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 van tore through the city streets, headlights slicing through dust and falling ash. Devourers turned at the sound, rising from the debris like shadows solidifying.


"Hold tight," the driver growled, accelerating.


The first Devourer slammed against the hood, flopping over the windshield like a boneless sack.


"They're coming out of the ground!" someone shouted.


Two more latched onto the side of the vehicle—long limbs scraping metal, snarling through the windows.


The agent in the passenger seat rolled down the window and opened fire— BLAM BLAM BLAM!


The bullets sparked against the creature's hide. The Devourer flinched, but didn't fall.


He emptied another clip. The Devourer jerked, froze in place—but then twitched again, snarling.


"Okay, so we're stunning them. Great. That's all we're doing," he muttered, backing into his seat.


"Okay, that's our cue to panic," someone muttered.


"Move," Aria said, throwing the back door open.


She climbed halfway out and grabbed a metal baseball bat from the trunk—old, dented, clearly used more times than the agents would like to imagine.


The Devourer on the side window reared back, hissing.


Aria slammed the bat into its face. The thing flew off with a yelp and bounced down the street.


"…Did she just—" one agent started.


Another on the roof began tearing at the van's armor. Aria pulled herself up just enough to swing overhead, slamming it square in the jaw.


It rolled off the van like a stunned cat.


"She just did," another muttered, staring at her.


Aria twisted back inside just as another Devourer lunged at the back bumper.


"Keep stunning them!" she barked. "I'll do the rest!"


"Shouldn't we be protecting you?" one agent asked.


"I dunno," she said, swinging again and knocking another Devourer off its perch. "You guys kinda suck at it."


They pulled up to the ruins of a wide-open plaza. Devourers lay scattered in every direction—black limbs twisted and smoking.


Kael sat in the middle, unmoving, markings faintly glowing across his skin. He was surrounded by silence.


The agents stepped out cautiously, scanning the scene.


Just the aftermath—and him, in the center.


"...Is it just me," one agent whispered, "or are we officially outclassed by a high school dropout with a metal bat and a memory-loss case?"


Chapter 12 - back into the fire