Lucian didn't leave the Arena on his own feet.
He forced himself to walk.
Every muscle felt like ash-filled leather stretched too tight. His ribs burned from Kaelis's strikes. His head still rang with the echo of memories that didn't feel entirely his, but hit with the weight of lived pain.
Fighters whispered as the Arena platform lowered.
"He survived her."
"No way he should be standing."
"Kaelis held back."
"She never holds back."
"Then why is he alive?"
Lucian ignored the words.
He didn't feel alive.
He felt cracked.
Like someone had split him open to pour memories inside him that weren't finished forming.
He stumbled.
The Warden appeared at his side instantly, gripping his arm before he collapsed.
"Walk," the Warden murmured. "If you fall in front of them, the story becomes their version, not yours."
Lucian pushed through the pain.
Behind him, Kaelis stood at the Arena's far gate, watching with an expression no one else would be able to read.
But Lucian saw something in her gaze—
guilt?
sorrow?
warning?
He didn't know.
And he didn't want to think about it now.
The Warden guided him toward the preparation corridor.
"Your Core is stabilizing slower than expected," he said.
Lucian breathed through clenched teeth. "What did… she show me?"
"A piece of yourself," the Warden answered. "One you still fear."
Lucian swallowed. "Was it real?"
"Yes."
Lucian almost stopped walking. "So I really—"
"Not now," the Warden said sharply. "You need to stand before you break."
Lucian shut his eyes for a moment and kept moving.
Sera Thorn waited at the corridor's end with a water skin, her expression unimpressed.
"You look like you got hit by a mountain," she said.
Lucian took the water skin gratefully. "Feels like I got hit by several."
"That's Kaelis," Sera said. "She stops just short of fatal. Usually."
Lucian glared. "That doesn't help."
Sera shrugged. "It's all you're getting."
Lucian took a long drink and leaned against the wall. "I don't understand her. Any of this."
"She understood you," Sera said. "That's enough to terrify me."
Before Lucian could ask what that meant—
Chains rattled down the hall.
The temperature of the corridor seemed to drop.
The Warden muttered, "Not now."
Draven Coil stepped into view, dragging two heavy chain-scythes behind him. His smile was a slow, murderous crescent.
"Well," Draven said. "You're still breathing. Excellent."
Lucian stiffened. "I'm not fighting you right now."
"You don't get to choose," Draven said. "Jarek died because of you. It's time to balance the coil."
Sera stepped between them, her stance lowering. "Not here."
Draven laughed. "Sweet Sera. Always the saint of the Thorns."
Sera's eyes narrowed. "Call me that again and I'll remove your teeth."
The Warden moved into Draven's path. "The Arena is closed. No fights unless sanctioned."
Draven's smile never faded.
"Then sanction it."
Lucian tensed.
The Warden shook his head. "He just survived the Marshal's Trial. He does not fight again tonight."
"Oh, he fights," Draven said. The chains slid across the stone with a metallic hiss. "If not in the Arena… then in the dark. The Pits have many corners. Many shadows."
Lucian stood straighter. "You want to kill me where no one can watch."
"Yes," Draven said simply. "Because you don't deserve a stage. You deserve a grave."
Lucian's Core pulsed in warning.
THREAT LEVEL: EXTREME
RECOMMENDATION: AVOID DIRECT ENGAGEMENT
Lucian ignored it.
"I'm tired," he said. "I just fought someone stronger than you."
Draven grinned wider. "And you think that matters?"
Sera stepped fully in front of Lucian. "He's not fighting tonight."
Draven's gaze flicked to her.
"I wasn't asking him."
Sera didn't blink. "Fight me instead."
Lucian froze.
Draven chuckled. "You? You're strong, Sera, but this isn't your quarrel."
"It is," Sera said. "My brother died. And if anyone is dealing with that blood debt, it's me."
Lucian touched her arm. "Sera—don't."
She shook him off without looking.
Draven stepped forward. "Move, Sera. Now."
"Make me," she said.
The corridor went dead silent.
For a moment, Lucian thought Draven would strike her.
His chains lifted—
the air thickened—
muscles tensed—
Then Draven exhaled slowly.
"Another time," he said. "I won't spill Thorn blood before the Arena calls for it."
He turned his gaze back to Lucian.
"But you…" His eyes glowed faint crimson. "You don't have Thorn protection long."
He stepped backward into the shadows.
"And when it ends—your Core is mine."
