⚔️ Chapter 8:
(~
Hunger was no longer a feeling.
It was a presence.
It sat in Kael's gut like a living thing, gnawing, patient, relentless. Days passed without proper food—only strips of tough monster meat chewed until his jaw ached, only bitter roots pulled from cursed soil. Water came from stagnant pools that burned his throat and left his head ringing.
Still, he moved forward.
The mountains swallowed him whole.
Stone spires rose like broken teeth, their surfaces scarred by ancient claw marks and half-melted craters. The wind screamed through narrow passes, carrying whispers that were not wind at all. Every night, the cold cut deeper, seeping through scars and bones.
The seal on his chest pulsed.
Cold.
Heavy.
Constant.
Inside, the shadow watched.
It did not beg anymore.
It waited.
The beast found him at dusk.
It was fast—too fast for something so large. A blur of sinew and bone with a head like a split skull, eyes glowing faint blue. It lunged from the rocks without sound, jaws snapping shut where Kael's neck had been a heartbeat earlier.
He barely rolled aside.
Stone exploded where the beast struck, shards tearing into Kael's shoulder. Blood sprayed warm against the cold air. He staggered, caught himself, drew the bone blade from his back.
The beast circled.
Kael's breathing slowed.
He had learned this part.
He feinted left, then dropped low as the creature leapt. The blade sliced across its belly—not deep enough. Never deep enough.
The beast slammed him into the ground.
Kael felt something tear in his side.
Pain flared white-hot, then dulled into something distant. He gasped, vision swimming, as claws pressed against his chest—against the seal.
The shadow surged.
Now.
Kael's teeth clenched.
"No."
The claws tightened.
His ribs screamed.
You will die for nothing.
Kael twisted, driving his knee up into the beast's jaw. Bone cracked. The creature reeled back long enough for him to roll free.
He forced himself upright, legs shaking.
The seal burned.
Cracks spidered across it—tiny, fragile, real.
The shadow pressed closer, its presence thick and suffocating.
I can end this.
One breath. One strike.
Kael lunged first.
He ducked under a swipe, rammed the blade into the beast's thigh, twisted hard. Black blood spilled. The creature howled and swung blindly.
Kael didn't retreat.
He stepped in.
Took the blow on his shoulder.
Felt bone grind.
Then he drove the blade up beneath the jaw, into the soft tissue where spine met skull.
The beast collapsed.
Silence followed—broken only by Kael's ragged breathing.
He stood there for a long time, blood dripping from his fingers, staring at the corpse.
The shadow stirred.
Not angry.
Curious.
You chose pain… over power.
Kael wiped the blade clean on his torn sleeve.
"I chose control."
That night, the dreams came.
He stood on a plain of black glass beneath a sky with no stars. The shadow towered before him—not monstrous, not armored—just a vast silhouette without form.
It spoke without sound.
You starve yourself.
You bleed for nothing.
Kael looked up at it.
"I bleed so I don't disappear."
The shadow shifted.
I am not your enemy.
"You're not my master either."
For the first time, the shadow did not push back.
It receded.
Days later, Kael reached the ravine.
It split the land open like a wound that never healed. The air rising from it was warm, damp, carrying the stench of rot and old blood. Something lived down there. Many somethings.
Kael descended anyway.
The ravine floor was alive.
Creatures crawled across the walls, burrowed beneath the ground, stalked him from the dark. He fought constantly—sometimes winning, sometimes escaping by inches.
Sleep became rare.
His hands shook when he wasn't fighting.
The seal cracked further.
One night, he collapsed against the ravine wall, too weak to stand.
The shadow pressed close.
You will not survive this place alone.
Kael laughed weakly.
"I never said I would."
The shadow paused.
Then—
If I lend you strength…
for moments only…
will you accept?
Kael's eyes opened.
"How much?"
A breath.
A heartbeat.
He stared at the darkness above the ravine, at the thin strip of sky barely visible.
"On my terms."
The shadow did not answer.
But when the next creature attacked—a massive, many-limbed thing that burst from the ground without warning—Kael felt something align.
Not a surge.
Not possession.
Just… support.
His movements sharpened.
His strike landed true.
The creature died quickly.
The seal burned—but did not bind.
Kael leaned against the wall, breathing hard.
"That's all," he said.
The shadow withdrew.
Satisfied.
Far away, beyond the cursed lands, a presence stirred.
A goddess stood at the edge of a floating terrace, staring down through layers of cloud and distance. Her hair flowed like liquid silver, her eyes sharp with interest.
She felt it clearly now.
Not divine rebellion.
Not abyssal eruption.
Discipline.
"So the sealed one learns restraint," she murmured.
A smile curved her lips.
"How rare."
She turned away, robes whispering against marble.
"Watch him."
The heavens obeyed.
At dawn, Kael climbed out of the ravine.
He was thinner.
More scarred.
More dangerous.
The seal on his chest was cracked—but intact.
The shadow walked behind him now, not clinging, not dragging—following.
Kael did not look back.
He kept walking.
Because hunger was no longer just a weakness.
It was a weapon.
And the abyss was finally beginning to listen.