The lead Sovereign stood motionless, their void-forged blade humming with an eerie resonance. The throne room's torches flickered violently, shadows stretching unnaturally toward the weapon as if drawn by its presence.
Ellie clenched her fists, feeling the Hollow Throne pulse beneath her feet. Her own power had grown, but the energy radiating from that sword was ancient—something beyond the darkness she commanded.
"You wear the Hollow Crown, yet you do not know what lurks beneath it," the Sovereign said, their voice layered with echoes.
Ellie narrowed her eyes. "Then why don't you enlighten me?"
The Sovereign tilted their head.
"Very well."
And then they vanished.
A Speed Beyond Sight
Ellie barely saw them move. One moment, the Sovereign stood across the throne room. The next, they were behind her.
A blinding arc of void energy slashed toward her back.
Ellie twisted, raising a shield of shadows, but the moment the blade touched it—her defense shattered.
A searing pain burned across her ribs as the force of the attack sent her crashing into the throne's base. The impact cracked the stone, dust and debris falling around her.
She coughed, her vision blurring.
Malcolm and Sam charged, but the Sovereign barely acknowledged them. With a flick of their wrist, tendrils of black mist erupted from the ground, hurling both warriors away like ragdolls.
The Hollow Beasts snarled, lunging to attack.
The Sovereign did not move.
Instead, they simply raised the blade—and the beasts stopped mid-air, frozen in place as if time itself had halted for them.
Ellie's heart pounded.
This power—this wasn't just the strength of a ruler.
It was something far older.
Something that shouldn't exist anymore.
The Hollow Throne Speaks
As Ellie struggled to rise, the Hollow Throne's whispers grew louder.
"That sword does not belong here. It was buried for a reason."
Ellie gritted her teeth. "Then tell me how to stop it."
The throne pulsed beneath her, and for the first time, she felt something unlock deep within her soul.
Memories—not hers, but of rulers long forgotten.
Of battles fought in ancient darkness.
And of a power hidden beneath the Hollow Throne itself.
A power she had not yet claimed.
Ellie's Last Stand
The Sovereign took a slow step forward, their blade still humming with void energy.
"Do you see now?" they asked. "The throne is not yours. It has only ever been a cage for what lies beneath it."
Ellie's breath came hard and fast.
She could feel it.
A second presence deep beneath the throne, something buried beneath layers of forgotten time.
Something waiting to be awakened.
Ellie's silver eyes flickered with new resolve.
She wasn't just here to claim the Hollow Throne.
She was here to unleash what lay beneath it.
The Depths Beneath the Throne
The air in the throne room shifted, thickening with an unnatural weight. The moment Ellie felt it, she knew—something beneath the Hollow Throne was stirring.
The lead Sovereign took another step forward, their void-forged blade still humming with power.
"You feel it now, don't you?" their voice echoed. "The truth buried beneath your feet."
Ellie clenched her fists, the shadows around her pulsing in response.
She didn't know what lay beneath the throne, but she did know one thing—she couldn't afford to lose here.
Not when she had come this far.
A Throne That Was Never Empty
The Hollow Throne's whispers grew frantic, warning her, urging her to leave.
"Do not awaken it. You are not ready."
But Ellie ignored the voice.
She reached out, pressing her palm against the cracked stone of the throne's base.
And then—the ground split open.
A deep, guttural roar erupted from beneath, shaking the entire chamber. Shadows burst from the fractures in the stone, spilling out like living tendrils.
Ellie barely had time to move before the throne room collapsed inward—the floor shattering as she and the Sovereigns plunged into the abyss below.
The Forgotten Catacombs
Darkness swallowed her whole.
She fell for what felt like an eternity before slamming onto a cold, stone surface. Dust and rubble rained down around her.
Ellie groaned, pushing herself up.
When she looked around, she realized—this was no ordinary cavern.
The space beneath the Hollow Throne was a vast underground catacomb, stretching endlessly in all directions. The walls were lined with massive obsidian chains, inscribed with runes so old that they pulsed with an eerie, broken glow.
Something had been sealed here for centuries.
And she had just torn the seal open.
The Sovereigns' Fear
Ellie turned, expecting to see the lead Sovereign attacking.
But instead, they were staring at the catacomb's center, their golden eyes wide with something she had never seen before.
Fear.
The other Sovereigns had landed nearby, their forms more unstable than before, as if the presence of this place was disrupting them.
The lead Sovereign's grip on their void blade tightened.
"You fool," they whispered.
Then—the chains began to break.
A deep, otherworldly growl echoed through the chamber. The very air trembled, vibrating with a force beyond the Hollow Throne's power.
Ellie's breath caught in her throat as she looked toward the center of the catacomb.
A massive, shadowed figure was rising from the darkness, its form shifting and writhing like something not meant to exist.
It had been imprisoned here.
And she had just set it free.
The Thing That Should Not Be
The chains snapped one by one, sending shockwaves through the ancient catacomb. Dust and debris rained from the cavern's ceiling as the entity stirred, rising from its prison.
Ellie could barely comprehend its form.
It was massive, shifting between solid and shadow, its shape constantly unraveling and reforming. Eyes opened and closed across its body—some humanoid, some beast-like, others alien.
The Hollow Throne's voice screamed in her mind.
"You must leave! You do not understand what you have done!"
But Ellie did not move.
She had come too far to run now.
The Sovereigns' Response
The lead Sovereign raised their void-forged blade, their once-calm expression replaced with grim determination.
"This cannot be allowed to exist."
They turned to the other Sovereigns.
"Destroy the catacomb. Even if it means burying us all."
The moment they spoke, the other Sovereigns moved in unison, their hands weaving intricate sigils in the air.
Ellie's eyes widened.
They weren't just trying to seal the entity.
They were going to collapse the entire underground cavern—with her still inside.
"No!" Ellie shouted, her power surging outward.
A wave of dark energy exploded from her body, knocking the Sovereigns back.
The golden-eyed leader barely flinched. They vanished, reappearing directly in front of Ellie, their void blade slashing toward her neck.
Ellie dodged at the last second, the tip of the blade grazing her skin. A burning pain seared through her body, as if the weapon was cutting into more than just flesh—as if it were severing something deeper.
She clenched her fists, calling on the Hollow Throne's power.
But something else answered.
The Entity Awakens
A deep, inhuman voice rumbled through the cavern.
"Enough."
The very space around them warped, gravity shifting as the entity fully uncoiled from its prison. Its presence alone was crushing, a weight pressing against Ellie's soul.
The Sovereigns hesitated.
Even the golden-eyed leader faltered for a fraction of a second.
Ellie turned to face the being she had freed.
Its shifting form lowered itself toward her, one of its many faces forming into something almost recognizable—a hollowed-out skull with burning silver eyes.
"You are the one who opened the gate."
Its voice was both a whisper and a roar, echoing through every corner of the catacomb.
Ellie swallowed.
"...Yes."
A pause.
Then—the entity laughed.
The sound was ancient, older than the throne, older than the Sovereigns, older than the kingdom itself.
And as it laughed, the walls of the catacomb began to crack, the very reality around them unraveling.