Lucian felt the chill long after Draven vanished.
Sera turned sharply. "Don't talk. Move."
Lucian blinked. "Where?"
"To your cell," she said. "You're about to pass out."
Lucian started walking, breath shallow, body swaying.
Sera walked beside him.
"You shouldn't provoke Draven," she said.
"He provoked me first."
"That doesn't matter," Sera said. "He kills what annoys him."
Lucian frowned. "Why are you protecting me?"
Sera didn't answer immediately.
When she did, her voice was quieter.
"Because Cassian chose to fight you," she said. "Because he died cleanly. Because honor matters more than blood."
Lucian swallowed. "And because I survived Kaelis?"
Sera snorted. "No one survives Kaelis. You simply didn't die."
Lucian almost smiled.
Almost.
But exhaustion took over again.
He reached his cell and leaned heavily against the doorframe.
"Rest," Sera said. "Tomorrow won't be easier."
Lucian looked up. "Sera… thank you."
She stiffened. "Don't get sentimental. I don't like it."
Lucian laughed weakly.
The Warden unlocked the cell.
"Sleep," he said. "And pray your Core settles before morning."
Lucian entered.
The door shut.
Darkness embraced him.
And Lucian finally let himself collapse onto the cold stone floor.
But exhaustion couldn't drown the thoughts swirling in his mind—
Kaelis's confession.
The battlefield memory.
Draven's chains.
His own unstable Core pulsing like a living storm.
And something deeper—
A whisper in his mind he couldn't fully hear:
Remember.
Remember.
Remember what you once were.
Lucian curled a fist against his chest.
"I don't want to become that again," he whispered.
The Core pulsed once.
Soft.
Steady.
Like a promise.
Lucian didn't sleep long.
He didn't get the chance.
Somewhere between drifting off and sinking into real rest, his Core jolted him awake—
a shockwave of heat pulsing through his veins hard enough to arch his back off the stone floor.
He gasped.
CORE WARNING: UNSTABLE EMOTIONAL RESIDUE
OVERRIDE ACTIVE
CALIBRATING…
Lucian slammed a hand against the wall to steady himself.
"Stop—stop—slow down!"
But the Core pulsed harder.
Images flashed behind his eyes—
Kaelis's tears,
his past self's monstrous glow,
and Draven's chains closing around his throat.
Then—
A voice.
Not real.
Not external.
Not something he had heard in this lifetime.
A memory.
"Lucian… don't do this…"
"It's too late."
"I won't let you become this."
"Then kill me."
He choked on the breath he didn't realize he'd been holding.
"No… no, that wasn't me. That couldn't be me."
The Core pulsed again, rejecting the lie.
Lucian pressed his palms hard against his eyes.
"What was I? What did I become?"
Silence followed.
Not peaceful silence.
Heavy silence.
A silence that felt like someone—or something—was choosing not to answer.
When the Core finally settled, it left Lucian shaking, breath ragged.
This wasn't just reaction.
This was awakening.
The Marshal's Trial hadn't exhausted his Core.
It had provoked it.
And something inside him wanted to rise.
Wanted to uncoil.
Wanted to remember.
Lucian forced his breathing calm and whispered, "Not yet. I'm not ready."
The Core dimmed, almost respectfully.
And exhaustion dragged him down again.
He slept—
this time dreamless,
this time without memory breaking through,
this time without the ghost of Kaelis's blade hanging over him.
He slept until the next threat arrived.
Lucian woke to the sound of pebbles tapping the iron bars of his cell door.
He sat up groggily.
"Sera?" he called softly.
No answer.
He approached cautiously and peered through the slit.
A young girl stood there—barefoot, soot on her face, hair in messy braids tied with bits of cloth. She couldn't have been older than eleven.
Lucian blinked. "Who are you?"
The girl held up a finger to shush him.
Then she whispered:
"You need to move."
Lucian frowned. "Move? Why?"
She scanned the corridor nervously before leaning closer.
"Draven is looking for you."
Lucian groaned. "Of course he is."
"No." The girl shook her head hard enough that her braids whipped her cheeks. "He's coming now."
Lucian stiffened. "How close?"
"Close enough."
Lucian's pulse skyrocketed.
The girl continued in a harsh whisper:
"He bribed one of the outer guards. He's going to open the cells of every fighter who hates reincarnators. He wants you cornered."
Lucian grabbed the bars. "Why tell me this? Who sent you?"
