Somewhere beneath the roots of the world.

  A group of people is walking on this night through some tunnels that twist like forgotten thoughts.

  Roots from a tree can be seen decorating every part of the tunnel giving an ethereal red light. Not everyone can manage to be close to these roots, the energy they contain can be felt without touching them.

  Hanging from the ceiling are Mirelumes, eel-like creatures that pulse with starlight from within their glassy bodies. They move slowly, dancing in the air.

  The group of people arrives at a pair of doors. In the door frame there are a lot of skulls adorning the space, if you look for a long time into them, you would feel that they are draining your energy. In reality, they are guarding the room, if an intruder happens to come in here, they would attack leaving nothing behind.

  The pair of doors pulse with a green light recognizing them and opening on their own.

  The people enter and they can see that the rest of the representatives are already here.

  Dozens of acolytes in veiled robes are kneeling on the edges of the hall, their faces covered in spiraled masks of black and white. Their heads bowed, without making any noise, broken only by the Mirelumes that levitate near them, as if evaluating them. Each breath they take is a sacrament, and each inhalation a surrender to the Hollow’s will.

  In the center of the room, a group of people is standing forming a circle, their robes make them look like cultist. Their masks are different from the ones of the acolytes, each depicting a different demon, if Dalia was here she would recognize one in particular.

  When everyone is in place, one of the representatives starts to talk.

  “We are finally reunited; we should discuss every plan that we have for the next ten years. Everyone here knows that many of us cannot come here frequently, the next reunion of this magnitude will be in ten years after all.”

  “First of all I would like to ask about our progress infiltrating the continent.”

  “We are making progress, but it’s more difficult than we initially thought.”

  “What is your report Rose?” The voice of a woman interrupts the discussion.

  An acolyte stands up and approaches the people at the center of the hall.

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  “We are doing our best to destabilize the different kingdoms; we are concentrating on the ValThalas kingdom.”

  “Do you have the king under our control?”

  “Not yet, but we have some high nobles who are using our artifacts and some of them are starting to lose their minds. When they realize what is happening to them, it will be too late to do anything about it, even a tier four spell using holy magic cannot do much for them.”

  “Continue with your plans and report everything to your superiors.”

  “Understood.”

  “What about…”

  Before they can continue with their meeting a loud noise coming from the Miralumes stops them.

  Everyone guards silence, being interrupted by the creatures; then it happens.

  The Nytheras that were in a deep slumber wake up and descend from the ceiling; three of them glide down through the shadows like living parchment torn from the night sky.

  Every person in here looks at them with reverence in their eyes; in their minds, these creatures are majestic and terrifying at the same time.

  The tree roots in the chamber pulse with a black light and start vibrating as if screaming for what is coming into this world.

  The central Nythera hovers above the High Eye, the cult’s leader. Her voice is like rain on leaves when it speaks in her mind.

  “The eye has opened in the flesh reborn.

  The Hollow returns again with it.

  A seed that should be in a dormant state has germinated.

  If people water it with love, it would be the end for us.

  If people water it with hate, we will dominate the world.”

  The acolytes fall to the floor, starting to contort from the pain they are experiencing. The Nythera needs to respect the balance of the world; if it gives something, it needs to take something back. In this case, memories are what feed the creature. For this exact reason, the acolytes are permitted to be present at this meeting.

  “Finally, an opportunity for us; if we make it ours, we will conquer the world. You just need to think about the talent that we can obtain from it.” The High Eye murmurs, half in ecstasy and half in fear.

  “What about the church? They use the demons in a different way than we do.” One of the representatives says, not caring for the people who are suffering on the floor.

  “That’s because they don’t use them; they serve them. The foolish ones really think that the best thing to do is surrender to them.” Another member says.

  “We will confront them eventually, but not for now, we should continue with our plans before we do something about them.”

  “We should consider that the prophecy wasn’t delivered only to us.”

  “I know every force in this world has its own ways to predict fate; that’s why we should hurry. We should not permit that the chosen one changes the rhythm.”