The walk back to Anchon was about as bad as I expected.

Especially with half the town’s garbage strapped to my back. I must have looked like some sort of hunchbacked monster amid the fog.

The only positive was that my leg had begun feeling better. Especially after I chugged some river water. Which was a good thing because with the weight of my pack, my boots sunk into the raised trail that wound through the dense marshlands north of Anchon.

Oh, and I’d also managed to put off paying Fang’s debt. Although, I still had to promise that I would pay up… eventually.

If I hadn’t been having such a shit day, I never would have fallen for his trick. Looking back at it now, he must have set me up from the beginning. I bet he knew those kraell were headed to the clearing and relied on my overconfidence in my sister.

What a cold blooded asshole. I swear he was just in it for the entertainment.

I suspected that was the only reason he’d saved me all those cycles ago.

Either way, at least I was alone now – with both my thoughts and my pain.

I wasn’t sure which one was worse, honestly.

The sun had long since set by the time he neared the village, the mists dropping beneath the boughs of the willows. The shadows were only pushed back by the lantern swinging from my waist, a small light spirit trapped within the crystal enclosure. It winked and flashed, those signals echoed out in the gloom – the other light spirits responding to their sister as they danced through the tall grass. However, they kept their distance from me, forming a pocket of darkness, chittering and flashing at me for imprisoning own of their own.

All while the light spirit beat frantically against the glass.

“So dramatic,” I muttered. “You’d think I was torturing you.”

The spirits didn’t seem to love that – at least, not based on the light show around me.

As I kept walking, the darkness grew deeper and the mist pressed in until I could barely see more than an arm’s breadth – even the light of the other spirits growing dim. I must be nearing the graven grounds. Slowing, I peered into the gloom off to the right. A stone lingered there, marking the entrance – a warning.

I’d heard that no plants grew on graven grounds and even the spirits were wary of such places. It was rumored that the land itself was corrupted, inhabited by spirits driven mad by pain and despair. Others claimed those were just myths. Legends. Stories to convince young children to finish their chores.

For me, those tales weren’t so easily discounted. If corrupted beasts existed – their spirit driven mad and their vessel mutated and transformed – then why not the spirits themselves? I’d witnessed the carnage a corrupted beast could wreak firsthand. One such monster was responsible for tearing my parents away, burning them alive.

And with those memories came the anger, hot and smoldering...

I shook my head to ward off the unwelcome thoughts, shoving them back down deep and chaining their cage closed. The damn things kept escaping.

Why do you think I spend so much trying to distract myself?

Anyway, the light spirit’s glow had dimmed as we neared the warning stones and its sisters had fled, streaking away across the tall grasses. Now, that was strange.

Maybe the tales weren’t just superstitious kraell shit. Either way, I didn’t plan to brave the grounds – especially not at night. So, I pulled my coat tighter to ward of the chill, hiked my oversized pack and started forward once more—

Only to freeze as I heard a telltale song drifting out of the mists.

The voice was eerie, sublime. It whispered a tale of sorrow and longing that resonated with the hollow void in my chest. It drew me toward it, my eyes on the mists. When I blinked again, I’d already taken a few steps off the path… although I certainly didn’t remember that. Acting on instinct, I pulled my dagger and sliced the back of my hand again.

The pain was hot and sharp and cut through the song’s effect.

That could only be one creature. A river wraith. Although, they typically stayed near Cocytus, luring creatures to the banks with their songs before freezing the water, trapping them in place and sucking out their nimbus.

Yeah, okay, they were giant river spiders. And that song you’re hearing was them strumming at their webs – attaching the fibers to the fog itself. If you thought the kraell were the worst thing out here, think again. Although, it was strange for one to venture this far inland. Perhaps it hadn’t found any easy prey this evening.

“Oh, c’mon,” I whispered, wrapping my bleeding hand… again.

This is exactly why I had so many damn scars.

Just how much bad luck could one person have?

However, I stayed calm, focused. Just as Fang had taught me.

