Its eyes opened.
Kael froze, breath caught halfway in his throat. The colossal silhouette rising from the ruins behind him unfurled like a cloak soaked in darkness. It wasn't a creature of flesh. Its form rippled—fluid, smoke-like—yet shaped by intention, as if the void itself were trying to mimic the outline of a living thing.
Two pale, crescent-shaped eyes hovered inside the shifting shadow.
Kael staggered back, heartbeat hammering in his ears. "No… no no no—"
The shadow bent forward without touching the ground, sliding closer with silent weight. It moved like poured ink, pulling itself along by tendrils that dissolved a moment after forming.
It wasn't attacking.
It was… studying him.
"Right. Perfect. A giant horror cloud staring at me. Exactly what I needed." His voice cracked, but sarcasm was the only shield he had left.
The shadow tilted its head, if it had a head. Its eyes brightened faintly, like twin moons rising from a black sea.
A chill ran through Kael's bones.
Not fear—something deeper, instinctive.
Recognition.
As if something inside him whispered:
It knows you.
A thin, whispering vibration clawed at the edges of his hearing. Not quite a voice, not quite thought. A feeling. A resonance. The same vibration he felt when the beast's core burrowed into him.
The air thickened, compressing around his lungs. Kael stumbled backward again until his heel caught on a jagged stone. He fell, sliding onto his elbows.
The shadow paused, watching him from above like a moonless sky leaning down to inspect its reflection.
"Stay back," Kael rasped. He reached for anything—broken metal, rock—something he could swing.
His hand closed around a jagged metal shard.
He raised it—
—and the shadow immediately recoiled.
Not in fear.
In rejection.
Like it refused to be touched by the thing in his hand.
The shard glimmered faintly—charged with leftover energy from the dying beast he devoured.
Kael blinked once. Twice.
"You're… avoiding the energy? Why? What are you…?"
The shadow shifted, rippling faster. Its form condensed, muscles of darkness coiling within it. The air crackled for an instant—and then the shadow thrust itself forward.
Kael swung the shard—
—but the shadow didn't collide with him.
It passed straight through the metal, through his arms, through his chest.
Into him.
Cold.
Colder than death.
A sensation like being plunged into a frozen ocean shot through Kael's body. Darkness poured into his lungs, into his spine, threading between his ribs like living ink. His vision blurred, warped—and then snapped back into brutal clarity.
He collapsed onto his hands and knees, choking.
His hands stung.
They weren't his hands anymore.
Lines of black, thin as veins, snaked across his skin. A faint shimmer—like liquid shadow—clung to his fingers, each movement trailing a smoky whisper.
Kael swallowed a scream.
"What… did you… do to me?"
No answer.
But he felt something inside him.
Moving.
Curling.
Clinging to the walls of his soul.
A pulse of emotion—not his—flashed through him. Something cold. Hungry. Curious.
And then a whisper echoed in his ears, not sound but sensation:
DEVOURING SHADOW — HOST ACCEPTED.
Kael's breath hitched.
"You've got to be kidding me…"
The shadows around his feet began curling inwards, like they were folding toward him. His own outline stretched unnaturally across the ground, as if pulled by invisible fingers.
And then—
A second pulse.
Much louder.
DEVOURING SHADOW — ACTIVE.
His own shadow peeled off the ground.
It rose upward in a wavering pillar, twisting into a semi-humanoid shape. Still faceless, but defined—sharp limbs like ink-dipped blades, a torso swirling like smoke in a storm.
The creature stared at Kael with pale, hollow eyes that reminded him of the void he'd barely escaped.
Kael backed away on instinct, but the creature didn't move.
It only watched.
Then, slowly, it bent forward… lowering itself until its head was level with Kael's chest.
A gesture.
A bond.
A submission.
As if saying:
You are the host. I am the blade.
Kael let out a shaky breath. "This is insane. All of it."
The shadow tilted its head. Its chest rippled. Then—with a fluid motion—it stepped back into his own shadow on the ground and disappeared inside it, merging seamlessly.
Silence.
Kael stared at the spot where it vanished.
"…So you're just going to live in my shadow now. Fantastic."
He pressed a trembling hand to his forehead. Sweat slicked his skin, despite the cold.
The ground shook.
A sharp crack echoed through the air—much closer than before.
Kael snapped his head up.
Across the Rift Zone, a distant ridge collapsed in a spray of dust. Something enormous moved through the debris—massive, lumbering, each step shaking the earth.
He couldn't see it clearly, but the shape was wrong. Too many limbs. Too many joints. The silhouette flickered like reality couldn't agree on what it was supposed to be.
Another beast?
No.
Bigger.
Much bigger.
Kael swallowed.
"Great. I can't even process the shadow thing, and there's already new nightmare fuel coming straight toward me."
He pushed himself to his feet, legs trembling.
The air vibrated—like a drumbeat shaking the world.
The creature's distorted form crested the ridge.
And then its face came into view.
Its mouth opened.
Not to roar—
but to speak.