Man of Hollows

The old man's question stunned Hill. He hadn't anticipated or expected a conversation after running such a great distance. Encountering two individuals wasn't what he'd expected at all.

"Who are you?" he asked, deciding to answer a question with a question. 

"Bah! The nerve!" The old man spat, turning to the red-eyed girl, who simply shrugged as he growled. "Why do I even ask questions these days? Nobody ever bothers to answer them."

"Sorry," Hill mumbled. "My name is Hill."

"There we go! How easy was that?" The old man exclaimed, laughing mockingly as he turned to the girl again. She simply smiled in response. "Now to answer your rude question... my name is Hero! Fancy meeting you out here in this desert!"

Hero? What a strange name, Hill thought to himself.

"Fancy meeting you too..." 

The old man pointed to the girl. "You can just call her Mime. She's a nonverbal brat, but she's proven to be good company." 

Mime brought her hand to her head, pinching her index finger and thumb together before moving it away as if she were taking a hat off. This action was incredibly unnerving, mostly because of the red tint that everyone—including himself—seemed to have due to the red disc in the sky.

Hill waved awkwardly in response. When Mime saw that, she clapped her hands together excitedly and jumped up and down. Her red eyes narrowed and her smile grew wider as she did so, revealing pearly white teeth that contrasted sharply against the painted black smile. 

Hill felt himself involuntarily jerk away from the girl, and Hero seemed to notice. He let out a hearty laugh. "Don't be afraid of her, child. She's good company! Believe what I say, damn it!"

"O-okay," Hill replied, his voice shaky. He turned to the old man, feeling that conversation with this particular stranger would be easier. "What is this place?"

"That's what I would like to know, you see!"

"Pardon?"

"Wait, you don't know?"

"Why would I?"

"W-what about her, does she know?"

"Doesn't seem like it!"

Hill was stumped. Based on what he had just heard, all three of them had no clue what this place was. His mind began to spin once more.

No way... have I been transported to another world? Again?

"Don't be so glum, child. It's better to be alive than to be dead."

Hill's eyes narrowed as he glared at Hero. It sounded as if Hero knew something that he didn't. "What do you mean by that?"

Hero shrugged, standing up from his stool and brushing his hands against his pants. Now that he was standing up, he was much taller than he'd appeared to be sitting down. If Hill had to guess, he was probably six and a half feet tall. 

Brushing his pudgy fingers against his mustache, Hero spoke again. "One thing that we noticed," he began, pointing to himself and Mime, "is that we arrived in this place just after tasting death." He leaned toward Hill. "Perhaps it's the same for you as well..." 

Hill stumbled backward as the memory of the lava worm charging toward him flashed freshly in his mind. He remembered how the hardened border of its mouth had slammed into his chest and sent him flying. 

Did I die then? Surely not... right?

He looked up at Hero. "So what if it had? What's the significance of meeting my end?"

Hero smiled, the wrinkles of his face growing more defined. "So it did! That..." His expression quickly turned to a frown. He turned away and began walking slowly in a circle, stroking the hairs of his chin. "That still doesn't solve anything..." 

He then stopped, staring into something but nothing at the same time. From Hill's perspective, it looked like he was just staring into the distance. Strangely though, Hill could feel that Hero was doing something. There was a strange thickening of the atmosphere, as if someone had said something horrible and ruined the mood.

Nobody had said anything though, but the fact that Hill could feel this strange sensation was... odd.

Finally, Hero stopped and turned to Mime. "Mime, my dear, can you look into your runes and tell me what your body's condition is?"

Mime nodded and then did exactly what Hero did, staring into something but nothing at the same time. Her eyes were unfocused just like Hero's, and that same thickening of the atmosphere occurred.

She blinked, and the atmosphere thinned. Raising her hands to her chest, she arranged them in an "X" before motioning toward her throat and imitating someone getting their head snapped off. When she snapped her head to the side, Hill nearly hurled the contents of his stomach onto the light-eating sand below. 

Thankfully, Mime didn't actually kill herself, and was just imitating the action. But it was more than enough to get the message across to Hero.

"It's the same for me... my runes also say that my body is deceased. However, my soul seems to be intact somehow. My essence storage, relics, soul core, blessing rank, and my titles all seem to have decreased in number and power as well..." Hero mumbled, mostly to himself. "I wager it's the same for you?"

Mime nodded. Hero nodded grimly in response before turning to Hill. "Just like I thought. What about you, child?"

Hill gulped. He didn't really understand all the words that Hero had just mumbled, but he had heard him say something about his runes. From what he knew about himself, one thing was for sure:

He couldn't summon his runes!

"Well, you see... I'm assuming you... gathered all that information from your runes, right?" 

"Of course. Why do you ask?" Hero replied, his brow furrowed. "Quite a strange question to ask, no?"

Hill began to feel a cold sweat form on his back. He wasn't in the mood to be the subject of discussion, especially when it came to his inability to do the things that everyone else seemed perfectly capable of doing. 

But then again, what was the harm of letting these two know that he couldn't summon his runes like them? 

Would they chastise him? No. They were merely strangers. 

He took a deep breath, calming himself before continuing.

"I can't summon my runes."

The reaction was immediate. Mime leaned in, her exaggerated facial expression seeming to scream: Huh?

Hero on the other hand seemed royally confused. It was as if he had been told his entire life was a lie. "What do you mean? Are you not awakened?"

"I'm not sure that I am," Hill replied honestly. 

"Well then, that certainly complicates things..." Hero began, his facial hair grooming slowly accelerating. "But are you sure, child? You seem to be aware of the aspects of an awakened soul."

"You think so?"

"Yes, otherwise you wouldn't know what the runes even are." Hero said. "Have you tried summoning them?"

"Of course I have. I just can't seem to do it." Hill muttered, ruffling his hair as he turned away, staring into the light-eating sand. "Everything's been so strange since the soul trial. It's like Zeke said, I'm an anomaly."

"Soul trial?" Hero asked, his tone biting, as if Hill had said something disgusting. 

"Yes... the soul trial. You know, where you die but you're not actually dead, and you end up fighting a mirror-image, I think, of the thing that technically killed you. If you beat it then I guess you awaken."

Hero laughed awkwardly. "I've heard of no such thing! In fact, the concept of such a thing is entirely ridiculous!"

Hill's brow furrowed. "Then how did you awaken?"

Hero placed his hand against his chest. "The way it should be done. By understanding my soul in its entirety."

Hill was now completely confused. In fact, he was so confused that he was struggling to put his words together. "Wait... so you didn't go through the soul trial?"

"Of course not! In fact, I didn't even have to fight to awaken. It's all about introspection and understanding who you are and how you came to be." Hero paused, wiping his hand across his brow as he smiled. "What on Edarus happened to you, child?" 

That's strange, Hill wondered to himself. So meditation is the pathway to awakening. But if that's the case, then why on Earth did we all get killed by the devouring cloud and had to go through the soul trial? What even is the soul trial? It feels... artificial.

Wait. What the hell did he just say?

Edarus?

He looked up at Hero once more, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Edarus? Don't you mean, what on Earth? Or even, what on Igashia?"