The practical hunter used his head, not his heart.

The sound was coming from the river-side of the trail. There were warding stones all along the path – spirits trapped within the rock that would emerge if they sensed hostile intent or a corrupted beast. Yet they wouldn’t be enough to stop a wraith, only slow it down. However, the wraith likely wouldn’t venture too much farther from the water. So, I just needed to move away from the river. There was only one problem…

I looked toward the graven grounds, a thin path winding through the mist.

Under any other circumstances, I would flee in that direction, but—

My body tensed as the song came again and I was forced to press down hard on that fresh wound to keep my mind. It was closer now. The tall grasses along the trail rippled and snapped, ice crystalizing along the stalks. Once snow touched my cheek, I knew it was time to get moving. I had no choice. If I waited any longer, the creature would freeze me in place.

Then would come the disemboweling and the eating.

Anyone else starting to notice a pattern?

I dropped the pack, shedding the extra weight. A wraith would have no interest in such things anyway. Then I set off down the narrow path leading into the graven grounds, passing the warning stone and my lantern swinging, causing the shadows to flicker and dance. I fled as quickly as I could without making too much noise.

The wraiths hunted by sound.

I eventually emerged into a clearing and slowed.

I stilled my breathing and listened, but couldn’t hear the wraith’s song.

However, I wasn’t out of harm’s way just yet. My feet were now planted firmly on graven ground. It was a willow grove, one of many that dotted the marshes. However, unlike the field used for the village’s Game Day, no leaves clung to the trees’ claw-like branches, the light spirit’s dim glow creating jagged shadows. The ground itself was also barren of life, leaving only plain, dry dirt – an oddity in the marshes. Even the mists didn’t venture inside this place and instead retreated to the treeline, rare moonlight shining down from overhead.

It was an unnatural sight.

But more than that… this place felt strange. The light spirit’s glow had dimmed to almost nothing, the creature huddling within the depths of its enclosure. Something seemed to call to me, the shadows stretching higher across the trees as I stepped into the clearing. It was similar to the wraith’s song… just more subtle. It wasn’t demanding attention, only requesting it. Almost like it was trying to warn me—

Vines suddenly wound up out of the ground, snatching at my ankles and anchoring me in place. I reacted quickly, reaching for my knife, but I wasn’t fast enough. I was knocked from my feet, my knife thrown toward the treeline – lost from sight. My back struck the ground with a heavy thud, the breath whoosing from my lungs and the telltale tinkle of broken glass indicating that my lantern was broken.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Something hard and heavy collided with my face. Then again. And again.

I tried to raise my arms to protect myself, but found them lashed down.

“H-help?” I managed to croak as my lungs sucked in air. An instinct.

“No one is coming to help you, Hollow,” a voice growled from above.

He wasn’t wrong, but he didn’t have to be such an asshole about it.

I blinked away the fresh blood in my eyes and a pit formed in my stomach as I caught sight of my attackers. Jace, flames flickering across his hands. Ahh, never mind. Maybe he did have to be an asshole about it…

And there were others standing around – only shadows in the fiery light radiating from Jace’s body. That would explain the forest spirit that had rooted me in place. Their hunting party must have returned late and gotten pushed off the trail by the wraith.

“What? Nothing to say now, huh? When Elder Gracen isn’t here to protect you?” Jace demanded coldly as I simply stared up at him.

What was the point of responding? There was no negotiating with that look in Jace’s eyes. And he knew it; knew that no help would come – even if someone happened to hear. None of those standing around him would stop him. I’d lived this torment before. Almost every day since my parents’ death. It was inevitable. Like the silverfin spawn. The cycles and the seasons of perpetual wet. The best approach was to stay quiet, to not make a sound.

To wait until Jace grew bored and left.

“Well, then I’ll just have to loosen your tongue.”

Pain rippled through my abdomen.

“You should have just died today,” Jace grunted. “You’re a blight on our village. A curse. Just look how you put us all in harm’s way. Even your precious sister.”

