The vision from the Chrono Beacon hadn't left him.
Even now, as Aarav stumbled through the fractured landscape with blood drying beneath his nose and the ache of foreign glyphs buzzing in his mind, echoes of the past replayed behind his eyes. A realm of impossible grace. Ruined. Collapsed under its own temporal weight.
But he didn't have time to process it.Because something was following him.
It started with silence.
No wind. No whisper. Even the ever-present static hum of the Shatterfold had dulled, like the realm itself was holding its breath.
Then came the vibration—small tremors in the ground, rhythmic and deep.
Aarav turned, every hair on his body standing upright.
Something massive broke the crest of the ridge behind him.
Its form was barely visible—distorted, like it bent light and space around itself. But as it moved, its shape pulsed into view: a towering, six-limbed predator with jagged bone-plated skin, hollow pits for eyes, and a spiraling mark etched into its chest, glowing the same shade as the rune in Aarav's palm.
It was drawn to him.
By hunger.
He ran.
There was no decision in it—just instinct.
Down through black ash fields, past twisted trees fossilized in mid-collapse, his feet pounding over uneven terrain as the creature crashed behind him with thunderous, gravity-distorting steps.
Every pulse of adrenaline made the bloodline in him react.
His veins glowed faintly. His senses sharpened. His pain dulled.
The spiral on his palm burned.
A low tone rang out from his dagger. As he ran, it vibrated violently at his side, responding to the proximity of the beast. A warning—or maybe a signal.
Bloodline beacon engaged…
Hostile convergence imminent…
He dove behind a cluster of collapsed stone ruins just as the beast's claws raked through where his body had been. Chunks of rock exploded into dust.
No more running.
Aarav gritted his teeth, rolled forward, and drew the dagger.
It felt different now—heavier but balanced, like it had grown with him.
The creature snarled, its invisible skin flashing into sight, thick with natural armor but broken in places—gaps between its plated chest, where a black vein pulsed with exposed energy.
Aarav didn't aim. He reacted.
He slashed with instinct, guided not by skill but by resonance.
The dagger struck one of the glowing breaks—an arc of energy burst from the contact, knocking him backward, but not before the blade had drawn actual blood.
The creature shrieked.
The Shatterfold itself seemed to vibrate with the sound.
But pain had consequences.
His hand trembled. The glyph in his palm sparked violently. Runes—not words—appeared before his eyes, part of the fragmented knowledge from earlier. He couldn't read them, not fully, but the dagger responded.
A glyph etched itself in glowing light mid-air.
Vein Trace: REPEL - unstable runeform
He shouted without meaning to. Light surged down the blade. He slashed wildly—
The rune triggered.
A concussive wave of spiraled light burst outward from him, distorted time for a heartbeat, and launched the creature backward with a deep, sickening crack.
Its limbs bent awkwardly. It screeched as it skidded into a half-formed wall of solid crystal.
Then silence.
Aarav dropped to his knees, panting, covered in dirt and bleeding from his ears.
He didn't win.
But he survived.
He sat there a long time, staring at the black ichor smeared across his blade, the soft glow of the rune mark now dimmed but still etched into his skin. His palm hurt. His head felt like it had been split open. His heart hadn't stopped racing.
But for the first time since arriving in this dying world—
He felt like he wasn't helpless anymore.
The realm wanted to devour him.
But now, he could bite back.