Episode 6: The Hollow Abyss

  The Hollow King loomed in the center of the ruined city, its massive, shifting form sending waves of dread through Kade’s bones. The ground beneath them trembled with the force of its presence, and Kade could feel the very fabric of reality being pulled apart. It wasn’t just a creature—it was an anomaly, a sentient rift in the universe, and it was bent on unmaking everything.

  Kade clenched his fists, trying to steady his breath. He had no idea how he was going to defeat something like this. It wasn’t just powerful—it was the embodiment of everything that had gone wrong with the timeline. The Hollow King was the endgame, the catalyst for the collapse, the entity that thrived in the void between dimensions.

  The air around them seemed to warp, the ground breaking apart in jagged edges as the King’s presence suffocated them. Sable, Dorian, and the Mirrorborn stood by Kade, their expressions grim but resolute. They were ready—ready to face the end.

  “Azazel2 didn’t just create this thing to destroy the world,” Kade said, his voice cutting through the heavy silence. “It created it to make sure there would be nothing left—no resistance, no hope. Just emptiness.”

  “Then we fight,” Sable said, gripping the hilt of her blade tightly. “And we keep fighting until there’s nothing left to fight for.”

  The Hollow King’s voice rumbled through the city, a low, thunderous growl that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere. “You dare to oppose me? You are insects in my world. You do not belong here.”

  The Hollow King stretched its form out, expanding like the darkness itself, swallowing the ground and the sky. Its power was suffocating, as if reality was bending to its whims. Kade’s mind reeled. This wasn’t just a battle of strength or skill—it was a war against the very essence of existence.

  “It’s not about whether we belong here,” Kade shouted, stepping forward. “It’s about what we do here. And I’m not letting you win.”

  The Hollow King’s mass shifted, and from its depths, hundreds of smaller shadows emerged—creatures born from the cracks in time, twisted versions of humans and monsters, all consumed by the void. They began to circle around them, ready to strike.

  “Fight!” Kade commanded, adrenaline surging through him.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  Sable’s blade lashed out with lethal precision, cutting through the first wave of shadowy creatures with ease. Dorian unleashed a barrage of energy blasts from his gauntlets, incinerating anything that came too close. The Mirrorborn moved like ghosts, phasing in and out of existence, attacking from unexpected angles.

  But Kade wasn’t paying attention to the battle below him. He was watching the Hollow King, observing its movements, trying to find a weakness—something, anything, that would give them a chance to turn the tide.

  Then it hit him.

  The Hollow King wasn’t just a physical being. It wasn’t just a creature of darkness. It was a paradox—a being formed from the fractures in time and reality. Kade had felt it before—the Reclamation ability, his own power, was the key to fixing these fractures. If he could use the Reclamation on the Hollow King, he could undo its existence. He could force the void to rewrite the Hollow King out of existence.

  But there was one problem: he didn’t know if he had enough power left. Every time he used the Reclamation, he risked further tearing apart the fabric of reality, pushing himself closer to the edge of erasure.

  “We need a distraction,” Kade said, turning to Sable and Dorian. “I can’t do this alone.”

  Sable nodded, her eyes sharp with determination. “You’ve got it. We’ll buy you time.”

  Kade took a deep breath, mentally preparing himself. His body had already been pushed to its limits, but this was the moment. The Hollow King was too dangerous to let exist. He couldn’t afford to fail now.

  “Get ready,” Kade muttered to himself, focusing his energy inward. “I’m coming for you.”

  The battle raged on as Kade focused, his mind connecting with the broken, fractured threads of the timeline. He could feel the void pulsing, a dark, consuming force that wanted nothing more than to pull him under. But he wasn’t afraid anymore. He had crossed too many lines, faced too many impossible odds to turn back.

  His power surged as he reached out, grasping at the very core of the Hollow King. He felt the creature’s existence flicker, like a faulty lightbulb flickering on the verge of going out.

  And then, he pulled.

  Reality itself screamed as the Reclamation ability took hold, unraveling the Hollow King’s form like a thread being torn from a garment. The dark mass writhed, its presence weakening, but it fought back, trying to solidify its shape, to resist the change.

  “You cannot undo me,” the Hollow King hissed, its voice becoming more distorted. “I am eternal. I am the end of all things!”

  But Kade didn’t relent. His body flickered, the lines between him and the creature blurring. “Not anymore.”

  With one final, desperate push, Kade pulled the threads of time and reality apart. The Hollow King shrieked, its form shattering into countless shards of darkness. The ground trembled, the city around them collapsing as the rift between dimensions began to close.

  And then, just as quickly as it had appeared, the Hollow King was gone.

  Kade collapsed to his knees, breathing heavily. The battle had taken everything out of him. His body felt like it was on the verge of collapsing, his mind a whirlwind of pain and exhaustion. But he had done it. He had stopped the Hollow King.

  Sable rushed to his side, kneeling down next to him. “Kade, are you okay?” she asked, her voice full of concern.

  Kade nodded weakly, though his face was pale. “I’m fine. Just… just give me a minute.”

  Dorian stood over them, scanning the area. “It’s over. The Hollow King’s gone. But we still have Azazel2 to deal with. And this world… it’s still broken.”

  Kade looked around, seeing the remnants of the ruined city. Reality had stopped fracturing, but the damage was far from undone. The timeline was still shattered, and Azazel2’s grip on the world was far from over.

  “We’ve only just begun,” Kade said, his voice hoarse. “Azazel2 is still out there, and we need to stop it—before it destroys everything we’ve fought for.”

  Sable nodded, a fierce look in her eyes. “Then let’s get to work.”

  TO BE CONTINUED…