she_is_cameo

When Ethan Cross was seven, his home burned, his parents were slaughtered by a beast unlike any other, and a strange mark burned itself into his hand. The world told him it was just another rogue attack. The Guild sealed the truth. And the monsters kept coming.

Ten years later, Ethan is an E-Rank hunter at the bottom of the food chain—mocked, ignored, and barely surviving each raid. But beneath his quiet gaze hides a deadly purpose. The mark on his hand is not just a scar… it’s a key.

A key to unlocking forbidden power.
A key to uncovering the truth behind the Rift Wars.
And a key to destroying the very system that let his parents die.

As beasts grow stronger and corruption festers within the Guild, Ethan begins a journey that will shake the hunter world to its core. But power comes at a price—and the more Ethan learns about the truth, the more he begins to question who the real monsters are.

In a world where strength defines worth, how far will he go to rise?

Beastmarked

Kael fired off a volley of plasma rounds, but the Bonebound lieutenant flicked his wrist—and the shots were swallowed by a writhing shield of spectral bone. Zeila was already behind the creature, her daggers glowing with Voidsteel, slicing through the air toward its exposed joints.

Ethan held the journal tightly under one arm, sword drawn in the other. His Beastmark pulsed with intensity—this enemy wasn't like the corrupted beasts or malformed constructs they'd fought before. This one was aware. Intelligent. And far more dangerous.

The Bonebound's voice echoed like bone scraping stone.

"Your mother was a fool. Her knowledge is wasted on you."

"You're wrong," Ethan said, stepping forward, blade at the ready. "She saw this coming. And she left it to me."

The Bonebound charged. Zeila leapt aside. Kael rolled behind a collapsed pillar and resumed cover fire.

Steel clashed against hardened bone, the impact sending out a ring of force. Ethan grunted, barely keeping his footing. His sword crackled with Riftlight as the Bonebound swung again, faster this time. Ethan deflected, then countered with a downward slash—missing by inches as the creature melted into the shadows.

"They shift with the Rift!" Zeila shouted. "You'll need to break his anchor!"

Ethan remembered the vial—the seed his mother left behind. A living Rift essence. If the Bonebound drew his strength from the same source… could he be unanchored?

He flipped backward, avoiding a brutal strike, then pulled the journal from his satchel. One-handed, he flipped through the brittle pages as Kael provided covering fire. Symbols shimmered across the paper. Glyphs like the ones on the monolith.

And then—one phrase burned through his mind:

"The anchor is bone. The source is mind. The breaker is flame born of mark and will."

Ethan didn't fully understand, but instinct pushed him forward. He reached into the satchel, pulled out the vial—and slammed it into the ground.

The essence spilled like liquid fire.

The Bonebound paused, staggered. His armor cracked—light seeping through the breaks.

Zeila seized the moment, plunging both daggers into his back. The creature howled.

Ethan charged, sword glowing with a fusion of Rift energy and his own awakened will. He moved faster than before, his Beastmark syncing with the burning aura around him. One clean upward slash—

The Bonebound's mask shattered, revealing hollow sockets beneath—no face. Just a skull filled with Rift fire.

The creature hissed in fury, then imploded into ash, leaving behind only the bone armor and a scorched medallion.

Kael exhaled. "Remind me never to pick a fight with you."

Ethan didn't answer. His gaze was locked on the medallion.

A symbol had been etched into the bone—an eye split by a fang. He recognized it from his mother's journal.

Zeila retrieved it carefully. "This isn't over. That symbol's on every Rift map west of the Hollow."

"Then we find out what it means," Ethan said, slipping the journal back into his satchel. "Before they do."

As they turned to leave, Rift winds howled louder behind them. The Hollow trembled, as if awakening.

Far above, unseen by the trio, another Bonebound watched from the shadows. Taller. Silent. Its eyes burning with something colder than fire—recognition.

Chapter 26: The Journal's Secret