Rey stared at the dirt floor of his shelter, tracing the grooves in the soil with the tip of his bone-blade.
It had been a full day since he'd seen the human-like tracks. Since he'd heard the scream echoing from the crater. And since that unsettling sensation—that he wasn't alone—had taken root in his mind.
Even now, he couldn't rest.
His traps hadn't been triggered. His cave was well hidden, buried beneath a tangled wall of roots and camouflaged by fallen leaves and stones. But a predator didn't always need to break traps.
Some predators watched. Waited.
And Rey… was growing tired of waiting.
He packed his gear carefully, slipping his weapons into loops he'd sewn into his clothes. His spider-silk whip coiled neatly at his side, the obsidian spear strapped to his back. He smeared a new blend of moss, ash, and crushed insect shells over his skin—it masked scent better than anything he'd used before.
Then he left the shelter, covering the entrance completely.
Today, he was going to hunt the hunter.
---
He followed no specific trail. The jungle near the crater had changed slightly overnight. Branches were broken—too cleanly for any beast. Mud was scraped away in straight lines. And several trees had strange carvings on their bark. Circles. Vertical lines. A language?
Or a warning?
As he crept deeper into the forest, the trees thinned. The soil turned dry, cracked like burned parchment. Ash blew across the ground in the wind.
He paused.
There.
A single footprint. Booted. Heavy. Pressed deep.
Not fresh, but recent.
And… next to it—another print. Clawed. Larger.
Two things had been here. One human. One monster.
Were they fighting? Hunting together?
Rey moved slowly, senses sharp. His breath steady.
He came to a clearing—circular, unnatural. The trees around it had been cut cleanly, not broken. In the center was a crude stone marker. A grave?
He approached with his whip ready.
At the marker's base was a torn strip of skin—grayish, not human. Probably from one of the larger monsters. But it had writing etched into it.
Runes. Burning slightly with faint blue light.
He didn't understand the language. But he felt something… old. Heavy. As if the air itself was thicker here.
Suddenly, a voice spoke from the trees.
> "You walk like prey, but your eyes burn like a predator."
Rey spun around, bone-blade drawn.
A figure stepped out from behind a tree. Human-shaped. Taller than Rey. Clad in black robes woven from a strange, shimmering material. His face was hidden beneath a hood, but two glowing eyes stared out.
> "It's true, then," the man said. "There is a human in this realm."
Rey didn't speak.
> "You don't belong here," the man continued. "And yet… your blood awakened something in the ruins. The temple stirred."
Rey took a step back. "Who are you?"
The man smiled.
> "A shadow. A servant. A memory of the true Abyss."
> "What do you want from me?"
The shadowed figure's expression turned serious.
> "I want nothing. But they… they will."
Before Rey could respond, the man raised his hand and vanished—melted into smoke, as if he were never real.
Rey stood frozen.
The jungle was silent again.
But now… the silence felt different. As if everything—every creature, every shadow—was holding its breath.
He turned and ran, slipping between trees, retracing his steps until he reached his shelter. He reinforced every trap. Buried every scent.
He didn't sleep that night.
Because now he knew something terrifying.
He wasn't just being hunted.
He had been noticed.
And in the Abyss… that was far more dangerous.
---