There is a truth buried beneath humanity’s pain—older than memory, older than the stars.

Long ago, something cracked in the world.
And through that crack, they came.

Devourers.
Not beasts. Not gods. But ancient forces that feed on what we hold most sacred—our emotions.
Fear. Rage. Grief. Regret.
These are not weaknesses. They are currency. And we’ve been feeding them for centuries, without ever knowing.

With every heartbreak, they grow stronger.
With every war, they become bolder.
They are not trying to kill humanity.
They are trying to hollow it out.

But the balance was never meant to be so one-sided.
There exists a rare thread in the tapestry—neither prey nor predator. A paradox. A scar where feeling should be. A soul unclaimed.

Kael.

No memories. No emotions. No ties to the forces that hunger.
He is the one thing the Devourers cannot taste—and the one thing they fear.

As the veil between the world of men and monsters begins to tear, Kael becomes the quiet fulcrum of everything to come.
Not because he chooses to be.
But because he already was.

In his silence lies the answer to humanity’s survival... or its final offering.

And when the truth finally wakes—when the world remembers what it was never meant to know—it will beg to feel nothing ever again.

“The Devourers rise when we break.
But Kael… he was already broken

The city groaned beneath a sky smeared with ash and fire. Dark tendrils pierced the earth like claws, ripping through concrete. Screams echoed. Sirens wailed. The lights of collapsing buildings flickered in the smoke.


Inside the house, the agents moved like a machine under strain. Voices overlapped, screens glitched, and command lines lit up in red.


"Containment's gone. No response from Alpha team."


Marx stood still at the center of it all, jaw tight.


"We move them," he said, without raising his voice. "Kael and Aria—get them out now."


Kael stood by the window, watching a trail of smoke coil into the sky.


He tracked the movement of shadows between buildings—too fast for civilians. Too deliberate. Devourers.


Behind him, boots creaked on the floorboards. Agents.


Another voice added, "Prep him. Full secure transfer."


Then came Aria. Her tone was sharp, already on edge. "Move where?"


"To the northern safe zone. Outside city range."


"I said no," she repeated, stepping in front of the doorway. "You're not taking him anywhere."


One of them moved forward. "Miss Aria—"


"You think I'm going to let you drag him off again like some experiment? He's not a thing. He's my brother."


"No, you're trying to control him." Her voice cracked just slightly, but she didn't back down. "You don't even know what's happening to him. You just want to contain it."


Kael's head shifted slightly in their direction.


The argument was pulling every gaze, every thought.


Four agents in the hallway. Two focused on Aria. One reaching for his earpiece. One with his back to the stairs.


He glanced toward the door. He didn't hesitate.


"We have them both?" Marx asked without turning.


A nod. "Yes, sir. Kael boarded before her."


Aria sat stiffly, arms crossed tight against her chest, staring out the window. The firelight outside painted her face in gold and orange.


Kael walked steadily down a cracked road, his boots crunching debris. The sound of sirens and destruction faded behind him.


The markings on his hand flickered to life—dim lines spiraling along his skin. They pulsed once, then faded.


Buildings sagged. Devourers shifted like silent towers, moving without sound.


He had seen the window. The distraction. The exit.


Chapter 10 - The break