Chapter 88 – The Hollow Wanderer
Chapter 88 – The Hollow Wanderer
Tyler staggered down the shattered steps of the sanctuary, every breath scraping at his ribs like broken glass. Even though his wounds had closed and his system displayed a full health bar, his muscles felt carved out, his bones heavy as lead. The echo of Volkrayne’s final roar still clung to his ears, twisting through his mind like a phantom tide. Guilt pressed into him harder than any claw or lightning bolt — Milo’s memory, Kragg’s trust, every life he’d taken or spared without understanding why. He felt like a stranger behind his own eyes, drifting farther from the boy who once believed he could save everyone. And in that uncertain fog, one name rose to the surface — Sunshine.
The sea carried him in a listless sway, his hands loose on the rudder as though he barely remembered they were his. He didn’t watch the waves or the sky; he watched the shape of his own reflection below, how it flickered and warped. Who am I, really? Am I just a vessel for these endless battles… or something more?
He didn’t know when the shoreline appeared, or why his boat had drifted there. It was only when he saw the modest houses and the curving path lined with lanterns that he recognized it — Heartwood. The place where Milo’s final laugh still echoed like a phantom heartbeat.
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Tyler stepped onto the dock, boots scraping against sun-bleached wood. He found Pantara first, standing before her easel. The canvas held an unfinished swirl of colours, caught somewhere between sunrise and storm clouds.
She turned, her eyes lighting up before softening. “Ah, [Player]… You look different,” she murmured. “Before, your eyes were filled with so many colours I could barely capture them. Now they look… like they’ve been washed out by rain.”
Tyler tried to answer but found no words. His gaze fell to the dirt at her feet.
Gilbert arrived with a basket of wilted leaves slung over his shoulder. He looked at Tyler with a strained expression. “Since you left… the poison mist you used seeped deeper than we thought. Lost all the crops. Had to start over from nothing.”
The words pierced deeper than any blade. Tyler reached into his pouch and dropped all his gold into Gilbert’s hands.
“I… I never meant for this,” Tyler whispered, his voice raw as an open wound. “Please… take it.”
Gilbert’s fingers closed around the coins, trembling. “I don’t know what to say. Thank you, [Player]. Even so… you once protected us. Don’t forget that part of you.”
Tyler swallowed, his mouth dry. “Have you heard of someone named Sunshine?”
Both villagers looked at each other and shook their heads. Pantara brushed a stray hair from her face, eyes sorrowful. “No… no Sunshine here. But… good luck.”
He nodded faintly, though inside, each answer felt like another door closing. I keep searching… but I don’t even know if I want to find her or myself…
This content has been misappropriated from NovelFire; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
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Muckwood greeted him with mist and damp earth. The Spirit Tree’s luminous threads shimmered quietly, swaying in a rhythm that felt eerily like a heartbeat.
Tyler approached and sank to his knees before the roots. “Milo… are you really gone? Have I lost even the chance to see you one last time…?”
A heavy silence pressed against his skin.
Echo stepped forward, her voice low. “When a spirit refuses a call once…”
Whisper continued, staring past him as though seeing another world. “…it is likely they have no wish to return…”
Murmur finished, her tone barely above a whisper. “…and thus, you may never see them again.”
The three caretakers watched him, eyes heavy with something like pity — or maybe regret.
Nearby, a few elderly fishermen watched the scene, one shaking his head. “That [Player]… he walks like someone who left his soul somewhere far behind.”
Tyler bowed his head, a tremor running down his spine. He rose slowly, his steps echoing like hollow drums against the wet ground. “Sunshine… is she the last thread holding me back from turning into something unrecognizable?”
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In Yandi, the air buzzed with busy chatter and hammer strikes.
Vitamin Ape nearly dropped his hammer when he spotted Tyler. “Oi! [Player]! That ancient bone you gave me… been studying it for days. I think I can forge it into a weapon — but I need a binding material strong enough. They say there’s something called a Dark Shard hidden deep in the Ardun desert.”
Tyler nodded absently. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
Shooba emerged from behind a half-carved chair, tilting his head. “You look… transparent today, [Player]. Like someone only half here.”
Tyler offered a faint, empty laugh. “Feels about right.”
He moved from stall to stall, each question like a fading echo. “Sunshine… do you know her? Anyone by that name?”
Each time, he was met with slow headshakes, quiet apologies, and sympathetic eyes.
Near the overlook, inside his cave, Yandeon appeared, draped in ceremonial cloth. He watched Tyler with eyes sharp as splinters. “Shindo is restless,” he called out across the cave. “A darkness is rising there. Before you find your ‘Sunshine,’ perhaps you should see what’s stirring beyond the horizon.”
Tyler paused, heart stuttering. A darkness… is that where my road leads no matter how I struggle?
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Finally, he reached Noobia.
He walked its bright streets like a phantom, nodding mechanically to Pineapple Pig, Petunia, and the others. Their replies were all the same: “Sunshine? No, sorry, [Player].”
At the far end of the stalls, Cupcake Crab perched on a stack of crates, claws glittering. When he saw Tyler, he leaned forward, one beady eye narrowing.
“Sunshine, huh? Can’t say I’ve seen her,” Cupcake Crab said, clacking his claws thoughtfully. “But if you’re thinking of heading to Shindo… watch yourself. The tides are shifting, [Player]. Whole caravans fleeing. Something big is crawling out of the deep.”
Tyler lowered his gaze, his hair casting his face in shadow. “I see… Thank you.”
Cupcake Crab tilted his head. “Still chasing ghosts, [Player]? Be careful… sometimes the more you chase, the more you lose yourself.”
Tyler turned without answering, moving toward the pier as if his feet moved on strings pulled by some unseen hand.
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He stopped at the water’s edge as the sky faded to bruised purple. The ocean hissed and whispered against the wooden posts, and the Divine Key at his belt pulsed with a slow, ominous glow.
“I thought if I kept moving, I’d find something. Sunshine… Milo… maybe even myself. But all I’ve found are empty echoes.”
His fingers twitched at his side, clenching and unclenching.
“Shindo… that’s where it all points now. I can’t keep drifting forever.”
He inhaled shakily, salt and night filling his lungs.
“Sunshine… Milo… Kragg… even if the person who returns isn’t the same, I’ll keep my promises. And I’ll face whatever waits for me in Shindo.”
As the final strip of sun vanished beyond the waves, Tyler turned from the water, his cloak catching in the wind like a torn banner.