The man lifts his head slowly. His eyes lock onto Kaelen.
"You…" Kaelen says sharply. Recognition hits him with force. His grip tightens on the rifle. "I know you."
The man lets out a hoarse breath that turns into a bitter laugh. Blood streaks his face, drying into cracked lines along his skin.
"Then my fate is sealed," he rasps. "You always did recognize ghosts."
"You should be dead," Kaelen says. His voice hardens. "You vanished during the Black Expansion. The Empire declared you a traitor."
"I was," the man replies. "And I was loyal. Both at once." His gaze flicks briefly to the restraints biting into his flesh. "That contradiction is what put me here."
Kaelen steps closer, eyes never leaving the human face trapped within the monstrosity. "Who did this to you?"
The man exhales slowly. "The same people who taught you to never hesitate. The same people who taught your father to win at any cost." His voice trembles. "The Emperor does not forgive doubt. He repurposes it."
"You worked for him,"
Kaelen says. "You enforced his will."
"And I believed in it," the man snaps, sudden fury flashing through his exhaustion. "Order. Stability. An end to endless war." His voice breaks. "But this is not order. This is consumption."
The hybrid shifts violently, reacting to the surge of emotion, with limbs lash outward, cracking the ground, and energy pulses ripple across its surface.
"Leave," the man growls urgently. "This thing listens to me less every cycle. It learns from my fear. From my pain."
Kaelen raises the rifle slightly. "Tell me what this place is."
The man hesitates, then laughs weakly. "A graveyard of ambition. A testing ground. The Emperor wanted soldiers who could adapt to anything. So he fed them everything." His eyes flick to the surrounding growths. "Including worlds."
The hybrid convulses. Kaelen fires instinctively, striking exposed plating, then sparks and blood spray into the air.
"Stop!" the man shouts. "You are making it angry."
"You are already dying," Kaelen says. "I will not walk away from answers."
The man stares at him, eyes burning despite the pain. "Then listen carefully. This Zone does not exist to protect the Empire. It exists to protect the rest of reality from what failed here."
SC shouts from the side, warning him, but Kaelen barely hears it.
"You cannot kill it," the man continues. "You cannot escape it. All you can do is deny it more fuel."
The hybrid surges forward, trying to crush Kaelen. He dodges narrowly, sliding across the ground.
"You are still conscious," Kaelen says, voice tight. "You are still you. Fight it."
The man laughs again, softer now. "I fight it every second. That is why it hurts so much."
The willow tendrils pulse nearby.
"Kill me," the man whispers. "Before it learns how to wear my mind the way it wears my body."
Kaelen hesitates. His hands tremble.
"I trained under you," he says quietly. "You taught me strategy. Discipline. Control."
"And I failed you," the man replies. His voice cracks. "I failed your father. I failed myself." Tears spill freely now. "Do not fail me too."
The hybrid lurches forward.
Its bulk tears free from the base of the clearing, restraints snapping one by one as it follows Kaelen with unsettling intent.
Heavy steps shake the ground, with tubes stretch and tear, spraying dark fluid across the soil. The thing does not charge blindly. It advances with purpose, adjusting its gait, learning Kaelen's movement.
Kaelen retreats slowly, keeping his weapon trained on it.
"Stop following me," he snaps.
The man inside the creature lifts his head with effort. His eyes find Kaelen, wide with alarm.
"You should not have come closer," he rasps. "It responds to you. To your energy."
Kaelen fires a controlled shot into exposed plating. The hybrid barely reacts, its surface thickening where the beam strikes.
"Then talk," Kaelen says. "Tell me what you are now."
The man coughs, blood spilling over his lips. "I am the leash," he says weakly. "And it is learning how to bite through it."
The hybrid steps closer. Its limbs scrape the ground, carving furrows through soil and growth alike. Its head tilts, spiraled horns glowing brighter as it studies Kaelen.
"You trained me to read the battlefield," Kaelen says, backing away step by step. "This thing is not mindless. It tracks intent."
The man laughs bitterly. "Yes. It consumes it."
Energy pulses through the hybrid's core. The clearing trembles.
"Leave," the man growls. "If you value your life, turn and run."
Kaelen's heel catches on something solid. He glances back just long enough to see it.
The willow tree.
Its tendrils sway gently, veins glowing dark red, pulsing in a slow, hungry rhythm.
Kaelen's eyes narrow, his memory surfaces. ' willow trees are a type of tree that is dangerous it drinks your blood and consume your energy, leading to death"
Understanding clicks into place.
"You feed it," Kaelen says quietly, more to himself than to the man. "Blood and power."
The man's eyes widen. "Do not," he whispers. "It will not stop once it starts."
Kaelen raises his rifle and fires again, this time deliberately missing the hybrid. The beam slices across the willow's bark.
The reaction is immediate.
The tree shudders. Tendrils stiffen, then pulse violently, the glow intensifying.
The hybrid reacts as well. It lets out a distorted roar and surges forward, locking fully onto Kaelen.
Every movement becomes faster, more aggressive.
Kaelen turns and runs.
"Kaelen, stop!" the man shouts. Panic floods his voice. "You are leading it to the wrong place."
"That is the point," Kaelen replies without slowing.
The ground shakes as the hybrid follows, crashing through the clearing in pursuit.
Kaelen skids to a stop just short of the willow, pivots, and fires a concentrated burst directly into the hybrid's core.
Blood sprays. Energy discharges wildly.
The willow awakens.
Tendrils lash outward with explosive speed.
They wrap around the hybrid's limbs, pierce plating, and drive deep into joints and exposed flesh, and tubes are crushed and rerouted.
The creature shrieks as energy and blood are ripped from it, siphoned directly into the tree.
The man screams as the bindings tighten, his body convulsing as the hybrid is dragged backward.
Kaelen lowers his rifle slowly.
"I am sorry," the man gasps, voice breaking. "I tried to hold it. I tried to stop them."
"You did," Kaelen says. His hands shake. "You endured longer than anyone should."
The tendrils tighten further. The hybrid's movements slow, its resistance collapsing as the willow drains it completely.
"Please," the man whispers. Tears stream freely now. "Do not let it use me anymore. Let it end."
Kaelen steps closer, eyes locked on the man's face, not the monster around it.
"I remember who you were," he says quietly.
"Not what they made you."
The man exhales one final, shuddering breath. "That is enough."
Kaelen raises the rifle.
The shot is clean. Precise.
The human goes still.
The hybrid slackens completely, fully claimed by the willow. Its glow fades, dimming until nothing remains but a trapped husk bound in living tendrils.