The cold wind swept quietly across the cliffside while Arthur Ravenheart stood beside Alex overlooking the distant Black Continent.
Behind them, the camp remained silent.
Tom rested against a stone with his eyes closed.
Kierran and Lucas were fully asleep near the dying fire.
For once—
everything felt calm.
Arthur exhaled slowly.
"…So basically the stronger someone gets, the worse their life becomes."
Alex glanced toward him calmly.
"A surprisingly accurate summary."
Arthur snorted faintly.
"Fantastic."
The wind moved again.
Then—
Alex stopped walking.
Arthur immediately noticed.
"…What?"
No answer.
Alex's brown eyes had shifted toward the darkness beyond the cliffs.
Focused.
Sharp.
Arthur frowned slightly and looked forward too.
At first—
he saw nothing.
Then he heard it.
Singing.
Faint.
Beautiful.
But horribly distant.
Like voices echoing from underwater.
Arthur's expression slowly hardened.
"…You hear that too?"
Alex didn't answer immediately.
The singing grew clearer.
Multiple voices layered together unnaturally.
Not human.
Not entirely.
The sound carried across the wasteland beneath the moonlight.
Then the System flickered suddenly.
[ WARNING ]
[ FOREIGN RESONANCE DETECTED ]
The air pressure changed instantly.
Arthur's purple Aether flared around him instinctively.
The singing stopped.
Complete silence followed.
Then figures emerged slowly from the black fog below the cliffs.
One.
Two.
Five.
Nine.
All wearing long pale robes that dragged across the ruined ground.
White porcelain masks covered their faces completely.
No eyes.
No mouths.
Just smooth expressionless masks reflecting moonlight.
Arthur immediately felt something was wrong.
Not monster wrong.
Not human either.
Something in between.
The System glitched harder.
[ THE HOLLOW CHOIR ]
[ STATUS UNKNOWN ]
One of the figures slowly raised its head toward Arthur.
Then another.
Then all nine at once.
Arthur's instincts screamed immediately.
Danger.
Alex's expression darkened slightly.
"…Troublesome."
Arthur glanced toward him.
"You know them?"
The figures stopped moving entirely.
Then—
the singing resumed softly.
Except now—
Arthur realized something horrifying.
The voices weren't coming from outside.
They were coming from beneath the masks.
Hundreds of overlapping whispers hidden beneath the hymn.
The lead figure suddenly spoke.
Its voice sounded fractured.
Like multiple people speaking through broken glass.
"…A child touched by resonance…"
Arthur's eyes narrowed instantly.
"What are you talking about?"
Another choir member tilted its head unnaturally.
"…Incomplete ascension…"
A second voice layered beneath it.
"…Yet already noticed by the fractures…"
The black fog around them thickened slowly.
Alex stepped slightly forward now.
Subtle.
Protective.
The lead figure continued.
"…We wondered when the Path would create another anomaly…"
Arthur frowned deeply.
"The Path?"
The choir members went silent briefly.
Then all nine spoke together.
"…The Path of Eternity."
The pressure around the cliffs intensified.
The System flickered violently again.
[ WARNING ]
[ DO NOT ENGAGE ]
Arthur's purple Aether pulsed harder instinctively.
The moment it did—
every masked figure focused directly on him.
Then the lead figure whispered softly.
"…The abandoned star finally begins shining…"
The cold wind moved quietly across the cliffs while the nine masked figures stood motionless within the black fog below.
Their pale robes drifted unnaturally despite the still air.
The haunting hymn had stopped again.
Now there was only silence.
Heavy silence.
Arthur Ravenheart kept his eyes locked on the lead figure while purple Aether flickered around his body instinctively.
Beside him, Alex remained calm.
But Arthur noticed it immediately—
Alex was watching the Hollow Choir carefully.
Very carefully.
The lead figure slowly stepped forward.
Its porcelain mask reflected faint moonlight.
Cracks had begun spreading across its surface.
Black mist leaked slowly from within.
Then—
it spoke again.
That same fractured voice echoed across the cliffs.
"…You search for someone."
Arthur's eyes narrowed instantly.
The figure tilted its head slightly.
"…A woman swallowed by darkness…"
Another whisper overlapped beneath the first.
"…Yet still alive…"
Arthur immediately stepped forward.
"You know where she is?"
The other choir members remained completely still behind their leader.
Like silent mourners.
The lead figure raised one distorted hand slowly.
"…The Black Continent hides many prisoners…"
Its voice layered unnaturally again.
"…But the one you seek still breathes beneath the fractured lands…"
Arthur's heartbeat quickened slightly.
Alex finally spoke.
"…How do you know that?"
The figure turned slowly toward him.
Then silence followed briefly.
Almost tense.
Before the choir leader answered calmly.
"…Because the Hollow Choir listens to the voices abandoned by the world."
The black fog around them pulsed softly.
"…We hear the cries swallowed by the Collapse…"
Arthur clenched his fists tightly.
"Then tell me where she is."
The choir leader remained silent for several moments.