"No one sent me," the girl said. "I just don't want to clean up what's left of you."
Lucian blinked.
The Pits created strange compassion.
He nodded. "Thank you."
She pointed down the hall. "When I run, count to five, then slip out behind me."
"Wait," Lucian said. "The guards—"
"Aren't here. Draven paid them off."
"Paid with what?" Lucian asked.
The girl shrugged. "Promise of blood."
She darted away silently.
Lucian waited—
one breath,
two,
three,
four,
five—
Then slipped his hands through the bars.
His Core flickered, responding to tension.
Lucian whispered, "Help me just this once."
The veins along his hands glowed faintly.
He gripped the bars and pulled.
They didn't break.
But they shifted—
enough for him to slip through.
The cell door didn't sound an alarm.
Draven had disabled it.
Lucian slipped into the corridor just as shadows moved around the far bend.
Voices.
Deep.
Laughing.
Chain metal dragging on stone.
Draven.
Lucian ducked behind a support pillar.
Draven stomped past with four fighters behind him—each covered in tattoos similar to his own.
Coil clan.
"Spread out," Draven growled. "He's in one of these cells. Bring me his Core and I'll let the rest of you keep his bones."
Lucian's stomach knotted.
One of the fighters rasped, "You sure the Marshal won't interfere?"
Draven snorted. "She did her part. Now I'll do mine."
Lucian pressed his back into the pillar so hard it hurt.
If they found him here—
without Kaelis,
without the Warden,
without even a sanctioned Arena—
He wouldn't just lose the fight.
He'd lose the Core.
His glow.
His evolution.
His second life.
Everything.
Lucian's veins dimmed instinctively, the Core suppressing its light.
A survival reflex.
He stepped backward into the deeper shadows—
quiet,
slow,
calm.
Footsteps passed inches from his hiding spot.
Draven's voice drifted closer:
"Find him. I want the reincarnator screaming before dawn."
Lucian's pulse hammered.
Somewhere deep inside, the Core whispered:
RUN.
Lucian obeyed.
Lucian moved silently, slipping past broken pillars, unlit torches, and rusted doors leading to forgotten Pits chambers no one used anymore.
This part of the underground smelled older.
Colder.
Less alive.
Every stone carried history layered in blood.
His footsteps echoed faintly, and he winced each time.
Behind him, voices grew louder.
Draven's crew was spreading.
Lucian darted down a narrow side passage—one barely wide enough for a single man. It twisted downward into deeper darkness.
A bad idea.
He had two choices:
Back toward Draven
or
Into the dark.
Lucian muttered, "Perfect."
He chose the dark.
As he descended, the corridor widened unexpectedly into a cavern carved by unnatural means—
walls melted,
floor uneven,
air thick with something metallic and stale.
He paused.
"What… is this place?"
The Core pulsed.
DANGER.
UNKNOWN ZONE.
ENERGY RESIDUE DETECTED.
Lucian whispered, "Great."
He took another step.
Then froze.
Something was breathing in the dark.
Not human.
Not beast.
Something in between.
Lucian backed up slowly.
The breathing stopped.
Then—
SCRATCH.
Lucian turned.
Two glowing blue eyes stared at him from the far wall.
A creature—humanoid in shape but twisted in ways that broke anatomy—stepped into faint light. Its limbs were elongated, its skin cracked like molten shale. Chains hung from its wrists, etched with runes he didn't recognize.
Lucian whispered, "What are you?"
The creature cocked its head.
Then spoke.
"Hungry…"
Lucian's blood ran cold.
This wasn't a fighter.
Wasn't a beast.
This was something the Pits had buried.
Forgotten.
Abandoned.
A failed weapon.
Lucian stepped back—
Just as Draven's voice echoed down the hallway behind him.
"There you are."
Perfect timing.
Lucian spun to see Draven appear at the corridor entrance, chains lifted, grin feral.
Draven's eyes widened as he saw the creature.
"What the…?"
The creature hissed.
Lucian whispered, "Draven—don't move."
Draven frowned. "You think I take orders from—"
The creature roared.
Both men froze.
Lucian's Core pulsed violently—
not in fear—
in recognition.
POTENTIAL COPY DETECTED
THREAT LEVEL: UNKNOWN
WARNING: CORE EVOLUTION PATH AT RISK
Lucian exhaled sharply.
Tonight wasn't just revenge.
It wasn't just survival.
Tonight was about something far worse than Draven Coil.
The creature stepped forward.
