Chapter 8: Echoes in the Deep

Ren stood at the mouth of a newly discovered dungeon—one unmarked on any hunter registry. It had opened the night before, a yawning fracture in the ground outside the city, pulsing with faint red mist. No team had dared enter it yet. No official records. No clearance.

But something inside called to him.

Kaede had warned him not to go. Begged him, even. But Ren couldn't ignore the pull. It wasn't curiosity. It was instinct. Hunger. A sense that whatever lay within would bring him closer to understanding what he was becoming.

The air inside was thick. Breathing felt like inhaling ash. He moved slowly, the shadows clinging to him like vines. The deeper he went, the more time seemed to stretch—like the walls themselves were watching him.

He passed bones. Not monster bones. Human.

His steps echoed through the endless corridors, and the mark on his chest pulsed stronger with every level he descended. It whispered promises. Power. Clarity. Freedom.

Then, the path behind him vanished.

Not collapsed. Not blocked. Just... gone. One blink, and the corridor he had walked was no longer there—replaced with seamless stone. Like it had never existed.

He spun around. There was no light. No exit. No sound. Only a cold pressure around him, like the dungeon itself had closed its jaws.

Trapped.

Panic rose, but something in him buried it. The hunger. The Void. It didn't fear this place.

Ren pressed forward, deeper into the unknown.

Hours—or was it days?—passed. Time unraveled. His body ached, but his power kept him moving. The shadows grew thicker, and eventually, he stopped in a vast, circular chamber. Black crystal spires jutted from the ground like teeth.

In the center stood a figure.

Not a monster. Not human. A thing wearing a mask of bone, its body robed in pulsating shadows.

"I've been waiting," it rasped.

Ren didn't speak.

"You are the heir," it said. "But you are unshaped. Weak. Still clinging to your human self."

The chamber sealed behind him.

"If you wish to survive," it hissed, "you must feed. Or die in the dark like all the others."

And from the walls, dozens of hollow-eyed beasts slithered forward—born of shadow, bone, and endless hunger.

Ren readied himself.

Alone. Trapped.

But not powerless.