Chapter 16: The shards of sorrow
The Hollow Borne was dead, its body crumbled, but the air hadn't cleared out yet. The space it left behind still pulsed with something heavy.
The remnants didn't settle. The remnants hung around, seemingly unfinished.
Riven stood for a long while, his blade lowered, blood still drying down his side. The rune on his arm burned hot after the fight, sealing the wound, but the pain hadn't fully left.
Veyla watched him silently. She didn't speak because they both felt it.
The Hollow Borne hadn't been just a remnant-infused organism. It had been someone broken, hollowed, and turned into a reflection—and for a few minutes in that fight, Riven hadn't been sure if he'd come out the winner.
They moved on quietly—not far from it, just away from the body of the Hollow Borne—down a cracked stone path that looked like it had once been part of an old Cinder stronghold, long swallowed by roots and mud puddles.
The sky above had faded into a soft gray light, still distant and cold. The trees grew crooked here, split down the middle, and burnt from the inside out.
None of them grew leaves. More like dead trees.
The path led toward a narrow ravine, where the earth curved inward as if something massive had landed there centuries ago.
A tree stood in the middle of it all. It was half-dead and hollow at its base. Its roots coiled like veins, clutching the broken ground. No leaves, just dark, cracked bark and a steady red pulse glowing along its core.
Veyla tensed as they stepped into its domain. "Do you feel that energy?" she asked, stepping closer to him.