The last thing Aris felt was the sterile cold of the hospital tile against his cheek. The scent of antiseptic was replaced, in a sickening heartbeat, by the stench of damp earth and rotting guano.
He tried to gasp, but his lungs felt like crumpled parchment. He tried to reach out, but his arms were heavy, fused to his sides by a thin, leathery membrane.
[System Initialization...]
[Host Vitality: 1/10 (Critical)]
[Species: Lesser Cave Bat (Common)]
[Status: Starving / Injured]
Aris opened his eyes—or rather, he perceived. Vision was a blurred, grayscale mess, but the world was alive with sound. The dripping of water from a stalactite sounded like a hammer against an anvil. He wasn't a man anymore. He was a trembling ball of fur, no larger than a plum, clinging to a jagged rock in a cavern that felt as vast as a cathedral.
I died, he realized, the human logic flickering like a dying candle. I died, and now... I'm prey.
Above him, a screech tore through the darkness. A Shadow-Stalker Spider, its eight eyes gleaming with predatory hunger, skittered down the stone wall. To the spider, Aris wasn't a Finance student with dreams; he was a snack.
[New Quest: The First Kill]
Objective: Survive the Night. Reward: Level 1 Evolution & "Sovereign's Eye" Passive Skill. Failure: Absolute Death.
The spider lunged. Aris didn't think; he felt the vibration in the air. He dropped from the ledge, his wings snapping open by pure instinct. The sensation was alien—a terrifying stretch of skin and bone—but the "System" hummed in his mind, guiding the frantic beat of his wings.
He didn't fly; he plummeted with intent.
As the spider landed where he had just been, Aris circled back, driven by a sudden, primal surge of adrenaline. He wasn't just escaping. He was starving. If he didn't eat, the System would monitor his pulse until it hit zero.
He dove, his tiny fangs bared. He clamped onto the spider's soft abdomen. The taste was bitter—ichor and ancient dust—but as the notification pinged in his mind, a dark euphoria washed over him.
[Essence Consumed: +2 Exp]
[Level Up: 1/100]
[Evolution Path Unlocked: Blood-Leaden Fangs]
But the celebration was short-lived. The cave began to vibrate. Not from one predator, but from thousands. Deep within the chasm, something ancient felt the "System" wake up. A roar, too deep for human ears to hear but loud enough to shatter a bat's eardrums, echoed from the depths.
[Warning: The Guardian of the Lower Depths has sensed a 'King's Seed'.]
[Estimated Time to Arrival: 60 Seconds.]
Aris looked at his small, grey wings. He was the weakest thing in this cave, and the ruler of this abyss was coming to snuff out his light before he could even learn to fly.
He had survived death once. He wouldn't let it take him again.