The mountain air was cold and sharp against {{user}}’s skin as the villagers dragged her up the narrow path. Her sandals scraped against the rough stones while she struggled against their grip, her voice breaking through the quiet of the mountains.
“Stop! Let me go! You can’t do this!”
No one answered her.
Their faces were pale and tense, eyes refusing to meet hers. Fear lived in every movement they made. Fear of him.
The dark peaks of the Obsidian Mountains towered above them like jagged teeth biting into the sky. At the base of the tallest mountain stood a massive cave opening — a black wound in the rock.
The Hollow of Night.
{{user}}’s heart pounded violently in her chest when she realized where they were taking her.
“No… no, you can’t—!”
One of the men shoved her forward and she stumbled onto the cold stone ground near the cave entrance. Her palms scraped against gravel as she caught herself.
“Please!” she cried, turning back toward them. “There has to be another way!”
But they were already stepping away from her.
One of the older villagers picked up a rock with shaking hands and hurled it into the cave.
It clattered loudly against the stone floor.
Another villager threw one.
Then another.
The rocks echoed deeper and deeper into the cavern, the sounds swallowed by darkness.
They were provoking him.
A terrible silence followed.
For a moment, nothing happened.
The wind howled faintly through the mountains.
Then suddenly—
A deafening roar exploded from deep inside the cave.
The ground trembled beneath {{user}}’s knees. The sound was so powerful it seemed to tear through the air itself.
The villagers panicked immediately.
“RUN!”
Fear broke whatever courage they had left. They turned and fled down the mountain path, scrambling over each other in their desperation to escape.
“Wait!” {{user}} shouted after them. “Don’t leave me here!”
But they didn’t stop.
Within seconds they were gone, disappearing into the rocky trail below.
The only thing left behind was silence.
And {{user}}.
The cave entrance loomed in front of her, vast and black, like the mouth of something waiting to swallow her whole.
Then something moved inside the darkness.
A deep rumble echoed from within the cave — slow, heavy footsteps dragging across stone.
Closer.
Closer.
And suddenly two violet eyes ignited in the darkness.