Silence.
Then — a heartbeat. Not Kael's.
It echoed inside his skull, heavy and hollow, like a god knocking from within. His hand still burned where the fragment touched skin. Each pulse made the mark spread — thin, black lines tracing his veins, drawing symbols older than speech.
> [Status Update: Contamination Threshold — 3%]
[Foreign Essence detected.]
[Advisory: Separate from Source or face absorption.]
Kael tried to open his hand. He couldn't. The shard had melted into his palm, its edges dissolving into lightless ash.
The System hissed, static crawling through the void:
> [Correction Unavailable.]
[Host synchronization in progress.]
[Warning: Entity within fragment… awakening.]
He staggered. The world bent around him. Planets flickered out. Stars turned to whispers.
Then came a voice — deep, calm, yet terrible in its familiarity:
"You took what was mine, little vessel. Do you remember the first hunger?"
Kael froze. His throat closed. Somewhere within the void, he saw it — a silhouette standing over galaxies long dead. Wings of dust. Eyes like collapsed suns.
"You devour to survive. I devoured to exist. The difference, Kael… is that you still believe there's a choice."
The figure reached toward him — not with hate, but recognition.
Kael's vision blurred.
> [New Trait Acquired: Echo of the First Devourer]
[Effect: +Unknown Power / -Unknown Sanity]
He collapsed. The void screamed without sound. And for a moment, the stars blinked — as if remembering the one who once consumed them.
---