Then—
"…We will guide you."
Arthur froze slightly.
Alex's eyes narrowed immediately.
"…Why?"
The choir members slowly began humming again beneath their masks.
Low.
Uneasy.
The leader answered quietly.
"…Because the fractures have begun widening once more…"
The mist thickened around their feet.
"And because the child touched by impossible resonance…"
Its cracked mask slowly faced Arthur again.
"…must survive what approaches."
Arthur frowned deeply.
"You still haven't explained who you people are."
The choir leader took another slow step forward.
"…Once…"
The whispers beneath its voice deepened.
"…we were seekers of ascension."
Another voice overlapped.
"…Awakened who climbed too high…"
"…too quickly…"
The black cracks along the porcelain mask spread further.
"…Until the Void answered instead."
Arthur's purple Aether pulsed faintly again.
The choir immediately reacted.
Not aggressively.
Almost reverently.
The lead figure slowly lowered its head.
"…The resonance surrounding you is unstable…"
A pause.
Then—
"…but familiar."
Alex's expression darkened faintly at those words.
Arthur immediately noticed.
"…Familiar how?"
Silence.
Then the choir leader whispered softly—
"…Because long ago…"
The black fog around them deepened violently.
"…we heard the same resonance from another man standing at the edge of ruin."
Arthur's eyes narrowed.
"…Who?"
The figure looked directly at him.
And for the first time—
its voice became completely clear.
"…Levi Ravenheart."
The moment the name left the choir leader's mouth—
silence swallowed the cliffs.
The cold wind stopped completely.
Arthur Ravenheart stood frozen for half a second.
"…My father?"
The nine masked figures remained motionless beneath the moonlight while black fog drifted slowly around them.
The choir leader tilted its cracked porcelain mask slightly.
"…Yes."
Arthur's heartbeat quickened.
"You knew him?"
Another layered whisper echoed beneath the leader's voice.
"…We encountered him long ago near the southern fractures…"
"…before the black continent fully awakened…"
Alex remained silent beside Arthur.
Watching.
Listening carefully.
Arthur immediately stepped forward.
"Then where is he?!"
The black mist around the choir shifted softly.
The leader answered quietly.
"…Lost."
Arthur clenched his fists instantly.
"What does that mean?"
"…Neither alive nor dead…"
Another whisper overlapped.
"…Hidden beyond ordinary perception…"
Arthur's purple Aether flared violently around him.
The pressure cracked the stone beneath his feet.
"Stop talking in riddles."
The choir members all turned slightly toward him simultaneously.
The hymn beneath their masks deepened faintly.
Then the leader spoke again.
"…Control your resonance, smile of heaven."
Arthur's breathing slowed slightly.
But the anger remained.
Alex finally stepped forward calmly.
"…You said you would guide us."
The choir leader looked toward him.
Then nodded once.
"…The imprisoned woman remains within the outer sanctum beneath the western descent."
Arthur immediately focused.
"The western descent?"
The leader slowly pointed toward the distant Black Continent.
Far away—
Arthur could barely see enormous black cliffs splitting open near the borderlands like a massive wound carved into the earth itself.
"…Beneath those fractures lies the old containment city."
Arthur frowned.
"…Containment city?"
Another whisper echoed.
"…A failed civilization swallowed during an early Collapse…"
"…now buried beneath corruption…"
Alex's expression darkened faintly.
"So that's where they moved her."
The choir leader nodded slowly.
"…The lower sanctums remain active…"
Arthur immediately started walking.
"I'm done waiting."
Alex sighed quietly before following.
Behind them, the nine choir members began moving silently through the black fog.
Not walking normally.
Gliding.
Like drifting spirits.
The journey toward the western descent began in silence.
The cliffs around them grew darker the deeper they traveled toward the Black Continent.
Strange black roots spread across the ground.
The air itself felt heavier now.
Like reality was thinning.
Arthur walked at the front beside Alex while the Hollow Choir followed several meters behind.
Eventually Arthur spoke again.
"…Why would my mother be kept in a place like this?"
Alex answered calmly.
"Because normal prisons cannot contain certain people."
Arthur frowned slightly.
"My mother isn't dangerous."
The choir leader suddenly whispered from behind.
"…Incorrect."
Arthur immediately turned sharply.
The cracked mask faced him calmly.
"…Alexi Ravenheart survived direct Collapse exposure as a teenager…"
Another whisper layered beneath it.
"…and endured resonance conditions fatal to most humans…"
Arthur's eyes narrowed.
"What are you saying?"
The choir leader continued quietly.
"…Your mother is no longer entirely ordinary."
Silence followed.
Arthur looked toward Alex.
"…You knew?"
Alex hesitated briefly.
That alone answered enough.
Arthur exhaled sharply.
"You people seriously need to stop hiding things."
For the first time—
a faint distorted chuckle echoed from beneath several choir masks.
It sounded deeply unsettling.
One of the choir members whispered softly—
"…Welcome to Border Zone Theta, edge of the black continent…"