Chapter 25: Anomaly

I couldn't breathe.

Every step was agony. My legs felt like jelly. My body—beaten, bloodied, and broken—moved on nothing but sheer instinct. My vision swam, the world tilting sideways with every staggered breath.

Behind me, the alpha hound chased relentlessly—its footsteps thundered through the forest floor, its guttural snarls clawing at my mind.

This was it.

I was going to die.

My foot caught a stone—I stumbled, then pitched forward, tumbling down a muddy slope. Thorns tore at my skin. Stones slammed into my ribs. Dead leaves clung to my blood-soaked body.

And then—

The ground disappeared.

For a single breath, I hung in the air—weightless, suspended in silence.

Then gravity took hold.

I fell.

Sliding, crashing—dirt scraped my skin raw. My back slammed into hard earth, and I rolled down deeper until I hit flat ground with a dull thud that knocked the breath from my lungs.

I screamed.

Every inch of me burned. My limbs twitched with the remnants of impact. Pain radiated from my chest and spine. I forced my eyes open, blinking up at the narrow shaft above.

There—

The hound.

Its single remaining eye glared down at me. It snarled, lips curling back to reveal rows of bloodstained fangs.

The others stopped, uncertain.

But not him.

The alpha leapt.

A blur of rage and fur hurtled down toward me, and I barely rolled aside as it crashed onto the ground, cracking the stone beneath its claws.

He was furious.

Blinded in one eye, wounded, humiliated—he wanted nothing less than to rip me apart.

I forced my body to stand, screaming inside as torn muscles protested. My limbs trembled. My vision blurred.

But I stood.

Limping. Dragging my foot. Moving away from death—but not running.

I couldn't run anymore.

The hound followed—slow, deliberate, savoring it. He knew I couldn't escape now.

And yet…

In the corner of my eye—something. Vines. Thick, wild, overgrown.

There were vines everywhere in this part of the forest. But these… these were different.

Twisted unnaturally, all converging in one spot near the base of a massive tree.

They shouldn't have drawn my attention.

But something called to me from beneath.

A whisper, deep in my gut. A pull. A sensation I couldn't explain—like something ancient reaching out from under the soil, tugging at my soul.

I limped toward it.

Ignoring the hound's growl behind me, I tore at the vines with one arm, shoving the thick roots aside.

And there—beneath them—was a passage. Half-buried. Narrow. Diagonal, winding downward beneath the roots.

Just big enough to crawl.

A perfect place to hide.

Or die.

I didn't hesitate.

I dropped to the ground and began crawling in, dirt and roots scraping against my arms. The tunnel was tight, the air damp and heavy. I pulled myself forward, faster, deeper.

Then—

A shriek behind me.

The alpha hound lunged.

Its jaws clamped down on my foot—hard.

I screamed, thrashing—then realized—

It had only caught my boot.

With a desperate kick, I yanked my leg forward.

The hound pulled. I pulled harder.

And then—rip.

The boot tore free.

The beast was left with nothing but a filthy piece of leather in its jaws.

I was in.

Panting, heart hammering, I crawled deeper into the earth.

Darkness swallowed me.

I crawled deeper into the tunnel, my breath ragged, dirt filling my mouth and nostrils. My arm screamed with every pull, my wounds throbbed, but I didn't stop. Couldn't stop.

Behind me, I could still hear the faint growls echoing through the passage—low, guttural, and filled with rage. The hound wasn't leaving. It was waiting. Watching. Hunting.

It wanted me dead.

So I kept moving, inch by inch, my one good arm dragging me forward through the narrow, suffocating dark. I couldn't see anything. The walls were damp and cold, pressing against my sides like a coffin. But I felt something.

A pull.

Something deep inside this earth was calling to me.

At first, it was just a whisper—a strange flutter in my chest. But the deeper I crawled, the louder it became. My mana core stirred, shivering like it was alive. Each heartbeat synced with something in the earth. A rhythm. A pulse. A presence.

My body was breaking… but my instincts were screaming.

Go deeper.

The tunnel suddenly widened. My limbs sprawled forward and I tumbled out into a space I couldn't see, but could feel.

The air changed—heavier, colder, ancient.

I coughed, spat out mud, and forced myself to my knees. My fingers brushed smooth stone beneath the dirt. The mana here was thick, oppressive… yet oddly familiar. My core trembled again, violently this time, like it was resonating with something nearby.

I slowly stood, wobbling on shaking legs, my vision adjusting to the pitch-black void.

