The cold chains bit into Kai's wrists, heavy and thick. They clanked with every step he took down the long stone corridor, leading him closer to the cliff edge, closer to the pit. A frigid draft snaked through the passage, carrying the metallic tang of old blood and the faint, sweet scent of something burning. His breath plumed in the dim light, each exhalation a cloud of dread, a silent plea swallowed by the echoing stone. The air grew heavier with each stride, pressing down on him, suffocating him with the weight of his fate.
He kept his head down, the pain throbbing through his body with an insistent rhythm. It was a symphony of agony: a dull ache in his head from a forgotten blow, sharp stabs in his ribs, and the persistent throb of his left eye. That eye was a raw, tender mass beneath his brow, swollen shut and useless. His lip was split, and he could feel the sticky warmth of dried blood on his chin, a constant reminder of the beatings he'd endured. His ribs probably cracked; every shallow breath sent a jolt of agony through his side, each movement a fresh torment.
The voices from earlier still echoed in his mind, cruel and sharp, replaying themselves like a broken record.
"Disgrace."
"He couldn't even tame an F-rank beast. What a joke."
"We wasted ten years on him. Just throw him away."
That last part came from his own father, the words clipped and precise, spoken without a flicker of emotion or hesitation. It was the deepest cut, a wound that festered worse than any physical injury. Kai clenched his jaw, the bitter taste of blood mixing with the bile rising in his throat. He had given them everything, all of himself, for a decade, only to be cast aside. The betrayal was a cold, hard knot in his gut.
Ahead, the passage opened onto a wide, circular platform carved into the mountain. The wind whipped around them here, biting at his exposed skin, a chilling premonition of the fall to come. A gaping hole, impossibly deep, sat in the middle, a black maw in the earth, surrounded by glowing red symbols that pulsed with a malevolent energy, like a hungry eye.
The air reeked of sulfur and decay, a stench that clawed at his nostrils, assaulting his senses. Even without seeing the bottom, Kai knew what it was: The Abyssal Pit. The place where failures went to die, a grim tomb for those deemed unworthy of the Draven Clan's legacy. It was a final, inescapable destination, the ultimate dishonor.
Two armored guards flanked him, their grips tight on his chains, their gauntleted hands cold against his skin. Their faces were impassive beneath their visored helmets, like stone statues, devoid of any humanity. Behind them stood a group of robed figures, the members of the Draven Clan's Inner Council. Their faces, usually stern and composed, now held a faint, almost gleeful satisfaction, their eyes glinting with a perverse sense of justice.
At their center, just a few steps from the pit's edge, stood Alera.
His childhood friend. His betrothed. His first love.
She wore white Initiation Robes, the fabric rustling softly in the wind, pristine and untouched. Her golden hair, usually a cascade around her shoulders, was pulled back in an intricate braid, gleaming in the pale light like spun gold. Her beast spirit, a magnificent Moonlight Lynx, sleek and silver, sat poised beside her, its emerald eyes fixed on the pit, its body tense. She didn't look at him, not once. Her gaze remained fixed on the churning emptiness, her profile unreadable, betraying no hint of the years they had shared, no sign of the promises they had made. Her silence was louder than any accusation.
Kai stumbled as one of the guards yanked his chain, pulling him forward roughly. "Move, trash," the man spat, his voice rough with contempt.
Kai regained his footing, breathing hard, his lungs burning. His heart pounded, a frantic drum against his ribs, but it wasn't fear anymore. The initial terror had faded, replaced by something else. Something else simmered deep inside him, a pressure, a pulse. Like something forgotten, buried deep beneath years of disappointment and ridicule, was finally waking up. A faint warmth, like embers stirring in a forgotten hearth, spread through his cold limbs, pushing back against the chill of the pit. It was a feeling he hadn't known in years, a tiny spark of defiance in the face of absolute despair.
His father, the clan patriarch and the strongest tamer in the region, stepped forward, his figure imposing even in the dim light. His beast, the formidable Stormbreak Falcon, circled high above, its immense wings casting fleeting shadows across the platform, like a silent, implacable judge. Its cry, a sharp, piercing sound, seemed to echo his father's cold judgment.
"Any final words?" the patriarch asked flatly, his voice devoid of any paternal warmth, a mere formality before his son's execution.
Kai slowly raised his head, the effort sending a fresh wave of pain through his neck, but he ignored it. His one good eye, red and swollen, met his father's cold, impassive gaze. A lifetime of unspoken resentments, of shattered hopes, of unfulfilled expectations, condensed into a single, defiant thought. "I hope you choke," he said quietly, his voice raspy but clear, carrying across the platform, a stark, unexpected challenge.
Gasps rippled across the platform. The Council members exchanged shocked glances, their placid expressions momentarily cracking. The guards tensed, gripping their weapons tighter. Such insolence was unheard of.
