In the distance, trees swayed violently—something massive was moving through them. The forest held its breath.
The alpha goblin paused, ears twitching toward the source of the deafening roar. In that split second of hesitation, Jed drove his sharpened stone toward its wrist, trying to break free. But the alpha roared and hurled Jed like a ragdoll into a tree.
Everything went black.
...
When Jed woke up, sunlight pierced the canopy above. His ribs, which had been shattered, and even his neck—previously bent at an unnatural angle—were somehow… healed. No pain. No wounds.
But confusion flooded his thoughts.
He slowly crawled out from beneath broken branches, staying hidden beneath the trees. He didn't want to alert any crimson monkeys that might still be nearby. A trail of chaos lay ahead: claw marks, shattered bark, broken ground.
Then he saw it.
The corpse of the alpha goblin, lying dismembered in a pool of blood. One arm was gone, half its face crushed, and its massive body had been ripped open. Something had killed it—and it wasn't Jed.
Yet the purple glowstone still pulsed within its chest, untouched.
Cautiously, Jed crept forward, heart racing, and pulled the stone free. Its warmth throbbed against his fingers. He turned and made his way back to camp, only to find it ruined by the storm. The structure had collapsed, but some cooked meat remained, soggy but edible.
As he ate in silence, his eyes locked onto the purple glowstone in his palm.
What kind of power does this hold…?
Driven by hunger for strength—and perhaps vengeance—Jed swallowed the stone.
Agony followed.
His body seized. Veins lit up in vibrant purple, glowing beneath his skin like molten lightning. His muscles spasmed. Bones cracked. But Jed didn't scream. He bit down on his lip, eyes wide in torment, until he passed out.
...
When he awoke, an eerie calm surrounded him.
His vision had sharpened—he could see monkeys in the trees, hiding, watching. Details he never noticed before stood out in crisp clarity. His limbs were leaner, taller, stronger. He clenched his fists.
Power.
That glowstone had changed him—redefined him.
But as he stood there in the ruins of what once was his camp, a realization clawed at the back of his mind:
He was no longer the same boy who woke up in this world days ago.
And maybe… he was never going back.
Still, there was one clue left—the ancient stone with a matching symbol to that red paper the beggar gave him. His only connection to home.
Now, with his humanity beginning to fade, and a monster slowly being born within, Jed vowed to survive.
Not just to live—but to evolve.