Adrielle’s hands shook around the coin, its light scorching her palms yet refusing to let go. The hollow trembled, torn between Eren’s desperate plea and Maren’s fevered claim.

“Adrielle, listen!” Alex’s voice cut through the chaos, sharp with fear. “That’s not him—it can’t be him!”

But her heart rebelled. She knew those eyes. The way they softened when they found her—it was Eren. It had to be.

The figure staggered, his form unraveling in threads of shadow and light. “Sister… every step you take closer to them, the veil takes more of you. Please—fight it. Fight me.”

Maren stepped forward, her smile curving like a blade. “Don’t you see? He’s not warning you—he’s bound to the veil. His words are chains, meant to keep you from what’s yours.”

The hollow shrieked, fissures cracking open beneath their feet.

Adrielle’s tears blurred the vision of her brother’s fading shape. She wanted to run to him, to hold him, to demand answers that had haunted her since the night the veil swallowed him whole. But with every heartbeat, she felt the coin pulling her in two directions—toward Eren’s trembling hand, and toward Maren’s cruel promise.

The veil demanded a choice.

And whichever path she chose would break something she could never mend.