the earth, black stone cracked open by forgotten cataclysms. The further Aeron and Kael traveled, the more the world distorted. Trees grew upside-down, whispering languages in the wind. Shadows moved even when no light touched them. And above, the stars blinked in patterns that made Aeron's head ache.
The system grew quiet. No new warnings. No updates. Just silence.
As if even it feared what lay ahead.
By the third day, they reached a chasm so vast it looked like the world had been cleaved in two. Across it stood a bridge of interwoven bones and metal, rising from the abyss as though summoned by a forgotten god.
At its center stood a figure draped in veils, one hand resting on a twisted staff.
Kael tensed. "Friend or foe?"
"Neither," Aeron replied. "Or both."
They stepped onto the bridge.
The figure did not move, but its voice carried without wind. "Abyssforged. You have come as foretold."
Aeron stopped a few paces away. "You knew I was coming?"
"All threads converge at the Hollow. It is written. And unwritten."
Kael's hand hovered near his blade. "Enough riddles."
The veiled figure turned, revealing nothing beneath the cloth just a void where a face should be. "Then listen in truth. The Hollow Convergence is where power sleeps. Where it chooses. The last Abyssforged came here, long ago. She burned the skies and drowned the stars."
Aeron's jaw tightened. "Velara."
"She was Velara," the figure said. "Now she is something else."
The ground trembled beneath them. Far below, something stirred in the abyss.
[System Notice: Threshold Reached.
Initiating Trial – "Baptism of Echoes."]
[Objective: Survive.]
The veiled one vanished in a swirl of dust.
A scream rose from the chasm not human. Not beast. A sound of memory being torn apart. From the darkness below, hundreds of figures began to crawl up the walls twisted specters of those Aeron had killed. Guild members. Hunters. The Devourer's spawn. Even shadows of Kael, distorted and broken.
Kael growled, drawing his blade. "That's a bad sign."
Aeron felt his core thrum like a war drum.
[Skill: Soul Scorch – Activated]
[Effect amplified within Hollow Convergence.]
Flames erupted from his skin black with a violet edge. His aura cracked the stone beneath his feet.
"Don't hold back," he said.
Kael grinned, then leapt forward. His blade met shadow, cleaving through the first wave. Aeron followed, fists glowing, striking with brutal precision. Each enemy that fell disintegrated into mist—but the mist fought back, latching to their skin, whispering doubts.
"You will become what you fear."
"You left them to die."
"You will never be more than a weapon."
Aeron clenched his jaw. "I already am."
With a roar, he released a burst of raw abyssal energy, vaporizing the whispers around him. The core within pulsed like a heart under siege, threads of power wrapping around his limbs.
[Trait Acquired: Abyssal Mantle (I)]
[Effect: Surrounds user in voidfire armor during high-threat engagements. Passive resistance to mental intrusion increased.]
The armor materialized around him in segments—sharp, layered plates etched in glowing runes. A helmet sealed over his head, forming from nothing.
Kael shouted through the chaos, "Looking good!"
"Don't get jealous," Aeron snapped, diving into another cluster.
Minutes bled into an eternity. For every shadow they destroyed, another rose. The bridge trembled, bones cracking. And then silence.
The shadows froze.
From the chasm rose a singular figure. Human-shaped. Familiar.
A mirror of Aeron himself but twisted. Eyes bleeding darkness. Core exposed and cracked, leaking void energy.
It spoke with Aeron's voice. "You think you control the abyss. You are wrong."
Kael staggered. "That thing's… you?"
"No," Aeron said coldly. "That's what they want me to become."
[Final Phase: Hollow Avatar Manifested]
[Warning: Aura Overload Imminent]
The doppelgänger moved impossibly fast, meeting Aeron in a flash of black fire. Their fists collided—equal force, equal pain. The bridge cracked.
Aeron shouted, "I'm not your puppet!"
The doppelgänger hissed, "You are already a weapon. You just haven't admitted it yet."
Kael tried to intervene, but shadow tendrils slammed him away, pinning him to the wall.
