The dungeon reeked of blood.
It pooled across the cracked floor, thick and sticky under the dim flicker of the dying torches. The air hung heavy with it, iron and rot mixing into something that clawed at the throat.
Kael Veyne pressed a trembling hand against his ribs. Warm liquid seeped between his fingers, soaking through his torn fabric. Each breath he took came shallow and sharp, like swallowing broken glass.
Bodies littered the chamber floor. About thirty, maybe fifty. Hard to count when your vision kept blurring. Their spiritless eyes stared at nothing, reflecting cold stone and fading firelight. Some still clutched their weapons even in death, others lay in pieces.
He'd fought well. Carved through them with the power of a peak stage Primal Realm Lord, just one level shy of the Primal Warlord threshold. His daggers had sung their deadly song, and for a while, it seemed like enough. But it wasn't.
Unhurried footsteps echoed down the corridor. The sound of someone who knew the prey was already caught.
Kael's fingers tightened around his dagger hilts. The blades shook in his grip, slippery with blood, his own and theirs. His muscles screamed as he forced himself upright, legs threatening to buckle. Pain lanced through his torso with every movement he made.
But he refused to die on his knees.
"Lord Kael." The familiar voice cut through the silence like a knife through silk. "It's over."
Silver armor caught the torchlight as a figure stepped from the shadows. Darius Valmont. Once a brother-in-arms. Once a trusted friend.
The knight stood tall, hand resting on the pommel of his blade with practiced ease.
Behind him, dark shapes melted out of the darkness. Hooded figures in black leather, faces hidden. Members of the Silent Blades, Kael's own sect. His family.
Former family, rather.
"Traitors." Kael's voice came out rough, barely more than a rasp. He spat blood onto the stone. "You shouldn't have come yourself, Darius. Worried your dogs can't finish the job?"
Darius's expression didn't change. "I didn't want it to end this way."
"Then you should've tried harder."
A harsh laugh bubbled up from Kael's chest, wet and broken. It hurt, but he didn't care.
A woman emerged from the cluster of assassins, flame-red hair spilling over her dark robes. Evelyn Ashthorne. Her pale fingers lifted, and crimson runes sparked to life around them. The torches on the walls flared brighter, casting dancing shadows across her cold, beautiful face.
She was a Primal Warlord just like him. A Scarlet Mancer and the only member of the sect whose magic he'd never fully countered.
"You should've seen this coming," she said. Her voice held no anger or hatred. Just a cold finality, like someone reading an obituary.
The flames around her hand writhed and stretched, forming chains of pure fire. They lashed out faster than Kael could move.
Searing heat wrapped around his wrists and ankles. The chains bit deep, burning through flesh and grinding against bone. White-hot agony exploded through every nerve.
Kael's teeth clenched so hard he thought they'd crack. A scream built in his throat, but he choked it down. His daggers clattered to the ground, fingers too scorched to hold them.
His body convulsed, muscles locking up as the flames did their work. Each breath became a battle. The chains tightened, spreading frost through his veins even as they burned.
Evelyn lowered her hand, the spell holding steady. "Not the cleanest execution I've done, but it'll do."
Kael's vision swam. Darkness crept in at the edges. His thoughts raced, frantic and fading. 'Think. There has to be a way out. Think—'
Darius's boots scraped against stone as he approached. "You made powerful people nervous, Lord Kael. Should've stayed in the shadows where you belonged."
"And you..." Kael forced the words through clenched teeth. "Should've lied better."
For just a moment, Darius hesitated. His eyes flickered with something that might've been regret.
Kael took that opportunity and moved.
He threw his body forward, ignoring the chains that tore deeper into his flesh. Agony became fuel. The fiery bindings cracked, not broke, but loosened just enough.
His hand shot out toward his fallen dagger. But before he could reach his target, steel punched through his chest.
Time seemed to stop.
The world went quiet. Kael looked down at the blade buried beneath his ribcage, Darius's fist wrapped around the hilt.
Blood bubbled up his throat, spilling hot and thick from his lips. His heartbeat stumbled, faltered, stopped. Cold spread from the wound outward, racing through his limbs like winter frost.
Darius twisted the blade. "Sorry, brother."
Kael's legs gave out. He crumpled to the stone floor, the impact barely registering. His vision narrowed to a pinpoint, then went dark.
The last thing he heard was Evelyn's voice, distant and fading. "Confirm the kill. Make sure he's—"
Then nothing.
---
Darkness.
Not the darkness of closed eyes or a moonless night. This was something else. Something vast and hungry and older than thought itself.
Kael floated in it, suspended in an endless void. No up or down. No sense of his body. Just awareness drifting in an ocean of black.
Whispers crawled through the emptiness. Voices that weren't voices. Words in languages that predated language. They overlapped and tangled, too many to count, speaking all at once in tones that scraped against something deeper than his ears.
Something watched him.
He felt it the way prey feels a predator's gaze, primal and instinctive. Whatever it was, it existed on a scale his mind couldn't grasp. Ancient. Massive. Boundless.
Then came a voice. Not a whisper this time around, but a command that shook the void itself.
"DEVOUR."
