The room was silent.
Everyone stared at me. At what I had done. At what I had just demonstrated I could do.
Lucy's face was pale. "Sidd, what was that?"
"My Aspect," I said. Which was true, as far as it went. "I can consume essence from enemies. From anyone, really. It makes me stronger. Temporarily and permanently."
"That is horrifying," Kael said slowly.
"That is survival."
"You could have killed him."
"But I did not." I gestured at Darius, who was still gasping on the floor. "He will recover. In a few hours, maybe a day, his essence will regenerate naturally. He will be weaker than before, yes. But alive. And perhaps less aggressive."
Somi approached Darius, her tactical mask analyzing him. "Essence reserves depleted to approximately thirty percent. Physical enhancement reduced accordingly. Corruption level decreased from estimated sixty-seven percent to approximately forty-five percent. Interesting. The consumption drained not just his power but his corruption as well."
I had not realized that. But it made sense. If corruption was tied to essence, and I consumed essence, then naturally I would consume some of his corruption too.
Which meant I had taken his corruption into myself.
Another reason for the two percent increase in my own corruption level.
"He challenged the group," I said, looking around at the other survivors. "He tried to claim the Anchor Point for himself. He attacked Kael and Gery. What I did was necessary to stop him without killing him. Unless someone thinks I should have let him keep attacking?"
No one answered.
Because they all knew I was right. In this world, in this situation, what I had done was the most merciful option. I could have let the others kill Darius. I could have killed him myself. Instead, I had drained him and let him live.
But the fear in their eyes remained.
They were afraid of me. Afraid of what I could do. What I might do.
My Truth-Seer attribute showed me the unspoken thoughts written across their faces. The questions they did not dare ask aloud.
If he can do that to Darius, he could do it to any of us. What if he goes rogue? What if his Hunger controls him? What if he decides we are food?
Lucy stepped forward, placing herself between me and the others. A defensive gesture, though I was not sure if she was protecting them from me or me from them.
"Sidd did what he had to," she said firmly. "Darius was out of control. The corruption had taken him too far. Someone had to stop him, and Sidd did it without killing him. We should be grateful."
"Grateful?" Maria asked. She was one of the unbound—one of the few who still refused to bind despite being on the verge of death. "Grateful to a monster?"
"Grateful to someone who saved us from a worse monster," Lucy corrected.
The tension held for another moment. Then Kael sighed and nodded.
"Lucy is right. Darius was a threat. Sidd neutralized him. Non-lethally. That is more than most would have done." He looked at me with those fog-grey eyes. "But Sidd. What you just demonstrated. That is a dangerous power. One that could easily be abused."
"I know."
"Will you abuse it?"
"I do not know," I answered honestly. "My Aspect has Flaws. One of them is the Hunger. I must consume essence regularly or I will lose control. What happens if I lose control completely? I do not know. I do not want to find out."
It was as close as I could come to explaining without violating The Silence Flaw. I could not tell them the exact mechanics—the twelve-hour timer, the progressive consequences, the inevitable berserker state. But I could tell them I had a compulsion. That it was dangerous. That I was trying to manage it.
Whether they believed me or trusted me was another question entirely.
I walked to the window on the third floor, needing distance from the others. Needing to process what had just happened.
My reflection stared back at me from the glass.
The white in my hair had spread further. It was not just streaks anymore. Entire sections were now pure white, creating a stark contrast with the remaining black. I estimated seventy percent white now. Maybe more.
My eyes were completely black. No whites. No iris. Just endless darkness that seemed to swallow light.
The Mask of Hunger covered the upper half of my face, bone-white with those empty eye holes. As I watched, it shifted slightly. The edges darkened. Small horn-like protrusions began to emerge from the temples. Not fully formed—just suggestions. Potential.
The devil form was getting closer to the surface.
I touched my neck, feeling the veins there. They had spread further up during the consumption of Darius's essence. Now they reached my jawline on the right side. Soon they would cover my face entirely.
How long until I looked completely inhuman? Days? Weeks?
[CORRUPTION LEVEL: 38%]
At this rate, I would hit the seventy percent warning threshold in less than two weeks. The ninety percent critical threshold within a month.
And one hundred percent—complete assimilation—shortly after.
Unless I stopped consuming essence.
But I could not stop. The Hunger demanded it. Every twelve hours, I needed to feed. Every twelve hours, my corruption increased.
It was a death sentence in slow motion.
Not death, the mask corrected. Transformation. You are not dying. You are becoming. Something greater. Something eternal. Something hungry.
"Something that is not me anymore."
Is that such a loss? You were weak. Scared. Lost. Now you are becoming strong. Fearless. Found. Embrace it.
I could not argue with that logic because it was partially true. I was stronger now than I had ever been. Faster. More capable. I had power I could never have imagined before the Anchor binding.
But I was also losing myself.
Piece by piece. Day by day. Percentage point by percentage point.
The question was not whether I would be lost.
The question was how much of me would remain when the transformation was complete.
Lucy found me at the window an hour later.
She approached quietly, her boots squelching on the wet stone. I heard her coming—my enhanced senses picked up the sound easily—but I did not turn around. Just kept staring out at the grey ruins and grey water of the Flesh Cradle.
"You are avoiding everyone," she observed.
"I am giving them space to process what they saw."
"They are scared of you."
"I know."