Aeron's armor fractured under the blows. His core surged in rebellion.
[Option Unlocked: Absorb Hollow Echo]
[Risk: Core Destabilization – 89%]
[Reward: Unknown Potential]
Aeron looked at his other self. At everything he feared becoming. At the choice that had haunted him from the start.
"Then let's see who really survives this."
He let go.
The explosion of energy turned the world white.
---
The explosion had no sound.
Only pressure. A thunderless wave that blasted through the Hollow Convergence like an ancient god's exhale. Kael, still pinned to the shattered wall of the chasm, watched through bleeding eyes as Aeron and the Hollow Echo vanished in the blinding light.
When the dust settled, the bridge was no longer intact. Only fractured segments hovered in midair, held together by strands of black energy that pulsed like veins. At the center of the chaos hovered Aeron barely recognizable.
He hung midair, encased in a cocoon of obsidian glass, fractures glowing with violet light. His eyes burned, not with flame, but with awareness. Something deeper. Older.
The Hollow Echo was gone—consumed or absorbed. Kael couldn't tell.
[System Alert: Core Stabilizing… 71% Complete.]
[New State: Hollowbound – Initiated.]
[Warning: Host body may undergo physical or metaphysical mutation.]
Kael staggered forward as the restraints crumbled. "Aeron…?"
The name seemed to vibrate through the air, like it didn't belong anymore.
Aeron slowly opened his eyes. Where once was intensity now lingered a calm like the eye of a storm. His voice was layered—his own, but deeper, threaded with echoes. "I'm here. Mostly."
Kael frowned. "Mostly?"
Aeron descended slowly, his feet touching what remained of the bridge. Black flames coiled around him but didn't burn—they flowed like sentient shadows, drawn to the core of his being.
"I absorbed what the Hollow tried to make me. My Echo. My worst self. But instead of destroying it…" He lifted a hand, watching as the flames obeyed his command, forming into symbols in the air. "I anchored it."
Kael shook his head. "You're insane."
"I had no choice," Aeron said quietly. "If I'd destroyed it, I'd be fighting that part of me forever. Now it's part of me but it serves me. Not the other way around."
[Trait Evolved: Abyssal Mantle → Hollowbound Mantle (I)]
[Effect: User may channel controlled fragments of Echo Form. Enhanced resistance to corruption. Increased void manipulation.]
[New Skill Acquired: Voidscript – Glyphforge]
[Allows the user to shape temporary constructs, barriers, or sigils from pure void essence.]
Kael gave a low whistle. "So… you're a walking nightmare now?"
Aeron smirked faintly. "Only if they push me."
As the last of the energy dissipated, the veiled figure returned, materializing where the bridge had once begun. This time, the veil was gone. In its place was a shifting mask of mirrored glass—each shard reflecting a different part of Aeron's journey.
"You have done what others feared," the figure said. "You faced the echo of your sins. And you claimed them."
Aeron stepped forward. "Is that the end of the trial?"
The figure shook its head. "It is the beginning of your divergence."
Behind them, the chasm began to close—drawn together by unseen forces. As the bridge crumbled into mist, a new path emerged beneath their feet. Smooth stone etched with symbols. Glyphs that responded to Aeron's very breath.
"You are no longer bound to fate as it was," the figure said. "You are unwritten. And now the worlds will fear what you become."
> [Title Acquired: Hollowbound]
[You have defied destiny and embraced your darker reflection. All abilities gain increased efficiency in corrupted zones.]
Kael muttered, "Guess that makes you officially terrifying."
Aeron looked back at him. "Still want to follow?"
Kael grinned. "You kidding? This is where the real fun begins."
Together, they stepped onto the path beyond the Hollow, leaving the dead bridge behind. The path pulsed with memory and possibility. Every step forward brought Aeron a deeper awareness of the weight he now carried.
Not just vengeance.
Not just survival.
But rebirth.
The system pulsed again.
> [Incoming Transmission – Priority Omega]
[Source: UNKNOWN ENTITY – "Watcher of Threads"]
[Message: You are seen, Hollowbound. And you are not alone.]
