Fuck.
Liu Xian's breath caught in his throat like a shard of glass. His heart flipped, then stuttered violently in his chest as his eyes locked onto the thing just beyond the trees.
"Koro?" Liu called, voice sharp and trembling, though he didn't dare look away. "Koro!"
Nothing. No answer. The dog's body remained curled behind him, too still. Too goddamn quiet.
"It's here..." he whispered, rising slowly to his feet. His joints felt stiff, his legs hollow. He took a shaky step forward—
And slipped.
His foot hit something slick—blood, maybe, or wet moss—and he crashed to the cave floor with a grunt that knocked the air from his lungs.
Thud.
The sound wasn't loud, but it was enough.
The Hollow's head snapped toward the cave.
Shit.
Liu Xian turned and scrambled toward Koro, slipping again as he dragged the dog's limp body up into his arms. Koro wasn't small, but he wasn't entirely big either. Lui Xian, however, was a scrawny, slightly malnourished guy who barely did any heavy lifting, so he grunted and almost toppled under the weight.
"Sorry, sorry, sorry," he gasped, arms locking tightly around the mutt. "You owe me for this."
He didn't look back as he ran out of the cave and into the woods.
Branches whipped his face. Roots tried to trip him. Leaves slapped against his skin like angry hands. He ran like death itself was brushing against his heels—because it was.
His lungs were fire. His legs felt like jelly after hours without rest, without food, and with nothing but pure adrenaline keeping them moving.
Sweat streamed down his face, stinging his eyes. His grip on Koro slipped once—just a bit—but he didn't stop.
"North, north," he muttered, eyes scanning wildly through the thick trees. "Where's north? Where's the damn gate?!"
There was no path. Just forest. Dark, wet, endless fucking bushes.
Somewhere behind him, he could hear it.
The sound.
It wasn't footsteps.
It was... breathing.
Wet. Ragged. Inhuman.
Then came the rustle of leaves. The bending of trees.
It was following them.
A whimper escaped his throat. Not quite a scream. Just a ragged little sound, full of fear and desperation, the kind that cracked through his throat without permission.
"Aaaah—!" It tore out of him, breathy and broken. Not loud. Just enough to show he was unraveling.
He didn't dare turn around.
But he felt it getting closer.
Something in the air grew colder. Tighter. As if space itself was compressing around them.
Liu choked on a sob, his arms trembling under Koro's weight. He stumbled through a break in the trees, half-falling down a small incline that scraped his knees and ripped open old scabs.
Still—no gate.
"Where is it!?" he screamed, voice high and hoarse. "You said north! You said I'd find it!"
Koro didn't answer.
His fur was soaked through with blood. His head bobbed limply in Liu's arms.
"Don't you die on me, mutt!" Liu hissed. "I swear, if you die now, I'm gonna find a way to bring you back just so I can kick your ass!"
The trees parted slightly up ahead and he sighted a small clearing. The moonlight spilled in stronger there, casting silver over the grass and stones.
And then—
A glint.
Faint. Etched into a massive, moss-covered stone at the clearing's edge.
A spiral pattern. Circular lines running through it like veins.
Liu's heart jumped.
"That's it! That's gotta be it!"
He surged forward, gasping, crying, tripping over his own feet. His legs nearly gave out as he dropped to his knees before the stone.
Koro's words rang in his ears.
"Place your hand on it. It'll open if you've got the spark."
"I better have that spark or I swear—"
He slammed his palm against the cold stone.
Nothing happened.
"Come on—!"
He pressed harder.
For a breath, everything was still.
Then—heat.
Like something alive stirred beneath the stone.
The spiral lit up—faint, then bright. A rush of wind howled through the trees, swirling around them like a funnel.
Behind him, the Hollow screeched.
The sigil burst to life in gold and white.
A tear in the air opened—just beyond the stone—forming a swirling portal of pulsing light.
Liu didn't wait.
He clutched Koro tighter and flung himself through the portal, which sealed immediately behind them.
"Damn it!"
The sharp curse tore through the still night air like a blade, sharp and full of frustration. Leaves rustled under booted feet as one of the masked men stepped forward from the tree line, his black robes fluttering in the chill wind. The portal had vanished—nothing left but the faint scorched outline on the mossy earth and the lingering scent of scorched mana.
"They're gone," he muttered, more to himself than the others. His fingers curled into fists at his sides. "We missed them."
The clearing fell into a thick silence, only broken by the steady, unnatural sniffing that followed.
The Hollow…
It had stopped its pursuit the moment the portal closed. Now it stood still—unnervingly still—its misshapen form twitching in the moonlight like a marionette dangling on half-snapped strings. Slowly, deliberately, it turned its head. Not toward where its prey had disappeared… but toward the masked men.
Its mouth opened, wide and grotesque, a gaping hollow hole of teeth and black mist. The sniffing got louder, wetter, sloppier.
Snff. Snff. Snaarrkkhh.
"Shit," one of the masked men whispered, taking a slow step back. "It's... looking for another target."
"Yeah, no. We need to go. Now," another said, tugging at the edge of his dark hood. His eyes darted between the Hollow and the forest, like he was already calculating escape routes. "Let's report back. Boss needs to know we lost them."
"Don't say it like that," the first snapped. "Don't say we lost them." He pointed at the spot Lui Xian had disappeared from, footprint barely burned into the dirt. "Koro got lucky. He was supposed to be drained. He shouldn't have had enough mana left to open a proper gate."
"Well guess what?" a third one cut in, voice clipped and irritated. "He did. So now what? We stick around and wait for that thing to pick us off?"
The Hollow's body twitched again. Limbs jerking erratically, like it didn't quite know how to fit inside its own skin.
A hand slid to the hilt of a blade. Just in case. Not that steel would do much to a Hollow. But it made him feel better.
The leader among them—taller than the rest, silent until now—watched with narrowed eyes. His mask was different, etched with deep red lines across the mouth and up to the temple.
"We report back," he finally said, his voice low and calm. "The boy seems to have caught the boss's eye."
He stepped back toward the trees, his sword at his side dissolving into thin air with a quiet flicker of light.
"What about the Hollow?" one of the men asked, voice taut.
The Hollow turned again, its neck cracking sideways at an impossible angle as it faced a trail leading deeper into the woods. The mist around it pulsed.
Snff.
Snff.
Snnnaaarghk.
"It found someone else," another murmured.
"Poor bastard."
They didn't stick around.
One by one, the masked men melted into the forest like shadows cast too long under moonlight. Their feet didn't make a sound, and the air seemed to shiver in their wake, like reality was shifting to forget they were ever there.
The Hollow remained.
Silent. Still.
Its head slowly tilted as it watched something deep in the woods. Then, without warning, it moved.
A blur of shadows and mist, slithering through the trees with impossible speed.
Hisssssssssssssss...
The night swallowed it whole.