Draven lifted his chains.
Lucian whispered:
"Oh, perfect. A three-way deathmatch."
The creature's roar didn't shake the walls. It emptied the air.
Lucian felt the sound in his chest more than in his ears—like the echo of a collapsing world. Dust drifted from the cavern ceiling. The chains on the creature's arms vibrated, humming with old, half-dead runes.
Draven's grin finally faltered.
"What in the Emperor's name is that?"
Lucian didn't look away from the creature. "I was hoping you knew."
Draven snapped, "I've seen beasts. I've seen monsters. I've seen men turned inside out in the Ash Pits. This thing? No."
The creature took one slow, dragging step forward.
Chains clinked. Viscous saliva dripped from cracked jaws. Its blue eyes burned like trapped embers.
Lucian lowered his stance.
Draven noticed.
"You really plan to fight that?" Draven muttered. "Alone?"
Lucian didn't flinch. "Do you see anyone else volunteering?"
Draven's chains lifted slightly.
"If that thing kills you before I do, I'm going to be irritated."
"Touching," Lucian shot back.
But the Core pulsed again—
COPY POSSIBILITY (UNKNOWN ENTITY): 1% DANGER STACK: HIGH RECOMMENDATION: OBSERVE BEFORE ENGAGE
Lucian exhaled slowly. It wasn't fear. It was recognition.
This thing… was wrong. Wrong in a way that triggered the deepest instincts of the Ash Core. Wrong in a way that suggested it wasn't natural, or accidental.
The creature hissed suddenly and lunged.
Not at Draven. Not at Lucian.
At both.
Lucian dodged left as Draven rolled right.
Chains carved sparks off the stone. Lucian's shoulder nearly dislocated as he twisted under the creature's arm.
The creature's hand smashed into the ground where Lucian had been standing, leaving a crater the size of a man's torso.
Lucian ducked behind a pillar.
Draven yelled from the opposite direction, "It's fast!"
Lucian shouted, "Then don't let it corner us!"
Draven scoffed. "Don't tell me what to—"
The creature spun with impossible grace for its size and hurled one of its chains like a whip.
It snapped the stone between them clean in half.
Lucian stared.
"Okay," he whispered. "That's new."
Draven's grin returned, sharp and wild. "I like this thing."
The creature charged Draven first. Draven swung his chain-scythes; metal clashed against corrupted flesh.
Sparks flew. Blue ichor splattered the floor.
The creature shrieked, stumbling back.
Lucian blinked. "You hurt it."
Draven scoffed. "Of course I did."
Lucian shoved him aside as the creature lunged again. It slammed into the wall, stone cracking like brittle bone.
Draven spat dust. "Don't touch me."
"You're welcome."
The creature tore free of the wall, limbs twisting unnaturally as it regrouped.
Lucian's Core pulsed violently—
NEW DATA ACQUIRED UNKNOWN PHYSIOLOGY: FLEXIBLE STRUCTURE / SPLIT LIMB EXTENSION (1%) MIMIC POSSIBILITY: 1%
Lucian whispered, "I can copy it."
Draven didn't hear him. Or didn't care.
He was already charging.
"DRAVEN—WAIT!"
Too late.
Draven's chains wrapped around the creature's arm— but the creature split its arm into two jagged branches and ripped the chains free.
Draven's eyes widened.
Lucian moved.
He didn't think. He didn't calculate. He just moved—letting the faint 1% mimicry guide his motion.
He ducked under the creature's split limb, pivoted, and struck upward into the creature's chin with a feral snap.
The creature reeled.
Lucian gasped.
His arm tingled. His elbow bent further than a human elbow should— not dislocated, but flexible.
The Core pulsed:
TEMPORARY LIMB FLEXIBILITY: ENABLED
Lucian whispered, "I really shouldn't be able to do that…"
But he had bigger problems.
The creature recovered, glowing eyes narrowing at Lucian now.
Target acquired.
Draven snarled. "You stole my kill."
Lucian braced himself. "Shut up and help."
The creature lunged again, but this time Lucian and Draven moved in near-unison—
Draven's chain wrapped its leg. Lucian struck its torso. The creature twisted, clawing at both men.
Lucian slid under another wild swing, copying the creature's unnatural bending.
Draven yanked his chain hard.
The creature toppled sideways—
And Lucian struck with everything his Core could give without destabilizing.
His fist hit the creature's jaw. A shockwave rippled through its body. Blue ichor sprayed across the cavern floor.