Then—

A soft, pale light flickered in the distance.

Faint. Faint as a dying ember.

But it was there.

Something was waiting for me at the end of this darkness.

And I had nowhere else to go.

I raised my trembling hand, willing mana into my fingers. A small flame flickered to life—weak, but enough to pierce the suffocating dark that surrounded me like a shroud.

But something was… wrong.

The flame trembled. Quivered. Then, as if drawn by some invisible thread, it drifted forward—toward the center of the cavern.

My heart skipped a beat.

There, in the middle of the chamber, another flame burned.

No… not a flame.

It was darkness. A fire that devoured light. Black as the void, yet shimmering with strange life, like it pulsed with its own heartbeat.

And the moment my weak flame touched it—

It vanished.

Swallowed whole.

No resistance. No clash.

It was as if the dark fire ate my flame… and welcomed it.

"What… the hell?"

I stared, stunned. This wasn't in the novel. I'd read about elemental clashes, cursed flames, soul-bound fire... but never this. Never a flame that consumed fire itself.

Curious. Confused. Maybe a little scared.

But also—thrilled.

I conjured another flame, this time pouring every ounce of focus into controlling it. I locked my will into it, making sure it wouldn't drift like the last one.

It didn't matter.

The moment it sparked to life, it was pulled—ripped from my grasp and absorbed again.

But this time… I felt it.

It didn't just take the flame.

It took the mana behind it.

It consumed the source.

What kind of fire devours the will that creates it?

I should've backed away.

But I couldn't.

The dark flame flickered again, dancing in slow, hypnotic waves… as if excited. As if it recognized me.

Calling me.

My heart pounded. My mana core trembled again—violently this time. Something ancient stirred in that flame, and it wanted me.

My body moved on its own.

No matter how loud my mind screamed, no matter how much instinct told me to run—I couldn't stop.

My good hand reached forward.

Don't touch it. Don't—

My fingers grazed the darkness.

And everything went still.

It wasn't hot.

It wasn't cold.

It simply… was.

I stared, captivated.

Then it thrashed.

Pain.

Agonizing, searing, soul-wrenching pain erupted in my hand. I screamed as it surged through my arm, burning like acid beneath my skin.

Worse than the hound tearing into me.

Worse than anything I'd ever felt.

My body spasmed as the dark fire climbed, spreading like a curse—through my shoulder, my chest, my legs.

I howled, thrashing wildly, but it didn't stop.

It didn't listen.

The fire wanted me—and it was taking me.

My screams echoed through the cave until my throat bled. But the fire kept crawling.

My limbs shook.

My vision blurred.

And then—

Darkness.

--------------------------

Kael lay motionless on the cold, barren ground. His body twitched faintly, lips parted as saliva trickled from the corner of his mouth. The dark fire danced wildly across his battered frame, flickering and thrashing like a living creature—no, like something joyous. As if it had been waiting… yearning for this very moment.

It twisted and twirled along his bruised skin, curling over his chest and arms, excited like a beast reunited with its long-lost master.

But despite the intensity of its arrival, Kael's body hadn't been reduced to ash. No burning. No crumbling into nothingness. The flesh remained. Broken. Wounded. Human.

Yet... something had changed.

Suddenly, the fire froze. The wild dance came to an abrupt stop.

It shivered—no, it feared.

Then, silence.

The ground pulsed once. As if the earth itself was holding its breath.

And then… a voice echoed through the field.

"Interesting."

The sound wasn't loud. But it was heavy. Ancient. Timeless. It rippled through the air like a curse uttered by the first beings to ever exist. Mana twisted in fear, and the very fabric of reality bent around its presence.

From the darkness, eyes opened.

Two massive, glowing orbs. Crimson like dried blood, deeper than the abyss itself. They bore into the unconscious Kael, not merely looking—but peering through him.

Through his blood. His soul. His secrets.

Nothing was hidden.

Not from those eyes.

Time seemed to fracture under their gaze.

"An anomaly," the voice rumbled. "A being that should not exist."

The eyes narrowed, not in anger—but in fascination.

They shifted from Kael to the dark fire, and back again.

The ancient presence could see it—what even Kael could not. The tremble of fate around him. The broken thread of destiny trying to mend itself. A puzzle piece that didn't belong on the board.

"How curious," it murmured.

And then, silence once more.

The presence did not vanish. It waited. Watched.

It had waited for countless years. It could wait a little longer.

For Kael Thorne to open his eyes.