The bodies had barely dissolved when silence swallowed the ruins again.
Riven sat with his back against a half-shattered wall, blood dripping slowly from his hands. His knife rested across his knees. His chest rose and fell in shallow, controlled breaths.
The hunger lingered. It always lingered.
Every Devour left him sharper, faster, stronger—
And emptier.
Like something inside him was being hollowed out bit by bit, replaced with a gnawing void that whispered for more.
More blood. More essence. More everything.
A faint crunch of boots across stone.
He didn't look up.
"You killed them," Seraphina's velvet voice said, smooth, amused. "All of them. Efficient. Brutal. No hesitation."
Riven's lips curved into a cold, humorless smirk. "They raised blades. They got what they wanted."
Seraphina crouched down in front of him, crimson hair spilling forward, emerald eyes gleaming like jewels. Her curves shifted with the motion, a display that would've broken weaker men's focus.
Riven didn't flinch. Didn't even blink.
Her smile widened. "Mmm. Cold to the bone. You're starting to intrigue me, little Devourer."
He said nothing, just wiped the blood from his knife, his gaze steady.
The silence stretched until finally she straightened, her voice playful again.
"But…" she purred, "you can't keep burning yourself like this. The hunger will eat you alive long before the monsters do."
Riven finally glanced at her. His voice was flat, sharp. "Then I'll eat it first."
For a second, Seraphina's laughter rang out rich and genuine, echoing in the fog. She shook her head, her crimson hair dancing like flame.
"Oh, darling… you really don't know when to stop."
Hours passed.
The Gate pulsed faintly in the distance, the crimson fog shifting. Monsters prowled the edges, but none drew near yet.
Riven tried again to summon the stolen spark.
He focused, his veins burning. The faint ember flickered across his palm… then sputtered out, leaving nothing but pain.
Blood dripped from his nose. His chest clenched.
He doubled over, coughing crimson onto the stone.
The Devour mark across his arm glowed faintly, cracks of light running along his skin like veins of molten iron.
For a heartbeat, his vision blacked out.
When it cleared, Seraphina was there.
Not touching. Just watching, arms folded beneath her chest, her head tilted slightly.
Her voice was quieter now, less playful. "That's the price, boy. Devour doesn't give freely. It takes. It wants to unmake you. Piece by piece."
Riven wiped the blood from his mouth with the back of his hand. His eyes were sharp, cold, unyielding.
"I won't break."
Seraphina studied him, her lips curving into a slow smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.
"Perhaps," she murmured. "Or perhaps you'll become something worse than the beasts we're fighting."
They didn't speak again.
The fog thickened. The air grew heavy with the promise of another trial.
And Riven sat there in silence, his body trembling from the hunger, his mind sharpening with a single thought:
I will master this. Even if it kills me.
-- to test his fire spark and control the hunger.
The Gate never slept.
The crimson fog rolled endlessly, swallowing the broken ruins in its shifting embrace. Somewhere in the dark, monsters moved.
Riven moved with them.
Knife in hand, back low, steps silent. His breath was steady, his eyes cold. Every sound, every flicker of movement in the mist was drawn into his awareness.
Behind him, Seraphina trailed lazily, her emerald eyes glinting with faint amusement. She didn't bother hiding her presence.
"Most would rest," she murmured, her voice smooth as velvet. "But here you are, hunting. Bleeding yourself against scraps. Tell me, little Devourer—" she tilted her head, crimson hair spilling across one shoulder, "—are you stubborn, or simply desperate?"
Riven didn't answer.
He spotted movement.
A small beast skulked across the broken stones—wolf-shaped, its flesh half-rotted, glowing veins pulsing beneath its hide. One of the weaker ones.
Perfect.
Riven crouched low, waiting. The monster padded closer, sniffing the air, jaws slick with dark saliva.
When it lunged, he moved.
Steel flashed. His knife sank into its throat, his other hand gripping its skull. Devour surged through his veins, the hunger flaring.
The beast convulsed, essence ripping free in streams of burning energy, funneling into him.
Riven's body shuddered. His veins lit faintly. The hunger screamed for more.
But this time—
He fought it.
He clenched his teeth, forcing the flow to slow, to trickle instead of flood. The void inside him howled, clawed, demanded—
Control it.
His breath came ragged, his vision swimming. The monster's essence threatened to spill wild, tearing through his flesh.
But Riven anchored it. Forced it into the Devour mark, into the ember of stolen flame.
The spark flared faintly.
A flicker of fire danced across his palm. Small. Fragile. But real.
The beast's body fell limp.
Riven staggered, blood dripping from his nose again, but he didn't collapse. Not this time.
Behind him, Seraphina clapped softly, the sound mocking yet strangely approving.
"Well, well. Look at you, learning to leash your hunger. How precious."
Riven wiped the blood with the back of his hand, eyes steady. "It's not enough."
Seraphina's smile deepened, sharp and knowing. "It never is."
The hunt continued.
Hour by hour, Riven cut down the smaller beasts, each fight draining, each kill feeding the void. He grew faster. Sharper. The ember of flame grew a fraction steadier.
But every victory left him trembling. Every spark burned him from the inside. Every fragment of essence deepened the hunger.
He could feel it.
The void wasn't shrinking. It was growing.
Every Devour only widened the hollow inside him.
And yet—
He refused to stop.
By the time dawn's faint light pressed against the Gate, Riven stood surrounded by the ashes of beasts, his knife dripping, his body broken but unbowed.
Seraphina leaned against a pillar, watching with a faint smirk.
"You'll kill yourself at this pace," she murmured.
Riven's gaze was cold, unyielding.
"Then I'll die stronger than I was yesterday."
The hunger whispered. The ember flickered.
And Riven walked forward, into the fog again.