Chapter 9: Of Gods and Graveyards
Kael ran until his legs gave out. Then he crawled. Then, finally, he collapsed among twisted rebar and cracked cement, under the rusted hull of what looked like a bombed-out school bus. Night had swallowed San Cristobal.
He had no idea how far he'd gone.
All he knew was the silence.
And the stench.
It wasn't the stench of garbage or sewage, no. This was something worse—decay with memory.
Codex Observation: Host has entered hybrid gravefield. Estimated remains: 73. Warning: Viable spores detected. Hazard: Evolutionary contamination.
Kael's eyes flicked open.
"Gravefield?" he muttered.
Project Womb Site Theta. Disposal sector for failed merges, incomplete codex users, and unstable hybrids.
He looked around.
Half-buried under broken slabs of concrete were bones—some small, some as wide as trees. One looked like a raptor skull fused with the jaw of a boar. Another had tusks growing out of its eye sockets. Rib cages tangled like mangroves. Fossilized flesh clung to metal restraints.
The ground beneath him pulsed faintly. Not alive… but not dead.
Kael sat still, the pain in his side flaring as dried blood cracked along his waist. His breathing was uneven. Nika's final words rang in his ears.
"Monsters cry too."
He didn't cry.
But something in him shuddered.
Codex Sync: Stable.
Trauma compression complete. Emotional containment restructured.
"You can weep later," XENOVORAX said. "When you're stronger."
"Leave me alone."
"Then die alone."
Kael gritted his teeth. He wanted to scream. He wanted to dig every bone in this pit and throw it at the sky.
Instead, he lay back. And the dreams came.
A voice.
Not XENOVORAX.
Not the Codex.
Older.
"He walks beneath us. And he carries the Womb."
Kael jolted awake.
The moon was a sliver. The clouds, thick and bruised.
A figure stood at the ridge of the gravefield, backlit by the stars.
Kael rose slowly. Blood crusted on his knees.
"Who are you?" he asked.
The figure didn't answer. It stepped closer. Male. Clad in matte armor—not like the Lantern Dogs. This one shimmered faintly with a pulse Kael could feel in his bones.
Codex Alert: Another hybrid signal detected. Sync source: Codex Variant Gamma.
Warning: This host is not symbiotic. Classification: Full merge.
Kael narrowed his eyes.
"Are you with them?"
The man's voice was calm. Smooth. Practiced.
"No. But they were with me. Once."
Kael's fingers curled.
"You came to fight?"
The man shook his head. "I came to see what kind of god crawled out of a grave screaming."
Kael flinched.
"He smells of failure," XENOVORAX whispered. "But he's killed many like you."
The man looked around the field.
"They dumped us here, you know," he said. "Not just monsters. People. Children. Experiments. All because Rhane couldn't stop playing God."
Kael stiffened. "You knew him?"
"Knew him? I am what he was trying to become."
Codex Note: Subject linked to Dr. Rhane's rogue successor program. Location: Unknown.
Kael stepped forward. "So what? You're another me?"
The man smiled faintly. "No. I'm the version of you that survived obedience. You… you're the glitch."
Kael felt a pressure behind his eyes.
"Let me out," XENOVORAX said. "Just for a moment."
"No."
The man held up a hand. "Don't worry. I'm not here to fight. That comes later."
He tossed something.
It landed at Kael's feet. A chip. Faintly glowing.
"Put that into your Codex. It'll show you what they've hidden. Who really made you. What's really awakening."
Kael didn't move.
"Why help me?"
The man's expression darkened. "Because the world needs its monsters awake. The real ones are coming. And you'll need more than claws."
He turned to leave.
"Wait!" Kael shouted. "What's your name?"
The man paused.
"They used to call me Dren. But that was before the Codex."
"And now?"
He looked over his shoulder, eyes glowing faintly gold.
"Now I'm just what comes after mercy."
Then he vanished into the night.
Kael stood in the graveyard, alone, holding the chip.
Behind him, the bones whispered.
And below him, deep below, JIRUUN stirred.