Thalos was going to die.
The thought was not a panic-induced scream. It was a cold, hard fact, displayed on the cracked oxygen gauge of his wrist unit.
[O2 Level: 4%]
He was trapped in a dead end tunnel of the Titan's "Gastric Lining." The walls here were not rock; they were calcified stomach acid, glowing with a sickly yellow light and slick with digestive fluids. The heat was suffocating, thick enough to warp the air and blister skin through a hazard suit.
But the heat was not what was going to kill him.
"Come out, little rat," a voice boomed from the tunnel entrance. "There's nowhere left to run."
Thalos pressed his back against the wet wall, clutching his side. His mining suit was torn. Blood, bright red and unmistakably human, was leaking out, mixing with the oily grime of the dungeon.
Three silhouettes blocked the only exit. They were bulky, distorted by hydraulic limbs and scavenged scrap metal armor.
The Iron Jackals.
Jaker, the leader, stepped into the light. His right arm had been replaced by a rusted industrial claw, the pistons hissing as he snapped the pincers.
"You have something that belongs to me, Thalos," Jaker sneered, his voice amplified by a cheap vox box. "Hand over the Syringe. And maybe... just maybe... I'll let you crawl back to the surface before your air runs out."
Thalos's hand trembled as he reached into his belt pouch.
He pulled out the object.
It was not a gem. It was not a weapon.
It was an ancient medical injector, made of a pristine, white ceramic that did not exist in the slums. Inside the glass chamber, a liquid swirled. It was gold. Pure, radiant gold that seemed to generate its own light.
Titan Spinal Fluid.
A single drop was worth more than Thalos's entire life. A full syringe? It was enough to buy a ticket to the Upper City. It was enough to cure Elara's Crystal Lung instantly.
"I found it," Thalos wheezed, his breath rattling in his mask. "I dug it out of the marrow. It's mine."
Jaker laughed. It was a cruel, metallic sound. "Nothing in the Ribs is yours, boy. You're a Marrow Rat. You live because I let you breathe. Now give it here."
He took a heavy step forward. The other two thugs raised their scrap machetes.
Thalos looked at the syringe.
If he gave it to them, Jaker would kill him anyway. He knew that. Jaker never left loose ends. If he kept it, they would butcher him and take it from his corpse.
[O2 Level: 2%]
His vision began to blur. The edges of the world were turning black.
"Elara..." Thalos whispered.
If he died here, his sister died alone in the dark, choking on her own crystallized lungs.
No.
A spark of rage ignited in his chest. It burned hotter than the acid walls. He had spent eighteen years starving. He had spent eighteen years scraping sludge off the floor while men like Jaker grew fat on the labor of the weak.
He looked at Jaker. Then, he looked at the golden liquid.
Legends said that the Titan's blood could grant power. Or it could turn you into a mindless abomination.
"You want it?" Thalos asked, his voice suddenly steady.
Jaker grinned, extending his claw. "That's a good boy."
"Then come and take it."
Thalos ripped the safety cap off the syringe with his teeth.
Jaker's eyes went wide behind his goggles. "Wait! You idiot! That's raw ichor! It'll melt you inside out!"
Thalos did not listen. He did not hesitate. He jammed the needle into his own neck.
He slammed the plunger down.
HISS.
The golden fire flooded his veins.
For a second, there was silence. Thalos stood there, the empty syringe clattering to the floor.
Then, he screamed.
It was not a scream of pain. It was the sound of biology being rewritten. His back arched. His bones cracked, snapping and reforming in seconds. His blood boiled, turning from red to a searing, glowing magma.
"Kill him!" Jaker roared, charging forward. "Cut him open before his heart pumps it all away!"
The thug on the left swung his machete. The jagged blade aimed for Thalos's neck.
Thalos did not dodge. He could not. His body was locked in a seizure of evolution.
CLANG.
The machete hit Thalos's neck. But it did not cut skin. It bounced off with a shower of sparks, as if it had struck solid diamond.
