Coker didn't know how long he screamed.
His throat burned. His muscles shook. His fists were buried deep in the earth, and the world felt like it was screaming back.
Something had snapped.
He wasn't the same boy anymore.
He could feel it — not in his skin, but in the space between his bones. In his blood. In his breath.
It was awake now.
The Hunger.
---
The stars were no longer silent.
Above the village, in the sky once calm and endless, strange lights began to move. Not like stars, but like eyes — blinking, watching.
They pulsed with a strange rhythm. One blinked. Then another. Then all of them at once. Like something ancient was finally paying attention again.
Some of the older villagers locked their doors. Others wept quietly into their pillows. Some just sat on their porches, staring into the night, whispering prayers they hadn't said since childhood.
Mina couldn't sleep. She sat by the window, staring out into the dark, clutching a wooden carving of her brother — back when he still smiled.
She didn't understand what was happening. But she knew something was wrong.
Coker hadn't come home.
And the world felt colder without him.
---
He stood at the edge of the forest.
His shirt was torn. His back ached. His arms were glowing faintly, like fire lived under his skin.
He took a breath, and the trees bent slightly forward.
It wasn't magic. It wasn't wind.
It was *him*.
He stepped into the woods.
Every step he took, the ground blackened. The leaves curled. Birds fell silent. Bugs fled. Even the shadows seemed to slither away.
And still, he walked.
Because the hunger inside wasn't just a feeling anymore — it was a direction.
It pulled him.
It needed him.
And he needed answers.
He passed stones with old markings. Trees with faces carved into them. A broken swing hung from a branch, swaying slowly as if it had been waiting for him.
Somewhere, deep in the woods, something laughed.
---
Far beneath the earth, in the prison built by forgotten gods, the chains around the Devourer's throne were nearly gone.
One more link.
One more step.
And it would rise.
Dust fell from the ceiling of the dark chamber. The stone walls groaned. A slow heartbeat echoed in the shadows.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
---
In the village, Drell was running.
He had seen the lights in the sky. He had felt the tremor in the earth. The mark on his arm — the one he was born with but never understood — was burning.
He had to find Coker.
Not to stop him.
But maybe… to help him.
Because if the stories were true…
If the Hunger really was awake…
Then Coker wasn't a threat.
He was a weapon.
And something was coming to claim him.
---
Deep in the woods, Coker found the stone circle.
Old. Ancient. Dead trees surrounding it like broken teeth.
In the center, a single figure sat cross-legged, robed in black feathers, face hidden by a mask of bone.
"You've come far, little spark," the figure said without looking up.
"Who are you?" Coker asked, his voice hoarse.
"The one who remembers."
"Remembers what?"
The figure slowly rose.
"The last time the Hunger woke. The last time it chose a child. The last time the world burned."
Coker's heart pounded. "Is that what I am? A fire?"
"No," the figure said. "You are the match."
Then it attacked.
Not with a weapon — but with words.
Every syllable slammed into Coker's mind like thunder. Visions, memories, screams. All not his… yet somehow familiar.
He saw towers falling. Oceans boiling. A boy crying in a burning field. Then silence.
He fell to his knees, crying out.
"You will lose yourself," the masked one said. "You will forget your name. You will become *it*."
"No," Coker whispered.
"You are a vessel. That is all."
"I said NO!"
A blast erupted from his chest. Red and black light shot out in all directions, throwing the masked one back.
The forest shook. Birds screamed. The earth split beneath him.
Coker stood.
Eyes glowing.
Chains broken.
And the Hunger roared.
Not in his mind.
Not in his blood.
But through the sky itself.
A howl so loud it shattered tree trunks and cracked stones. A hunger that was older than death.
"I'm not a vessel," he said. "I'm the storm."
Lightning cracked across the sky.
The masked figure vanished into smoke.
And far away, across mountains and oceans, beings older than gods opened their eyes.
Because the Hunger had awakened.
And the world would never be the same again.