The creature snarled— its first sound of real pain.
Then—
It ran.
Straight into the dark tunnels.
Lucian exhaled, sweating, heart racing.
Draven leaned on his chains, breathing hard. "Coward."
Lucian wiped ichor from his cheek. "It'll be back."
Draven smirked. "Good."
Lucian stared at him.
"You were helping me."
Draven made a disgusted sound. "Don't flatter yourself. I was killing a thing that got in the way of killing you."
"But you didn't leave me to die."
"I needed the creature weakened first."
Lucian shook his head. "You and your brothers are insane."
Draven grinned proudly. "We try."
Lucian leaned against a stone column to catch his breath.
His veins flickered faintly—not unstable, just active.
Draven noticed.
"That glow of yours… it copied something from that thing, didn't it?"
Lucian didn't answer.
Draven's grin sharpened. "Good. That makes killing you more interesting."
Lucian sighed. "You're impossible."
Draven shrugged. "You ran. I chased. Creature intervened. You helped. I tolerated it. Now we go back to killing each other."
Lucian forced himself upright. "It ran into the deep tunnels. Those aren't mapped."
Draven spun his chain once. "Then we hunt it."
Lucian blinked. "We?"
"Yes," Draven said flatly. "If that thing becomes stronger while hiding down here, it will come back. And when it does, it won't pick targets. It'll kill everyone."
Lucian felt the Core pulse in agreement.
Draven continued, "You fight. I kill. You die afterward. Everyone wins."
Lucian frowned. "Terrible teamwork."
Draven shrugged. "Temporary."
Lucian exhaled. "Fine. We hunt it. Together."
Draven looked almost disappointed. "Don't say it like that. Makes it sound mutual."
Lucian stepped forward. "But after we kill this creature… no one touches me until then."
Draven smirked. "Sure."
Lucian narrowed his eyes. "I'm serious."
Draven said nothing.
Which meant he wasn't serious.
Lucian glared. "Promise it."
Draven rolled his eyes. "Fine. You have my word. You don't die until the creature dies first."
Lucian blinked. "That was shockingly reasonable."
Draven grinned. "I didn't say you live long after."
Lucian groaned. "Of course."
Draven pointed down the tunnel where the creature vanished.
"Move, reincarnator."
Lucian stepped beside him.
For the first time, the two walked together— not as allies, not as enemies, but as something uneasy and unstable between the two.
Because in the darkness below the Pits, something stronger than them both had awakened.
And it wasn't done yet.
Draven walked ahead like he owned the tunnels, chains dragging behind him in lazy arcs, sparks skittering across stone. Lucian followed close, the air growing colder, thicker, and sourer with each step.
The deeper they went, the more the walls changed.
Stone gave way to something fused—
not carved,
not broken,
but melted.
The heat signatures felt old.
Ancient.
Residual.
Lucian pressed a hand to the wall.
The Core pulsed.
ASH RESIDUE DETECTED
ORIGIN: PRE-ARENA ERA
CAUTION ADVISED
Lucian frowned. "These tunnels… they're older than the Pits."
Draven snorted. "Everything is older than the Pits."
"No," Lucian said. "This is different. Something happened here. Something that shaped the ground."
Draven stepped over a jagged crack. "Maybe your past self made the mess."
Lucian stiffened.
"That wasn't funny."
"I wasn't joking," Draven said.
The tunnel curved downward into a cavern with a ceiling so high the torchlight barely touched it.
Lucian's breath puffed white.
Cold.
Wrong cold.
A cold that didn't belong underground or above.
Draven stopped abruptly.
Lucian stepped beside him.
Their torches flickered.
The cavern floor was littered with:
Broken chains.
Shattered restraints.
Old chalk sigils burned into the stone.
And the faint outlines of cages melted from the inside.
Lucian whispered, "Someone kept creatures here."
Draven nodded. "Experiments."
Lucian swallowed. "From the Arena?"
"No." Draven crouched beside a melted cage wall. "This predates Arena technology. Whoever made these didn't bother with safety standards."
Lucian read one of the sigils—
a twisting circle filled with jagged lines crossing in unnatural angles.
He couldn't understand the meaning.
But the Core reacted.
Sharply.
FORBIDDEN MARKER DETECTED
DIRECT EXPOSURE NOT RECOMMENDED
DISTORTION RISK: MEDIUM
Lucian whispered, "This is the same energy I felt near the creature."
