The underground shook as they fled the cavern, roots collapsing behind them, fire licking at their heels. They barely made it out before the tunnel caved in completely.
Back inside the ruined gym, silence hung thick in the air.
Lena helped Kai sit against the wall. His body was trembling, his skin clammy. Dre hovered nearby, gripping his bat tight.
"Kai?" Lena said, crouching in front of him. "Are you okay?"
Kai looked up slowly.
And his eyes were fully black.
Dre stepped back. "Hell no. That's not Kai."
But Lena didn't move.
Kai's mouth opened, and when he spoke, it wasn't his voice.
> "You want to know where it began?" the voice rasped. "It began with a king. A thousand years ago."
Lena's breath hitched. "What are you talking about?"
> "He ruled a small kingdom. But small was never enough."
> "He wanted to own the world. But war failed him. Steel failed him. His bloodline failed him."
> "So he turned to rituals. Dark ones."
The gym dimmed. The windows cracked, though no wind blew. Something unseen filled the air.
> "But every spell broke. Every offering was rejected. Until he met her."
Kai's head tilted sharply.
> "A witch. She lived in a forest that never ended. She promised him power—but only at a cost."
> "His soul."
Lena whispered, "And he said yes?"
> "Without hesitation."
Kai's lips curled into a hollow smile.
> "She told him of a forbidden rite. A curse too old for even the dead to speak of. She called it… Hallow Eyes."
The temperature dropped. Lena's breath fogged the air.
> "He performed it. Sacrificed his people. Burned his name from history. And when the final chant echoed…"
> "He vanished."
Dre's voice cracked. "Vanished?"
> "No one knows where he went. But the curse stayed. It rooted in the land where he last stood."
> "That land… became Hollow Creek."
---
The Possession Deepens
Kai's body jerked.
Black veins crawled up his neck.
> "He became the first Hollow. Not dead. Not alive. Just hungry."
> "The curse lives in names… in stories… in memory. And you remembered it."
Lena shouted, "Let him go!"
Kai's mouth trembled, his real voice slipping through.
"L-Lena…"
Then the shadows behind him screamed.
A face formed in the wall—rooted, twisted, royal.
The long-dead king.
> "I never left," it growled. "You woke me."
Suddenly, the black in Kai's eyes snapped away like shattered glass. He gasped and collapsed in Lena's arms.
The face in the wall faded.
But the cold remained.
---
Aftermath
Kai coughed, voice shaky. "I… I saw him. Inside me. He's not gone. He's waiting."
Lena stood, the book clutched in her hands.
"We know his name now. We know what he did."
Dre looked between them. "So what's the plan?"
Lena's eyes burned with fury.
> "We finish what he started. And then we bury it. Forever."