Chapter 80 – Within the Hollow

Chapter 80 – Within the Hollow

John’s POV

There is no light here. No air. No sound that doesn’t belong to my own screaming mind.

For days or maybe centuries I’ve been trapped inside the hollow, the space between thought and flesh. I can feel the faint pull of my body somewhere far away, moving, breathing, obeying commands that aren’t my own. But here, in this suffocating dark, I am a prisoner in my own soul.

The Goddess’s voice echoes through the void like thunder. Cold, ageless and cruel.

> You were chosen, John.
You should be honored.

“Chosen?” I snarl, my voice cracking into the emptiness. “You broke me. You hollowed me out.”

> You were always hollow. I only filled what you lacked.

The words slice through me like glass. I want to argue, to deny her, but part of me knows it’s true. I’ve lived my entire life chasing control over my company, my pack, my emotions. I built walls so high no one could touch me. Not even Scarlett. Especially not her.

And now, I’ve become the very thing I feared most: powerless.

A faint glow ripples through the void. For a moment, I think it’s her again the Goddess, come to mock me but then I hear it. A heartbeat. Steady. Warm. Familiar.

Kael.

The sound swells until it fills the space, and light begins to form a figure stepping through the darkness. He looks the same as he did before the beacon fell: calm, strong, his expression gentle but carrying that eternal weight in his eyes.

I exhale shakily. “You.”

He smiles faintly. “You sound disappointed.”

“I’m not sure what I am anymore.”

Kael tilts his head, studying me like a mirror. “That’s because we’re both fragments now. Two halves of a broken whole.”

I laugh bitterly. “That’s poetic for a dead man.”

He doesn’t flinch. “You think I’m dead?”

“Aren’t you?”

Kael takes another step closer. The light around him pulses brighter, and I see it now—he’s not solid. His edges flicker, fading in and out like smoke. “Death isn’t the end when the Goddess touches you. You should know that by now.”

“The Goddess doesn’t touch,” I snapped. “She consumes.”

Something shifts in Kael’s eyes. “Maybe. But she only takes what’s freely given.”

My jaw tightens. “You think I chose this?”

He doesn’t answer right away. He just looks at me, as if searching for something beneath my anger. Then softly, “Didn’t you?”

The silence that follows feels heavier than the void itself.

Time passes differently here. I don’t know how long we stand facing each other, two ghosts caught between life and death. The darkness pulses with the Goddess’s presence, a constant reminder that she’s listening.

Kael finally speaks again. “Scarlett found you.”

I look up sharply. “What?”

“I felt her near the river. She saw through the barrier for a moment.”

A tremor runs through me. “She shouldn’t have come.”

“She’s stronger than you think,” Kael says quietly. “Stronger than both of us.”

I shake my head, pacing through the darkness. “You don’t understand. If she stays near me, she’ll be marked. The Goddess won’t stop until—”

“Until what?” he cuts in. “Until she becomes like us?”

The question freezes me. The way he says it—it isn’t mocking. It’s almost… knowing.

“What do you mean?” I ask slowly.

Kael doesn’t meet my eyes. “You think she’s human, John. You think she stumbled into this war by accident. But she didn’t. The moment she touched the beacon, she became part of the weave.”

“The weave?”

“The Goddess’s network of power. Souls bound by fate.” His voice lowers. “Scarlett isn’t just your mate anymore. She’s the link. The bridge between the living and the divine.”

My stomach twists. “That’s impossible.”

Kael looks at me finally, his expression both tender and grave. “You’ve felt it too, haven’t you? Her heartbeat under yours. The way her pain calls to you even when she’s miles away.”

I think of her voice, her scent in the rain, her defiance in the temple, her tears when she called my name through the shadows. The memory rips through me like lightning.

“Yes,” I whisper. “But that’s the bond.”

Kael shakes his head. “No, John. It’s something deeper. The bond is just the surface. Beneath it lies the real truth.”

“What truth?”

He hesitates, then says the words that tear the world apart:
“She is the Goddess’s last vessel.”

For a moment, I can’t breathe. The darkness hums violently around us, reacting to the words like a living thing.

“No,” I choke. “You’re lying.”

Kael’s expression doesn’t change. “You know I’m not.”

“That’s not possible. She—she’s just—”

“Human?” His voice cuts through me like a blade. “So were you. Until she chose you. The difference is, you were meant to be the weapon. She was meant to be the salvation.”

My knees buckle. I sink to the ground, clutching my head as the world spins.
The Goddess’s laughter echoes through the hollow, sweet and merciless.

> Ah, you finally see, little wolf.

Her voice surrounds us, bleeding into the darkness. Kael stiffens beside me, his light flickering as her presence thickens.

> You were never the hero of this story, John.
You were the vessel for my wrath. But she… she is the vessel for my heart.

Kael steps in front of me, his glow burning brighter. “You can’t have her.”

> You cannot stop me, broken spirit.

“I can slow you,” Kael growls, and for the first time, I see rage flicker across his calm features.

The void quakes. I struggle to stand, but my limbs feel heavy and chained. The Goddess’s power presses against me like an invisible hand, forcing me back to my knees.

“Stop!” I shout. “You’re killing him!”

> He is already dead.

“No!” My vision blurs, fury mixing with grief. “Then take me instead! Leave her out of this!”

The void falls silent.

For a moment, even Kael’s light dims.

> How noble, the Goddess purrs. You would die for her? After all the pain you caused her?

I grit my teeth. “Yes.”

> Then perhaps there is still use for you.

Her voice softens, almost tender, which somehow makes it worse.

> Bring her to me, John. And I will let you live. Resist and I will tear her soul apart piece by piece.

My breath catches. I glance at Kael, who shakes his head slowly. “Don’t listen to her.”

But the shadows are already closing in, wrapping around my wrists and throat, dragging me downward. Her voice becomes a whisper that seeps into my blood.

> Find her, my choice. Bring her home.

The world tilts. I fall through the hollow like a stone dropped into an endless sea. When I open my eyes, I’m back in my body on the cold floor of the ruined temple where she last saw me. The candle has long since burned out. My clothes are soaked with blood and dirt.

And she’s gone.

I stumble to my feet, gasping for breath. Every movement feels wrong—half mine, half hers. I can feel Kael’s fading warmth somewhere deep inside me, trying to hold back the darkness, but he’s losing ground.

“Scarlett,” I whisper, my voice raw. “Where are you?”

The answer comes as a faint echo, not in words but in feeling—fear, pain, distance.
She’s running. She’s trying to hide.

And I am her hunter now.

\---

The moon rises blood-red over the valley as I stagger out into the open air. My head throbs with the Goddess’s whispers.

> You will find her.
You will bring her to me.
And when you do… you will know peace.

I grip my chest, trying to fight it to cling to what little remains of myself. But somewhere inside the noise, Kael’s voice whispers faintly, desperate and fading:

> Don’t let her win, John. Whatever happens, remember who you love.

For a moment, I almost break free. The bond flares, pulling me toward Scarlett like a lifeline of fire and gold. But then the darknes
s surges, swallowing it whole.

I fell to my knees, teeth clenched, and when I looked up again, my reflection in the water beside me wasn't mine.

Half my face is Kael’s.
Half is the Goddess’s.