The next moment, the guard shoved him hard. Kai's feet slipped on the damp stone, sending him sprawling. For a second, he was airborne, a fleeting moment of weightlessness, of impossible freedom. Then gravity took hold, reclaiming him with brutal, unyielding force. The world blurred into spinning stone and sky as he fell, the faces on the platform shrinking rapidly above him, their shocked expressions turning into distant specks. The wind roared past his ears, a deafening shriek, snatching away his last breath, his last connection to the world above. He closed his eye, resigned to the inevitable.
Then darkness.
· · ─ ·✶· ─ · ·
The first impact knocked the wind out of him with a sickening thud. He hit rough rock, a jagged edge digging into his side, then rolled, a kaleidoscope of searing pain. He slammed into a lower ledge, the jolt reverberating through his already shattered body, every bone protesting, before finally crashing onto a mound of dried bones. He lay there gasping, every muscle screaming in protest, his ears ringing with a dull, persistent hum. Blood trickled from his nose, warm and metallic on his lip, mingling with the dust and grime. He tasted grit and rust, the grim flavors of his new reality.
Above him, the pit's mouth glowed faintly, a distant, mocking eye in the darkness. The symbols were already sealing, the light shrinking, slowly fading into nothing. A sense of finality settled over him, heavy and absolute. He was in. And no one, not a single soul, ever got out of the Abyssal Pit. This was his tomb.
Kai groaned and tried to sit up. His body screamed in protest, each movement a fresh agony that threatened to black him out. His chains had snapped during the fall, the broken links lying uselessly beside him, cold and irrelevant. But his limbs felt like jelly, unresponsive and heavy, refusing to obey his commands. He pushed through the pain, gritting his teeth. He had to move. He had to survive, if only out of spite.
Everything hurt. Every inch of his skin, every bone, every muscle. He felt like he had been put through a meat grinder.
He pushed himself up, leaning against a cold, damp wall. The rock was slick with moisture and something else, something slimy and foul that made his stomach churn. He looked around, his one good eye straining to pierce the gloom. Shadows stretched across the cavernous walls, shifting and dancing from some unknown source of light deeper within the abyss. It was a vast, echoing space, filled with a silence that was only broken by his own ragged breaths and the distant drip of water.
He saw bones—too many to count. They littered the ground in heaps, creating grotesque landscapes of death. Beast bones, massive and splintered, lay intertwined with smaller, more delicate human bones. Half-rotted corpses, still clad in tattered remnants of armor, lay sprawled in grotesque poses, their vacant eyes staring into the perpetual twilight. Broken weapons and shredded armor littered the ground, rust mingling with dust, testament to the many who had fallen before him. This was a graveyard, a true charnel house, a monument to despair.
A low growl echoed from deeper in the pit, a guttural sound that vibrated through the very rock beneath him, sending a tremor through his exhausted body. It was a sound of hunger, of malice, a primal threat. It wasn't human, and it wasn't the distant, echoing cries of the beasts he'd known above ground. This was something different, something ancient and twisted.
Kai forced himself to stand, swaying slightly, his vision swimming. He needed a weapon. Anything. His eyes scanned the grim landscape, searching desperately for something, anything he could use to defend himself. His hands closed around a broken spear shaft nearby, its tip splintered and useless. He tried to lift it, but his muscles trembled with the effort. He could barely manage it.
Then the growl came again, closer this time, accompanied by a wet sniffing sound. It was drawing nearer, its presence a palpable weight in the darkness. He turned, the broken spear held weakly in his shaking hands, and saw it.
A creature emerged from the shadows—dog-like, but larger than any bull he had ever seen, easily twice his height at the shoulder. Its skin was stretched tight over protruding bones, giving it a skeletal, starved appearance. Its eyes were milky white, blind and glazed, but it moved with an unnerving purpose, its head swiveling, as if sensing him through other means. Exposed ribs showed through its decaying flesh, and dried blood clung to its long, yellowed fangs, sharp as daggers.
A Hollow Fang. A failed beast, twisted and corrupted by the pit's dark energies, half-dead and half-mad. Something banished here, just like him. A fellow occupant of this living hell.
It stalked closer, its head low, sniffing the air, a line of foul drool dripping from its gaping maw, hitting the ground with a soft, disgusting plop. Its scent was putrid, a mix of death and decay, bile and something utterly alien. It was hungry.
Kai's grip tightened on the broken spear shaft, his knuckles white. He knew this was a futile gesture, but he wouldn't just lie down and die. Not after everything.
The beast snarled, a low, rumbling sound in its throat, then lunged. Its movements were surprisingly fast for such a creature, a blur of bone and raw power.
He braced himself for the impact, a desperate cry caught in his throat—
But something flashed in front of his eyes. A screen. Glowing blue. Hanging in the air like a projection, impossibly real, impossibly bright in the dim cavern, banishing the shadows around it.
