The Hollow Adam Novels & Stories

I had figured that demons were more isolated creatures and it only made me more curious about them. The room was massive in a rectangular shape to fit the table and filled with numerous paintings and art, all different depictions of the underworld. Some had gore and torture painted, another one appeared to be of Adam and Eve and the serpent that convinced them to eat the forbidden fruit, the largest of the paintings was on the longest wall of the room and it looked to be of a war. Men with iron swords and shields clanging against each other and lightning bolts striking numerous fighters, the sight gave me goosebumps as I realized I was looking at a painting of Zeus and his brothers.

“They’ve found us.” A Hollow One stepped into view at the cave’s entrance, its skeletal form draped in tattered robes that fluttered like wisps of shadow. Its eyes burned like twin coals in the gathering dusk, and it let out a piercing screech that reverberated off the stone walls. Without hesitation, it charged, its claws outstretched toward them. Caden met it head-on, his sword clashing against its bone-like talons in a shower of sparks. Torren grabbed his daggers, ignoring the sharp stab of pain in his leg, and flanked the creature, his blades darting in to seek weak points in its unnatural defenses.

You would even let me live the rest of my life like a fool who didn’t know what was happening! "Stop making excuses for your infidelity, trying to get my forgiveness. “I’m back for one thing, and one thing only—to return your bone marrow to you!" In an instant, the fear in Noah’s eyes magnified a thousandfold. It seemed to drown him, suffocating him and leaving him breathless. "No… Emma, please don’t do anything brash. I was wrong, I really was. If you go through with this, you’ll get hurt, and it could… it could…"

I was thrown off guard,so I shook my head,trying to clear my head and focus on the situation. “I am Noah,Adam's personal doctor,I'd be taking care of your health from now on”The handsome guy said,walking over to his former position. “It's nice to finally meet you”. One corner of Adams smirk rose higher as he slid his hands into his pocket waiting for my reaction. “.. I,.. I am fine”My voice was rusty,horrified by how weak I sounded. Noah let out a hearty smile, “You’d be fine my dear” He told me,his frenetic energy ebbing out.

“What is it?” Clara pulled the seed from her pocket. It sat in her palm, grey and small, pulsing with a faint light that seemed to come from somewhere deep inside it. The light was not the grey of the Hollow—it was softer, almost silver, and it flickered like a candle in a draft. “It’s still alive,” Clara said. “The mechanism. Not the Hollow—the seed. It wants to grow.” Seren leaned closer, her notebook open. “The Archivist said the original work was never destroyed. It was only buried. The Hollow grew from it, but the seed remained. That’s what you’re holding.”

But the habit of caring about him hadn’t faded yet. “Almost there,” Fen said. “You keep saying that.” “I keep meaning it.” Then the trees opened up, and I stopped. The Hollow wasn’t what I expected. I’d pictured something gloomy, like the rest of the Growth, full of rot, murk, and things with strange eyes. But this was different. The trees here were old, older than anything I’d seen, with trunks as wide as houses and roots rising from the ground in arches tall enough to walk under. In the center was a pool, still and black, perfectly round, as if someone had pressed a coin into the earth. The air shivered with a faint hum, so low I felt it more than heard it, vibrating somewhere in my bones.

The Unhollow's dark glass eyes shifted to the Hollowsmith. Builder. Tell them. The Hollowsmith did not move. The Unhollow continued. Tell them what you consumed to become gentle. Jack looked at him. The Hollowsmith's gears slowed. "I consumed seventeen universes," he said. The office went silent. Not Unhollow silence. Human silence. Shock with a pulse. The Hollowsmith continued, voice thin as old wire. "Before I learned to build, I was hunger. I ate spaces between dying realities. Then living ones. I told myself I only took what was already empty. Then I told myself everything becomes empty eventually. Eventually, excuses became appetite."

Instead, it folds itself into a corner near the fire, curling up like an animal seeking warmth, as if it is as weary as any of us. The hours crawl. Some try to sleep, but most sit up, tense, clutching talismans or one another’s hands. Mara prowls the edges of the hall, her gaze fixed on the revenant. I sit with Ffion, our shoulders touching, our magics twining and trembling. We ask our questions—careful, cautious, afraid of what the answers might cost. “What is the Hollowing?” Bram asks, voice barely above a whisper. The revenant’s eyes burn in the dark. “It is what comes when too many bargains go unpaid. When pain and hunger are ignored, when stories are broken, when communities shatter. I

The air in the chamber didn't just chill; it died. The figure standing in the corner was a grotesque mockery of life. Ronan’s body, which Zayden had broken with his bare hands, stood upright, but his limbs moved with a disjointed, mechanical twitching. The void-black eyes leaked a dark, viscous smoke that pooled at his feet. This wasn't a werewolf. This was the Hollow—an ancient, forbidden rite of the Virex line used only when a challenger refused to stay dead.

Mr Streeter walks up to the front of the stage and calls for the first trainee. “Trainee Will Adams, please come forward.” A guy sat in front of us stands up and walks over to Mr Streeter. Mr Streeter takes Wills right hand, placing a blade to his palm and recites, “Do you William Adams, accept your transition from trainee to hunter, promise to protect the innocent at all cost, and pledge to do what you must to rid this world of the creature who inhabit it.” “I do" came Wills reply. With this Mr Streeter pulls the blade across Wills palm which swells up with his blood. He raises it over a golden bowl and allows several drops to fall into the bowl with a hiss.