Some doors, once opened, can never be closed. For Osasco Edovia, high school is a cage. Invisible to his peers and tormented by bullies, he navigates the hallways as a ghost, his world defined by a silence so profound it has become a prison. But he is not alone in the quiet. Something ancient listens in the dark. Something hungry. It calls itself the Hollow King, a parasitic entity as old as sorrow, which feeds on neglect and festers in the forgotten corners of the world. From the shadow of a gnarled oak, it offers Osasco a devastating bargain: the power to turn his pain into vengeance, to force his tormentors to see him, to fear him. All it asks in return is permission to feed. Seduced by the promise of an end to his suffering, Osasco accepts. A sinister mark is seared into his flesh, a conduit for a power as intoxicating as it is corrupting. But the Hollow King is a liar. Its gifts come with a terrible price, and every use allows its roots to sink deeper, threatening to consume Osasco's soul entirely. To survive, Osasco must forge an unlikely alliance with the very people he sought to overpower. But the Hollow King is more ancient and cunning than they can imagine, and its hunger is a cycle that has consumed generations. To break the curse, Osasco must confront a horrifying truth buried in his own bloodline and face an impossible choice: become the monster he fears, or sacrifice everything to seal the darkness away for good. A chilling debut novel of supernatural horror, THE HOLLOW KING masterfully blends atmospheric dread with a terrifying exploration of the monsters we create and the ones that create us.