Aeron paused.
Something had taken notice. Something beyond Velara, beyond the Guild, beyond even the gods he had yet to confront.
Kael noticed the hesitation. "What is it?"
Aeron's jaw tensed. "Something just… looked at me."
Kael reached for his blade. "You want to go back?"
"No." Aeron's gaze narrowed. "I want to go forward."
---
The path beyond the Hollow was silent, save for the faint hum beneath their feet. Each glyph-lit step echoed with meaning, the stones reacting to Aeron's presence as though they remembered him from a forgotten lifetime.
Kael kept glancing sideways. "This place feels like it's alive."
"It is," Aeron said quietly, his voice still distant, layered. "Or at least… it remembers life."
The corridor narrowed, walls drawing closer as they stepped into a vast chamber—a dome suspended in shadow. Runes floated midair, drifting like constellations, their shapes unfamiliar yet hauntingly evocative.
> [Voidscript – Glyphforge Available]
[Practice Recommended: 0/10 Activations]
Aeron paused and lifted a hand. "Let's see what this can really do."
He focused on one of the drifting runes, pouring a thread of his new energy into the air. The darkness obeyed. It twisted and folded, forming a curved symbol that pulsed like a heartbeat.
[Voidscript Activated – Construct: Aegis Sigil]
[Effect: Temporary shield. Absorbs incoming attacks until capacity is breached.]
A dome of pure void shimmered into existence around him, translucent and weightless. Kael raised an eyebrow.
"That… is new."
"It's defensive. But I think it can do more." Aeron closed his hand, the shield collapsing into mist.
He tried again, this time imagining movement, edge, force.
[Voidscript Activated – Construct: Umbra Blade]
[Effect: Forms a blade of compressed void essence. Duration: 60 seconds.]
The sword that formed wasn't solid—it hummed like a whisper, its shape shifting subtly as if echoing his thoughts. He swung it experimentally. It sliced through the air without resistance.
Kael whistled. "Looks fragile. Is it?"
"Try me," Aeron said with a smirk.
Kael obliged—drawing his blade in a flash and aiming for Aeron's side. Steel met shadow.
The Umbra Blade sang. It didn't just parry—it absorbed the blow, dispersing the impact through a ripple of dark energy.
Kael staggered back. "Okay, never mind. I stand corrected. That's unfair."
Aeron let the blade dissipate. "It's not unfair if it's earned."
The glyphs in the air flickered at that—responding to his will. Aeron realized they weren't just tools. They were language. The deeper his connection, the more they offered him.
And he was starting to understand their whispers.
> [Voidscript Affinity: 12%]
[New Subroutine Available: Echo Mark]
[Mark a surface or target. May detonate or trigger delayed glyph effects.]
Before he could experiment further, the chamber trembled. Kael dropped into a defensive stance.
"Something's coming."
A low howl echoed from the far wall as it split open. Black mist poured in, congealing into a shape—a beast, four-limbed, skinless, with glowing sigils etched into its flesh.
A corruption warden.
> [WARNING: Prototype Hollow Warden Detected.]
[Rank: Tier 4. Adaptive. Immune to physical projectiles.]
Kael swore. "Of course it's immune to normal weapons."
Aeron stepped forward. "Let's test how far Voidscript goes."
The beast roared, leaping across the chamber. Aeron moved fast ,faster than he remembered he could—glyphs blooming around his hands as he formed a complex triple-layered sigil in an instant.
> [Voidscript Combo – Glyphforge Sequence Initiated]
[Constructs: Aegis Sigil + Umbra Blade + Echo Mark]
The shield shimmered up first, absorbing the initial impact. Then the Umbra Blade formed mid-swing, cleaving through one of the creature's legs. As it staggered, Aeron left behind a glowing mark.
"Kael! Draw it to me!"
Without hesitation, Kael slashed across the beast's flank and dove back toward Aeron. The warden lunged.
The Echo Mark flared.
[Detonating Echo Mark…]
[Success.]
