The stairs to the Sanctum weren't carved—they were grown, coiling like the spine of some ancient creature fossilized in stone. Each step pulsed faintly beneath Ezra's boots, a rhythmic beat too slow to be a heart, too deep to be anything but alive.
He didn't speak as he climbed.
Neither did Kael.
Ash stayed close at his heel, growling low when the air shifted, and even Skulk—the ever-bold shadowstalker—lingered behind them with measured steps.
The light from the shattered cathedral above was pale and unnatural. It shimmered like moonlight reflecting off oil, warped and humming.
"Where did you hear that name?" Ezra finally asked, voice low as he touched the hilt of his bone dagger. "Hollowborn. That's not public."
Kael kept her eyes forward. "I didn't hear it. I saw it."
Ezra frowned. "In the System?"
She shook her head. "In a dream."
Ezra's pulse quickened.
"Before the Surge hit, I used to have nightmares," she continued, carefully stepping over a bone-cracked fissure in the stairway. "Always the same. A city burning. A man in chains, standing over a mountain of corpses. His eyes glowed like yours. And behind him… thousands of undead. Like waves. Endless."
Ezra didn't speak. He couldn't.
"I saw him die," she said, stopping on a cracked landing where the stairs curled into a platform. "Over and over. Sometimes by a blade. Sometimes fire. Sometimes betrayal."
She turned to him finally, eyes gray as stormclouds. "But he always came back. Every time."
Ezra met her gaze. "That wasn't a dream."
"No," Kael said. "It was a memory."
The doors to the Sanctum loomed ahead—two vast slabs of obsidian etched with writhing runes. They moved when you looked directly at them, like ink still drying on a page. Whatever lay behind those doors wasn't meant for the world above.
Ezra approached, fingers brushing the surface.
It was cold. Not just temperature—soul-cold. Like touching the edge of death itself.
The runes flared.
Unique Access Detected: [Hollowborn]Companion Detected: Unknown AlignmentTrial Status: UncompletedWarning: Once entered, the trial cannot be exited until either completion or death.
Kael whistled. "Comforting."
"Last chance to walk away," Ezra muttered.
She smiled. "I was born in Sector Nine. If I wanted comfort, I wouldn't have followed you into a haunted tunnel full of bone-beasts and forgotten gods."
Ezra smirked, but it didn't reach his eyes. He pressed his palm to the center of the door.
A sound like a sigh and a scream reverberated through the air—and the doors opened.
Inside, the world shifted.
The cathedral's interior defied physics. Stained glass windows glowed without light, suspended midair. Pillars of cracked bone held up a ceiling of swirling mist. And above the altar, a massive corpse floated—nailed in place by black spears of shadow. It wasn't human.
It had once worn a human shape, but its proportions were too long. Its skull stretched. Its ribs curved like armor.
Something deep in Ezra's blood stirred.
He knew that body.
Not the face. Not the name.
But the weight of it.
He stepped forward and the System screamed.
[Trial of the Hollowborn – Initiated]Objective: Endure. Survive. Command.Difficulty: UnknownRewards: ???Failure: Permanent Death
Kael cursed under her breath.
Then the walls cracked.
From the left, three reanimated soldiers burst through—wearing rusted armor inscribed with runes, their movements precise, not shambling. Intelligent.
Ezra reacted instinctively, raising both arms. "Bonebind—Resonance Pulse!"
The moment he spoke the words, the summoned skeleton beside him surged with dark energy, the faint blue in its eyes burning brighter.
It charged.
Kael spun into motion, ducking under a blade, her short sword flashing like silver fire as she hamstrung one of the armored corpses. Ash leapt over her, fangs sinking into exposed sinew.
But the undead were not the same as those above.
They didn't fall easily.
Ezra's summoned skeleton clashed with one of the elite dead, each blow sending shards of bone flying. For the first time, Ezra felt the pain of his summon through the tether—like splinters beneath his skin. He grit his teeth and pressed forward.
He whispered a command. "Shatter."
His skeleton obeyed.
Literally.
Its ribs exploded outward like shrapnel, embedding into the other undead and knocking two of them back.
Ezra dropped to one knee, blood trickling from his nose. "Too much…"
New Skill Unlocked: [Boneburst: Unstable]Description: Detonate a summoned undead, dealing AoE damage.Warning: Heavy backlash. Cooldown: 6 hours.
Kael finished the last one with a thrust through the eye socket.
The room went silent again—except for Ezra's ragged breathing.
"You okay?" she asked.
"Define okay."
She snorted. "Still standing, aren't you?"
Barely.
Ezra pushed himself up. The corpse above the altar hadn't moved, but the shadows around it had deepened.
Then came the voice.
"Why do you disturb the peace of the Hollowborn?"
It didn't speak aloud. It bypassed sound entirely, vibrating in Ezra's skull.
He gritted his teeth. "Because I have no peace."
The voice laughed. Cold. Mocking.
"Neither did we."
The body above the altar jerked once, and the air grew heavier. From beneath the floor, more undead rose—these ones larger, wrapped in funeral cloth and wearing masks carved from ivory.
Ezra counted five. Then ten.
Twenty.
Kael backed toward him, blade ready.
"Got a plan?"
"Yeah," Ezra muttered, raising both hands.
"Don't die."
The battle was chaos.
Ezra tapped deeper into his necromantic reserves than ever before. He summoned two undead this time—both stronger, larger. One wielded a rusted glaive it must have died holding. The other fought with savage fists, bone cracked and reinforced.
Every time Ezra used Boneburst, it took a piece of him. His vision blurred. His hands shook. But the undead kept coming.
Kael moved like smoke through the battlefield, cutting and weaving with precise strikes. She never asked for help. She never cried out.
Ezra found strength in her presence.
He didn't need to protect her.
They fought as equals.
But as the final wave neared, Ezra faltered. His summons were weakening. His mind clouded.
And then, the floating corpse moved.
Its chest cracked open, revealing a hollow cavity where a heart should be.
From within, something dropped.
A sphere. Pulsing with black light.
Ezra fell to his knees, clutching his skull.
WARNING: Hollow Core DetectedEntity: Dormant Hollowborn FragmentStatus: CorruptedAction Required: Cleanse or Consume
Consume?
Ezra didn't have time to think. The last of the undead surged toward Kael. Ash lay unconscious. Skulk was missing. His summons were shattered.
He had one option.
He reached toward the orb.
The moment his skin touched the surface, pain erupted through his entire body. He screamed—long, raw, and primal—as black veins spread across his arms.
System Update: Core Integration Initiated
New Class Evolution Path Available:[Hollowborn: Fragmented]Trait Acquired: [Deathwell] – Regenerate minor health upon enemy kill.Trait Acquired: [Lingering Command] – Summoned undead persist for 15 seconds after caster falls unconscious.Passive: -15% Summoning CostMutation Risk: 3%Warning: Integration incomplete. Core unstable. Proceed with caution.
Ezra stood, swaying.
The orb dissolved into his chest, and the light in the room shuddered.
His eyes burned black.
The remaining undead paused.
Then turned.
And knelt.
Kael stared, eyes wide. "Ezra?"
He turned to her slowly.
And smiled.
But it wasn't all his.