They moved quickly, breath visible in the freezing air. Ezra clutched the altar stone tightly, its surface etched with runes that shimmered faintly in the dark. Chizzy led the way, lantern in hand, the silver flame unwavering.
The ancient circle lay in the forest's heart an open glade surrounded by twisted trees that leaned inward like spectators at an execution. The ground was scarred with lines and remnants of bone some buried, some broken, all bleached white. The stone pedestals were half-sunken and moss-covered, but they hummed beneath the surface, reacting to their presence.
"This is where the seal was first broken," Ezra said, voice hushed. "This is where it must be rebuilt."
Chizzy looked around the circle. "What do I do?"
He pointed to the pedestals. "The altar stone must be placed at the heart. The flame must remain lit. And you must speak the vow again not of submission, but of severance. It must come from your bloodline."
Chizzy swallowed hard. The very thought made her hands tremble. But she stepped forward.
She knelt in the center of the circle and placed the carved altar stone into a hollow depression in the soil. As soon as it touched earth, the ground quaked faintly, and the trees groaned.
Ezra placed the lantern beside her.
Then he withdrew.
From the shadows, whispers began no longer distant. Voices circling the glade, creeping closer. Ghosts of the oathbound. Souls tethered to the Hollow Man.
One by one, figures stepped into the circle's edge women, men, children all wearing familiar faces twisted with sorrow.
Chizzy rose, her voice shaking. "I call back what was taken. I break the bond that bled this land. My blood does not bind me. It frees me."
The flame flared.
The Hollow Man appeared beyond the trees. His form blurred the air, taller now, angrier.
"You reject your lineage."
"No," Chizzy said firmly. "I honor it by ending this."
He raised a hand and the ghosts surged forward. But the flame expanded, becoming a barrier of light around her.
Chizzy stepped closer to the altar, removed a small blade from her coat her mother's and sliced her palm. Blood dripped onto the stone.
The circle ignited.
Flames roared up from the pedestals, tracing the ancient runes in gold and red. The Hollow Man shrieked a sound like wind tearing through flesh.
Chizzy stood tall. "Let this be your end."
The circle pulsed once, twice then exploded in blinding light.
The force knocked Ezra to the ground. When he looked up, the glade was empty.
No Hollow Man.
Just Chizzy, standing at the center of scorched earth, her palm still bleeding, the lantern's flame burning brighter than ever.
The seal had held.
For now.