The sky did not darken.
It shattered.
A sharp tear split the heavens above Valdareth, stretching from horizon to horizon like a wound carved by something boundless. Bloody-red light spilled through the rift, thick and pulsing, as if the sky itself had grown veins.
People froze mid-step.
Then the screaming began.
Kael stood at the edge of the market square, unmoving.
He had always felt something was wrong with the world.
Tonight, it finally disclosed it.
The fiery sky glow painted the cobblestones in blood. Windows shattered without being touched. A distant cathedral bell rang violently, though no one stood in the tower to pull it.
Kael's had a sudden, heavy realization.
"It's here…" he whispered.
He didn't know how he knew.
He just did.
A man nearby suddenly began to shake violently. His spine bent backward with a wet crack. Black veins erupted across his neck, writhing beneath his skin like living worms.
His eyes rolled white.
Then black.
He turned toward the nearest woman and jumped.
Chaos erupted.
Kael did not run.
He stepped forward.
The infected man moved lightning-fast, slamming the woman into a fruit cart. Bones snapped. Blood sprayed across the cobblestones.
Kael's hands gripped firmly.
He could leave.
He should leave.
Instead, he grabbed a broken wooden pole from the cart and drove it into the man's ribs.
The creature screamed out but not like a human. The sound was hollow, layered, as though something deeper screamed through him.
The black veins wobbled brighter.
The man's head twisted toward Kael.
Too far.
Too far for bone.
Kael felt fear then.
Real fear.
The creature got angrier.
Kael barely dodged. Long, hooked talons tore across his shoulder, unleashing a white-hot agony that burned deeper than the skin."
They crashed to the ground.
Kael's heart pounded in his ears.
This thing was stronger.
Faster.
Not human anymore.
The sky pulsed.
Ba-dum.
Ba-dum.
The rhythm echoed inside his skull.
And suddenly
Time slowed.
Just slightly.
Just enough.
The creature's movement lagged, like it was fighting through thick water.
A whisper brushed against Kael's mind.
Bearer…
He froze.
The voice did not come from outside.
It came from beneath his thoughts.
The Gate has opened.
Something cold spread through his palm. He looked down.
A mark burned into his skin—black, tangled, spiraling like shattered thorns forming a crown.
Pain followed.
Exquisite.
Sharp.
Alive.
The creature jumped again
And instinct took over.
Kael grabbed its face.
The mark flared.
Darkness flowed from his hand like liquid shadow and seeped into the creature's veins.
The black lines on its body convulsed violently.
It screamed.
Not in anger.
In fear.
Kael felt it.
The terror.
The corruption inside it.
And without meaning to...
He pulled.
The veins ripped free from the man's body like threads being torn from cloth. They dissolved into smoke and poured into Kael's palm.
The creature collapsed.
Empty.
Dead.
The square fell silent around him.
Kael remained crouched over the corpse, breathing hard.
He should feel horror.
He should feel guilt,instead a pulse of warmth spread through his chest.
Strength.
It was faint.
But undeniable.
He liked it.
That realization terrified him more than the monster had.
His vision fluttered.
Symbols formed in the air before him—shifting black script only him could see.
*[*Irregular Authority Detected*]*
*[*Host Confirmed*]*
*[*Vessel Protocol Initiated*]*
His breath gasped.
"No…"
[Class: Unregistered]
[Corruption Compatibility: Absolute]
[Stability: Critical]
Absolute?
Another scream echoed from the alley behind him.
Kael looked up.
More people were changing.
Black veins crawled across skin. Shadows peeled off the ground, rising like smoke and transforming into distorted shapes.
The city was breaking.
The wound in the sky widened.
And from within it
Something moved.
A pressure slammed down on the square. People collapsed to their knees. Windows shattered outward. The air itself seemed to tremble.
Kael struggled to breathe.
Then he felt it.
A thread.
Connecting him to the tear above.
To whatever waited beyond it.
The system text fluttered again.
[You Have Consumed Corrupted Essence – Rank F]
[New Trait Acquired: Hunger]
His chest tightened.
Hunger?
A sharp ache spread through his veins—not pain.
Craving.
The creatures around him…
They felt like food.
His pulse quickened.
No.
No, that wasn't him.
He wasn't like them.
He forced himself to step back from another infected civilian writhing on the ground.
"I'm still human," he muttered.
The infected woman's shadow detached from her body and rose upright, forming into a tall, crooked silhouette.
It turned toward him.
And bowed.
Kael's blood ran cold.
The whisper returned—clearer now.
The First Vessel has awakened.
Above, a massive clawed hand emerged from the sky's wound, gripping the edges as if preparing to tear the world open further.
An eye opened in the bloody-red rift.
Ancient.
Boundless.
Focused entirely on him.
The pressure intensified, grew wider.
Kael dropped to one knee.
The mark on his palm pulsed violently.
[Warning: Higher Entity Attention Confirmed]
His vision blurred.
The shadow creature jumped.
Kael reacted without thinking.
Darkness erupted from his hand again, sharper this time—controlled.
It sliced through the shadow like a blade.
The creature disintegrated into mist—
And flowed into him.
The hunger eased.
Pleasure followed.
Warm. Addictive.
Power coiled deeper inside his veins.
His breathing steadied.
His fear… dulled.
That scared him.
Because a small, quiet part of him—
Enjoyed it.
The system message shifted.
[Rank F – Progress: 12%]
[First Trial Initiating]
The ground beneath the square cracked.
Not from above.
From below.
Stone shattered outward as something massive pushed upward from beneath the city.
A clawed limb burst through the cobblestones.
Not like the one in the sky.
Smaller.
Closer.
Meant for him.
People screamed and fled.
Kael stood frozen.
The hunger flared again.
Stronger.
The creature rose fully now—towering, stitched from shadow and bone, its hollow chest glowing faintly red.
Its eyeless face turned toward him.
Recognition.
The voice in his head whispered one final truth:
*Consume… or be consumed.*
The monster took a step forward.
Kael's mark burned brighter than ever.
The giant hand in the sky pulled harder.
And the eye above narrowed—
Watching.
Waiting.
Kael swallowed.
He wanted to run.
He should run.
Instead…
His lips curved, just slightly.
And he stepped toward the monster