The night stretched endlessly over the town of forgotten memories. The stars above were distant, cold, and seemingly unaware of the terror unfolding below. Lena stood at the edge of the main square, the wind biting at her skin, but it was nothing compared to the chill settling deep within her chest. The Voice in the Dark had spoken the truth—the Hollow Sky was inevitable. And now, it was drawing closer.
She had seen the signs, heard the whispers that slithered through the streets. Something was stirring in the shadows, rising from the earth itself. The town may have been forgotten, but there were remnants here—remnants that should never have been disturbed. She could feel it now, a creeping presence, as though the very ground beneath her was alive, waiting.
It started with a faint rumble, like a growl that vibrated through the earth, deep and low, coming from beneath the town's foundations. Lena's eyes narrowed, her senses heightened as the vibrations deepened, the earth trembling beneath her feet. It wasn't just the land. It was the very bones of the town, alive with a strange energy that pulsed in time with the growing tremor.
The ground cracked.
At first, it was barely noticeable—small fissures opening in the cobblestone streets, veins of darkness creeping out like ink bleeding into water. But then, the cracks spread, and from each one, an inhuman whisper echoed, rising from the depths.
They were here.
Lena's breath caught in her throat. The shadows around her thickened, and with them came shapes, figures draped in tattered cloaks, moving from the depths of the fissures. Their presence was silent, their movements impossibly swift. They were not human. They were something else, something ancient, something born from the earth itself, clawing their way back into the world. Their eyes gleamed faintly in the darkness, cold and hollow, like the remnants of forgotten souls.
The Shrouded Ones.
Lena instinctively reached for her blade, but the chill in the air stopped her. This was not a fight she could win with steel alone. No, these were not enemies she could slash or cut down. These were the forgotten, the forsaken—beings bound to the Hollow Sky, existing in the space between worlds, their forms neither fully corporeal nor entirely ethereal. Their existence was a stain on the fabric of reality, a wound that refused to heal.
As the first of the Shrouded Ones emerged fully from the cracks in the earth, Lena could see their forms more clearly. Tall, unnaturally thin, they were draped in rotting shrouds, their faces hidden beneath hoods that were blacker than the night. Their hands were skeletal, long and spindly, with fingers that seemed to stretch and twitch unnaturally. Their movements were jerky, disjointed, as if they were still learning how to move in this world, how to take shape.
Lena took a step back, her mind racing. These beings had been bound by the Hollow Sky, forgotten by time, hidden away beneath the earth's surface. But now they were rising—drawn to the pulse of the Hollow Sky that had begun to awaken. She could feel the pull of it too, deep in her bones, a force she had never fully understood but now felt like a weight pressing down on her, reminding her that time was running out.
The Shrouded Ones stopped in a circle around her, their hollow eyes trained on her with an intensity that sent shivers up her spine. For a moment, there was only silence, the air thick with the tension of something unspeakable hanging on the verge of revelation.
Then, one of the Shrouded Ones stepped forward. It was taller than the others, its movements more fluid, less broken, as though it had long since mastered the art of walking in the world of the living. Its hood fell back slightly, revealing a face—if one could call it that. It was gaunt, skeletal, its skin stretched taut over the bones like parchment. Its eyes were black voids, empty and unfeeling, and its mouth hung open in a silent scream, the edges of its lips cracked and discolored.
Lena's stomach churned. She knew instinctively that this one was different. It was the leader, the first among the risen, the one who had been waiting.
It raised its long, bony hand, pointing directly at her. The world around her seemed to still. The whispers of the others faded into the background, their movements frozen, their attention now solely focused on her.
The leader spoke—not in a voice, but in a thought, a terrible echo that reverberated in her mind. Its words were not meant for her ears, but for her very soul.
"You are the one who remembers. The one who cannot forget. You are the key, the last thread of the past. And the Hollow Sky will consume you, just as it consumed us. There is no escaping it. You will join the rest. The Shrouded Ones will rise, and with them, we will erase the memory of the world itself."
Lena's breath quickened. It wasn't a threat—it was a proclamation, a declaration of fate. She had not yet fully realized it, but she was already part of the Hollow Sky's story. It had chosen her. The Shrouded Ones were drawn to her, not because of her strength, but because of her ability to remember—to hold on to the past when everything else had been consumed. She was the last tether to what had been.
"You cannot stop it," the leader intoned, its hollow voice echoing in her mind. "The stars have moved. The world will forget, and we—"
But before it could finish, Lena broke the silence with a shout, her voice breaking through the oppressive weight of the presence surrounding her. "I won't let you erase me!" she cried, her voice trembling with determination.
The leader paused, its cold eyes narrowing, as though it hadn't anticipated defiance. For a moment, it remained silent, observing her. Then, with a flick of its hand, the ground beneath her feet trembled again, and more Shrouded Ones rose from the cracks, their forms becoming clearer, more defined, as if the earth itself were giving birth to them.
Lena's heart pounded in her chest, but she did not retreat. She could not. These beings, these horrors of the Hollow Sky, were here to wipe out all that was. But she was still standing. Still fighting.
She reached out with her senses, feeling the pulse of the town beneath her feet. There was a rhythm here, a heartbeat in the earth, as if the town itself was alive, resisting the inevitable. And somewhere deep beneath the ruins, hidden from the view of the Shrouded Ones, Lena felt it—a flicker of light, a spark of resistance.
A plan formed in her mind, desperate but necessary. The Shrouded Ones would not stop until the town was swallowed whole, until the Hollow Sky's presence was complete. But if the town itself still held some memory of what it once was, then perhaps—just perhaps—there was still hope.
With a sharp inhale, Lena turned toward the leader, her voice firm. "You may rise. But I will not be erased."
The Shrouded Ones shrieked in unison, their skeletal hands reaching toward her, their eyes burning with hunger. The earth trembled again as they closed in, and Lena's mind raced. She would not let them claim the last remnants of this place. Not yet.
She took a deep breath and began to move, stepping into the darkness to face the terrifying force that had risen from the depths.