The city of Vareth was not built on land, but on the back of a dead god.
Its streets were cobbled with teeth, its towers carved from ribs, and its canals filled not with water, but with thick, black ichor that whispered when the moon was high. The people of Vareth did not speak of the god beneath them—they had forgotten its name, though its dreams still seeped into their own.
And then, one day, the ichor began to rise.
Chapter 1: The Bone-Reader’s Apprentice
Elias Vey was a thief, but not by choice. Orphaned in the slums of Vareth’s lowest tier, he survived by picking pockets and reading the bones of the dead—a forbidden art that allowed glimpses into the memories of corpses.
One night, after stealing a locket from a noblewoman’s corpse, Elias touched its silver surface and saw something impossible:
A king with no face, sitting upon a throne of writhing shadows.
A voice, whispering: "Find me before the ichor drowns the world."
The next morning, the noblewoman’s body was gone. And the black canals had risen another inch.
Chapter 2: The Hollow King
Elias sought answers from Mother Drath, a blind seer who dwelled in the catacombs beneath the city.
"The Hollow King sleeps beneath Vareth," she rasped. "Not a corpse, not a ghost—but something in between. He was once a man who tried to cheat death, and in doing so, became a vessel for the dead god’s will."
According to legend, the Hollow King had been sealed away centuries ago, his heart locked in a box of obsidian and silver. But now, the seal was breaking. And the rising ichor was his blood, seeping back into the world.
"If the king wakes," Mother Drath warned, "the city will drown in his sorrow."
Chapter 3: The Crow Maiden
Elias wasn’t the only one searching for the Hollow King.
Seris, a woman with ink-black eyes and a cloak of living crows, hunted the king for her own reasons. She believed he held the key to her stolen memories—memories that had been devoured by the ichor years ago.
At first, she and Elias were enemies. But when the city guard—corrupted by the ichor’s whispers—turned on them both, they formed an uneasy alliance.
Together, they descended into the Drowning District, where the streets were half-submerged, and the air smelled of rust and rot.
Chapter 4: The Heart of the King
Deep beneath the city, in a chamber lined with mirrors that reflected nothing, they found it:
The obsidian box.
When Elias opened it, he did not find a heart. Instead, he found a keyhole where his own chest should be.
And the Hollow King’s voice echoed:
"You are my last vessel. Let me in, and I will save the city. Refuse, and it will drown."
Seris’s crows shrieked in warning. The ichor surged. And Elias realized the terrible truth:
The Hollow King had always been searching for him.
Chapter 5: The Choice
Elias had spent his life running from death. But now, death was offering him a throne.
If he let the Hollow King in, he would lose himself—but Vareth might survive.
If he refused, the city would be consumed, and the king would simply wait for the next vessel.
In the end, it was Seris who made the choice for him.
With a knife forged from a crow’s feather, she stabbed the box—and herself—letting her own memories bleed into the Hollow King’s prison.
The ichor receded. The king’s whispers faded.
But as Elias clutched Seris’s lifeless body, he heard one last murmur:
"This is only a reprieve. The dead god is still dreaming."
And in the distance, the black canals began to stir once more.
