The moment Seraphina touched the vine-engraved door of the Hollow, an invisible force pulsed outward, knocking Kaelen several paces back. The air turned electric. Not just with magic but with memory.
The seal recognized her.
Kaelen groaned from the ground, but didn't move closer. "What the hell was that?"
She didn't answer. Couldn't. Her breath caught in her chest as the door slowly creaked open not with hinges or magic, but as though the forest itself parted out of respect. Her hand trembled as she stepped inside.
The Old Hollow smelled of ash, moss, and time. A thousand secrets pressed against her skin, whispering her name in languages she didn't understand but still knew. The witch inside her stirred, not with fear but with hunger.
This place had called her.
And now she understood why.
Stone pillars twisted like thorns lined the chamber, each etched with markings far older than the coven's records. In the center stood a black altar, but it wasn't stone. It pulsed like a heart. Blood magic. Ancient. Dangerous. Alive.
Kaelen staggered in behind her, clutching his ribs. "This isn't just a ritual chamber."
"No," she murmured. "It's a tomb."
He stilled. "For who?"
Seraphina walked to the altar, fingers tracing the jagged edge. "Not who. What. This is where they bound the first hybrid the original witch-wolf. The one they silenced, erased from the archives."
"You mean Elowen wasn't the first?"
She turned to face him. "The prophecy never mentioned a name. Just 'the one born of blood and moon.' What if there were others? What if every generation failed to control the bond… and ended up here?"
Kaelen's throat bobbed as he swallowed hard. "Then we're walking a path paved with corpses."
A gust of wind burst through the Hollow, extinguishing the small flames that flickered along the wall. For a second, they stood in pure darkness.
Then something moved.
A flicker at the edge of her vision. A whisper in a tongue so old it scraped her bones.
"Did you hear that?" she whispered.
Kaelen's hand went to his blade. "Yeah."
The flames roared back to life only now, they were green. And shadows danced behind the altar, taking form.
A woman stood there.
No what was left of one.
Her eyes were hollow. Her face was carved with runes, her mouth stitched shut with thread made of shadow. But her presence was undeniable.
The First One.
The original cursed hybrid.
Seraphina instinctively stepped back, but her body refused to run. Magic rooted her to the floor, drawing on something deep inside her. A recognition. A reflection.
The shadow woman raised one trembling hand, pointing at Seraphina's chest.
At her heart.
The mark beneath her collarbone burned.
And suddenly, Seraphina knew this wasn't a warning.
It was a plea.
"She's trapped," Seraphina said hoarsely. "Not dead. Bound."
"To what?" Kaelen's voice was tight, like he was forcing the words past a rising panic.
"To the curse itself," she whispered. "It feeds on pain, on magic, on love that turns to grief."
She reached forward, and as her fingertips brushed the altar, the room shattered into fragments of memory not hers, but someone else's.
Flash. A witch screaming as she gave birth beneath the eclipse moon.
Flash. A wolf's howl turning into a cry as his mate bled out in his arms.
Flash. The First One, torn between worlds, choosing death over madness.
Seraphina gasped, falling to her knees.
Kaelen was beside her in a flash, gripping her shoulders. "What did you see?"
Tears streamed down her face. "She tried to sever the bond. But instead, she split herself in two. Her body here, her soul scattered into the curse. That's why it keeps repeating. That's why none of us can escape it."
Kaelen's face darkened. "Then we're not just cursed… we're hosts."
Seraphina nodded, voice barely a whisper. "The curse lives through us. Each generation is just another vessel."
A low growl rumbled from deep within Kaelen's chest. "We're ending this. I don't care what it takes."
Seraphina stood shakily, turning to the altar. "There's a ritual. One that hasn't been done in centuries. It won't break the curse completely—but it can buy us time."
"What do you need?"
"Blood. From both of us. Willingly given."
Kaelen didn't hesitate. He slashed his palm with a blade and held it out to her.
She mirrored the action.
Their hands pressed together over the altar. Blood dripped onto its surface.
The runes ignited.
The Hollow screamed.
The shadow woman's form flickered violently and then burst into light, shooting straight into Seraphina's chest.
She collapsed.
Kaelen caught her just before her head hit the stone.
Her eyes fluttered open. Glowing silver.
She smiled. "She's free. And I saw… more."
Kaelen held her tightly. "What did you see?"
"Elowen. She's alive. And she's not hiding she's waiting."
"Where?"
Seraphina looked toward the forest beyond the Hollow, her voice shaking.
"At the edge of the world."