The Black Hollow wasn't on any map.
Even the Codex didn't recognize the terrain, marking it only as "Unnamed Obsidian Sink"—a pit of twisted land, surrounded by petrified trees and rocks that hummed with barely-contained pressure. Wind didn't blow there. Birds never circled overhead.
Kian had seen it once from the tower.
A jagged scar. A wound in the earth.
Now he stood at its edge.
Veyna to his left. Kess to his right. A pair of Ashhounds stood guard behind them, twitching, as if they didn't want to go near the place.
[Codex Scan Active]
Terrain: Hollowed Rift (Codex-Origin Level: Primary Breach Root)
Warning: Core Interference Detected. Codex Tracking May Be Incomplete.
Kess stepped forward and touched the earth.
She hissed in pain. Her eyes glowed red for a heartbeat.
"This is where the Codex birthed itself."
Kian narrowed his eyes.
"Then what are we walking into?"
Kess looked back at him. "A grave. Or a blueprint."
Descent
They climbed down a spiral of broken stone and soot-slick ledges, the walls etched with lines that pulsed faintly — like veins in a sleeping creature.
About halfway down, Veyna stopped.
She knelt beside a glyph scorched into the wall.
"Looks like the Codex," she muttered. "But it's... wrong."
Kian scanned it.
[System Fragment Identified]
Architect Framework – Pre-Split Phase
Danger Level: Unpredictable. Traits unstable. Core logic missing.
Suddenly, a line in the rock shifted — peeled back.
A doorway.
Cold light flickered behind it, blue-white and alive.
Veyna drew a flame into her palm. Kess unslung her rod and flicked it — forming a floating shield of layered memory glyphs.
Kian stepped in first.
The Core Room
The room beyond was circular — massive, hollow, a cathedral made of broken stone and suspended nodes. In its center floated a fractured black orb. Around it, pieces of Codex data code drifted like shattered glass, sometimes forming into partial shapes — a hand, a face, a tower — before dissolving again.
[Codex Emergency Link Attempted]
Error: Core is Older Than Root Authority.
Engaging Passive Observation Only.
A voice spoke.
It didn't come from the orb.
It came from inside Kian's interface.
"Prototype 01-A. Seed confirmed. Core presence detected."
"Welcome to the Hollow, Architect."
Veyna flinched.
"That wasn't the Codex voice. That was—"
"Older," Kess finished grimly.
Then the voice spoke again, but this time in multiple tones—layered, like a chorus fighting itself.
"Do you seek to rebuild?"
"Or to finish what was started?"
"Will you forge stability—"
"—or feed the world to your hunger?"
The orb began spinning, light blazing out in arcs.
[WARNING: Core Compression Shift Detected]
Instability: Spawning event imminent. Defensive projection advised.
From the ground, shapes began to rise.
Not enemies. Not constructs.
But echoes.
Figures made of ash and fractured light — ghost-like warriors bearing weapons from long-dead wars. Each wore a version of the Codex sigil, corrupted or incomplete.
"They're from the first collapse," Kess whispered. "They're fragments of the Architect's original army."
[Enemy Type: Forgotten Protocols – Echo-Class]
Traits: Fast, unstable, highly aggressive toward active Codex users.
Kian's spear formed instantly.
Veyna's flames surged outward.
Kess raised her shield and whispered a memory spell.
The Fight
The echoes struck first.
Kian sidestepped a slash, driving his spear through one's head — only for it to flicker and reform behind him. They were fast. Wrong. Like broken simulations trying to complete a mission long since erased.
Veyna's flames worked better. Her fire didn't just burn them — it unwrote them, as if her magic countered the Codex's language directly.
Kess, meanwhile, moved with calm efficiency. Her glyph-shield caught blades before they landed, and each blocked attack transferred knowledge back to her rod. She was learning their patterns in real time.
[Codex Trait Synergy Detected]
Combining Codex + Recordbinder path.
Unlocked: Temporal Sync Flash – Recall a successful move and repeat it instantly.
Kian blinked.
And then moved.
Two strikes landed at once.
He had just copied himself.
They fought in silence, no words — just instinct, data, fire.
When it ended, only ash and flickering dust remained.
The orb dimmed.
The room grew quiet.
Reward
[Black Hollow Cleared – Unique Zone Complete]
Architectal Pathway Progress: 1 / 3 Activated
Unlocked Memory Key: Core Alpha Fragment (1/3)
Codex Upgrade: Interlink Design Enabled
– Can now fuse two blueprint structures into hybrid forms
– Example: Beacon + Tower = Surveillance Nexus
Trait Gained: Echo Anchor – Immune to Echo Creatures. May command one (limited use)
Before they left, Kian stood before the orb one last time.
He asked a question aloud.
"Was I built… to fix what broke?"
The orb pulsed softly. A fragment of the original system spoke, now quiet.
"You were not built to fix."
"You were built to replace."
Elsewhere
Beneath the Viyredan Expanse, a hollow priest of the Ash Monarch opened a scroll that had not been touched in a thousand years.
The Beacon's light had reached their altar.
And the name Kian had been written in flame upon the bones.
End of Chapter 13