Perspective: Alessio Leone
Alessio had to admit — things were getting strange.And coming from him, that meant a lot.
After everything he had seen inside the Black Tower — monsters that defied logic, bosses that bent the laws of physics, and dungeons that seemed to have minds of their own — he honestly believed that nothing could surprise him anymore.
But now… he no longer dared to think that way.
Because strange had become too weak a word to describe what he was living through.
His Essence Ignition trial had already shattered every notion of reality he once held.Being turned into a lion — a creature driven by instinct, scent, hunger, and the urge to protect — had shown him a new face of the Tower.A face that followed no game rules, no logic, no coherence.
And as if that weren't enough — as if months of hunting gazelles, drinking warm water from shallow pools, and licking his own wounds weren't absurd already — now there was this.
The possibility of reproduction inside the game.
Even after ten years as a veteran player, he had never heard a single rumor about such a thing.Not in forums, not in archived player logs, not even in the Tower's encrypted files.It simply didn't exist.Or at least, no one had ever lived to tell the story.
But now, he and Sith were living it.
They were going to be parents.Lion parents.Inside a test.With no idea what would happen afterward — whether it would end when the trial did, whether the cubs would be born only to vanish, or whether the Tower had just crossed a limit it was never meant to cross.
It was madness.And yet, it was a madness he couldn't escape.
So he did what he always did when faced with the impossible:He adapted.
There was a kind of primal wisdom in the instincts that guided him now.He remembered the documentaries he used to watch as a kid — the ones that fascinated him when the narrator spoke of "the great cats of the African savanna."He remembered that lionesses left their pride before giving birth, seeking solitude and safety to protect their newborns.
And that was exactly what Sith did.
She started to drift away, little by little.At first, she spent more time alone.Then, she began avoiding even his gaze.And though that hurt somewhere deep inside Alessio, he accepted it.
He knew that was how it had to be.
And in a way, there was something almost sacred about watching her that way — distant, but strong.Silent, but alive.Each passing day, her maternal instinct grew sharper — and with it, something within Alessio began to change too.
He became more vigilant.More territorial.More wild.
He hunted more often, stockpiling kills so she wouldn't have to risk herself.He patrolled their territory every night, making sure no hyena, leopard, or rival male came too close.And whenever the wind carried an unfamiliar scent, he roared — a deep, resonant sound that rolled across the plains like thunder, sending a single clear message:
"This land is taken."
For nearly three months, Alessio kept that rhythm —solitary, yet steady; alert to every sound, every change in the wind, every movement beneath the moon.
And then, one quiet night, when the air was colder and the full moon washed the savanna in silver light… it happened.
From his den, some distance away, Alessio watched Sith.She lay beneath the twisted shadow of a tree, her body slightly arched, her eyes half-closed.Something about her made him still, silent — as though the very air around them might shatter.
And then he felt it.
A scent.
A scent he had never known before.A scent that reached into every fiber of his being and ignited something ancient within him.
It was the scent of change.Of birth.Of life about to emerge.
A deep, primal instinct flooded his body — so strong it made him forget, for a moment, that he was merely a player inside a test.The air around him seemed to vibrate.
His heart raced.And without thinking, he began to move — drawn forward by instinct alone.
Freya — or rather, Sith — was about to bring something new into that savage world.And Alessio knew, with absolute certainty, that nothing would ever be the same after that night.
Unfortunately, he wasn't the only one who felt it.
The air, which had moments before been clean and crisp under the moonlight, began to shift.First, subtly — a faint heaviness in the wind.Then came the scent — sharp and cutting through the night like an invisible blade.
Alessio froze.His body reacted before his mind could process what was happening.His nostrils flared, his chest expanded, and a low growl — deep, almost thunderous — reverberated in his throat.
That smell.
He knew it.He knew it better than he ever wanted to.
It was the same odor that, months ago, had awakened something buried deep inside him — the same scent that had turned him, for the first time, into a true lion.The smell of wet fur, of torn earth, of blood and dust.The smell of the invader.
The lion that had once crossed his territory.The one who had nearly killed him.The one who, by forcing him to fight with everything he had, had pushed him to the border between man and beast.
The first catalyst of what he had become.
And now… he was back.
The wind shifted again, carrying the scent with brutal clarity — heavy, thick, unmistakable.But there was something different this time.Something more.
Another smell.Others.
Instinct screamed inside him: he's not alone.
Aslan — or Alessio, as he still barely thought of himself — lifted his gaze.The moon hung high, silver and merciless, its light tracing the contours of the savanna.The tall grass swayed, shadows moving like ghosts among the hills.And as his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he saw them.
One. Two. Three… four.
The old invader stood at the front, his massive body glinting beneath the cold light.Behind him, three smaller males — likely his young followers — advanced with the confidence of those who believed themselves protected by the true king.
They had returned.And by their timing, Alessio knew this was no accident.
Sith.
They had felt it too — the same scent he had sensed.The call of new life.
And for any lion in the wild, that scent meant two things: weakness and opportunity.
Weakness, because a birthing female was vulnerable.Opportunity, because killing her cubs before they grew ensured that only the dominant lineage would survive.
Alessio knew that.He remembered the documentaries.He remembered nature's cruel rules.And now, those rules were all that remained.
The air grew dense, charged with tension.The wind rolled through the tall grass in slow waves, each movement whispering of chaos to come.Alessio's heart pounded — not with fear, but with fury.
He could feel instinct burning through his veins like fire.His entire body reacted — claws digging into the soil, muzzle vibrating with a growl that threatened to split the night apart.
They had come for his territory.For her.For his children.
A roar began to rise from within him, low and deep, rumbling from his chest like distant thunder.The wind carried it forward, making the shadows ahead halt — just for a moment.
The invader's golden eyes gleamed, locked on his.There was no doubt in that gaze.He hadn't returned by chance.He had come to finish what he started.
Alessio stepped forward, muscles trembling under the weight of tension.The world seemed to narrow to that single instant.The savanna faded away.The sounds of the night vanished.Even the wind fell silent.
And for the second time since the beginning of his trial, Alessio felt the boundary between man and beast dissolve completely.
Instinct roared inside him — wild, pure, absolute.He was no longer a player.Not even a lion.
He was something in between.Something born of the need to protect.
And he would.
Even if it meant facing hell itself.