Pain was a color, and it was blinding white.
Rowan arched his back, a silent scream tearing at his throat. It felt like boiling lead was being poured into his veins. The stone disc beneath him wasn't just glowing; it was feeding him.
His heart stopped. Then it slammed back into motion with a rhythm that was too slow, too heavy. Thud... thud... thud.
> [Integration: 10%] > [Warning: Humanity unstable.]
Across the clearing, the Black Maw froze. It looked away from Caren, its ears flattening against its skull. It sensed the change. The ancient, predatory thing in the ruins wasn't the beast anymore.
It was Rowan.
Rowan tried to crawl, to reach for Caren, but his body betrayed him. His muscles seized, twisting and knitting together with sickening cracks.
"Rowan..." Caren's voice was weak. She was still moving. Still fighting.
I have to help her.
> [Instruction: Survive. Kill. Consume.]
The voice in his head was cold, indifferent, and terrifyingly clear.
Rowan's right arm burned. He looked down, eyes widening in horror. The skin on his forearm rippled. Something was pushing from the inside.
Riiip.
A jagged spike of white bone burst through his skin near the wrist. There was no blood—only searing heat. The bone sharpened instantly into a crude, deadly blade.
"What... what is this?" Rowan gasped.
The Maw snarled and charged. It abandoned Caren, realizing the greater threat was the boy writhing on the altar.
Rowan flinched. He wanted to curl up and die.
But the System didn't let him.
> [Combat Reflex: Engaged.]
Rowan's body moved without his permission. It was a puppet show, and he was the marionette.
He rolled to the side, faster than humanly possible. The Maw's claws sparked against the stone where his head had been a millisecond before.
Rowan was on his feet before he realized he had stood up. His vision shifted—the world turned into shades of grey and heat-red. He could see the Maw's heartbeat pulsing in its throat.
Strike there, the instinct whispered.
The Maw lunged again. Rowan didn't dodge this time. He stepped into the guard.
He drove his right arm forward. The bone spike punched through the Maw's shoulder, sliding between the heavy plating.
The beast roared—a sound of genuine pain. Black ichor sprayed across Rowan's face. It tasted bitter. Electric.
> [Essence Contact. Absorbing...]
A jolt of pleasure, sickening and sweet, rushed through Rowan. He felt stronger. Faster.
No, he thought, horrified. This isn't right.
The Maw tore itself free, stumbling back. It looked at Rowan with fear. Actual fear. It chuffed, a low signaling sound, and began to back away into the darkness.
It grabbed Caren on the way.
Rowan saw it happen in slow motion. The beast's jaws clamped down on Caren's shoulder—not to kill, but to carry. It dragged her, screaming, into the deep brush.
"NO!" Rowan screamed.
He tried to run. He tried to chase them.
> [Error: Essence Depleted. Body Critical.] > [Shutdown Imminent.]
The strings were cut. The supernatural strength vanished as quickly as it had come.
Rowan's knees hit the stone. The world spun violently. The red interface in his vision flickered and died.
He reached out a hand toward the darkness where Caren had vanished. The drag marks were deep in the mud. She was alive. She was being taken.
"Caren..."
The darkness swallowed him before he could take another step.
> [Rest now, Vessel.] > [The hunt begins tomorrow.]