Another kick, harder than the last.

I grunted and could taste blood on my lips.

I mean, he wasn’t wrong… not exactly.

Although, I suspected pointing out the absurdity of assigning a single cause to any one event would be a bit too nuanced of a counterargument. As Elder Gracen had said, if they’d just fed me for my work, I wouldn’t have needed to steal the eggs.

“Or your parents. They died while you watched, didn’t they?”

Another kick. Now that was a low blow… for more reason than one. Joking aside, that kick was also harder than the last. Jace wasn’t holding back anymore. No one was moving to stop him either. Not a great sign.

I wondered how much more abuse my vessel could handle.

But, for some reason, I found myself beyond caring…

Another kick.

Maybe he was right…

Another kick.

Maybe Leandra would be better off without me…

Another.

I wasn’t sure when Jace had started enhancing his legs, fire flaring and searing my clothing with each blow. All I knew was that I could feel the burns as the flames licked my bare skin. Stars clouded the corners of my vision like dancing light spirits. Those chains I wrapped around my mind rattled and more memories began to leak through. I could suddenly remember another time and another place where I’d felt such pain…

My hands clawing at burning reeds as my parents screamed, wordless, tortured wails of pain. And the flames… so much fire…

Jace’s words had conjured that memory, had allowed him to kick open that cage in the hollow space in my chest – one I kept locked tight. And with it came the anger again.

Rage bloomed in my chest, a hot kernel of fury that flared into a full flame and blew apart the rest of the chains I normally kept wrapped around my emotions. It was wild and wailing, targeting anything and everything. Myself, others, my cruel fate. It might be a feeble, futile thing, but it was mine. Perhaps the only thing I could claim as my own.

“Is this all… all you have?” I grunted, on my hands and knees again, that anger sustaining me, pushing back at the pain.

Unwise, but I was past caring.

“What did you just say to me?” Jace demanded.

I was hauled upright, Jace’s spirit blazing as he held me aloft with a single hand, his arm like iron. This was the power of his fire spirit; of his father’s teaching; of hours spent bending molten metal with bare hands. Fire lit his eyes, Jace’s own fragile pride on display.

More hypocritical kraell shit. And suddenly, I just couldn’t take it anymore…

It had just been one of those days, you know?

The others crowded round, their faces obscured in shadow. The willows snapped and swayed in the breeze, the mists hovering just beneath their boughs as though to ensure the gods would witness this exchange. I smirked as I saw them watching.

I still had one weapon that could wound my prey…

“Is this really about me? About the village? Or is it about you?”

“What? Did I hit you a little too hard? You’re speaking nonsense,” Jace scoffedd, still smirking.

“I think… you’re worried,” I gasped.

“Worried? About what?” he scoffed.

I just smiled, a toothy, bloody grin, that anger making me rash.

“That the Hollow killed a Kraell when you couldn’t?”

A gasp. Murmuring from our audience. Those complicit shadows.

My secrets weapons…

“You— You—” Jace sputtered, fumbling for a reply.

I shook my head. “Or maybe that’s not it. Maybe you’re really just scared that despite granting you this strength, your spirit won’t ever make you any smarter.”

Some of the onlookers chuckled at my barb and Jace’s eyes snapped to their faces, his fist clenching tighter on my tunic. When he looked back, something had changed. A shadow coiled up behind Jace, hovering over him, and towering tall. No cold justice or indignant anger shone in his eyes. This was something more – something primal. A bottomless hunger. Murderous rage.

I didn’t even see the next blow coming. I was simply flying, hurtling through the air, pain enveloping my chest and fire searing my skin. There was only anguish and flame and darkness, and I barely registered it all as I hit the ground, the world listing and twisting, the willows fading away as consciousness slipped out of my grasp.

And yet the darkness brought another memory with it…

I had been down by the river. Barely seven cycles old, I was still trying to use my baby sister to lure the water spirits – refusing to give up – an elaborate string of cages and miniature pit traps prepared for the tiny creatures. They’d grown in complexity. Now built of fired clay that I’d molded myself and scrawled with crude runes – an artificial vessel that would definitely succeed in trapping them this time.

