The Hollow moved before Lucien could properly process what he was even looking at. Its twisted body lunged forward with explosive speed, gray-white hair lashing behind it as one elongated arm carved through the air toward his stomach.
“Tch—!”
Lucien reacted purely on instinct. He twisted sharply to the left just as the strike reached him.
BAM!
“—urk!”
He hadn’t even realized there was a wall beside him.
His shoulder slammed violently into the alley wall, pain shooting straight down his arm as loose bricks cracked and rattled from the impact. Grimacing, Lucien immediately shoved himself away before the creature could follow up, boots scraping harshly against the stone while one dagger snapped upward into a reverse-grip guard almost automatically.
The Hollow’s limbs twitched and folded unnaturally before stretching forward again. It came at him a second time without hesitation, malformed claws stabbing toward his collarbone fast enough to make his pulse spike.
Lucien dropped backward instantly.
SWISH—!
The claws sliced through the space where his throat had been a fraction of a second earlier. The creature overshot slightly from its own momentum, one distorted leg screeching against the alley floor as it skidded forward.
Lucien scrambled back to his feet, his breathing turning rougher as his heartbeat hammered violently against his ribs. His eyes stayed locked on the creature in front of him, every muscle tense.
This thing was absurdly fast.
It didn’t have that much power, but it attacked with such relentless speed that he barely had time to think between movements.
I can’t beat this thing. Hell, I might not even be able to outrun it.
Lucien spared a quick glance at the Deflection Band around his wrist. If Edric had been telling the truth about it reducing half the kinetic force from attacks strong enough to incapacitate someone, then Lucien sincerely hoped slamming shoulder-first into a wall a few seconds ago hadn’t counted as incapacitating.
The Hollow twisted toward him again with that horrible jerking motion.
Lucien noticed the way its body tensed.
His instincts reacted before his thoughts could fully catch up.
“Not happening—!”
He spun and bolted.
His boots pounded harshly against the alley floor while adrenaline surged through his veins hard enough to make his chest ache. Behind him came the rapid scrape of claws accelerating across stone.
Lucien barely made it four strides before his boot suddenly caught against one of the strands stretched across the alley.
The webbing didn’t snap.
Instead, it stretched outward with a sticky tkkk sound before abruptly pulling taut. The sudden resistance yanked his front foot downward far harder than he expected and completely ruined his balance.
“Ah, damn it—!”
Lucien pitched forward violently, barely managing to throw a hand out before his face smashed into the stone.
SCRRKK—
Rough ground tore across his palm hard enough to rip the skin open instantly.
Pain shot through his hand, sharp and burning.
But he didn’t stop moving.
His eyes tightened as he shoved himself upright almost immediately, ignoring the blood smeared across his palm while forcing himself back into motion.
Behind him, the rapid scrape of claws against stone grew louder.
SKRRK—SKRRAK—SKKKK—
The sound alone made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.
Lucien’s breathing grew rougher as he forced himself to run harder, his torn palm already starting to interfere with his grip and balance. He risked a quick glance over his shoulder—
—and immediately regretted it.
The Hollow was already tearing after him on all fours, its skeletal body moving with horrifying speed despite how twisted and unnatural it looked.
It’s too fast!
At best, he had maybe a second or two before the thing reached him again.
Lucien’s mind seized onto the first workable option it could find.
He suddenly pivoted on one heel, planted his footing hard, and thrust out a hand.
A mass of darkness burst violently upward from the ground beneath him.
Shadow Tendril!
The tendril ripped through the alley with a violent WHSSSHK—! and slammed directly into the Hollow’s face before it could dodge.
KRRSHH—!
The impact landed with a wet, cracking sound.
Lucien felt the resistance travel back through the connection as the tendril smashed across the creature’s skull. The Hollow’s body jerked violently sideways, its momentum breaking mid-lunge. One elongated arm flailed off-course, bone claws screeching against the wall instead of burying themselves in his chest.
But it still managed to clip him.
SKRRRT—
“—ghh—!”
Lucien’s expression twisted sharply as claws tore across the front of his thigh, slicing through cloth and skin in one burning motion.
Pain exploded through his leg instantly, hot and sharp enough to nearly buckle his knee underneath him.
“Fuck—!”
He dismissed the tendril at once and forced himself back into motion before the creature could recover, teeth clenched hard while he sprinted deeper into the alley.
Every stride sent another pulse of pain shooting through his thigh.
He didn’t look back again.
If it was still chasing him, he’d know soon enough the moment those claws started scraping across the stone behind him again.
He crashed through the half-open door of a ruined building—a former tailor's shop, shelves collapsed, a sewing frame still standing in the middle of the room for reasons he didn't have time to appreciate—and immediately changed direction inside, cutting toward the back instead of continuing forward.
Behind him came a violent BANG—!
The Hollow slammed into the doorway hard enough to shake the frame before forcing itself through the entrance with a horrible scraping noise.
“What a persistent little—!”
