The armored truck rumbled along the ruined highway, carrying the last survivors of a battle that had already claimed too many.
Aaron sat in the back, his rifle across his lap, exhaustion weighing down his limbs. His clothes were torn, stained with blood—some of it his, most of it not. Beside him, Father Matthias muttered quiet prayers, his fingers tightening around the silver cross in his hands. The priest looked like a man who had seen the gates of hell and knew they would open again before the night was over.
At the front, Caldwell, the leader of Team Echo, kept his eyes on the road, his face grim beneath the flickering dashboard lights. The last surviving Echo soldier, Reyes, drove in tense silence, his grip on the wheel white-knuckled.
They were the only ones left.
Everyone else—Graves, Elias,Sarah, the rest of Echo Team—gone. Consumed by the darkness they had fought so hard to escape.
And yet, despite everything, they were going back.
The city had become a feeding ground. What should have been contained within the cursed village had now spread. The Hollow One had broken its chains.
They let it feed on their fears and grow stronger now they have one last chance to stop it.
A Village Reclaimed by the Dead
The moment they crossed the threshold into the abandoned village, the world changed.
The air thickened. Shadows stretched unnaturally, as if the night itself was alive. Aaron could feel something pressing down on them—a weight, a presence, something watching.
And then he saw them.
Figures lined the broken streets, standing still. Motionless.More like drawing their darkness from their master.And now the connection was weak so were they.
The Hollowed.
Their eyes were empty voids, blacker than the night around them. Their faces were twisted in unnatural ways—some too wide, others frozen in expressions of agony.
Aaron gritted his teeth. He recognized some of them as the subject Aaron confirmed missing.
Others also.Soldiers. Villagers. People who had gone missing weeks ago.
Now, they were nothing more than extensions of the Hollow One's will.
And then, something faster than light zoomed past their vehicle causing the driver to struggle with the wheels.
At the heart of the ruins, towering over them like a living nightmare—
The Hollow One.
It had no defined form, only a shifting mass of darkness wrapped in a vague, humanoid silhouette. Its hollowed eyes glowed with an ancient, unknowable hunger.
And then—it spoke.
A single, chilling word:
"End."
Aaron felt his blood run cold.
And then—they attacked.
Reyes barely had time to scream before one of the Hollowed ripped him from the truck.
The soldier's body was dragged into the mass of creatures, his cries swallowed by the sound of bones breaking.
Caldwell grabbed his rifle and opened fire. Aaron followed, emptying his clip into the oncoming horrors.
But bullets did nothing.
They staggered, jerked back—but they never fell.
Aaron swung his weapon like a club, smashing the butt of his rifle against one of them, knocking it back. But it didn't even react.
Matthias held up his cross, muttering in Latin, and for a brief moment, the Hollowed hesitated as he continued drawing the ancient signs his mind raptures into reality
But then The Hollow One moved.
And the light vanished.
Matthias felt a presence shifting towards him, knowing his time has come,he used the last of his strength to draw the second to the last sign needed to seal the entity then he stopped as he lunged outside the church with his cross.
One moment, he was chanting. The next, a black tendril lashed out, piercing straight through his chest.
His breath hitched. His fingers twitched.
"Shalom!" He said, gutting blood.
And then he was gone.
Swallowed into the abyss.
"Matthias!"
Aaron barely had time to process it before Caldwell shoved him forward.
"Go!" Caldwell barked. "Finish the last sign We have to seal it!"
Aaron ran while Caldwell covered him, firing until his rifle clicked empty.
Caldwell left out a chuckle as he knew he was out of choices,he threw the empty gun into the loomig void in front of him, smiling,as he had fulfilled his duty thoroughly.
And then—silence.
Aaron didn't look back,he knew Caldwell was gone.He grabbed the ancient gun and checked it's ammunition.Just one was left,he chucked it back and ran towards the church to draw the last sign on the altar.
The Sealing
The ruins of the church were ahead. The altar—the last holy ground in the village—was still standing.
This was it.
Aaron reached the altar, panting, his hands trembling as he pulled the ancient gun from his belt.
It was the only weapon that had ever harmed the Hollow One.
He turned as he scrambled for the last sign.
The Hollow One towered above him.
It stared down at him, its presence suffocating.
And then—it spoke again.
"Fear."
Aaron gritted his teeth and raised the gun.
BANG.
The shot ripped through the Hollow One's form, and it SCREAMED
Probably the last shot was the strongest one.He threw the gun away as he hurriedly drew the last sign and sought shelter for what was about to happen.
The ancient symbols they had carved into the altar ignited, glowing with a blinding light.
The village shook.
The Hollowed froze, shrieking in agony as it wanted to run from this igniting altar but it couldn't.
The Hollow One began to unravel, getting sucked into the altar.
But even as the other hollows tried to destroy the altar they collapsed upon impact, its form twisting into nothingness—it reached out.
A final whisper, echoing through Aaron's mind:
"You... cannot... escape...the darkness".
Then—The village shooked hard as everything around it was sucked into the altar.The light faded as Aaron lost consciousness.