Elias fell.
There was no ground, no sky—only an endless abyss that swallowed light, thought, and time itself. The moment he had spoken the words, reality had unraveled, and he had been cast into the void.
Yet, he was not alone.
Something was here.
A presence beyond mortal comprehension loomed in the darkness, stretching farther than his mind could grasp. It was not a figure, nor a shape—it was a sensation, an awareness that coiled around him like unseen chains.
"You sought the Unseen."
The voice was not heard; it was felt, resonating through the marrow of his bones. It was layered—whispers upon whispers, voices from the depths of existence, all speaking as one.
Elias gasped, his breath stolen by the crushing weight of its presence. His vision swam with images—ruined cities beneath blackened suns, faceless figures kneeling before an empty throne, a single eye staring through the fabric of existence.
Something unseen watched him.
"Do you understand what you have done?"
Elias clenched his fists, forcing himself to speak. "I seek knowledge. I seek the truth behind the Hollow Veil."
The presence pulsed, as if amused.
"Truth? Knowledge? You mistake your hunger for power as wisdom."
A force lashed through his mind, sending him spiraling through memories that were not his own. He saw a scholar, much like himself, standing at the edge of an ancient ruin, his eyes hollow as he whispered forbidden names. He saw a city where the walls bled ink, and those who read its words vanished. He saw a book—bound in something not of this world—being sealed away in the heart of Vaelthorne.
The same book he had just touched.
Realization crashed into him. The Hollow Veil was not merely knowledge—it was a barrier, a prison for things that should not be known.
And he had opened it.
"You are unworthy," the voice declared.
Pain lanced through Elias's skull. His vision darkened. The presence began to withdraw, and for a moment, he thought it would cast him away, let him return to his world.
Then the whisper came again, softer this time.
"But you may yet prove yourself."
Something seeped into him—an unseen force pressing against his mind, his very soul. It was neither a gift nor a curse, but something older, something waiting.
The void around him shattered.
Elias woke with a gasp.
He was lying on the cold stone floor of Saint Orwain's Archive, the cursed book still in front of him. Master Callian stood nearby, his face pale, his eyes filled with something that might have been fear.
"You touched it," Callian whispered.
Elias sat up, his body trembling. The world felt different—sharper, clearer, as though unseen threads now wove through the air around him.
The candle flames flickered. Shadows stretched unnaturally. The silence of the archive was not empty—it was filled with whispers only he could hear.
The Hollow Veil had been breached.
And something was watching him now.