Chapter 35: You can hide behind me.
The glowing scroll hovered above the coffin, suspended in air like a forgotten relic finally returned to the world.
John stared at it, his body aching, hand still broken, blood crusted on his lips.
The ghost spirit was gone, pulled back into her prison, but the aftertaste of her power still clung to the cave’s damp air.
With trembling fingers, he reached out and grasped the scroll.
It was cold.
Far colder than it should’ve been.
As if it had been carved out of death itself.
The moment his hand touched it, the world around him dimmed again.
Not a hallucination this time, a memory, one not his own.
Darkness bled through his vision and a voice, ancient and feminine, filled his ears. Smooth and sultry, but soaked in blood.
"You seek power... then learn of its price."
His knees buckled, and the scroll unrolled in his hands, not into words, but into visions.