The forest had never felt so alive.Each leaf,each root beneath his feet seemed to whisper, to breathe, to move.Zayn walked as if pulled forward, not by choice, but by instinct.His limbs no longer felt like his own.
He could hear everything.The rustling of birds settling in the trees.The skitter of insects in the underbrush.The heartbeat of something hiding two trees to his left.
He didn't look.He just moved past it.And whatever it was didn't dare follow.
[Wild Instinct - Passive Activated]
A floating message blinked inside his mind.Red, pulsing like the same color beneath his skin.
It wasn't just a dream.
The wolf had been real.
The power...was real.
He stopped by a shallow pond.His reflection flickered in the moonlight, and he stared.
Same dark hair.Same pale face.But The forest had never felt so alive.Each leaf,each root beneath his feet seemed to whisper,to breathe,to move.Zayn walked as if pulled forward,not by choice,but by instinct.His limbs no longer felt like his own.
He could hear everything.The rustling of birds settling in the trees.The skitter of insects in the underbrush.The heartbeat of something hiding two trees to his left.
He didn't look.He just moved past it.And whatever it was didn't dare follow.
[Wild Instinct Passive Activated]
A floating message blinked inside his mind.Red,pulsing like the same color beneath his skin.
It wasn't just a dream.
The wolf had been real.
The power...was real.
He stopped by a shallow pond.His reflection flickered in the moonlight,and he stared.
Same dark hair.Same pale face.But his eyes—they weren't the same.
They shimmered faintly.Glowing like embers submerged in blood.A quiet rage hummed behind them.Not loud.Not violent.Just...there.
A promise.
He touched the surface of the pond.The water didn't ripple.Instead,a faint red line slithered from his palm into the reflection like it was being drawn toward something deeper.
He yanked his hand back.
[Devourer Core Resonance Detected]
A small pain sparked behind his eye,sharp and blinding.Then gone.
Zayn stood up,breath shaky.
"I didn't ask for this," he whispered.
But the forest didn't care.
The trees leaned slightly toward him.
The ground felt warmer.
And the wind carried something back—a faint voice he didn't recognize,yet felt buried in his bones.
Consume
He turned sharply.
Nothing.
Only trees.
Only silence.
Only hunger.
---
When he returned to the academy dorms,the world felt too small.Too slow.Too fragile.
Every movement around him left an afterimage.
Every sound felt delayed.
The people around him?They weren't humans anymore.
They were resources.
And he hated that thought.
But he didn't reject it.
That night,as the stars faded above the academy tower,he stood by the window of his dorm room and watched shadows shift across the campus.
Somewhere out there,power called to him.
And his body was done pretending it didn't want it.
He opened his palm.
The red thread curled lazily in his skin like a sleeping snake.
His smile was faint.
Not because he felt joy.
But because he finally understood.
He was changing
And he didn't plan to stop it.