’When did it get that big...?’
The thought slipped out unguarded as his throat worked around a shallow breath.
His fists tightened at his sides, arms heavy, shoulders sagging a fraction under the scale of it. From here, the difference was impossible to ignore. His enlarged frame barely reached a fraction of its height. The distance he’d created only made the imbalance clearer.
His jaw trembled once before he locked it down.
Then something changed.
The flow shifted.
Kaiden’s eyes narrowed as the streams around the creature began to skew. The particles no longer rushed inward evenly. Their paths bent, subtle at first, then more clearly, curving toward a tighter point. The hollow’s edges drew in, contracting, the endless mouth narrowing as if adjusting its bite.
His skin prickled.
The space between them felt different.
The void at the creature’s center pulsed once. The vibration carried through the ground and into Kaiden’s boots, a low tremor that climbed his legs and settled in his chest. His breath hitched without permission.
It was looking at him.
Kaiden swallowed hard, throat dry as the hollow aligned with his position. The pull across the realm dulled, background pressure dropping away as the thing’s attention locked in, acknowledging his presence for the first time since their encounter began.
The acknowledgment landed heavier than any blow.
The Bottomless One shifted.
It stopped drawing everything around it.
The particle streams thinned. The ambient drag slackened, the constant pressure easing just enough to register. The hollow tightened further, its edges folding inward as if bracing.
Kaiden felt it before his eyes finished adjusting.
The pressure snapped onto him.
It punched into his chest, feeling like a hook driven straight through his center mass. His stomach lurched as the force aligned perfectly with him, stripping away any sense of shared pull. There was only him and the draw.
The creature’s focus settled fully.
The hollow vibrated harder, the sound rattling through his teeth as the void compressed and deepened. Space warped inward around Kaiden, air screaming past him as the concentrated draw slammed into place.
His boots slid forward instantly.
"No!" Kaiden shouted as his legs strained, and his body pitched forward.
The pull hit like a collision.
His vision smeared as the force dug into him, dragging at muscle and bone, crushing breath out of his lungs. His ribs compressed hard enough to make his chest stutter. Gluttony surged on instinct, density packing into him as fast as it could stack, reinforcing frame and weight in a frantic rush.
The ground beneath his feet shattered.
Cracks raced outward as his heels tore free. His body lifted, dragged forward in a violent lurch as the hollow reeled him in.
Kaiden snarled through clenched teeth, spine bowing as he fought to bring his limbs back under control. His arms shook as he tried to brace against nothing, shoulders burning as the pull wrenched him closer.
His feet left the ground completely.
"No! I won’t let you!"
Kaiden twisted midair and slammed his hands down as the ground rushed past. His fingers struck stone and dirt and bit in on instinct. Nails tore. Skin split. His grip held for half a second before the pull wrenched his shoulders nearly out of their sockets.
"I refuse!!!" He roared and dragged his hands back down again, clawing harder this time. Fingers hooked into cracks, into loose rock, into anything that would slow him. Blood smeared across the ground as his nails peeled back, pain flaring sharp and bright up his arms. He didn’t let go.
The pull answered by tightening.
His elbows buckled. His chest slammed into the ground hard enough to knock the air out of him. Dirt packed into his mouth and nose as he slid, body scraping forward in short, violent jerks. Every attempt to brace ended the same way: fingers tearing free, ground exploding under the strain, his weight dragged another meter closer.
The hollow loomed.


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