The light from the shard flickered one last time, and with a soft, aching hum, it dissolved into the air. Riven blinked as the world around him began to shift, his senses catching up with the disorienting pull of the transition. He steadied himself, feeling the weight of the journey pressing deeper into his bones. His sword was heavier than before, the Void Corruption still gnawing at his insides, but for now, the sense of victory was enough to push it back.

Lyra floated beside him, her form dimmer than usual, but resolute. The realm they stood in now was not like the others. There was a stillness to the air, a sense of emptiness that clung to everything around them. The ground beneath their feet was cracked, like dried earth in a long-forgotten desert, and above them stretched a sky so overcast and gray that it seemed the world had been swallowed by shadow. The landscape was an expanse of endless gray towers—tall, twisted, and hollow, their jagged edges reaching toward the sky like the broken spires of some long-dead city.

The silence was suffocating. No birds, no wind, no sound of life. Just the oppressive weight of the city, empty and abandoned, standing in stillness.

“This place…” Lyra’s voice was barely above a whisper. “It’s wrong. It’s as if the very essence of this city has been drained away.”

Riven felt it too—the uncanny quiet, the feeling that something vital had been removed. There was a hollowness to the city, like a shell left behind by a great storm. The buildings around them were tall, spindly towers, their once-proud architecture now worn and broken. Windows were shattered, streets long abandoned, and every corner seemed to reflect the same sense of loss.

“This was a city,” Riven said, his voice distant as he studied the ruins around them. “Once full of life. But now…”

He didn’t finish the sentence. The weight of the realization pressed down on him. He couldn’t place it, but something about the silence here was different. It wasn’t just a lack of life—it felt like something had been taken.

“There’s something wrong with this place,” Riven continued, his voice more certain now. “The air is thick with it.”

Lyra’s eyes flickered. “It’s the Veil. This place was consumed by it—slowly, over time. This city was once full of hope, joy, and life. But the Veil fed on it. It drained everything until there was nothing left.”

A chill ran down Riven’s spine. The Veil. The shadowy force that seemed to be pulling at him more with every realm they visited. He hadn’t realized how much it had infected him until now. The city around him mirrored what the Veil had done to his own mind—slowly draining the hope, leaving only the hollow shell of what it once was.

“We have to find the heart of it,” Riven said, resolve creeping back into his voice. “Whatever the Veil is, whatever it’s doing to this place… we need to stop it.”

Lyra nodded, but her form flickered again, a telltale sign of the toll this realm was taking on her. “The Veil doesn’t just drain hope, Riven. It feeds on despair. And once it’s infected a place, the people become shells of who they were—empty, hollow.”

Riven’s grip on his sword tightened. His stomach twisted with unease. “People?” He looked around at the city’s empty streets, at the broken windows and crumbling walls. “Are there still people here?”

“I don’t know,” Lyra replied, her voice tinged with doubt. “But we’ll have to find out. The Veil hides them—keeps them hidden. We need to move quickly. If we don’t destroy the core of the Veil soon, it will consume everything. Every soul in this city will be lost to it.”

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

They moved deeper into the city, the shadows growing longer as the sunless sky hung like a dead weight above them. Every step felt heavier, the silence pressing against their ears, as if the city itself was holding its breath. They passed abandoned shops and hollowed-out homes, all eerily untouched by time. Dust collected on the forgotten remains of a once-thriving world.

Riven’s thoughts raced. Was there still hope here? Was there anyone left to save? The weight of the Veil’s influence pressed on his chest, threatening to drag him under. He couldn’t let that happen—not now. Not when they were this close.

As they passed under an archway into a wide square, something caught Riven’s eye. At the center of the square, just beneath the remnants of a shattered statue, there was movement. A figure.

Riven stopped, his hand instinctively going to his sword, but Lyra halted him with a soft gesture. She floated forward, her form shimmering faintly. The figure in the distance was tall, dressed in dark robes that billowed even in the stillness of the air. It moved slowly, deliberately—almost as if it was waiting for them.

Riven’s grip tightened on his sword. “Who is that?”

Lyra’s voice was a mere whisper. “I don’t know, but we need to be cautious. The Veil can twist the minds of those it touches.”

As they neared the figure, Riven could see its face more clearly. It was a woman, her features sharp, her eyes hollow and empty. She did not look at them, but as they drew closer, her lips parted in a soundless whisper. Her words were indistinct, but the air around her seemed to hum with the energy of the city itself, a dark force pulsing in rhythm with her every movement.

Riven’s heart sank. “Is she… one of them?”

Lyra nodded gravely. “The Veil uses the lost souls, the ones it feeds on, to serve as its guardians. She’s trapped here, her mind torn apart by the Veil’s influence.”

The woman turned suddenly, her hollow eyes locking onto Riven. For a moment, he saw a flicker of recognition—something buried deep within her—but it was quickly swallowed by the darkness in her gaze. She stepped toward them with unnerving precision, her movements jerky, unnatural, as though she were bound to the city’s cursed rhythm.

“I know what you seek,” the woman’s voice was soft but full of malice, a sickly sweetness to it. “But you will not find peace here.”

Riven’s sword was drawn in an instant, his eyes narrowing. “You’re wrong. We’ll stop the Veil. We’ll break this cycle.”

The woman smiled, but it wasn’t a smile of joy. It was empty, a grimace twisted by despair. “There is no breaking it. The Veil is all-consuming. It will swallow you, just as it has swallowed everything else.”

Before Riven could respond, the air around the woman seemed to ripple. Shadows emerged from the ground, swirling like dark tendrils, wrapping around her like a cloak. She lifted her arms, and the shadows grew, reaching toward Riven with unnatural speed.

[Enemy Encounter: Guardian of the Veil]

The woman’s form became one with the shadows, and the square around them erupted with dark energy. Riven lunged forward, his sword slicing through the air, but the shadows seemed to absorb his strikes, pulling him deeper into their grip. The Void Corruption inside him flared in response, making his limbs feel heavy and his thoughts clouded.

“Lyra!” Riven shouted, struggling against the growing weight of the shadows.

Lyra darted forward, her energy crackling as she formed a protective shield around him, deflecting the shadow tendrils that sought to bind him. “You have to stay focused, Riven!” she called, her voice filled with urgency.

Riven gritted his teeth, summoning every ounce of strength he had left. He swung his sword again, the blade meeting the shadows with a crack that sent a wave of pain through his arm. But this time, he didn’t falter. He couldn’t.

With a final roar, Riven forced his way through the darkness, his sword cleaving the shadows apart as he charged at the woman. The Void Corruption inside him roared in protest, but Riven pushed it down, focusing on the task at hand.

The woman’s figure flickered, her form dissolving into mist as Riven’s blade connected. The shadows recoiled, and the woman let out a mournful cry before vanishing completely, leaving only the faintest trace of her presence behind.

The square fell silent once more.

Riven stood panting, his sword raised, his body trembling with exhaustion. Lyra hovered beside him, her form flickering but steady.

“It’s not over,” Riven said, his voice hoarse.

“No,” Lyra agreed softly, “but we’ve taken the first step. The Veil won’t go down easily.”

Riven’s gaze shifted toward the looming structures of the Hollow City. “How many more will we have to fight before it’s done?”

Lyra’s gaze softened. “As many as it takes. But we’ll do it together.”

Another shard appeared in the distance, its light beckoning them forward.