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

The sky hadn't returned to normal.

Even hours after the breach had sealed, streaks of Riftlight still bled across the clouds like veins of molten glass. The Guild compound was eerily quiet now, filled only with the groans of wounded, the hum of repair drones, and the hush of survivors who'd seen something they didn't know how to name.

Ethan stood atop the eastern watchtower, staring out across the ruined plains. His Beastmark had dimmed, but its presence remained like a warm coal under his skin—dormant, but not silent.

Zeila approached silently, cloak dragging dust. "Scouts returned. The Riftfield around the Hollow is shifting. More active. Less predictable."

"They're trying to keep us out," Ethan muttered. "Or pull us in."

Zeila leaned against the rail beside him. "Word's spreading. About you. What you did. Some are calling you the Flameborn."

"You hate it, don't you?" she said softly.

Ethan exhaled. "I'm not a symbol. I'm just... surviving. Barely."

Kael joined them, climbing the tower two steps at a time. "Alright, bad news first: the Guild Council's demanding an audience. They want to 'evaluate the nature of your powers.' Which is code for 'figure out how scared they should be.'"

Ethan rolled his eyes. "Let them. I'm done hiding."

Kael raised a brow. "That's... surprisingly bold. I like it."

Kael handed her a data slate. "The map fragments from the journal and the bone ring—combined with our archive scans—they match something."

Kael tapped the screen. "A dead zone west of the Hollow. Former mining colony. Cut off after the First Surge. No signals. No survivors. Just rumors."

Ethan took the slate, eyes scanning. A circle was marked in crimson on the satellite map. The land inside it was blighted, a spiral of scorched rock and Rift scars. In the center—an ancient mark, etched deep into the terrain: the same eye-split-by-fang.

"Crimson Reach," Zeila said grimly. "That's what the old Hunters called it. A place the Rift never let go of."

Ethan's grip tightened. "Then that's where we go."

Kael whistled. "Seriously? That place eats expeditions for breakfast."

"We need the rest of the seal," Ethan said. "The ring was one piece. My mother's notes hinted the others were hidden near places where the Rift first broke. If the Reach still burns, that means something's still alive there."

"Or something undead," Kael muttered.

Ethan turned away from the tower. "Gear up. We leave at dawn."

As they descended the stairs, Zeila touched Ethan's arm. "You sure you're ready for this?"

He looked at her. Not with bravado—but with purpose.

"I don't know if I'm ready," he admitted. "But the Rift is changing. So am I. If I wait until I understand it all... we lose."

Zeila gave a faint, approving nod. "Then we go."

That night, Ethan sat alone in the quiet of his chamber. The journal lay open beside him, pages filled with his mother's thoughts—frantic, brilliant, terrified. Her last entries were scrawled in haste:

They will seek the Flameborn. Not to worship—but to consume. The Warden remembers. The Eye watches. If Ethan finds the Crimson Seal, he must not awaken the Heart beneath it. It stirs, even now.

He touched the mark on his arm, and for a moment, he heard a heartbeat that wasn't his own.

Outside, Riftwinds howled across the darkened plains.

And somewhere far beneath the Crimson Reach...

Chapter 31: The Crimson Path