CaelanThe Hollow King waits.He stands beneath the twisted canopy of the oldest trees, a crown of bleached antlers shadowing his skeletal face.Each antler is carved with symbols that hurt to look at directly, and bones hang from them like macabre ornaments.Finger bones, rib bones, small skulls that might once have been birds or rabbits or children.His eyes are hollow sockets, darkness so complete it seems to swallow light, but they see me.Every secret, every buried truth, every fragment of who I used to be."You came," he rasps, his voice like stone cracking under pressure, like the earth splitting open to reveal its secrets.I take a step forward, my boots silent on the moss-covered ground."You called me," I say, my voice steadier than I feel.He inclines his head, the movement slow and deliberate."Not I. The part of you, you left behind."I feel it then. A tug in my chest, a pulse just beneath my sternum.A second heartbeat that's been there all along, waiting.“You were thei
Last Updated : 2025-08-20 Read more