Lucien vaulted over the sewing frame.
Pain exploded through his injured thigh the moment he pushed off.
“Ghk—!”
His landing went badly.
One foot hit uneven debris, throwing off his balance completely before he crashed shoulder-first into a collapsed shelf.
CRASH—!
The shelf toppled sideways into another one.
Then another.
Wood, rusted tools, and rotten cloth came cascading down in an avalanche of noise loud enough to make Lucien wince.
“Yeah, great. Perfect.”
At the back of the room, he spotted a window partially boarded shut. One plank had already fallen loose long ago, leaving a narrow opening barely large enough for him to fit through.
Lucien lunged for it without slowing down.
He kicked the plank aside and hurled himself through the window into the alley outside.
Lucien hit the ground hard, rolling across the stone before forcing himself upright again almost immediately.
Keep moving.
Blood was already soaking through the torn fabric around his thigh, and his palm still burned from where the rough stone had ripped it open earlier.
Behind him came the sharp sound of the Hollow slamming into the window frame before silence ensued.
Lucien didn’t trust that silence for even a second.
Breathing heavily now, he pressed himself briefly against the alley wall while continuing to move sideways through the narrow passage, trying to reconstruct the district’s layout in his head.
His body, meanwhile, was enthusiastically informing him that everything hurt.
His thigh was the biggest problem.
The claws hadn’t cut deep enough to cripple him outright, but they’d definitely sliced into muscle. Every time his right leg pushed off the ground, it threatened to buckle underneath him.
Lucien pulled one of the Pain Suppression Tinctures from inside his coat without slowing down, only now calm enough to remember it existed. His breathing had already turned rough by now, each inhale scraping painfully through his chest as he bit the cork free with his teeth and swallowed the bitter liquid in one quick gulp.
“Ugh—that tastes awful…”
Without wasting time, he reached into another pouch and grabbed a Standard Healing Compound as well, downing that one immediately after. The second liquid was thicker and metallic on the tongue, making his expression tighten briefly in disgust as some of it nearly went down the wrong way.
He wiped his mouth with the back of his sleeve and kept moving.
Fifteen seconds…
That was usually how long the pain suppressant needed before it properly dulled the body.
The healing compound, unfortunately, wasn’t nearly as miraculous as the name sounded. Moderate tissue damage still took several minutes before the effects properly settled in, and full recovery usually needed closer to twenty or thirty.
Which meant it wouldn’t save him now.
At best, it would slow the bleeding and keep his leg from becoming useless a little longer.
Lucien forced himself to keep running through the narrow passage despite the burning pain shooting through his thigh and shoulder with every step.
I doubt that thing will even give me ten seconds…
Just then, a slow creaaak drifted from somewhere above and to his left.
Lucien’s eyes snapped upward instinctively toward the rooftops between the ruined buildings.
He immediately slowed his footsteps, carefully controlling each placement, then slipped into the shadow of a recessed doorway after failing to spot anywhere nearby he could duck inside.
The creaking stopped.
Silence settled over the alley again, broken only by the faint hiss of wind slipping through broken windows overhead.
A few seconds later, the tincture finally began to take effect.
The pain didn’t disappear, but it dulled enough for him to think through it instead of around it. The burning in his thigh became distant, muted into something manageable rather than something that hijacked every step.
Lucien stayed perfectly still, jaw tight as he forced himself to think through the adrenaline hammering against his ribs.
I need to slow it down. At this pace, it’ll catch me in no time.
His breathing remained controlled despite the tension crawling through his body.
The question is how?
He briefly checked the System.
[CP: 43 / 200]
He could still use Shadow Tendril up to four times with that amount, but he’d rather avoid doing so unless it became absolutely necessary. Void Cloak also seemed impractical in a direct pursuit situation.
Carefully, he checked inside his cloak and confirmed he still had two Hollowed Disruption Compounds left.
Thankfully, neither had shattered during his earlier panic. The situation had been far too chaotic at the time for him to even remember they existed.
There was also the Sorrow Dust, but it would be useless if the target couldn’t see, and those pale, milky eyes made him suspect the Hollow was blind. It must have started following him from the moment he picked up that thread in the alley.
This thing is clearly Stage 4, he thought grimly. I don’t know how it ended up here, but that’s irrelevant. According to Seren, the compound probably won’t stop it completely…
His grip tightened slightly around the vial hidden inside his coat.
But slowing it down is all I need.
Suddenly, somewhere above him—
Scrrrrch…
Something dragged slowly across the roof.
Circling.
He immediately held his breath.
For a moment, Lucien considered using Void Cloak, but another thought crossed his mind first.
He steadied his breathing instead, exhaling slowly before drawing in another controlled breath. At the edge of his perception, thin dark lines threading quietly through the surrounding shadows, cold and reluctant. With careful focus, he drew them inward using his will, coaxing rather than forcing, and wrapped them loosely around himself.
Shadow Concealment.
