The first thing Kael felt… was cold.
Not the kind that bites your skin.
The kind that seeps deeper. Past flesh. Past bone. Into something you can't touch… but can't escape.
The kind that whispers—
"You don't belong here."
Darkness stretched endlessly in every direction.
No sky.
No ground.
No horizon.
Just… shadows.
They weren't still.
They moved.
Slowly. Quietly. Like something breathing in the dark.
Kael Veyron lay on his back, staring into nothingness.
His breath came uneven.
Shallow.
Painful.
Every inhale felt like broken glass dragging through his lungs.
"…Where…"
His voice cracked.
"…am I…"
Silence answered him.
He tried to move.
Pain exploded.
His body felt wrong—like it had been shattered and carelessly put back together.
Muscles trembling. Nerves screaming.
Alive.
Barely.
He clenched his jaw.
Weak people die first.
The thought surfaced naturally.
No hesitation.
No doubt.
Like something carved into him through years he didn't want to remember.
A sound echoed.
Drip.
Kael froze.
His eyes sharpened.
Drip… drip…
Slow.
Wet.
Close.
Too close.
His body reacted before his fear could.
He forced himself up, arms shaking violently, every movement threatening to collapse.
His vision blurred.
Dark spots crept in.
He ignored them.
If I stay down… I die.
Something shifted in the distance.
No—
Closer than that.
A shape peeled itself from the darkness.
Thin.
Twisted.
Wrong.
Then another.
And another.
They crawled.
Not on the ground.
Through the air.
Like their existence didn't follow rules.
Kael's breathing slowed.
Not from calm.
From control.
No weapon.
Injured body.
Unknown enemy.
Worst-case scenario.
"…Great," he muttered, voice low.
Then—
A voice echoed.
Not loud.
Not soft.
But absolute.
[Nightmare Initiated]
[Survive]
Kael's pupils shrank.
"…Nightmare…"
So the stories were true.
People disappearing.
Dragged into something beyond reality.
Some came back.
Broken.
Others—
Didn't come back at all.
The shadows reacted.
Their forms twisted violently.
Then—
They rushed him.
Kael moved.
Too slow.
Impact.
Something slammed into his side, sending him crashing across the ground.
Pain exploded through his ribs.
Sharp.
Blinding.
He didn't scream.
He rolled.
Another shadow lunged.
Its body flickered—smoke, liquid, something in between.
Kael grabbed a jagged shard from the ground and thrust it forward.
It passed through.
Like air.
"…Not physical."
His grip tightened.
"Of course it isn't."
A claw of darkness tore across his shoulder.
This time—
He felt it.
Not pain.
Not exactly.
Something colder.
Deeper.
Like part of him was being erased.
Kael staggered, breath hitching.
So they can hit me… but I can't hit them.
He exhaled slowly.
Forced his heartbeat to steady.
Then I adapt.
Another came.
Kael didn't attack.
He watched.
The moment it struck—
He moved.
Barely.
It missed.
Again.
Another.
He twisted.
Again.
Again.
Again.
Each movement sharper.
Cleaner.
More precise.
He was learning.
But his body—
Was breaking.
His legs trembled.
Vision dimming.
Breathing collapsing.
Too slow.
A shadow pierced straight through his chest.
Everything stopped.
Silence swallowed the world.
Kael looked down.
Darkness spread inside him.
Not blood.
Not injury.
Something worse.
It consumed.
His heartbeat slowed.
Each beat weaker than the last.
"…So this is it."
No fear.
No anger.
No regret.
Just emptiness.
Then—
Something answered.
From deep within him.
Something ancient.
Something starving.
The spreading darkness paused.
Shuddered.
Then—
It was pulled.
Violently.
Kael's eyes widened slightly.
The shadow inside him twisted—like something caught in a current—
And then—
It disappeared.
Devoured.
Silence.
A voice whispered.
Not outside.
Not around him.
Inside.
"Hungry…"
Kael's breath stopped.
"…What?"
The shadows around him froze.
Their movements halted.
Then slowly—
They retreated.
Kael stood.
He shouldn't have been able to.
His body was beyond its limit.
But something else was moving it now.
He raised his hand.
Darkness gathered.
Coiling around his fingers.
Obeying.
Alive.
The creatures hesitated.
Then—
They attacked again.
This time—
Kael didn't move.
A shadow struck him—
And vanished.
Consumed.
Another.
Gone.
Another.
Erased.
Each one that touched him was dragged into that growing void within him.
Fed into something that only wanted more.
Kael tilted his head.
Observing.
Processing.
Understanding.
"…I see."
His voice had changed.
Quieter.
Colder.
The whispers grew louder.
Still not words.
But clearer.
Closer.
Hunger.
Kael stepped forward.
The shadows panicked.
They fled.
Too late.
Dark tendrils erupted from beneath him.
Fast.
Silent.
Unforgiving.
They wrapped around the fleeing creatures—
Crushed them—
Pulled them into nothing.
Gone.
Silence returned.
Kael stood alone.
Breathing steady.
Eyes empty.
Then—
The voice returned.
[Condition Met]
[Anomaly Detected]
[Path… Unknown]
For the first time—
The system hesitated.
As if it didn't understand what it was seeing.
Kael looked into the endless dark.
"…So this is power."
No excitement.
No relief.
Just acceptance.
A faint smile formed.
Not warm.
Not human.
"…Then I'll survive."
The shadows trembled.
Because something had been born.
Not a hero.
Not a victim.
Something else.
Something that didn't follow rules.
Didn't follow fate.
Something that—
Devoured it.