The thug froze, staring at his vibrating blade. "What the..."
Thalos lowered his head. He opened his eyes.
The whites were gone. His irises were gone. His eyes were burning pools of liquid amber, slitted like a reptile's.
A text box, blue and translucent, materialized in the air before him.
[System Initializing...] [Host Detected: Thalos.] [Genetic Rewrite: 100% Complete.] [Class: Titan Eater.] [Status: Hungry.]
Thalos looked at his hands. His skin was turning grey, hardening into overlapping plates of chitinous armor. He looked at Jaker.
He did not feel fear anymore. He felt... hunger.
"What are you?" Jaker whispered, stepping back.
Thalos smiled. It was a horrific expression, filled with sharp, new teeth. "Dinner."
[Emergency Quest: First Meal.] [Objective: Devour the Threat.] [Reward: Level 1.]
Jaker snarled, his fear turning into aggression. "It's a trick! He's just a mutant! Grind him to paste!"
Jaker lunged, thrusting his hydraulic claw forward. The piston powered pincers were strong enough to crush rock. He aimed straight for Thalos's chest.
Thalos did not move. He simply raised his hand.
CRUNCH.
Thalos caught the hydraulic claw.
Jaker's eyes bulged. He triggered the piston, trying to crush Thalos's hand, but the hydraulic motor whined and smoked. Thalos's grip was absolute. The grey armor on his palm did not even crack.
"My turn," Thalos growled.
He squeezed.
SCREECH-SNAP.
The steel of the hydraulic claw buckled like tin foil. Pistons exploded, spraying hot oil across the tunnel. Jaker screamed as his expensive prosthetic was crushed into a ball of scrap metal attached to his shoulder.
Thalos yanked him forward.
Jaker stumbled, falling to his knees before the boy he had bullied for years. "Thalos... wait! I have credits! I have..."
Thalos did not want credits. The hunger inside him was a physical void, a black hole demanding mass.
Thalos opened his mouth. His jaw unhinged slightly, revealing rows of serrated bone.
[Skill Activated: DEVOUR.]
He bit down on Jaker's shoulder.
It was not just a bite. It was an extraction. Thalos tore a chunk of flesh free, but there was no blood spray. Instead, red motes of light, Life Essence, flowed from Jaker's wound directly into Thalos's mouth.
[Consumed: Human (Scavenger Leader).] [Analyzing DNA...] [Strength +1.] [Skill Fragment Acquired: Hydraulic Grip.]
Jaker collapsed, his body looking withered, as if years of life had been drained in seconds.
The other two thugs dropped their machetes. They looked at the monster standing over their boss. They looked at the golden light leaking from Thalos's eyes.
"Monster!" one of them shrieked.
They turned and ran, scrambling over the slick walls of the tunnel, desperate to escape the dark.
Thalos watched them go. He could have chased them. He could have eaten them too. But the hunger was receding, replaced by a surge of raw power.
His oxygen alarm beeped again.
[O2 Level: 1%]
Thalos took a deep breath. But he did not choke. The new organs in his chest filtered the toxic air of the Titan, extracting the trace oxygen from the sulfur.
[Adaptation Successful: Toxic Filtration Lungs.]
Thalos stood up, wiping his mouth. He looked at the corpse of Jaker. He looked at his own hands, covered in the grey armor of a predator.
He was not a Marrow Rat anymore.
"System," Thalos whispered, his voice deep and resonating in the tunnel. "Status."
[Name: Thalos] [Level: 1] [Species: Human (Titan Variant)] [Strength: 6 (Ascended)] [Agility: 5] [Constitution: 7] [Next Evolution: Level 10]
Thalos clenched his fist. The power was intoxicating.
He picked up Jaker's dropped pouch, heavy with credits. He looked toward the exit, toward the distant path that led up to the Ribs, to Sector 4, to Elara.
"I'm coming, El," he said.
He stepped over the body and began the climb. The Titan had a new parasite. And this one was starving.