Chapter 12: The Price of Knowledge

Graymere lay in a hollow between twisted hills, where the fog clung thick and heavy even in dawn's weak light.

David pulled his coat tighter against the cold, blood dried stiff on the fabric.

Lucien walked beside him, limping slightly, the dried blood on his claws flaking off with each step.

The road narrowed to a sagging wooden gate, half-broken, symbols burned into the planks in languages David didn't know.

As they approached, shapes moved in the mist.

David tensed, hand on his silvered knife.

Lucien let out a hissing sigh.

"Don't. They'll kill us both if you twitch wrong."

David's eyes narrowed but he didn't draw.

Figures emerged from the fog.

Three men in patchwork armor. Two with crossbows, one with a battered halberd. All had salt charms dangling from their belts.

Their leader was an old man with a ragged beard and one milky eye.

He spat on the ground.

"Lucien. Thought you were dead."

Lucien showed teeth in a smile that wasn't friendly.

"Not for lack of trying, Marn."

The old man scowled at David.

"And who's this? Doesn't smell right. Bleeding. Tainted?"

David bristled.

"Human enough to kill you."

Marn laughed once, harsh and cold.

"Brave. Stupid. Both useful."

He raised a hand and the crossbows lowered.

"Graymere doesn't want trouble tonight. Storm's coming. If you bring it here, I'll gut you myself."

Lucien inclined his head mockingly.

"Charming as ever."

The old man snorted and turned away, waving them through.

"Get in. Before something worse finds you."

They passed the gate into narrow, crooked streets paved with ancient stones.

Houses leaned at odd angles, roof tiles missing. Smoke curled from a few chimneys.

People watched them from windows—hollow-eyed children, old women clutching charms, gaunt men with scarred faces.

David shivered.

Lucien noticed.

"Welcome to the last refuge for the damned."

David's jaw tightened.

"Where do we go?"

Lucien jerked his chin toward the center of town, where a low building squatted like a toad in the fog.

"Witch's house."

David frowned.

"Friend of yours?"

Lucien's smile was bitter.

"No one here has friends. Just debts."

They entered the hut.

It smelled of herbs and rot.

A small fire crackled in a blackened hearth. Symbols and charms hung from every beam.

An old woman sat by the fire.

Her skin was dark and lined like cracked leather. Eyes like wet coals. She watched them without blinking.

"Lucien."

Her voice was like dry leaves.

"Marla."

She turned those terrible eyes on David.

"This one bleeds grief."

David tensed.

"She was taken," he said.

Marla sniffed.

"By the Hollow One."

Lucien's eyes narrowed.

"You know it."

Marla spat into the fire, which sizzled and flared green.

"Old god. Rotten god. Buried in roots and bones. Eats witches. Wears them like skins."

David's heart hammered.

"Can we kill it?"

Marla's laugh was wheezing and humorless.

"You? No. Even in its prison it's stronger than you'll ever be. When it's free? It will make kings kneel and drink blood from their own skulls."

David stepped forward, voice raw.

"I don't care. I'm getting her back."

Marla looked at him a long moment.

"Love. Dangerous. Useful."

Lucien growled.

"Stop with the games. Tell us how."

Marla reached into the fire. Flames crawled over her blackened fingers without burning.

She drew out a brand of twisted iron, glowing red.

She pressed it to the floor, burning a rune into the boards.

"Blood. Sacrifice. A path."

David watched the symbol smoke and hiss.

"What does it mean?"

Marla's voice dropped.

"You must enter its domain. In dreams. In death. Walk its hollow paths. Pull her back yourself."

Lucien snarled.

"That's suicide."

Marla nodded slowly.

"Yes."

David felt cold all over.

But he didn't look away.

"I'll do it."

Marla smiled, teeth yellow and sharp.

"Of course you will."

Outside, thunder cracked like a cannon.

The wind howled, rattling charms against the beams.

David could feel it even here.

That thing in the dark.

Waiting.

Watching.

Smiling with her eyes.

Marla's voice dropped to a whisper.

"It knows you're coming."

David swallowed.

"Good."

He drew his blade, the silver catching firelight.

"Tell me what I need."

Marla's smile faded.

"Your blood. Your memories. Your soul. It will take all of it to walk the Hollow Path. And there is no promise you'll find her on the other side."

David's grip tightened.

"I don't need promises."

Lucien let out a slow breath, watching him with something like respect—and pity.

"Then let's begin."

David's words hung in the smoky air like a threat.

Marla studied him over the flickering fire. Her coal-black eyes narrowed, reflecting flames.

"Then bleed," she rasped.

