Man of Hollows

August's arrival was a surprise to say the least. Hill never expected that someone with August's appearance would be a commander of one of the four companies. Unlike Hurian's impressive dress, August seemed pretty ordinary.

"Hello, Soleil Deulegarde," August began, his voice deep and slow. "I would like for your freshly expanded company to get something for me."

"What would you like?" Soleil asked, her voice nervous.

August smirked. "You know those lower caves on the western edge of the forest? I want you to kill some lava worms and bring me their skins. I plan to use their sticky properties as glue for a project I'm working on."

Right away, the mood in the tent seemed to drop. Soleil was clearly upset, her guarded expression slowly turning into a deep frown.

Even Lands seemed confused. "What?"

Soleil got to her feet, walking up to August with clenched fists. "And what if we refuse? Last time I checked, we don't have to listen to you."

August's smirk turned into a dangerous smile. "Things have changed darling. Krugen specifically told me to use your skillset for this job."

"He wouldn't dare. This has Zeke written all over it!" Soleil snapped, clearly shaken and angry.

Hill watched nervously from the back of the tent as August leaned in and whispered into Soleil's ear. He tried to lean in to hear what he was saying, but Lands held his hand out in front of him, blocking him from moving forward.

Hill looked toward Lands with a confused expression, but Lands just grimaced and motioned for him to calm down. After a few more seconds of quiet whispering, August giggled and turned away, walking out of the tent while waving goodbye.

The tent flap fell closed, making the inside dim again. The air wasn't quiet anymore—it was thick with tension. August's giggle seemed to stick in Hill's mind like a bad taste.

He looked at Soleil. She stayed where she was, standing frozen near the entrance with her back to them. Her fists were clenched so tight at her sides that her knuckles were white. He couldn't see her face from this angle, but he could see the slight shaking in her shoulders and the way her jaw twitched.

She was clearly very angry.

Hill took a half-step forward, wanting to ask if she was okay. Before he could move further, Lands' hand shot out again, grabbing his arm and pulling him back. Hill looked at him and mouthed: What?

Lands just shook his head slightly before mouthing: Just stay back. Wait for her.

They stood there in silence for what felt like forever. The only sound was the faint dull thuds of someone from the Third Company chopping wood somewhere in the camp.

Finally, Soleil moved. She took a single deep breath, her whole body drawing inward. When she turned around, her face was surprisingly blank. The anger that Hill thought he would see was nowhere to be found. All of it seemed to be buried under a layer of ice so cold it made Hill shiver.

In fact, the only sign of the anger he had seen before was the red crescent marks on her palms where her fingernails had dug into her skin.

She looked past Hill and Lands like they weren't even there. Her gaze fixed on the tent wall, but it felt like she was looking past it, at something else entirely.

"We're going," she said. Her voice was so flat that Hill found it more scary than any shout.

"Sol," Lands started, his voice soft. "We don't have to—"

"Get ready," she said, cutting him off without even looking at him. Her eyes finally met Hill's, and he saw that they were completely dead. "You too. We leave in five minutes."

With that, she turned around and left the tent, leaving Hill and Lands alone in silence. There was no room for argument.

Minutes later, the three of them were walking through the forest, heading away from the camp toward the west.

Thanks to the Third Company's work, they were able to figure out which direction was west using a series of poles that the Third had put up around the camp. After finding the pole that pointed directly west, they just walked in that direction, carrying nothing but waterskins they had gotten from the Second Company's supplies.

When they had arrived at the well in the center of the Second Company's area, they got jeered at and mocked. Lands and Hill were bothered by it. Not because of how badly they were being treated, but because all the comments seemed to be aimed at Soleil.

Surprisingly, she didn't seem to care. In fact, she didn't pay attention to anybody else except Commander Hurian, who she had to ask for permission to take water. After all, the well was Hurian's creation, and she seemed to have complete control over the camp's water supply. It made her all the more important.

