The campfire burned low, casting long shadows against the moss-covered stones of the church wall. The scent of smoke and damp earth lingered, clinging to everyone's clothes. No one had said much since Braydon returned and the Hollowfang died.
The silence wasn't awkward — it was heavy.
Like the forest was listening.
⸻
Shoto stood near the fire, arms crossed, watching the embers shift. His eyes drifted toward the sky.
It wasn't right.
The clouds were wrong again — too still, almost painted in place. Every now and then, a ripple would pass through the stars, like a heartbeat pulsing behind the night.
⸻
Elizabeth approached, her footsteps soft.
"You see it too?" she asked quietly.
Shoto nodded. "It hasn't stopped since the Hollowed Ring."
Elizabeth pulled the journal from her bag and opened it.
Nothing new.
Just the same line from before, staring up at her in jagged ink:
"You can't get away that easy."
⸻
Braydon sat alone on the edge of the clearing, sharpening his katana with slow, precise strokes. The others watched him now and then — not with fear, but with caution.
Even reunited, the cracks still showed.
⸻
Pate was the first to break the silence. "So what now? We wait for another thing to fall from the sky and try to kill us?"
"No," KJ muttered. "We figure out why we were pulled here in the first place."
Riley leaned forward, elbows on her knees. "What if it's not about why we came here, but what we're supposed to do now that we're here?"
Shoto turned toward her. "You think there's a reason?"
She shrugged. "Journal. Monsters. Weird keys. Sounds like something wants us to play a part."
Brandon tapped his blade against a rock, thoughtful. "Or we're pawns in someone else's game."
⸻
Suddenly, Gage sat up straighter.
His eyes locked on the sky.
"Do you hear that?" he asked.
Everyone went still.
At first, there was nothing. Then—
A faint hum.
Low. Pulsing. Rhythmic.
Coming from above.
The clouds began to swirl — not fast, but with weight. Like the air was thickening.
⸻
The journal began to glow.
Not flickering.
Glowing.
Elizabeth opened it again, hands trembling.
This time, the ink appeared slowly — letter by letter, like it was being carved into the page:
"It fell to feed."
"It is still hungry."
"And it knows your names."
⸻
Shoto stepped back.
The fire snapped, rising higher in a burst of wind.
Above them, the clouds turned blood-red for a moment.
And then—
Everything went still.
⸻
No one spoke.
But they all knew it:
Whatever had fallen from the sky when they activated the Hollowed Ring?
It wasn't gone.
It was waking up.