Episode 42: "Hollow of the Witch Queen"
Scene opens: A vast, dying forest – twisted trees, black skies, and a chilling silence.
The team had crossed into the Hollow.
Every step into the cursed woods felt like walking into a graveyard of forgotten time. The air was thick with dark enchantments, and the trees whispered—taunting words in ancient, forbidden tongues.
Kael led at the front, Velmorth'Rael slung across his back, cloaked in faint lightning pulses. His presence was commanding—but heavy. Behind him walked Lana, her eyes scanning everything with fierce protectiveness, fingers twitching near her dagger.
Rhea and Tunde followed close, side by side.
Tunde kept trying to whistle to ease the tension but failed every time. "I swear, this place is killing my vibe."
"No one cares about your vibe, Tunde," Rhea said, though her voice cracked slightly.
He glanced at her. "Hey, you okay?"
"I'm fine."
"No, you're not," he said, softly this time. "You've been breathing like you're about to faint."
She didn't respond at first. Then whispered, "I hate magic that feels alive. Like it's... watching."
Tunde moved closer to her. "Then stick with me. I'm a five-star certified demon magnet, remember?"
She tried to laugh. It came out more like a hiccup. But she didn't move away from his side.
Suddenly—
A howl, not wolf, but something wrong, tore through the forest.
The group halted.
From the black fog ahead, specters of twisted witches emerged, some floating with bones and ashes swirling around them. They screamed in high-pitched screeches, hands raised—and spells began flying.
Battle broke.
Kael summoned Velmorth'Rael, its arrival cracking the sky with white lightning. "Stay together!"
Lana charged beside him, blades flashing with warding spells.
But from the side, a corrupted earth beast erupted from the ground—headed for Rhea.
Tunde turned and shouted, "RHEA!"
He pushed her out of the way just in time—taking a full blow to his shoulder. He crashed against a tree, groaning.
"Tunde!" Rhea screamed.
One of the witches lunged at her with a bone staff, and Rhea rolled, drawing her twin flame-blades, slicing upward and igniting the witch's robes. Her eyes gleamed with fury.
She rushed to Tunde's side. "You idiot—why did you do that?!"
He smiled weakly. "Can't have you dying. Who else would roll their eyes at my jokes?"
Rhea muttered a healing spell, palms glowing. "Shut up. Let me work."
Meanwhile, Felix threw a frost rune into the fray, freezing three witches mid-air while yelling, "Kael! Behind you!"
Kael twisted, raising his sword as a massive tentacle-like darkness surged from the ground toward him. He struck—lightning clashed with the void in a blinding explosion.
The battle raged. Every team member bruised, bloody, but relentless.
Lana fought like a tempest beside Kael. Rhea defended Tunde as he stood again, now wielding a stolen dark staff that pulsed with unstable magic.
"Rhea," Tunde muttered. "Let's try that combo spell again. You know, the one we blew a hole through the dorm ceiling with?"
"Now's the perfect time," she smirked.
Together, they chanted—magic swirling between their hands. Rhea's fire merged with Tunde's stolen dark energy, creating a massive flaming serpent that tore through the corrupted witches in one sweep.
Kael turned in time to see it—and grinned. "Now that's teamwork!"
After minutes that felt like hours, the enemy began retreating into the black mist.
Silence.
Bodies—both shadow and flesh—lay still.
The Hollow pulsed one last time, and then... went still.
Kael staggered back, breathing heavily. Lana steadied him.
Tunde flopped onto a nearby stone. "I need... like, five potions and two weeks of sleep."
Rhea sat beside him. "You did good, Tunde."
He smirked. "Damn right I did."
Then, surprisingly, she leaned her head on his shoulder. And he didn't say a word.
Kael watched them for a second, then turned to Lana.
Her fingers laced with his silently.
Final shot of the episode:
As the camera pans up to the haunted skies, a flicker of unnatural lightning cuts across the horizon, and faint, ancient laughter echoes far away...