Charles did not know how long he had been running.
Time felt distorted here—stretched thin, then compressed until every second weighed like a stone on his chest. His breath rasped harshly, tearing at his throat as ash-filled air burned its way into his lungs. His legs ached, muscles trembling with exhaustion far too early.
He had always been good at enduring.
But this was different.
The ground beneath his feet was uneven, fractured by old impact craters and jagged stone. He stumbled, barely catching himself before his face met the dirt. Behind him, something laughed.
Not a human sound.
A wet, scraping mockery that vibrated through the ruins.
Charles spun around just long enough to see it clearly.
The creature was taller than he was—too tall. Its limbs bent at wrong angles, joints protruding beneath translucent gray skin. Its mouth split vertically down its face, filled with uneven rows of teeth that clicked together as it moved. Thick saliva dripped from its jaw, sizzling faintly where it touched the ground.
It lunged.
Charles threw himself sideways as claws smashed into the stone where his head had been a heartbeat earlier. The impact sent shards flying. One sliced across his forearm.
Pain exploded.
He screamed—once—then clamped his mouth shut.
The creature recoiled slightly at the sound, head tilting again. Curious.
Like a child with a broken toy.
Charles scrambled backward, clutching his bleeding arm. Warmth spilled between his fingers, slick and terrifyingly real.
This isn't real, his mind insisted weakly.
But pain didn't lie.
The message flashed again before his eyes, merciless and calm.
[TIME REMAINING: 7 MINUTES 42 SECONDS]
"Seven minutes," Charles whispered hoarsely.
Seven minutes until what? Freedom? Death?
The creature advanced slowly now, dragging one limb behind it. It wanted him to panic. To waste strength.
Something inside Charles twisted.
All his life, he had been hunted by things he couldn't fight—poverty, sickness, systems that chewed people up and called it fairness. He had learned to lower his head, to endure quietly.
This thing didn't want endurance.
It wanted terror.
His back hit a broken wall. No more space.
The creature surged forward.
Charles raised his arms instinctively, bracing for impact.
And the world shifted.
A pressure bloomed in his chest, deep and suffocating, as though invisible hands had reached inside him and wrapped around his heart. Cold flooded his veins—not numbing, but sharpening. The ruins darkened, shadows stretching unnaturally long.
A new message burned into his vision.
[DORMANT AUTHORITY DETECTED]
[CONDITIONS MET]
The creature froze mid-lunge.
Not because it chose to.
Its limbs trembled, joints locking as if seized by invisible chains. Its shriek cut off abruptly, replaced by a choking, gurgling sound.
Charles stared.
"What… did I do?"
He hadn't moved. He hadn't spoken.
But the shadow beneath the creature thickened, rising like liquid smoke. It wrapped around its legs, crawling upward with deliberate slowness.
The thing convulsed.
Bones cracked. Flesh collapsed inward, as if something was pulling it down, compressing it into itself.
Charles felt it then.
A pull.
Not on his body—but on something deeper. A sensation like standing at the edge of a cliff and leaning forward just enough to feel gravity take notice.
It was intoxicating.
And horrifying.
The creature collapsed fully, its body folding into the shadow beneath it. In seconds, it was gone—no blood, no remains. Just a dark stain on the stone that slowly faded.
Silence rushed in.
Charles dropped to his knees.
His heart slammed against his ribs, each beat painful and erratic. Sweat soaked through his clothes despite the cold air. He looked down at his hands.
They were shaking.
Another message appeared.
[ABILITY UNLOCKED]
[GRAVEBOUND AUTHORITY — PARTIAL ACCESS]
[STATUS: UNSTABLE]
Charles swallowed hard.
"What does that mean?" he asked the empty ruins.
No answer.
He staggered to his feet, every muscle screaming now that the adrenaline ebbed. His arm still bled, but slower. The wound looked… wrong. The edges were darkened, veins around it faintly gray.
He frowned, unease crawling up his spine.
[TIME REMAINING: 5 MINUTES 11 SECONDS]
He had survived his first encounter.
Barely.
A distant roar rolled across the ruins.
Then another.
Then several, overlapping.
Charles' stomach dropped.
"Of course," he muttered bitterly. "Why would there be just one?"
He forced himself to move, limping now, using rubble for cover. The ruins felt larger than before, paths shifting subtly when he wasn't looking. Every shadow seemed deeper, heavier.
Watching.
As he moved, fragments of sensation slipped away from him, unnoticed at first. The sting of his scraped knee dulled. The cold against his skin faded to a vague pressure.
He didn't realize what was happening.
Not yet.
A low wall collapsed suddenly ahead of him, stone grinding loudly. Charles froze.
Two more creatures emerged from the dust—smaller than the first, faster. Their eyes glowed faintly blue, movements sharp and coordinated.
Hunters.
They spotted him instantly.
Charles ran again.
Pain flared, then dimmed, like a volume being turned down. Fear followed—intense, then strangely distant.
He felt lighter.
Detached.
When one creature leapt, he turned instinctively, shadow flaring beneath its body. It crashed mid-air, limbs locking, hitting the ground with a wet crunch.
The second shrieked and veered away.
Charles stood over the fallen monster, chest barely rising.
A thought crossed his mind, cold and clear.
I can kill this.
That realization should have terrified him.
Instead, it felt… reasonable.
The shadow thickened.
The creature died.
[TIME REMAINING: 1 MINUTE 03 SECONDS]
Charles leaned against a pillar, vision swimming. His body felt wrong—lighter, but hollowed out, like something essential had been scooped away.
When the final seconds ticked down, light exploded around him.
The ruins dissolved.
As darkness claimed him, one last message burned itself into his fading awareness.
[TRIAL COMPLETE]
[SURVIVOR CONFIRMED]
Somewhere far away, something ancient watched.
And smiled.