The first sign that something was wrong was the coils of smoke billowing up over the treetops. Then had come the screams. Acting quickly, I hid my sister, carefully wrapping her in thick leather sheets used to store cured silverfin and urging her to stay put, her eyes wide and frightened. Then I ran, my small legs taking me fast and far.

The screams only grew louder as I neared.

And that’s when I saw it. A creature of nightmares. A corrupted firebear standing nearly twenty feet tall, its body warped and twisted, riddled with veins of molten energy as its spirit flared out of control. Each swipe of its paws sent out a wave of flames, fires that consumed a nearby building – a familiar place. One where I slept. Ate. Played with little Leandra. Where my parents scolded me. Where the reeds by the door marked my height in a series of clean strokes from my father’s knife.

I ran to them. Even as the other callers rallied around the bear. As they pulled water from the river in the distance. As a wall of moisture formed around the corrupted firebear and steam rose into the air, hot and wavering.

My parents were pleading… calling out… their faces barely visible between the reeds, their skin flaying and welting. But I was too weak. My young hands couldn’t bend the reeds. I had no spirit to call upon. And the other callers were busy with the firebear.

I could only scream and claw and pray and beg.

Please…

…please…

…someone…

…help me…

……

We shall help you.

The voice entered my mind unbidden and unfamiliar – slithering into my thoughts like poison. More screams echoed in my ears and my eyes snapped open.

For a moment, I thought it was just a hallucination, a memory, a ghost of my own pain and trauma. Yet as I blinked to clear my vision and my fingers clawed at the coarse dirt beside me, the screams continued, soon accompanied by the heavy sound of footsteps and incoherent shouts, the words garbled and confusing.

I pushed upright in alarm. My body ached. My chest burned. I was already way past my limits, my vessel broken and bruised. I automatically reached for a knife that no longer lingered at my waist—

Yet a weapon proved unnecessary. The clearing was suddenly empty, only moonlight illuminating the glade – my lantern broken and the light spirit having long fled.

Jace and his companions were gone as well, their shouts fading into the distance. But all around the clearing, scratches and furrows had been carved in the earth. They almost looked like… claw marks? Or perhaps something created by a sharp sword or knife? Yet I’d never seen a beast that could make marks like that.

I rose on unsteady legs and limped through the clearing. Stooping, my fingers traced one of those grooves and came away wet. I lifted my fingers to my nose. A familiar copper tang. Blood. And there was more – faint, uneven patches that reflected the moonlight.

“Fang?” I murmured into the darkness… almost hopeful.

Yet no response came.

Probably not the savran. This was too much, even for him. It wasn’t like he’d intervened with the kraell, so why start with Jace?

A corrupted beast then? Or just another creature?

And had I imagined that voice?

There were too many unanswered questions…

I grimaced. I needed to simplify – to focus.

The others had been attacked by something – it didn’t matter what it was right now. And if that something was strong enough to drive the others away, then I needed to get my ass moving. It could come back and I was currently unarmed and injured.

So, I began limping away from town, heading back north, following a narrow trail through the marsh. If the creature had chased the others, I needed to put some distance between us. Then I could circle back around to the main trail and retrieve the equipment.

Assuming, of course, the wraith had returned the river….

Shit. I shook my head. No, one problem at a time. I could do this… even with no light, my leg throbbing, and now burns riddling my chest. I knew this area like the back of my hand. Which also happened to be split open and bleeding.

Not that I was counting injuries or anything.

I’d just have to hope I made it back without a more permanent one...

* * *

As soon as my feet left the clearing, shadows slipped across the graven grounds. They slinked and slithered and coiled – seemingly emerging from the dirt itself and unafraid of the moonlight that shone down upon them. They snaked forward until they reached those patches of blood, pulsing with malevolent energy as they consumed it—

Along with the nimbus suspended within.