The footsteps stopped.
Daniel stood at the bottom of the basement stairs, staring into the darkness.
Mara raised her gun.
Michael reached for the iron blade at his belt.
Nothing moved.
Then the first step creaked.
Slowly.
A boot appeared.
Then another.
A man descended the stairs.
He was old.
His gray hair hung past his shoulders, and his face was covered with scars. He wore a long, weathered coat covered in faded symbols.
Daniel recognized the face.
Not from photographs.
From the book.
The man stopped halfway down the stairs.
"Daniel Cross."
Daniel raised his gun.
"Who are you?"
The man smiled.
"My name doesn't matter anymore."
Mara's expression changed.
"You."
The man looked at her.
"You remember."
Mara's grip tightened.
"You're supposed to be dead."
"I was."
Michael stepped forward.
"You're one of the original hunters."
The man's eyes moved toward him.
"The last one."
Daniel stared.
"The first hunter."
The man nodded.
"My name was Elias Vale."
Daniel immediately thought of the photograph.
The man whose face had been scratched out.
"You were there."
Elias descended the remaining stairs.
"Twenty-two years ago."
Daniel kept his gun trained on him.
"You knew my father."
"I knew your entire family."
"Then tell me the truth."
Elias looked at the black book in Daniel's hand.
"Your family has been guarding the door for generations."
Daniel frowned.
"Guarding it?"
"Your ancestors created the first seal."
"Then why did they create the book?"
"Because the seal wasn't enough."
Elias walked toward the broken glass container.
"We needed somewhere to store the entity's power."
Michael interrupted.
"And the book became that vessel."
Elias nodded.
"But every time someone used the book, the seal weakened."
Daniel looked down at it.
"Why didn't you destroy it?"
Elias gave a bitter laugh.
"Because we tried."
"How?"
"Fire. Silver. Holy water. Iron. Magic. We even buried it beneath consecrated ground."
Daniel looked at the book.
"Nothing worked."
"Nothing."
Elias pointed toward Daniel.
"Until you."
Daniel lowered his weapon slightly.
"Why me?"
"Because your blood carries the original seal."
Mara shook her head.
"That isn't possible."
Elias looked at her.
"Your brother discovered it."
Mara froze.
"My brother?"
"He found the records."
"What happened to him?"
Elias looked away.
"The entity found him first."
Mara's face hardened.
"You said he disappeared."
"He was Hollowed."
Mara stepped toward Elias.
"You knew?"
"I watched it happen."
Her eyes filled with anger.
"And you let him die."
"I couldn't save him."
Mara raised her weapon.
Daniel stepped between them.
"Wait."
Mara looked at him.
Daniel turned toward Elias.
"What happened to my father?"
Elias became silent.
Daniel repeated himself.
"What happened to him?"
"Your father discovered the final ritual."
"What ritual?"
"The only ritual capable of closing the door permanently."
Daniel looked at the book.
"Then why didn't he use it?"
"Because it required a sacrifice."
Daniel's expression changed.
"Whose?"
Elias looked directly at him.
"Yours."
Silence filled the basement.
Mara shook her head.
"No."
Elias continued.
"Your father refused."
Daniel stared at him.
"What did he do instead?"
"He split the ritual."
"How?"
"He removed a portion of the entity's power from you and sealed it beneath this house."
Daniel looked toward the shattered container.
"That's what was inside."
"Yes."
"And now it's gone."
Elias nodded.
"Which means the ritual is incomplete."
Daniel's voice became quieter.
"What happens if it stays incomplete?"
Elias looked toward the ceiling.
"You've already seen the answer."
A deep vibration moved through the house.
Dust fell from the ceiling.
The walls began cracking.
Michael looked toward the stairs.
"It's coming."
Elias nodded.
"The entity has been trapped for centuries."
Daniel tightened his grip on the book.
"And now?"
"Now it has a vessel."
Daniel looked at his hands.
"You mean me."
Elias nodded.
"The entity doesn't want to kill you."
Daniel looked up.
"Then what does it want?"
Elias's expression became grim.
"It wants to become you."
The basement door slammed shut.
The black book flew out of Daniel's hands.
It struck the floor and opened.
Pages turned rapidly.
The final page appeared.
This time, there was no warning.
There was no prophecy.
There was only a name.
ELIAS VALE.
Beneath it appeared a single word.
HOLLOWED.
Elias looked down.
Black veins spread across his hands.
Mara raised her weapon.
"Elias."
He looked at her.
"I've been fighting it for three hundred years."
His eyes turned black.
"And I finally lost."
Daniel stepped backward.
Elias smiled.
Then his body twisted violently.
Mara fired.
The bullets passed through him.
Michael threw an iron blade.
Elias caught it.
Daniel opened the black book.
Every page began glowing.
Elias screamed.
The entire house shook.
Daniel felt something pull at his chest.
The mark burned.
The entity's voice filled the basement.
OPEN THE DOOR.
Daniel clenched his teeth.
"No."
The voice became louder.
OPEN IT.
Daniel held the book tighter.
"No."
Elias lunged.
Mara tackled him before he reached Daniel.
Michael drove the iron blade into Elias's chest.
Black smoke erupted from his body.
Daniel watched as something enormous began pulling itself out of Elias.
A shadow.
A shape.
A presence.
It rose above them.
The basement ceiling disappeared beneath darkness.
Daniel looked up.
For the first time, he saw the entity clearly.
It had no face.
No eyes.
No mouth.
But Daniel could feel it looking directly at him.
The black book began turning pages.
Daniel's mother's voice whispered from inside it.
"Daniel."
He looked down.
A final sentence appeared.
THE RITUAL BEGINS AT MIDNIGHT.
Daniel looked at the clock.
11:47 P.M.
Thirteen minutes.
Mara looked at him.
"What happens at midnight?"
Daniel closed the book.
"We find out."
Above them, every light in the farmhouse turned black.
And the entity smiled without a face.