The shadow warriors surged forward, their forms flickering between the living and the long-dead. Some bore the sigils of long-forgotten orders, others wore the tattered remains of prison rags.
All of them had once stood where Reinhardt and Selene now stood. All of them had failed.
Reinhardt raised his sword, his instincts honed from years of battle. "Stay close!"
Selene's magic flared, her dark flames holding back the tide of advancing figures. "No chance of that changing!" she shot back.
The Gatekeeper watched from its post at the entrance, unmoving. This wasn't a fight for survival. It was a test.
Breaking the Cycle
Reinhardt moved first. His blade cut through the nearest warrior, expecting resistance—but there was none. His strike passed through the figure like mist, as if the enemy wasn't even real.
Selene swore. "They're not meant to be killed."
The warriors kept coming. Their strikes had weight—brutal, crushing weight. Reinhardt blocked one, but the force behind it nearly drove him to his knees.
"This is a trial," he muttered, stepping back. "A test of what?"
Selene's eyes flickered as she studied the battlefield. "A test of will."
The realization struck him like a hammer. This wasn't a battle to be won by strength. It was about defiance.
"Don't fight them," he said suddenly.
Selene turned to him like he'd lost his mind. "Are you serious?"
Reinhardt lowered his sword. The warrior before him raised its weapon, ready to strike—
And then it froze.
The shadows around it flickered, unraveling like loose threads.
Selene's lips parted. "It's not about defeating them. It's about rejecting the fight altogether."
Reinhardt exhaled. "It's a prison built on endless war. The only way to pass is to stop playing the game."
Selene looked back at the approaching horde, then at him. Then, with a deep breath, she extinguished her magic.
The warriors charged—but the moment they struck, their forms shattered like glass.
The battlefield collapsed.
The Hollow Bastille shuddered, the air splitting open with a soundless cry. The warriors dissolved into dust, leaving only silence.
The Gatekeeper stirred.
It did not attack. It did not speak.
Instead—the massive iron gates behind it groaned, creaking open.
Reinhardt and Selene had passed.
Beyond the doors, the prison awaited.
And deep within its cursed walls—Varian the Hollow, the only Fateborn who had ever survived.