Lucien scanned the alley, his mind racing for a way out of the situation, and just as an idea finally formed, the sound above him suddenly stopped.
His eyes lifted as a massive shadow dropped from the rooftop overhead.
THUD!
The Hollow landed a few feet away.
Lucien stayed perfectly still, forcing every muscle in his body not to react as the creature twitched in place. Its elongated limbs scraped lightly against the stone while those pale, milky eyes wandered across the alley in abrupt, uneven movements.
But it didn’t look at him. It didn’t even seem to notice him.
Slowly, carefully, Lucien slipped a hand into his coat pocket and pulled out one of the Hollowed Disruption Compound vials.
TKKSH—!
The thin glass clipped the side of the Hollow’s neck. Violet liquid burst across its throat and shoulder, splattering over gray flesh and tangled hair.
The reaction was immediate.
The Hollow jerked violently.
Its right foreleg spasmed mid-step, dragging awkwardly against the ground instead of lifting cleanly. The creature’s head snapped sideways with a sickening crack, its movements suddenly losing part of their terrifying smoothness. Even its gaze began skipping strangely, those pale eyes tracking in abrupt, inconsistent snaps instead of locking on properly.
Lucien didn’t waste even a second appreciating the opening.
He thrust out his right arm and summoned another Shadow Tendril—not toward the Hollow itself, but toward the rusted drainage pipe bolted high along the wall above it.
WHSSHK—!
The tendril lashed upward violently.
Lucien yanked hard.
KRRRKK—CLANG!
The old brackets tore free from the stone, and a long section of iron pipe came crashing straight down onto the creature’s back.
“SKRREEEE—!!”
The Hollow slammed into the ground beneath the weight, limbs spasming wildly as its claws screeched against the stone while trying to regain traction.
Lucien immediately turned and ran.
At the next alley junction, he cut through a ruined building, slipping through a collapsed section of wall where a doorway used to be. Loose debris crunched faintly beneath his boots as he pushed deeper inside before dropping low behind a fallen interior wall, one hand braced against the dusty stone while he fought to steady his breathing.
From outside came the awful metallic scraping of the drainage pipe dragging across the ground.
SKRRRKKK—!
The Hollow was trying to force itself free.
Lucien grimaced.
His chest rose and fell harder now, sweat running down the side of his face as he wiped it away with the back of his sleeve. The panic clawing at the edge of his thoughts hadn’t faded at all, but he forced himself to think through it anyway.
At least I’m not going where it wanted me to go before…
That mattered.
Earlier, the creature had clearly been pressuring him toward those web-filled alleyways, herding him without him realizing it at first. Now he was moving away from that route instead. If he kept changing direction and avoided giving it a clear trail again, there was still a chance he could shake it off.
A small chance.
A second later, he pushed himself deeper through the ruined building, climbing over broken furniture and collapsed beams before squeezing through a jagged opening in the back wall and emerging into another narrow passageway beyond.
One hand trailed along the wall as he moved, navigating partly through memory and partly through instinct. His injured leg kept trying to buckle whenever he put too much weight on it, but he ignored the warning signs and kept going anyway.
The scraping sounds behind him had stopped.
He moved through two more buildings and an alley junction before the sensation of being followed genuinely faded — not the suspicious silence of something pausing, but an actual absence. He paused in the doorway of a collapsed storefront and listened for a full thirty seconds.
Nothing.
He chose to keep moving rather than resolve the question of why.
The concealed entrance to the southeastern passage was hidden beneath the remains of a collapsed apothecary near the edge of Garden District. Most of the building had caved inward during the Eclipse, leaving behind little more than fractured walls, broken shelving, and a rotting wooden sign half-buried beneath rubble. Toward the back of the ruined shop sat a narrow storage room with cracked stone flooring and several collapsed crates piled against one side.
Lucien stepped over them carefully before crouching near the wall.
His fingers found the third stone at knee height.
He pressed it.
A low grinding rumble echoed beneath the floor as part of the wall shifted inward just enough to reveal a narrow gap.
Lucien slipped through immediately and pulled the hidden door shut behind him.
CLUNK.
Darkness swallowed the passage almost completely.
The sudden quiet pressed heavily against his ears as Lucien leaned back against the stone door and finally stopped moving for the first time since the chase began.
His breathing came rough and uneven.
Now that the adrenaline was fading, his body seemed eager to present a complete list of complaints all at once.
His right thigh still burned where the Hollow’s claws had torn into it, though the healing compound was finally starting to dull the worst of the pain. His scraped palm stung constantly, raw skin pulling every time his fingers flexed, and his shoulder ached from slamming into the alley wall earlier.
“…What a day,” he muttered under his breath, closing his eyes briefly.
He stayed there in the dark for several more seconds while the tinctures slowly worked through his system.
And deliberately, he did not think about how much worse any of that encounter could have gone.
Lucien pushed himself off the wall soon after and started moving through the underground passage toward The Gilded Lyre.