The rain had stopped, but the world outside Sophie’s window felt suffocatingly close, as if the very air had thickened with something dark, waiting to suffocate her. The storm had raged for days, much like the battle inside her own mind. Sophie stared out at the haunting silhouette of the Cedar Hollow woods, unable to shake the nagging pull that drew her closer to the heart of it all.Nathan had been gone for so long, but each passing day felt like an eternity. Her brother—her flesh and blood—was still alive, trapped somewhere in the nightmare that was the Hollow. But the closer Sophie got to unraveling the truth, the more she felt the chilling grip of the curse wrap around her own heart.She could feel it—just like Nathan had felt it before her. The whispers. The subtle tug in her mind. A pull that threatened to swallow her whole. The more she fought, the stronger it became, until it consumed her thoughts in the dead of night. And now, even in the silence of daylight, she could hear

The darkness enveloped Sophie like a suffocating shroud. It was not just the absence of light, but a tangible presence—heavy, oppressive. Her limbs felt like they were made of stone, her body unwilling to respond, as if the Hollow itself was seeping into her bones. Her heart hammered wildly in her chest, but it was drowned by the roar of something deep and monstrous—a thing that thrummed with ancient power, its pulse syncing with her own.She tried to move, but it felt as though the very air had become thick with the presence of something ancient, something malevolent. The world around her twisted and contorted, shadows lengthening and darkening, consuming all in their path. She reached out, but her hands found nothing but cold, smooth stone. Her voice, when she opened her mouth, was swallowed by the abyss, vanishing before it could escape her throat.“Sophie.”The voice. It was a whisper, but it felt like a shout within her mind. Her name carried an unbearable weight, laced with some

The wind in Cedar Hollow had changed.It no longer whistled through the trees—it moaned, low and guttural, as though the forest itself had developed lungs and was exhaling centuries of secrets. The skies had not cleared in days. The clouds hung heavy with something more than rain.Nathan sat alone on the porch of the abandoned schoolhouse, staring at the brittle remains of a broken dream—his own. He barely remembered the day he’d first arrived in this town, chasing a lead for an article that was never published. Now, months later, he was more story than storyteller, a man woven into the tapestry of a curse far older than he had imagined.His fingers trembled slightly as he unwrapped the bandage around his wrist. The roots that had once held him in the shrine had left no visible marks, but he could still feel them—coiling under his skin, curling around his bones. There were nights he awoke gasping, sure he’d been pulled under again. Other times, he swore he heard whispers in his veins.

The cabin was no longer a place of refuge. It had become a tomb, a cage with walls that whispered of impending doom. The wind outside howled, as if the storm had taken on a life of its own, its fury a reflection of the darkness closing in. Inside, Sophie stood frozen by the window, staring out at the relentless rain as the key burned in her palm, a symbol of their fate.Elliot paced the room, unable to stand still, his mind racing with the horror of what they’d just discovered. The figure, the key, the warning—it was all too much to process, too much to bear. Yet, they had no choice but to continue forward. They had no choice but to try.“Do you think it’s true?” Sophie’s voice broke through the silence, a tremor lacing the words.Elliot paused, turning to face her. His eyes were shadowed with doubt, his expression grim. “The Hollow God is real, Sophie. The Keepers lied, and now we’re caught in the middle of something far bigger than we ever imagined.”Sophie’s grip on the key tighten

Sophie’s heart pounded in her chest as the world around her seemed to collapse. The tombstones shuddered, and the ground trembled beneath her feet. The Hollow Herald stood motionless, its presence oppressive, like a shadow pressing down on her very soul. The whispers, so once distant and faint, now surged in her ears, a constant, maddening cacophony that filled her mind with dark promises and twisted images.Elliot grabbed Sophie’s arm, his grip tight, pulling her away from the scene that seemed to be unraveling before them. “Sophie, you have to snap out of it!” he shouted, his voice barely reaching her over the growing storm of chaos that surrounded them.Sophie’s eyes, once filled with clarity, were now clouded with fear and something darker. She shook her head, struggling against the weight pressing down on her. “I… I can’t, Elliot. The Hollow… It’s calling me. It wants me to give in.”“No,” Elliot pleaded, his hands trembling. “Don’t listen to it. Don’t let it take you. You’re str