Draven hummed. "So it escaped from here."
"Or was born here," Lucian said.
The cavern's center held a crater—
smooth, circular, glowing faintly blue.
Lucian approached.
He crouched and touched the ground carefully.
The moment his fingers brushed the ash—
FLASH.
Not memory.
Not vision.
An imprint.
Screams.
Heat.
Chains breaking.
A Core exploding inside a creature that didn't have one.
Ash fusing flesh.
Evolution gone wrong.
Lucian ripped his hand back with a gasp.
Draven grabbed his wrist. "What happened?"
Lucian's breath shook. "The creature wasn't made. It wasn't born. It was… forced."
Draven narrowed his eyes. "By what?"
Lucian steadied his pulse. "By an Ash Core."
Draven stared. "It has a Core?"
"A mutated one," Lucian said. "Its body wasn't meant to evolve. But someone used an Ash Core to force it."
Draven's expression sharpened. "That sounds like cult work."
Lucian froze.
"Ash Eater Cult…"
Draven nodded. "They disappear into deep tunnels. They make things that shouldn't exist."
Lucian swallowed hard.
"So this creature might have been human once."
Draven shrugged. "Barely matters now."
Lucian lowered his voice. "To me it matters. If it has a Core… I can learn from it."
Draven's lip curled. "There it is. The reincarnator's greed."
Lucian's jaw tightened. "It's survival."
"No," Draven said. "It's appetite."
Lucian didn't argue.
Because Draven wasn't wrong.
The creature had moved through the cavern recently—
claw marks etched into walls,
fresh ichor trails glowing faintly.
Lucian followed a smear of blue fluid to a crack in the far wall.
A narrow passage twisted deeper.
And from its mouth drifted a sound—
soft, scraping, rhythmic.
Breathing.
Lucian exhaled. "It's close."
Draven's grin sharpened. "Good."
Lucian squinted into the passage. "We should approach carefully. I don't know how much it's evolved since it ran."
Draven flicked a chain lazily. "I know how to kill things."
Lucian sighed. "You're impossible."
"And you're slow," Draven snapped. "Move."
Lucian wrapped his hands tighter, letting the Core settle into a defensive pulse.
They slipped into the narrow passage.
The walls pressed close.
Draven's chains scraped occasionally.
Their breaths condensed in front of their faces.
Then the passage widened suddenly into another chamber.
And the creature was there.
Bent over something.
Eating.
Lucian's heart lurched.
What it was devouring wasn't a beast.
It was a fighter.
One of Draven's own men.
What was left of him, anyway.
Draven froze.
His chains went silent.
His expression emptied into cold lethal rage.
"Elias," Draven whispered.
The creature turned slowly.
Its jaw was unhinged.
Its chest was cracked open in unnatural angles.
Ash flickered inside its ribs like dying black fire.
It hissed—
but not the same hiss as before.
This one had shape.
Form.
Expression.
Words.
"Hun… gry…"
Lucian stepped back involuntarily.
Draven's voice dropped into a dark place even Lucian had not expected.
"You killed my blood," Draven said. "Now I kill you."
The creature's blue eyes burned hotter—
shifting, twisting, focusing.
Not random.
Not feral.
Recognizing.
Evolving.
Adapting.
Lucian's Core pulsed like a warning drum.
NEW EVOLUTION DETECTED
ENTITY HAS MUTATED
COPY POSSIBILITY: 1% → 0%
ABILITY LOCKED: TARGET OUTSIDE COPY RANGE
Lucian inhaled sharply.
"It evolved," he whispered. "It learned from fighting us."
Draven didn't care.
He charged.
Chains flashing, muscles coiled with vengeance.
Lucian cursed and ran after him.
But the creature moved faster—
far faster than before.
One blink—
and it vanished.
Lucian skidded to a stop.
"DRAVEN—BEHIND YOU!"
Draven spun.
Too slow.
The creature slammed into him with bone-breaking force.
Chains flew out of Draven's grip.
He crashed into the cavern wall, blood spraying onto stone.
Lucian froze—
Then the Core lit up his nerves like a fuse.
EMERGENCY EVOLUTION TRIGGERED
SURVIVAL PRIORITY: EXTREME
COGNITION BOOST: ACTIVE
Lucian's body moved before fear could.
He launched himself at the creature with every ounce of borrowed flexibility and instinct he'd gained.
His fist cracked against its jaw.
It barely flinched.
