Elena wanted to open the stone floor.
Cael wouldn't let her.
He pushed her behind him as the hand beneath the altar moved again.
Rowan drew his sword.
"Tell me what happens if we open it."
Cael stared at the crack.
Then he spoke.
"They wake."
"Who?"
Cael looked at the chapel walls.
"Everyone."
Elena shook her head.
"My father is down there."
Cael's eyes softened.
"No."
"You said he was alive."
"He was."
The distinction terrified her.
"Was?"
Cael pointed toward the stone beneath the altar.
"That voice isn't him anymore."
The villagers began arriving at the chapel.
The elders came first.
They saw the crack.
Their expressions revealed everything.
Elena turned toward them.
"You knew."
No one answered.
"You knew my father was alive."
An elderly man named Varric stepped forward.
"Your father discovered the chamber beneath the forest."
"And?"
"He tried to open it."
"What was inside?"
Varric's face tightened.
"People."
Elena stared at him.
"People?"
"Villagers who disappeared generations ago."
The chapel went silent.
Varric explained what the elders had hidden.
Every few decades, people disappeared from Black Hollow.
The village blamed the forest.
But the truth was different.
The ancient chamber beneath the forest contained something that could imitate the voices and memories of the dead.
It used familiar voices to lure people into the dark.
The elders had kept the secret because the chamber could not be destroyed.
So they built the village around it.
And every generation, they sacrificed someone to keep it asleep.
Elena felt sick.
"My father refused."
Varric nodded.
"He tried to destroy the chamber."
"And Cael?"
"He helped him."
Elena looked at the creature.
Cael lowered his head.
Varric continued.
"Your father escaped."
"Then where is he?"
Varric looked toward the crack.
"Below."
A deep sound came from beneath the chapel.
The stones vibrated.
Then hundreds of voices whispered together.
Elena heard her mother.
Her childhood friend.
Her father's voice.
All of them saying her name.
Cael stepped in front of her.
Varric whispered:
"The chamber is awake."
The floor split wider.
Darkness opened beneath the altar.
Something climbed out.
It had the shape of a man.
It wore Elena's father's coat.
Its face looked exactly like him.
Elena took one step forward.
"Dad?"
The figure smiled.
Cael suddenly roared.
He knocked Elena backward.
The thing's face changed.
Its eyes became completely black.
Its jaw opened far wider than a human mouth should.
The villagers screamed.
Cael charged.
He slammed the creature into the stone wall.
For one moment, Elena saw the truth.
The horned creature wasn't protecting the village from the monster.
He was protecting the monster from Elena.
Because the thing wanted one thing.
Her.
The creature whispered:
"Run."