The forest had changed.
Seth didn't know how, but he could feel it in his blood — something in the way the trees leaned, in how the ground whispered underfoot, in the stillness that pressed down on his shoulders like wet cloth. Every breath felt watched.
The Witherpine Forest had always been cursed, but now… now it felt alive.
He kept running.
Branches slapped his face. Thorns ripped at his legs. His heartbeat pounded louder than the rustling leaves behind him.
He didn't dare stop.
[Warning: Hostile pursuit confirmed. Relic-tuned presence detected at extreme range.]
A glance behind revealed no torches. No howling knights. No barked commands.
Just silence.
Which meant they were using tracking relics.
Or worse—scrying.
He pushed harder, lungs screaming.
Seth stumbled into a clearing ringed by skeletal trees — their trunks bent backwards, as if they'd tried to flee whatever once stood at the center.
He stopped only because he had to.
His legs trembled. His breath rasped. His head pounded with static behind his eyes. Every muscle in his body buzzed from the aftershock of Red Vein.
He dropped to one knee and pulled open his system screen.
[Status — Seth Virel]
Race: Human (Unstable)
Level: 1
Health: 68%
Stamina: 7%
Mana: 14%
Corruption Strain: 2%
Active Traits:
— Ravenous Core (Passive)
— Red Vein (Active – cooldown: 19 mins)
— Burning Memory (Locked)
He exhaled slowly.
Still alive.
But barely.
"I need cover," he muttered. "A cave. A tree hollow. Anything."
He scanned the clearing, hands on his knees. The fog was creeping in fast again — unnatural, thick, and cold. He could no longer see the edge of the trees. Shadows pooled beneath their branches like ink, and the air tasted faintly of sulfur.
A distant boom echoed behind him.
He turned.
The clouds over the Hollow pulsed blue again. Lightning arced across the sky, and a silhouette rose within the crackling light — seven feet tall, draped in chains, haloed by runes.
The Ashbrand.
It's tracking me.
He didn't know how, but it had his scent. His corruption. Maybe both.
And it wouldn't stop until he was dead.
Seth bolted again, instincts driving him southeast — away from the sigil, deeper into the wild.
The ground sloped sharply. Roots tore at his feet. He half-ran, half-fell, until he hit the remnants of a path — once paved, now shattered and overgrown. Old moss-covered stones stretched between the trees in a winding arc.
Something about them hummed beneath his boots.
Relic stone.
Wards.
He followed the path, barely able to keep upright. The deeper he went, the quieter the forest became — like something was sucking the sound out of the world.
Then he saw it.
A ruined temple.
Or what remained of one.
Its roof had collapsed. Vines strangled the archways. Half the floor had fallen into a shallow sinkhole, revealing a hidden chamber below. Pillars leaned at wrong angles, cracked and blackened. A broken symbol was carved into a stone disc at the entrance — a fang inside a ring.
Seth didn't stop to wonder.
He stumbled down the collapsed steps and ducked beneath the fallen arch.
Inside, it was cool and dry.
And the pressure in the air changed.
[Warning: You are entering a dormant relic zone.]
[Designation: Unknown. Threat Level: Inactive.]
[Relic energy detected. Echo resonance beginning…]
Seth collapsed against the nearest wall, chest heaving.
The silence was near total.
And yet… his blood hummed. The closer he sat to the cracked altar at the chamber's center, the more he felt it — a pull. Like a whisper too quiet to hear, but still there.
He crawled toward the altar.
It was stone — simple, unmarked, save for a single shallow groove in the shape of a fang. Faint lines glowed between the stones, like dried blood reactivating beneath his presence.
He reached out, hesitating.
Then placed his palm against the altar.
Pain shot through his arm. Not sharp — deep. Ancient. Not from the altar, but from within him.
The system flared.
[Relic Signature Detected – Dormant]
Name: Vestige Fang
Type: Minor (Legacy-bound)
Compatibility Rating: 67%
Status: Unclaimed
Warning: Memory Lock – Partial Access Granted
Consume Relic? [Y/N]
Seth's hand trembled.
"I'm already being hunted," he muttered. "What's one more sin?"
He clenched his jaw.
Y.
He bit down on the fragment of the altar.
The moment the stone touched his tongue, his vision went white.
A battlefield, burning. Red banners torn by wind. Stone-faced warriors kneeling before a black obelisk. A woman — her face masked by bone — raised a relic dagger, carved with fangs.
"Eat the fang. Become the maw. We are not the first."
Then screaming. Dozens. Hundreds. Devourers. Twisting. Failing. Becoming something else.
Seth jolted backward, hands clutching his head. His spine arched. Blood boiled.
He screamed through clenched teeth.
The system screamed back.
[Relic Consumed: Vestige Fang]
New Trait Available – Select One:
• Fang Pulse (Active): Launch a short-range shockwave that staggers relic-tuned targets
• Echo Maw (Passive): Chance to siphon mana with successful melee strikes
• Vestigial Bind (Passive): Grants immunity to low-tier mental relic effects
He collapsed to the floor.
Sweating. Twitching.
And smiling through the pain.
The Devourer's path wasn't just survival anymore.
It was evolution.