Lucian stumbled back, panting.
The creature turned toward him, blue ichor dripping from its teeth.
It tilted its head—
And whispered:
"Lu… ci… an…"
Lucian's blood ran ice-cold.
Draven staggered to his feet, spitting blood.
"You know his name?" he growled. "Fine. Learn mine too."
He lifted his chain with shaking arms—
But the creature didn't look at Draven.
Only at Lucian.
It took one step forward.
Two.
Lucian backed up.
The Core thrashed inside his chest—
Fear
Recognition
Connection
Hunger
Evolution
Memory—
And a single phrase echoed inside him, not from the creature but from deep within the Core:
"You created me."
Lucian's breath collapsed.
"What…?"
The creature lunged.
The creature lunged with unnatural speed, its limbs bending in angles that broke anatomy and logic. Lucian rolled aside just in time, the impact cracking the stone where his skull had been a second earlier.
The creature lifted its head.
Blue fire glowed through fractures in its skin.
Its voice crawled out like broken glass:
"Lu… ci… an…"
Lucian stumbled back. "Why do you know my name?"
The creature didn't answer.
It didn't need to.
Because deep inside his Core, beneath the warnings and pulses, something else stirred— a recognition that didn't belong to this life.
MEMORY DRIFT RISING SOURCE: UNKNOWN ENTITY CONNECTION THREAD INITIATED
Lucian's pulse hammered.
"This thing… recognizes me," he whispered. "From before."
Draven spat blood and dragged his chains off the ground.
"Doesn't matter," he growled. "All that matters is that it dies."
He charged with reckless fury.
Lucian reached out. "DRAVEN—WAIT!"
Too late.
Draven swung both chain-scythes, arcs of metal slicing the air—
The creature caught them in one hand.
Held them.
Held him.
Then slammed Draven into the ground so hard the cavern shook.
Lucian yelled, "DRAVEN!"
Draven groaned, rolling over, coughing blood. "Still… not dead… Damn thing hits like a war beast."
Lucian's veins pulsed violently— glow rising— instincts sharpening.
The Core's voice rang through his skull:
EVOLUTION TRIGGER AVAILABLE WARNING: UNSTABLE MEMORY THREAD ACTIVATION MAY FORCE RECALL
Lucian closed his eyes for a heartbeat.
No. Not yet. He wasn't ready to remember. But he needed power now.
He stepped forward.
"Get away from him."
The creature turned its fractured head toward Lucian.
Then—
It mimicked his movement.
A perfect copy. A perfect reflection. A mirrored step.
Lucian froze.
Draven's eyes widened. "It copied you too?"
Lucian shook his head. "No. Not me. It copied… something older."
The Core pulsed:
ENTITY HAS INHERITED A FRACTURED EVOLUTION IMPRINT ORIGIN: UNKNOWN, POSSIBLY LINKED TO USER'S PAST LIFE
Lucian whispered, "So I did create you…"
The creature tilted its head again, expression almost childlike— curious, hungry, angry, lost.
It hissed.
"Re… turn…"
Lucian frowned. "Return? Return what?"
The creature's voice warped, deeper, fuller—
"What… was… taken…"
Lucian's skin crawled.
"I don't know what that means."
The creature's chest opened— not splitting, but shifting, revealing a pulsing ash-black organ fused into its ribcage.
A corrupted Core.
Lucian staggered.
"Is that a—"
Draven spat. "A Core? In this thing?"
Lucian stared at the malformed organ.
It pulsed erratically, like a heart that didn't know how to beat.
The Core inside Lucian thrashed as if trying to escape his chest.
WARNING: CORRUPTED CORE DETECTED PROXIMITY RISK: HIGH ABSORPTION DANGEROUS
Lucian clenched his fists.
"What are you? What did the cult do to you?"
The creature shrilled and lunged again.
Lucian's instincts responded before fear did.
He used the flexible-limb adaptation he'd copied earlier— sliding under the creature's first swipe, twisting past the second, striking upward into its jaw—
The creature reeled.
Draven staggered to his feet, roaring, swinging both chains again.
Lucian matched him, stepping into rhythm.
For the first time, their movements didn't clash.
They aligned.
Draven wrapped the creature's leg— Lucian struck its knee— Draven yanked— Lucian pivoted behind—
The creature crashed to the ground.
Lucian jumped back as it tried to rise again.
Draven snarled, "Hold it still!"
