Chapter 30 – A Deal with the Hollow Light

The moon above Revaris was fractured, its shards drifting like glowing petals across the night sky.
From the balcony of the Black Citadel, Kael watched them fall—not with awe, but with the cold awareness that each shard was a piece of the world’s fabric breaking.

“It’s accelerating,” murmured Seriya, stepping beside him. Her silver hair swayed in the wind, her hands clasped tightly around a sealed crystal. “If the Shards of Luminal collapse entirely, the Hollow Realms will flood through the breach.”

Kael didn’t answer. His eyes traced the horizon where an unnatural radiance pulsed—a city of light floating over the darkened plains.
The Citadel’s elders had called it The Hollow Light. To Kael, it looked more like a lure.

“They want you to come,” Seriya said, sensing his resolve. “You know it’s a trap.”

“That’s the point,” Kael replied, his voice low. “Every trap has a trigger. I just have to be faster than it.”

The journey to the Hollow Light was nothing like Kael expected.
No ground path existed—only a spiral of translucent bridges suspended in the air. Each step shimmered beneath his boots, and the void below seemed to whisper his name.

Halfway across, a figure emerged from the glow ahead.
A tall, robed man whose face was hidden beneath a porcelain mask. His voice was like glass breaking in slow motion.

“Kael of the Forgotten Sigil,” the figure intoned. “The Hollow Light has awaited you. Your Erosions disrupt the natural weave. The Council wishes to offer you… terms.”

Kael’s grip tightened on his blade. “Terms? Or chains?”

The masked figure tilted his head. “A choice. Serve the Hollow Light, and you will have the power to reshape the ending of your story. Reject it… and you will watch your world burn before you fall into the void.”

The air rippled around them—visions of burning cities, screaming faces, and a sky tearing open. Kael’s pulse quickened.

“I don’t make deals with gods who hide behind masks,” he said, stepping forward.

The figure chuckled softly. “Then perhaps… you will make a deal with the one who forged them.”

The light behind the figure flared, and a colossal shadow rose—its wings made of fractured moonlight, its eyes burning like dying stars.

For the first time in a long while, Kael felt something he hated.
Not anger.
Not fury.
But the faint, cold weight of doubt.