She stood beside me, looking out at the same view. Her reflection appeared in the glass next to mine. She looked tired. The dark circles under her eyes had deepened. Her hair was tangled and damp from the constant humidity. But she was still recognizably herself.
Still Lucy.
Unlike me, who was becoming something else.
"Are you okay?" she asked quietly.
"No."
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"I cannot." The Silence Flaw prevented me from explaining properly. "My Aspect. My powers. They come with prices I cannot discuss. But the prices are significant. Permanent. And they are accelerating."
"Your hair," she said. "It is almost all white now."
"Yes."
"And your eyes. They are getting darker. Emptier."
"Yes."
"And the veins. They are spreading."
"Yes."
She was silent for a moment. Then she reached out and took my hand. Her skin was warm against mine. Human. Normal.
My hand was cold. The veins glowed faintly through my skin. Inhuman. Wrong.
"I am losing myself," I said quietly. "Day by day. I can feel it. The person I was before the Anchor binding is fading. Being replaced by something else. Something hungry. Something that sees truth in everything and cannot look away. Something that needs to consume to survive."
"Can you stop it?"
"No."
"Can you slow it?"
"Maybe. If I use my powers less. If I consume essence less frequently. But then I will be weaker. And in this world, weakness means death."
"So you are trapped."
"Yes."
She squeezed my hand. "We will find a way. There has to be a way to reverse the corruption. To restore what you have lost. We just have to—"
"There is not."
The words came out flat. Final. My Truth-Seer attribute had analyzed the Anchor Point system thoroughly. I had seen the memories of dozens of previous Awakened. Every single one of them had tried to find a way to reverse the corruption. To undo the transformation.
None had succeeded.
The corruption was permanent. Irreversible. Inevitable.
"How do you know?" Lucy asked.
"I just do." I could not explain about the Memory Spheres. About the visions of previous challengers failing. About the comprehensive understanding the Anchor binding had given me. "Trust me. This is permanent. The only question is how far it will go before we can escape this world."
"And if it goes too far?"
I looked at her. Really looked at her with my Truth-Seer vision active.
I saw the fear beneath her brave facade. The terror that she was losing her friend. The desperate hope that somehow, impossibly, I would be okay.
And beneath that, another truth. One that hurt to see.
She was preparing herself for the possibility that she might have to kill me.
If I went too far. If the corruption consumed me completely. If I became a threat.
She was already thinking about how to do it. Lightning through the heart. Quick. Merciful. Before I could turn into a monster that would hurt others.
My best friend was preparing to kill me.
And the worst part was—she was right to do so.
"If it goes too far," I said slowly, "promise me something."
"What?"
"Do not hesitate."
She understood immediately. Her hand tightened on mine. "Sidd, do not ask me to—"
"Promise me," I insisted. "If I become a threat. If I lose myself completely. If I start attacking people. You end it. Quickly. Do not let me become one of those things in the water. One of those failed bindings that hunt in the flooded ruins. Promise me."
Tears welled in her eyes. "I cannot."
"You must."
"Sidd—"
"Lucy." I turned to face her fully, looking into her eyes with my endless black gaze. "You are my friend. One of the only real friends I have ever had. And because of that friendship, I need you to promise. If I become a monster, you stop me. You do not let me hurt innocent people. You do not let me lose what little humanity I have left. You end it while there is still something of me left to save. Promise me."
She was crying now, tears streaming down her face. "This is not fair."
"Nothing about this is fair."
"I do not want to lose you."
"You already are. This is just about controlling how much is lost."
She pulled her hand away from mine. Wrapped her arms around herself. Stood there shaking with silent sobs.
I waited. Let her process. Let her feel what she needed to feel.
Finally, she looked up at me. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying. But there was steel in them now. Resolve.
"I promise," she whispered. "If it comes to that. If you become too corrupted. If you lose yourself completely. I will do what has to be done."
"Thank you."
"I hate you for making me promise that."
"I know."
She wiped her eyes with her sleeve. "We should get back. The others will be organizing an exploration party. We need to find more about this world. About the Mother. About how to escape."
"Yes."
She started to walk away, then paused. Looked back at me. "Sidd? For what it is worth, I do not think you are a monster. I think you are someone trying to survive in an impossible situation. And I think you are doing the best you can with terrible choices."
"Thank you," I said again. "But you are wrong. I am becoming a monster. The only question is whether I can hold onto enough of my humanity to still be called human by the time we escape. If we escape."
She did not argue.
Because my Truth-Seer vision showed me that she agreed with my assessment.
She thought I was becoming a monster too.
She was just too kind to say it out loud.
After Lucy left, I checked my status again.
[HUNGER TIMER: 11:47:08]
Eleven hours and forty-seven minutes until I needed to feed again. The consumption of Darius's essence had bought me twelve hours. Twelve hours of peace. Twelve hours where the hollow ache in my core would not grow.
But the timer was already counting down.
Always counting down.
Twelve hours from now, I would need to consume again. And when I did, my corruption would increase. Another one or two percent. Moving me closer to the warning threshold. Closer to the critical threshold. Closer to the point of no return.
I looked out at the Flesh Cradle. At the grey ruins. At the distant mountain of flesh where the Mother of Limbs slept.
Somewhere out there was the answer. The way to kill her. The way to escape this world.
But would I still be human when we found it?
Or would I be something else entirely by then?
My mask shifted, the devil horns emerging slightly further.
And I realized I was smiling behind it.