The dawn broke grey and cold. Fog clung low to the ground, curling around Eden's boots as she followed Kade through the pines. He walked ahead, silent and grim, his breath puffing in the icy air. She hadn't asked where the crypt was, only that he take her. The deeper they went, the less sound the world made. No birds, no wind, just the wet crunch of moss and the ache in her legs.
"Your aunt sealed it herself," Kade said finally. "After the war." Eden frowned. "What war?" He glanced back. "The kind Silverthorn never wrote down. The last time the Hollow nearly broke through." Her pulse quickened. "And you were there?" "I was born from it."
They reached a break in the forest. An old clearing where the trees had scorched themselves away, twisted roots blackened, the soil burnt to ash. At its center was a stone door built into the earth, moss covered and chained with silver. "This is it?" Eden whispered. Kade nodded. "The Vale crypt." She stepped closer, heart hammering and then something moved beneath her feet.
Not a tremor but a breath. Kade knelt and pulled out a long iron key, etched with runes that shimmered faintly. "This place isn't protected by locks," he said. "It's protected by memory." He inserted the key, turned it and the chains snapped like twigs. The stone door groaned open. A wave of cold rolled out, older than winter. Eden followed Kade down the stairs, her flashlight cutting narrow beams through the blackness. The walls were lined with carvings, wolves, moons, veiled women, and a tree with roots that wrapped around everything. "The Tree of Ashenhowl," Kade said softly. "The Vale sigil." Eden stopped. One carving showed a woman standing in fire, her eyes blank with light. "That one," she breathed. "That's her." "Your aunt." "No," Eden said. "That's me."
At the base of the stairs, they entered a wide circular chamber. Candles still burned on old sconces, somehow untouched by time. A stone altar sat in the center. Bones lined the walls, sealed behind glass. Each skull had a name. Kade walked slowly to the altar, brushing dust from a metal plate. "Arielle Vale," he read. "Your mother's sister." Eden stepped forward "but she wasn't buried here." "No. She sealed it from the outside." He lifted a rusted lid on the altar and inside, instead of bones, was a book. Eden reached for it. The moment her fingers touched the leather, a surge of heat rushed through her. The book woke up, its cover glowing faintly, pages turning on their own and then it began to whisper.
Not words but memories and visions. Eden gasped as images slammed into her, her aunt bleeding in a forest, dragging runes into the dirt, whispering to the trees. A boy with fire in his hands, chained to stone. A creature of shadows crawling from the roots of the Hollow, wearing her father's face. She staggered back. Kade caught her. "What did you see?" "Too much," she whispered. "She tried to stop it but something went wrong, something… escaped." Kade's jaw clenched. "The Hollow." "No." Eden's eyes darkened. "Something inside it. A name. Whispered once." She exhaled, lips trembling. Azariel." The name twisted the air. The candles flared. Kade's head snapped toward the tunnel."We have to go." Eden didn't move. "What is it?" "That name… It's not just a creature. It's a wolf god, one of the old ones, banished centuries ago.""Why do I know it?" "Because your blood remembers."
They ran back through the tunnel but the forest had changed. Fog rose higher, so thick she couldn't see her hands. The trees groaned. Something howled, not wolf, not beast. It spoke through the wind. Kade drew his knife. "Don't stop running." But the path was gone. The clearing disappeared and then, the ground dropped out beneath them. Eden screamed as they fell, tumbling through roots and shadow.
When they landed, the world had shifted. The Hollow had opened and they were inside it.
They stood in a world lit by bioluminescent moss and pale red moonlight. The air was thick with decay and bloom, like death and spring entwined. The roots here pulsed with light. Everything whispered. "We're in the Deep Hollow," Kade said with a low voice. "The place between. "Between what?" "Worlds, souls and sanity." He looked around. "I've only been here once. And I barely made it out." Eden clutched the book to her chest. "What now?" "We find the door." "What door?" Kade turned. "The one you dreamed of."
They walked as time unraveled. Eden's fingers glowed. Her heartbeat echoed like drums.
And then just like her dream, they saw it. A black door bound in roots but breathing. Kade growled. "That's not just a door. That's a seal. It was meant to hold Azariel." Eden stepped forward. "It's calling me." "Don't touch it!. But it was too late. She reached out and the door opened.
A scream tore through the Hollow. Light exploded. Eden fell to her knees, the book flying from her hands. Something stepped out of the door, shadow and smoke shaped like a man. Eyes like burning suns. "You bear the flame," it said. Eden's voice broke. "Who are you?" "I am what was caged. What you were born to contain." Kade lunged but the figure raised a hand and froze him mid air. "You love him," the being said, amused. "Foolish." Eden's eyes lit with white fire. "Let him go." The creature smiled. "Make me."
Flame burst from Eden's skin, not wild this time but shaped and controlled. She stood, rising in a crown of light, her eyes like suns. The being staggered, hissing. "You… are still awakening." "I'm enough," she growled. She threw her hands forward and the light became swords. The creature screamed as it was struck, retreating into the dark. The door snapped shut behind it. Kade fell to the ground, gasping. Eden dropped beside him. "You okay?" He looked up at her, eyes wide. "What are you?" She didn't answer because for the first time… she didn't know.