Book Hollowed Out Novels & Stories

Ground turned to old grey bones of the world sticking up. The Hollow wasn’t a cave. Worse. A bowl in the hills where the wind went to die. The grass lay flat and colorless, like it had given up on green. The air smelled… empty. No sap. No rot. No animal sharp. My skin crawled before we even dropped over the lip. “What happened?” I whispered. “Rovan practiced.” I wanted to leave. I didn’t. At the floor, the threads found me at once. There were so many.

I answer before she asks. My voice is low, steady. “You’re about to see where the Hollow ends.” She tilts her head slightly, the silver strands of her hair catching in the breeze. “There’s more beyond it?” I nod, gesturing ahead where the trees thin. “There’s always been more. Our homeland still exists. Our people, our kingdom. The Hollow was carved away from it—a prison sealed by mist and magic. No one comes in. No one leaves.” She frowns. “But you can see it?”

Alejandro The forest remained unnaturally silent after the Hollow Arc withdrew. Not the silence that followed victory. The silence left behind when something ancient chose to retreat instead of continuing a battle. No birds sang. No insects stirred beneath the fallen leaves. Even the towering pines stood motionless, their branches refusing to sway as dawn slowly spilled between them. No one lowered their guard. Not after what we had witnessed. The First Hollowed knelt where the darkness had abandoned him, breathing as though every breath had to fight through centuries before reaching his lungs. The shell that had imprisoned him was still breaking apart. Thin cracks spread across the black su

(Aria's POV ) The forest still smelled like smoke and blood. By the time we reached the Hollow, dawn had folded into late afternoon. The trees grew denser here, taller, older, their roots knotted deep into the earth. The air hummed with something quiet but alive, like the forest itself was watching us. The Hollow wasn’t just a place. It was a sanctuary. The wolves had carved it out years ago, hidden beneath layers of spellwork and earth, woven into a valley wrapped in mist. No outsider had ever set foot here and lived to talk about it. The wards thrummed as we approached, soft pulses brushing against my skin like curious fingers.

"They've breached the outer walls. Rogues loyal to Sharona. And something else... creatures I've never seen before. Not wolves. Not witches. Something like a dried up bones that keeps standing. Something that can't be killed." I curse under my breath. "They've unleashed the Hollowborn..." "The what?" Alessia asks, her heart pounding. I explain. "The Hollowborn is the summoning of the dead. They are more like, dead soldiers. They feel nothing. And cannot be defeated, unless the one who controls them is..." "No time!" Darren cuts in. "We need you, Alessia. The frontlines are falling. You have any pent up powers? This is the time to unleash it. It's our only hope now."

The Hollow was guiding them, aiding them as only a living place could. At the center of a clearing stood a grotesque figure—twisted branches, bleached bone, and ash formed into a towering figure. It pulsed red like a second sun, emitting waves of evil. Symbols carved into it oozed black substances, and at its base lay fragments of something that looked far too much like infant clothing. Lyra didn’t hesitate. She sprinted to it. “Wait—” Kaelen called, but it was too late. She thrust her hand into the heart of the figure.

When he climbed up, his stomach dropped. Hundreds of them pressed against the steel fence. These were not the slow, clumsy zombies from before. These were Hollows. Their skin was gray, and their movements were fast and restless. “Open fire!” Josh ordered. The guards raised their weapons—Stingers, the air rifles Natasha had designed. They fired small darts filled with a chemical that weakened the infected instead of killing them. When the darts hit, the effect was almost instant. The creatures slowed, their movements breaking down as the drug spread through them.

It dissolved. Stone didn't crumble; it turned to a fine, silver dust that was instantly sucked into the vacuum of the beam. The pylon didn't fall. It simply ceased to exist, leaving a perfectly smooth, vertical hole through ten feet of reinforced obsidian. The mountain was being cut out of the world like a tumor being removed from a patient who was still awake.

The world broke open. Stone, ash, and fragments of the throne scattered through the air as the palace collapsed beneath us. A roar unlike anything I had ever heard tore across the realm deep, endless, filled with hunger that felt older than creation itself. The Hollow was rising. Its body unfolded from beneath the earth like living night, stretching higher and higher until it pierced the fractured sky. Shadows poured from it in waves, swallowing light wherever they touched. I couldn’t even see its full shape.

The figure snapped its head toward her. Eleanor slammed the curtain shut so hard the rod rattled. She grabbed Lyra’s hand and pulled her away from the window. “We’re running out of time,” Eleanor said, her tone urgent and trembling. “If they’re here already, the Veil is weakening faster than I feared.” Lyra’s voice shook. “Grandma, what are they?” Eleanor met her eyes, no hesitation left. “They’re called Hollowborn. Creatures that slip through the cracks when the barrier between worlds weakens. They’re hunting something.” She paused, gripping Lyra’s marked wrist.