Chapter 74 The Rain of the Hollowed
The “Infection Pods” hit the pavement of Aethelgard with the sound of wet glass breaking.
From the black, viscous liquid, the “Hollowed” emerged.
They weren’t the Ghost Pack, and they weren’t the Lithic-Wolves.
They were something far more efficient. They were humans who had been instantaneously rewritten—their bones elongated, their skin turned to a translucent grey, and their eyes replaced by the single, horizontal red slit of the Architects.
“They’re coming up the walls!” Kael’s voice crackled over the radio.
“The Reclaimed are holding the lobby, but these things... they don’t feel pain, Elara.
You can tear their hearts out and they just keep climbing.
”
“Use the frost, Kael!” I roared into the comms. “Liquid metal can’t flow if it’s frozen.
Shatter the joints!”
I turned back to the sky.
A smaller vessel—a scout ship shaped like a jagged silver needle—detached from the Hive and began a rapid descent toward the helipad.
It didn’t use engines; it fell through the air as if gravity were a suggestion.
“Killian, get the boys inside!” I shouted, but it was too late.
The needle-ship struck the helipad with a force that sent a shockwave through the entire building.
The concrete cracked, and the Vane Spire groaned under the weight.
From the ship stepped a figure that made the previous Envoy look like a toy.
It was the High Architect’s personal executioner—the Culler.
Its armor was not mercury, but a matte-black obsidian that seemed to drink the light around it.
It carried a staff tipped with a pulsing violet singularity.
It didn’t speak. It didn’t resonate. It simply pointed the staff at the Prime Node.
The shield over the city flickered and died.
The weight of the Hive’s presence hit the city like a physical blow.
Millions of people fell to their knees as the “Harvest Frequency” began to broadcast, a sound that bypassed the ears and vibrated directly into the DNA, commanding the cells to unlock and release their stored energy.
“The Harvest has begun,” the Culler’s voice echoed, a sound of grinding tectonic plates.
“Sovereign, your reign was a momentary flicker. Now, return the flame.”