[Beast Devourer System Initializing…]
[Status: User is at death threshold. Emergency Protocol triggered.]
[Do you wish to awaken the Forbidden Beast Devourer Class? Y/N]
He stared, stunned. His mind, dulled by pain and shock, struggled to process the words, the sudden, impossible appearance of this interface. A system? Here? Now?
The Hollow Fang snarled again, its fetid breath hot on his face, its fangs inches from his throat. It was a heartbeat away from tearing into him.
Kai didn't think; instinct took over, overriding logic and fear. He screamed, "YES!" The word tore from his throat, raw and desperate, a desperate plea to whatever strange power this was.
[Class Awakening: Success.]
[User: Kai Draven]
[Tamer Rank: SSS – Forbidden Tier]
[New Skill Unlocked: Devour Core (Active)]
[New Trait Gained: Beast Absorption]
[Warning: This class violates the Laws of Balance. You are now hunted.]
The screen vanished just as the beast leapt. Kai's body moved on instinct, a surge of adrenaline and something else—something warm and powerful—coursing through his veins. The broken spear shaft, useless a moment ago, jabbed forward with a force he didn't know he possessed, catching the Hollow Fang squarely in its milky eye. It howled, a guttural shriek of pain and rage, crashing into him. Its claws raked his chest, tearing through his tunic and scoring deep gashes across his skin, but the pain was distant, muted.
He rolled with the impact, pain flaring, but then, something clicked. An undeniable urge, a primal hunger, bloomed within him. It wasn't the hunger for food, but for something deeper, more fundamental. His hands, acting on their own, guided by an unknown impulse, grabbed the beast by its decaying throat.
His hands burned, not with pain, but with a strange, consuming heat that spread from his fingertips, enveloping the beast's neck. A force, invisible and potent, emanated from him.
[Devour Core – Activated.]
[Hollow Fang Core Absorbed.]
A burst of raw energy shot through him, searing and powerful, like liquid fire. It wasn't painful, but exhilarating. The beast convulsed, shuddered violently, its limbs thrashing for a moment, its growls dying in its throat. Then, impossibly, it crumbled into black ash, disintegrating before his eyes, vanishing like smoke into the cavern air, leaving only a faint, acrid smell that quickly dissipated.
Kai fell back, panting, staring at the empty space where the creature had been. His vision blurred, but not from pain this time. It was a different kind of sensation, a rush, a profound shift in his very being. The air tasted different, sharper, more vibrant.
[Level Up: 1 → 2]
[Beast Trait Gained: Hollow Instinct (Passive)]
[Beast Skill Gained: Rending Claw (Tier F)]
"What… the hell…" he whispered, his voice hoarse with disbelief and a dawning awe.
His wounds, the fresh gashes on his chest, began to itch. Then, to his astonishment, they began to seal. Fast. The deep cuts knitted together, the pain fading rapidly, leaving only a faint tingling sensation. In moments, the skin was whole again, leaving only faint, reddish lines. His breath came easier, the tightness in his chest easing. His headache receded.
His chest rose and fell, his breathing evening out, deep and steady. His heart was pounding, not from fear, but from the thrill of it all. The adrenaline, the unexpected power, the sheer impossibility of what had just happened. He felt a surge of strength, a clarity of mind he hadn't experienced in years. The warmth that had started as a faint spark now roared within him, a burning furnace of raw energy.
For the first time in years, stripped of his title, his clan, his very identity, cast into this pit of death…
He felt alive. More alive than he had ever been.
A smile—a small, bloody one, but undeniably a smile—tugged at his lips. A chilling, dangerous resolve settled deep within him.
· · ─ ·✶· ─ · ·
Far above, sealed behind glowing glyphs, the Council began to disperse, their solemn faces softening as they turned from the pit, their task completed.
Alera lingered. She stood at the edge, her gaze fixed on the now-sealed opening, a strange unease settling over her. Her Lynx growled uneasily, a low rumble in its chest, shifting on its paws and glancing nervously at the sealed pit. The air, though still, felt different to her, charged with a subtle, disquieting energy, a faint ripple that only those with strong beast bonds could perceive.
Something… something had just changed. She felt it in her bones, a ripple in the fabric of their world, a shift in the balance. It was unsettling, like a predator stirring from a long slumber.
"Kai…" she whispered, her voice barely a breath against the wind, a ghost of her former affection. A flicker of doubt, of something she couldn't quite name, crossed her features. A momentary hesitation.
But she turned away, her resolve hardening, pushing down the fleeting thought. What was done, was done. The seals closed fully, leaving no trace of the opening, no hint of the dark power that now stirred beneath.
· · ─ ·✶· ─ · ·
Below, in the crushing darkness of the Abyssal Pit, Kai stood alone. The system screen reappeared, its blue glow illuminating the grim surroundings, reflecting in his newly clear, unclouded eye.
[Welcome, Beast Devourer.]
[Your revenge begins now.]