The horizon itself bent inward.
Je's breath stilled as the maw's silence became sound — not a roar, not a voice, but a resonance that shook through marrow and thought alike. His very shadow trembled beneath its weight.
— Child of Hunger.
The words were not spoken. They were etched into him, branded across his veins. Je staggered, clutching his chest as his heartbeat faltered, then fell into rhythm with something ancient.
The System screamed static.
> [Error Detected.]
[External Override.]
[Protocol 7: Null Interference.]
For the first time, the interface bled. Crimson glyphs bled down his vision, symbols that weren't meant for mortal eyes. The System was not in control here.
The maw pulsed again, galaxies folding and collapsing into its waiting wound. Je saw civilizations unravel in its wake, their screams dissolving into silence before they could even echo.
Yet when its whisper returned, it was soft. Almost intimate.
— You are not chosen. You are claimed.
Je fell to his knees, the void beneath him cracking like thin glass. His hunger screamed to answer, to devour, to belong — yet another part of him resisted. The part that still remembered fear. The part that still remembered choice.
The System's glyphs steadied, cutting through the crimson.
> [Warning: Claim Rejected.]
[System Retaliation Initiated.]
But Je knew the truth. The maw was no enemy. The maw was no ally. It was inevitability.
And inevitability… never lost.
---