NOVEL ONLINE FREE Chapter 54: Hollow Watcher
Location: Safe Zone, Sky Tower Ruins
Time: July 19th, 8:00 AM
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The sky looked dead.
No birds. No clouds. Not even the wind dared move. The sun rose like an eye peeled open against its will—wide, white, watching.
Kael noticed the quiet first.
Not the good kind. Not the peaceful kind.
The kind that came before something broke.
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8:30 AM – Omen
In the refugee camp near the old metro station, a boy tugged at his mother's sleeve.
> "Mama," he whispered. "He's still up there."
The mother followed his finger to the ruins of the Sky Tower. Its jagged remains loomed in the distance, broken glass catching light like tears.
> "There's no one there, baby. Just stone."
But the boy didn't blink. Didn't even seem to breathe.
> "He's not stone. He's white. And he's smiling."
The mother pulled him close, whispering a prayer neither of them believed in anymore.
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9:00 AM – Glitch
Kael moved along the perimeter wall, nodding to a pair of scouts reinforcing the south side. His boots kicked up dust with every step. Dust that floated instead of falling.
His mimic followed behind him, its body flickering—not like flame. Like a signal.
Broken. Interfered with.
Kael slowed. The mimic slowed too.
He turned to face it. Its eyes—copies of his—glitched and twitched like a scratched hologram.
> "You feel it too," he muttered.
The mimic's mouth didn't move. But the whisper came anyway:
> "Something above. Something that watches. It sees through me."
Kael's hands clenched at his sides.
Even his powers were no longer clean.
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10:30 AM – A Mark Left Behind
Dain shoved a slab of rubble aside, grunting under its weight.
Armin whistled. "Careful. I like my teammates with working spines."
"Shut it," Dain said, wiping sweat from his brow. "We've got something here."
On the exposed wall was a fresh burn—not from fire, but from heat. The wall hadn't been touched in days, but this mark looked new. Still warm.
A perfect circle. Hollow in the middle.
Armin crouched and reached for it.
> "Feels… wrong," he said. "Like it's staring back."
Dain didn't laugh. He pulled his hand back like the mark might bite.
> "This isn't graffiti. This is a message."
> "Not a threat," he added. "A claim."
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12:00 PM – Broken Mind
Elle stood in the town square, drilling a small group of teenagers. Simple defensive maneuvers. Elbow breaks. Sweeps. She moved slower than usual—her injured arm still wrapped—but her voice stayed sharp.
> "Again. If you're scared, fight smarter. Not harder."
A boy—Leven, thirteen, fast hands—suddenly stopped mid-swing.
His eyes glazed over. He fell to his knees.
> "He's here," Leven mumbled. "He's watching through the hollow. He's inside the hollow."
Elle dropped beside him, grabbing his shoulders. "Leven!"
The boy began to tremble. Blood leaked from his nose. His pupils dilated unnaturally wide.
Then—he stopped. Just… stopped.
Breathing. Blinking. But empty.
> "He's gone," Elle whispered. "Something took his focus."
She looked to the tower.
> Something was watching.
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1:00 PM – Ascension
Kael didn't wait for backup.
He walked toward the broken Sky Tower alone, the mimic behind him flickering like a dying flame.
Each step up the stone felt heavier than the last. Not from exhaustion, but from pressure. As if invisible hands were pressing down on his shoulders.
He reached the top.
Silence.
Below him, the safe zone carried on. Repairs. Training. Healing. Living.
And yet, he felt like he stood on the edge of a cliff above a storm.
Then he saw it.
Or… not saw. Felt first.
A shimmer in the air. The kind that makes your skin crawl before your brain catches up.
The figure appeared slowly, as if reality was folding itself to make room.
White. Faceless. Thin as bone. No features. Just shape and presence.
Kael didn't reach for his weapon.
He knew it wouldn't matter.
The figure stepped forward—not walking, not floating. It just… moved.
> "You followed death," it said, voice like air escaping a grave.
"You danced with extinction. And you lived."
Kael didn't respond.
> "Now I watch you."
And with that, it blinked out of existence. Not gone. Just… retracted. Like a shadow pulled under the bed.
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2:30 PM – The Warning
Kael returned to base. Dain looked up, ready to ask questions. Armin stopped mid-sentence. Elle didn't need to ask.
They saw the look in his eyes.
He sat beside his mimic, now almost fully faded, like a ghost failing to hold its shape.
> "We're being watched," he said. "Judged."
> "By who?" Dain asked. "Another faction?"
> "No," Kael said quietly. "Not people. Not monsters. Something older."
> "Something that doesn't kill with claws. Or bombs. Or brute force."
He looked at the horizon.
> "It breaks belief. Hope. Minds."
The mimic turned to him, shape barely stable.
> "The Hollow doesn't strike."
> "It waits."
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4:00 PM – Infestation
That evening, the marks appeared again.
Not just on one wall—but everywhere.
Burned into the backs of tents. Scratched into wooden beams. Drawn in ash across the ground.
One was even burned into a soldier's back. He didn't remember when. Or how.
Only that it stung when he thought about it.
> A perfect circle. Hollow. Watching.
Kael stared at the spread, jaw tight.
The zone had barely survived the behemoth stampede.
And now, it wasn't a beast approaching.
It was something worse.
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> The Watcher had seen enough.
> Now it wanted answers.
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TO BE CONTINUED....