The earth did not scream.
It wept .
Not in sorrow.
But in memory.
A slow, deep tremor rolled beneath Brinemere like the breath of something vast waking from a dream that had lasted longer than time. The sea responded in kind—its tides shifting without warning, pulling back just enough to reveal things that had been buried for centuries.
Frank Frownwater stood at the edge of the cliffs, staring into the horizon where the ocean met the sky like two halves of a broken mirror.
Behind him, Mira approached barefoot, her skin shimmering faintly under the pale morning light. Her second pair of breasts pulsed steadily now, no longer reacting only to the sea—but to the earth , to the rhythm of something deeper and far more dangerous.
"It's happening," she said softly.
He nodded. "Yes."
She stepped beside him. "The Yrrathi are rising."
He looked at her then, eyes reflecting the storm rolling in from somewhere beyond the world.
"And so is something else."
Back in the village, the signs were undeniable.
People woke with dirt under their nails and sand in their mouths, even if they hadn't left their homes. Children drew spirals that moved when no one was looking. Elders spoke in voices layered with echoes that didn't belong to them.
And beneath the caves, the mirror cracked wider.
Mira led another expedition underground, this time with Frank, Elder Rellis, and a handful of the new Veythari who had begun to awaken—not just to the sea, but to something older.
They reached the chamber where the pool of black water still pulsed with ancient rhythm.
Mira knelt before it again.
This time, she didn't dip her fingers.
She pressed her palm flat against the surface.
And the vision came like a flood.
She saw:
The Yrrathi city beneath the world, its towers carved from obsidian and bone, its streets lit by veins of glowing red crystal.
At its heart, the throne shaped like coiled roots.
Empty.
Waiting.
Then came the sound.
Low.
Massive.
Coming from the deepest trench beneath the land.
Not a heartbeat.
Not a voice.
A presence .
Something vast stirred beneath the bones of the world.
Something that had waited long enough.
And as Mira watched through the vision, the throne began to fill.
Not with flesh.
With form.
Darkness took shape.
Four moons rose on its chest.
Its eyes opened.
And it smiled.
Mira pulled her hand away with a gasp.
Her body trembled.
Frank caught her before she collapsed.
"What did you see?" he asked.
She looked up at him, eyes wide.
"The Hollow God isn't just beneath the sea."
Frank stiffened.
"It's beneath the land , too."
That night, the council gathered once more.
The fire burned low, casting flickering shadows across the faces of those who had come to understand what most of the world still feared.
Frank stood at the center.
"We've made a mistake," he said.
Elder Rellis frowned. "What do you mean?"
Frank looked around the circle.
"We believed the Hollow God was only in the sea," he explained. "But Quinta sealed only part of it. We thought we had won balance. But the void doesn't divide itself by water or stone."
He turned to Mira.
"She saw it. Beneath the earth. Waking."
Silence fell.
Then Rellis whispered, "There are two Hollow Gods?"
"No," Mira said. "One. But split. Buried in both sea and soil."
Frank nodded. "And now, it remembers itself."
In the days that followed, the world changed.
Not all at once.
But unmistakably.
Fishermen found strange shells washed ashore—shaped like hands, like eyes, like mouths.
Farmers unearthed carvings older than any known civilization—symbols identical to those beneath the sea.
Children spoke of voices calling them into the caves.
And some answered.
They went in.
Never returned.
Or came back… different.
Their skin cool.
Their eyes hollow.
Their chests rising in patterns that didn't match breath.
They were becoming something else.
Something awakened .
That night, Mira dreamed again.
She stood before the mirror in the Yrrathi chamber.
Cracks spiderwebbed across its surface.
From the other side, the being she had seen before stood waiting.
Tall.
Humanoid.
Wrong.
Its four moons pulsed with darkness.
It stepped forward.
Pressed its hand to the mirror.
And this time, the glass shattered.
Shards scattered like stars falling into an endless abyss.
And from the breach…
It stepped through.
Mira woke screaming.
Outside, the ground shook violently.
Not just beneath Brinemere.
Across the world.
Cities built on forgotten ruins trembled.
Volcanoes rumbled in their sleep.
Ancient forests whispered warnings in the wind.
And deep beneath the sea, in the trench where Quinta had sealed the Hollow God…
Something moved .
Frank stood on the cliff as dawn broke.
The tide had pulled back farther than ever before.
Exposed rocks carved with symbols no one could read.
The air smelled of salt.
Of dust.
Of awakening.
Mira joined him, her glow brighter than ever.
She looked out over the horizon.
"I can feel it," she whispered.
He nodded. "So can I."
She turned to him.
"What happens now?"
He smiled faintly.
"Now," he said, "we prepare."
Because the Hollow God was waking.
Not just beneath the sea.
Not just beneath the land.
But everywhere .
And this time…
There would be no one to stop it.