By midday, the trio had reached a break in the forest—jagged rocks curving downward into a narrow ravine. A faint hum echoed from below.
"This is the place," Darius said, checking his system.
> [Objective: Investigate Southern Hollow – In Progress]
"You sure about this?" Aric peered into the dark. "Feels like the kind of place people don't walk out of."
Rowan dropped down first, blade ready. "Then good thing we're not people—we're building a damn empire."
Darius smirked and followed. The air got colder the deeper they went. Something ancient lived down here.
Suddenly—
[SYSTEM WARNING]
Imperial Echo detected. Threat Level: Unstable
Something skittered in the dark.
"Left!" Rowan shouted.
A figure burst from the wall—stone-colored skin, multi-limbed, with glowing blue veins. It hissed and lunged.
Darius rolled. Aric blocked with his shield, barely holding the thing back.
"Is that an echo?" Aric growled, straining.
Darius's system flared.
> Hostile: Corrupted Echo Guardian
Defeat for +1 System Point
He didn't wait.
"Flank it—Rowan, Aric, press it back!"
Aric slammed forward, shield-first. Rowan struck from the side, blade biting deep. Darius channeled energy into a system-marked dagger and drove it straight into the creature's chest.
It screeched, body spasming, and then—cracked like glass. It shattered into shards of glowing blue.
Silence.
Then:
> [Quest Complete]
+1 System Point | +50 Gold | +1 Ancient Key Fragment
System Point Total: 4
Darius let out a slow breath. "That's one."
Rowan wiped his blade. "That thing didn't feel natural."
"It wasn't," Darius said, staring at the blue fragments. "It was left here. Guarding something."
Aric held up a stone tablet half-buried in rubble. "This might be it."
The tablet pulsed as Darius touched it, feeding new data into the system:
> Unlocked: Empire Memory – Hollow Archive I
'They buried our failsafes below. May no unworthy hands awaken them.'
Rowan raised a brow. "Failsafes?"
Darius nodded. "Whatever this empire was… they didn't just build—they sealed things away."
He opened his system menu.
> [Empire Blueprint: Watchtower I – Ready for Unlock]
Cost: 2 SP + 100 Gold
"Let's get back," he said. "We've got enough to begin."
---