Lucian shook his head. "No! Its Core is unstable—we hit it wrong, it'll explode and take the entire cavern with us."
Draven blinked. "Explode?"
"Yes!" Lucian snapped. "Stop swinging like a maniac!"
Draven glared. "Don't tell me how to—"
The creature rose in a blur.
Lucian dove left. Draven rolled right.
Blue fire erupted from cracks in the creature's body.
CORE OVERHEAT DETECTED LEVEL: CRITICAL SUGGESTION: DISTANCE IMMEDIATELY
Lucian shouted, "DRAVEN—RUN!"
Draven didn't question it.
Both sprinted as the creature convulsed, screaming, its mutated Core pulsing like a dying star.
Lucian looked back—
The creature wasn't exploding.
It was transforming.
Limbs elongated. Ribs cracked and reformed. Its Core re-threaded itself with ash-black veins knitting through its torso.
Its transformation wasn't random.
It was guided.
Lucian's breath trembled. "Someone is controlling it."
Draven cursed. "Great. A remote-controlled abomination."
Lucian's Core pulsed again—
NEW THREAT DETECTED CORRUPTED RESONANCE SIGNAL TRACING BACKWARD SOURCE: UNKNOWN, WITHIN UPPER PITS
Lucian whispered, "Someone up top is feeding it power."
The creature finished its transformation.
It stood taller now. Stronger. Faster. Its eyes no longer just blue. They flickered with green—
Lucian's color.
Draven choked, "It copied your Core signature."
Lucian staggered. "How—"
The Core flickered violently:
SIGNATURE LEAK DETECTED CAUSE: MEMORY THREAD INSTABILITY
Lucian's breath collapsed.
"This is my fault."
Draven's voice dropped. "What do you mean?"
Lucian shook his head. "When Kaelis triggered my memory drift… something leaked. Something the creature recognized."
"And now it wants you," Draven muttered.
Lucian nodded. "It wants my Core."
The creature screeched— and charged.
Lucian barely had time to breathe.
He planted his feet— let the Core guide him— let evolution speak through instinct—
And braced himself.
The creature struck him with enough force to knock the breath from his lungs, sending him sliding across the cavern floor.
Lucian tasted blood.
The creature lunged again— but Draven crashed into it, wrapping chains around its throat and arms in a brutal chokehold.
"MOVE!" Draven roared.
Lucian forced himself up.
He felt the Core flare— his veins glowing unnaturally bright.
EVOLUTION POSSIBILITY DETECTED CONDITION: SURVIVE 8 SECONDS OF DIRECT ENGAGEMENT
Lucian cursed. "Eight seconds… might as well be eternity."
Draven strained against the creature's inhuman strength.
"Hurry! I can't hold this thing—"
The creature twisted, spine bending backwards, jaws snapping toward Draven's throat.
Lucian sprinted—
He struck the creature in its exposed Core.
Not with strength. Not with power.
With intention.
With connection— the one thing Kaelis said defined him.
The Core pulsed—
Lucian's fist glowed— green light pouring into the creature's corrupted organ.
The cavern shook.
The creature shrieked.
Ash exploded outward—
And the creature collapsed.
Hard.
Dead.
Silence crashed over the cavern like a wave.
Lucian's arm trembled violently.
His knees buckled.
The Core pulsed weakly:
EVOLUTION ACHIEVED: ECHO-ABSORB (1%) NEW EFFECT: ABILITY TRACE MEMORY (LIMITED) WARNING: FURTHER CONTACT WITH CORRUPTED CORES PROHIBITED
Lucian couldn't breathe.
Draven stumbled toward him, bleeding, furious, shaken.
"You killed it," Draven panted. "Before I could."
Lucian didn't answer.
Because as the creature's body cooled, something glimmered in the ash near its chest.
A shard.
Black-green. Sharpened. Still beating faintly.
Lucian picked it up—
The moment his fingers touched it—
FLASH.
A voice poured into his skull:
"Return what you stole, Lucian." "Return the Ash." "Return the throne you abandoned."
Lucian dropped the shard, shaking.
Draven narrowed his eyes. "What did it show you?"
Lucian swallowed, voice hoarse.
"A message."
"From who?" Draven asked.
Lucian stared at the dead creature.
"At whoever made me a monster in my last life."
Silence.
Draven grinned slowly. "Good. Kill them next."
Lucian closed his eyes.
He didn't say it. But he knew:
This creature wasn't the beginning.
It was the warning.