Pain erupted through Kael's soul. Not his body, he had no body here, but something more fundamental. The core of what made him 'him' screamed in agony.
He tried to scream but his mouth wouldn't open. He had no mouth.
His soul shattered and reformed. His consciousness boiled and cooled. Every piece of his being broke apart and was rebuilt, over and over, each iteration slightly different from the last.
The darkness had claws. It dug into him, tearing away what he'd been and reshaping what remained. Kael felt himself coming apart at the seams, consciousness fracturing into pieces that shouldn't fit together but somehow did.
Endless power flooded into the gaps. It burned through channels that hadn't existed before, carving new pathways through his reformed essence.
His awareness sharpened. The darkness wasn't empty. It was full, teeming with something that had been starving for eons. And now it had found him.
Red light split the void. Kael's eyes snapped open.
---
The feeling of cold stone registered beneath his palms. Damp air filling his lungs. The stench of rot and mildew heavy in his nose.
Kael gasped, lurching forward onto hands and knees. His chest heaved as he dragged in breath after desperate breath.
"I'm... alive?"
The words felt unnatural leaving his mouth. Something had changed. No, everything had changed.
His hands pressed against rough dungeon floor. His heart hammered fast, too fast, like an engine running at twice its normal speed.
The darkness around him wasn't dark anymore. He saw through it easily, every detail was sharp and clear. The crumbled mortar between stones. The faint movement of air currents. The skittering of something small fleeing from his presence.
His senses had been honed by years of assassination work, but this was different. This was beyond human.
Then came that familiar cold, mechanical voice. Echoing inside his skull with crystalline clarity.
---
[DING!]
[BLOODLINE DEVOURING SYSTEM INITIALIZED]
[Host: Kael Veyne
Bloodline: Eldritch Devourer
Rank: Initiate Devourer
Level: 1
Exp: 0/50
Cultivation: Level 1 Primal Warrior]
---
Kael's breath caught in his throat. "What... what is this?"
The voice continued, indifferent to his confusion.
---
[Abilities Unlocked]
[1. Devour Essence (Active): Absorb 70% of the primal energy of slain foes one realm above. Increases by 2% with every system level up.
2. Assimilate Traits (Passive): 10% chance to steal abilities from devoured enemies. Increases by 10% with every system level up.]
---
Kael's hands trembled in disbelief. This wasn't magic. Magic had rules, structures, limits he understood. This was something else entirely. Something that operated on principles beyond his comprehension.
A low growl rumbled through the dungeon.
Kael's head snapped up. His vision picked out the shape of a beast instantly. It was massive and hunched, moving with predatory intent through the shadows ahead.
"A Dungeon Beast," he muttered. His instincts sized it up automatically. "Middle Level Feral Beast, equivalent to a human Level 5 Primal Warrior."
The beast hadn't noticed him yet. It sniffed the air, searching for prey.
Kael's mind raced. He had no weapons and was weak from having just woken up. Fresh level one Primal Warrior against a mid-level Feral Beast. In his old life, he'd have disintegrated it to nothingness with just his aura. But now, he was weak.
That monotonous voice echoed in his mind. "Devour Essence."
The beast's head turned. Its yellow eyes locked onto him.
The creature lunged with its claws extended, jaw opening wide enough to swallow his head whole. It moved fast, but Kael moved faster.
His body reacted on pure instinct, muscles responding before conscious thought caught up. He dropped low, rolling left as claws shredded empty air where he'd been standing.
His hand found a shard of broken stone. It was sharp at the edge and heavy enough. "It'll do."
The beast landed and pivoted, surprisingly agile for its size. But Kael was already moving. He came up inside its guard, close enough to smell the rot on its breath.
The stone drove deep into the soft tissue of its throat.
The beast shrieked, a wet, gurgling sound. It thrashed violently, trying to shake him off. Kael held on, twisting the makeshift weapon deeper, feeling it grind against bone and cartilage.
Hot blood sprayed across his face and chest. The creature's struggles grew weaker, movements turning jerky and uncoordinated.
With a final, rattling breath, it collapsed. Its massive body hit the stone with a heavy thud that echoed through the chamber.
A sudden power rushed into Kael like a dam breaking. Energy flooded his veins, hot and electric. His vision flared red.
---
[System Rewards
1. 5 EXP Gained
2. Level 3 Primal Warrior
3. Essence Absorbed: +2 Blood Points
4. New Trait Acquired: Night Predator (Enhanced Stealth & Vision)]
[EXP: 5/50
Level Up Progress: 10%]
---
Warmth spread through Kael's body. His wounds knitted together. Skin sealed over fresh tissue. Bone reinforced itself. Muscle grew denser.
He straightened slowly, feeling strength flood into limbs that had been broken and dying minutes ago. Or hours ago. Time felt strange here.
"This..." Kael looked down at his hands. Blood covered them. The beast's and his own. But beneath the gore, his skin looked different, more resilient. "This is power."
A dangerous smile spread across his face. The kind of smile that belonged in dark places where screams went unheard.
"The Silent Blades thought they killed me." His voice came out colder too. "They have no idea what they've created."