David held out his arm without hesitation.

Lucien cursed under his breath.

Marla moved fast for an ancient woman. A curved ritual blade flashed in the firelight, carving a narrow line across David's forearm.

Blood welled, hot and dark.

It dripped onto the sigil she'd burned into the floor. The lines drank it greedily, sizzling with red light.

David didn't flinch.

Marla crooned something in a language older than the hills.

Lucien watched, tense. His claws twitched.

"You're sure about this?" he muttered.

David didn't take his eyes off the witch.

"Yes."

Lucien snorted.

"You're insane."

David didn't argue.

Marla worked quickly. She scattered salt and ash in a circle around him, muttering foul words. She bit into a bundle of herbs, spitting them onto the flames so green smoke billowed.

It burned David's nose, made his vision swim.

The walls wavered.

He felt the world tilt.

"Close your eyes," she hissed. "If you want to see her."

He obeyed.

He fell.

Not onto the floor—but through it.

Darkness swallowed him, cold as a grave.

He didn't feel his body anymore.

Just drifting.

Hearing.

David…

He jerked, reaching.

"Priya?"

Help me…

Her voice was raw. Breaking.

He felt claws on his mind. Teeth grazing memory.

Pain spiked behind his eyes.

He screamed.

He was in a forest of bones.

Black trees with skulls for fruit.

Wind rattled them like chimes.

He staggered forward.

"Priya!"

No answer.

The ground writhed underfoot—roots pulsing, slick with blood.

A shape waited ahead. Cloaked in silver.

Smiling.

Her smile.

"Welcome," it whispered in his voice.

David drew his knife.

"Where is she?"

The figure spread its arms.

"Everywhere. Nowhere. Do you really think you can steal her from me?"

David lunged.

His blade passed through smoke.

The thing laughed.

He spun, disoriented.

The trees closed in.

Thorns bit him, drawing more blood.

Roots wrapped his ankles.

He slashed, panting.

The ground soaked with his blood.

And then he heard her.

David… don't go… it's eating me…

He turned—

And saw Priya nailed to one of the bone trees.

Her runes burned black.

Her eyes were gone, sockets weeping blood.

She lifted her head with agonizing slowness.

"David… run…"

He screamed her name.

Roots ripped free, wrapping his arms.

They dragged him toward the tree.

Her mouth twisted into a cruel smile not hers.

"You can't save her," the Hollow One purred through her teeth.

"She's MINE."

David roared, fighting, biting, slashing with the knife even as it crumbled to ash in his hand.

He refused to stop.

He felt his skin peel. His mind buckled.

But he kept fighting.

Suddenly—

A spark.

Her real voice, weak but clear:

Don't let it win…

The roots faltered.

David roared and wrenched free.

Light poured from his chest—raw, searing will.

The bone forest shrieked, branches snapping.

The Hollow One howled.

David ran to her, clawing at the roots that bound her.

He grabbed her wrists—cold and dead.

I won't leave you.

She blinked once.

For an instant, her eyes were hers.

"David…"

He felt hope surge.

But the world shuddered.

The Hollow One roared in fury, its true form emerging behind her: a mass of roots and eyes, dripping blood, mouths full of fangs.

It grabbed them both in a single monstrous claw.

David screamed.

Priya did too.

Everything went black.

He awoke on Marla's floor, gasping, covered in sweat and blood.

Lucien crouched nearby, looking worried for the first time.

Marla watched him coldly.

"Well?" she rasped.

David swallowed bile.

"I saw her."

Marla nodded once.

"And?"

He wiped his mouth with a shaking hand.

"She's fighting. She's still in there."

Lucien let out a shaky breath.

Marla sighed.

"Then you'll have to go again."

David's head snapped up.

"What?"

Marla's voice was like breaking bones.

"That was only the edge. The Hollow Path has many gates. And next time, it will be waiting for you."

David's heart sank.

Lucien muttered a curse.

David forced himself to his feet, legs shaking.

"Then tell me how to kill it."

Marla smiled.

But it wasn't kind.

"You can't."

David's eyes narrowed.

"Tell me anyway."

Marla leaned close, her breath foul.

"You want the truth?"

He nodded, jaw set.

Her voice dropped to a conspiratorial hiss.

"You'll have to become it."

David's heart stuttered.

Lucien swore violently behind him.

Marla sat back, eyes gleaming.

"That's the price. If you want to save her… you'll have to make its power yours. Or there'll be nothing left to save."

Lightning struck outside, rattling the walls.

David felt the weight of her words settle over him like a shroud.

He closed his eyes.

And then he opened them, cold and certain.

"Then teach me."