The temple's light flickered as the villagers settled behind the Flamebearers.The corrupted crown sat upon the broken altar like a wound refusing to close.
And then… a voice.
"It sings when I sleep."
🧒 The Child with the Hollow Eyes
She stood in the far corner of the temple—barefoot, small, silent.A girl no older than ten, wrapped in a threadbare cloak with golden stitching that shimmered faintly when no light touched it.
Her eyes were strange. Not dark.Not glowing.Just… empty—like windows looking out from a soul not yet shaped.
She pointed at the crown.
"It told me where you'd be.""It said the Light would return.""It said your names before you got here."
Seren stepped forward, hand on her blade.Kael reached out gently, but the child flinched.Vaelrix growled low.
"And what else did it say?"
The girl smiled, but it wasn't cruel. It was sad.
"That you would try to save me.But I'm already half gone."
🕳️ The Echo Within
Kael closed his eyes.
There, beneath his ribs, something shifted. A memory stirred—not his own.
"You will know truth when it speaks not to your mind,but to the wound you forgot to name."
A flash—Elarion's face, not seen, but felt.A word unspoken.A page turning.
Kael stepped forward and whispered in Celestine—a word of soft hope.
"Return."
The child blinked… and the crown shuddered.
🕯️ What Is the Hollow Child?
The girl is not possessed.She is not cursed.
She is a message carrier—a child touched by the Veil's whisper, yet unclaimed.
She hears both voices—Elarion's light and the Veil's song.And because of that, she is dangerous… and precious.
"I don't know which of them is louder," she says."I think that's why they want me to choose."
🌠 The Flamebearers Must Decide
Do they bring her with them?
Do they leave her with the villagers?
Or… do they attempt to purge the Veil's presence and risk breaking her mind?
She is not ordinary.And her role in the war has not yet begun…