Thankfully, the brown-eyed Hurian didn't let it go to her head. She acted nice and treated the three of them with respect, unlike the rest of her company. Maybe she was acting nice to seem like a good person, but Hill didn't care. He was grateful for any kindness, even if it was fake.

The walk to the caves took about half an hour, but when they got there, Hill was shocked by what he saw. The western wall of the cavern was covered with various cave openings that were different sizes and shapes. If he had trypophobia, he would have been freaking out by now.

But it also made him wonder how these cave openings got there. Could it be the lava worms?

Soleil walked over to a cave opening that was level with the ground at the bottom of the cavern wall. It was an ordinary-looking opening, wide enough for two people to walk side by side. She motioned for them to follow.

Without a word, she stepped into the darkness. Lands gave Hill a reassuring nod before following her in. Taking a deep breath that did little to calm his racing heart, Hill entered the cave.

The change was immediate. The air, which was already humid, suddenly seemed to get thick and heavy. It also had a metallic taste and smelled awful, like rotten eggs. It got noticeably hotter with every step too, and Hill could feel sweat starting to form on his forehead.

The sight of the shrinking square of the forest's purplish green glow made him feel anxious. Thankfully, the glow of some strange moss that was growing on the damp cave walls gave them enough light. They were able to see just enough so they wouldn't trip and fall.

Their footsteps echoed weirdly in the cave. It was the only sound besides the slow drip... drip... drip of water from somewhere above, which they couldn't see.

Soleil moved slowly and carefully. She held up her hand, telling them to stop. Hill understood and froze mid-step.

"We have to stay sharp," Lands whispered from behind him, his usual cheerfulness completely gone. "Apparently the worm bastards can dig through this rock like it's water."

As they went deeper, the passage opened up into a larger room. Here, the signs of their prey were obvious. The stone floor was marked with patches of burned rock. That, combined with the strangely placed, perfectly round tunnels, each several feet across, told the three of them that the worms had dug through here before.

The heat was almost choking now, coming in waves from the darkness ahead.

Soleil held up her fist again. She tilted her head, her purple eyes scanning the darkness ahead. At first, Hill heard nothing but the dripping water.

Then, he felt it.

It was a low rumbling that went through the soles of his shoes. It wasn't a sound he heard with his ears so much as with his whole body. The rumbling got stronger every second.

Suddenly, the ground ten feet in front of them bulged upward.

The earth pushed upward, causing cracks to spread across the cave floor. The ground broke open with an explosive shower of rock and dirt, followed by steam. A creature came up from the ground.

It was a huge, segmented worm. Its body looked as thick as a tree trunk. Its skin looked like black glass that seemed to glow from inside with fiery light. It had no eyes that he could see, but its massive head swung back and forth before locking onto the closest target: Hill.

The air around the lava worm shimmered like heat waves. A mouth lined with crystal-like teeth opened wide, letting out a hiss that echoed like pressurized air being released.

Hill's blood ran cold and his feet felt stuck to the stone floor. Every survival instinct he had screamed at him to run, to move, to do anything, but his body wouldn't listen. It was scarier than the plague beast he had fought in the soul trial, and it looked like it could do way more damage.

The worm coiled its lower body, getting ready to lunge at him.

He was going to die.

But just as the beast was about to shoot forward, a blur of motion came from his left. Soleil, who had been perfectly still, launched forward and put herself directly between Hill and the monster as it charged.

Without flinching, she thrust her right hand forward with her palm open. A bunch of swirling light specks came from the air around them and gathered in an instant, forming into the shape of a sword.

The light cleared, and in her hand, a weapon appeared.

It was a huge broadsword, nearly as long as she was tall. The blade was made from some material that looked darker than the shadows around them. It was like it was sucking up the cave's dim light and leaving nothing but pure darkness behind.

Down its center, a single line of purple pulsed, running from the crossguard to the sharp tip.