A ripple of compressed void energy exploded outward, sending the creature crashing into the wall. It snarled, three limbs crushed but still reforming—sigils etched into its bones glowing as it tried to adapt.
"It's learning," Aeron muttered.
"Then hit it harder," Kael snapped.
Aeron nodded. He closed his eyes—this time weaving glyphs faster, letting his instincts lead.
[Voidscript Activated – Construct: Abyssal Spear]
[Effect: Piercing strike. Ignores magical and physical resistance.]
He hurled the weapon. It pierced straight through the creature's chest and pinned it to the wall, where the sigils in its body began to unravel like melting wax.
The beast let out one final screech before dissolving into smoke.
[Target Eliminated.]
[Voidscript Efficiency Increased.]
[Affinity: 16%]
Kael exhaled, wiping blood from his brow. "That thing was supposed to be a prototype?"
Aeron turned to him. "Imagine what the real ones look like."
Kael didn't respond. He didn't need to.
The silence that followed was heavy. Not from fear, but from revelation.
This wasn't just another dungeon or ancient ruin.
It was a forge.
And Aeron was being reforged into something the world wasn't ready for.
---
The Hollow Convergence didn't so much end as dissolve around them. The walls of runes dimmed with Aeron's last step, as if acknowledging the completion of some ancient test. Shadows receded, folding in on themselves, and the vast chamber grew quiet once more, a slumbering heart now calmed.
The exit formed like a tear in reality. A ripple opened in the far wall, revealing stone steps leading upward through mist and cold air. Kael approached it with visible relief.
"That place gives me the creeps."
Aeron didn't respond right away. His eyes lingered on the glyphs now fading behind them. He could still feel them in his bones—like distant echoes, whispering for him to return someday.
> [Voidscript Affinity: 18%]
[Subsystem Stable. Core functions retained outside convergence zone.]
They ascended in silence, the stairway winding higher and higher until light began to break through the haze. When they finally emerged, the sky greeted them with a sullen gray overcast. The ruins above the Hollow were untouched, silent as ever.
Aeron turned to look back but the entrance was already gone. In its place stood a weathered stone monolith, blank and unassuming.
Kael prodded the ground with his boot. "So, no way back in?"
"Not until it lets us back," Aeron said. He didn't sound disappointed. Just certain.
They moved away from the site, footsteps soft over broken stones and frost-laced earth. As they reached the tree line, Kael asked, "Feel any different?"
Aeron took a breath, closing his eyes.
He could still feel the runes. The constructs. The raw, formless power that curled beneath his skin like a sleeping storm.
"Yeah," he said, flexing his fingers. A flicker of void shimmered between them before fading. "I feel awake."
---
By the time they reached the nearest safe outpost—a reclaimed border post from the old wars, word of their mission had already started to spread. Runners had seen the surge of magical activity, the implosion of skyward glyphs, the rift that briefly tore into the clouds.
No one greeted them as heroes.
They were met with wary eyes. Quiet whispers. People sensed it instinctively: Aeron had come back different.
Kael handled the suspicion with his usual bravado. But Aeron stayed quiet, his mind still locked in patterns and scripts.
He stood before a mirror in the outpost barracks and studied himself. The same face. The same frame. But there was something new in his eyes.
Not just power.
Purpose.
---
That night, dreams plagued him.
A throne of obsidian. A voice of whispers and knives. A war god's hand resting on his shoulder, not in comfort, but in claim.
He awoke with a gasp. Kael was already up, sharpening a blade.
"You screamed again," he said. Not unkindly.
Aeron rubbed his face. "Still getting used to the... fragments."
"You sure it was worth it?"
He didn't answer. Instead, he focused on the feeling that lingered in his chest—an awareness like a heartbeat beneath the world.
[Voidscript System: Synchronicity Pending.]
[New Directive Available: Echo of the Fallen.]
A message. A pull. Another piece of the puzzle. Another step forward.
He stood and gathered his gear. Whatever lay ahead, he could no longer pretend he was just another survivor. The Hollow Convergence had marked him.
And now, the world would feel its echo.
---