"A trial," Kael breathed. "This is one of the Mother's trials. The major events that test those who enter her domain."
Somi's mask glowed brighter as she analyzed the throne. "Essence readings are off the charts. This is Tier 3 level power. Whatever this trial offers, it is significantly stronger than our current Tier 4 bindings."
"And if we fail?" Victor asked nervously.
"We become part of the throne," I said, my Truth-Seer showing me the horrible truth. "Look at it closely. The bones. The flesh. Those are not random materials. Those are previous challengers who sat on the throne and failed the trial. Their bodies were consumed and incorporated into the structure. They became the throne itself."
Everyone looked at the throne with new horror.
Because I was right. Now that they knew what to look for, they could see it. The way some bones were more recent than others. The way the flesh had layers, each layer representing another victim. The way the entire structure was a monument to failure.
Hundreds had tried. Hundreds had failed. Hundreds had become the throne.
"Who is going to attempt it?" Chen asked.
Everyone looked at me.
Of course they did. I was the strongest. I had the most powerful consumption ability. I had already demonstrated I could drain corrupted essence without dying.
If anyone could pass this trial, it was me.
"No," Kael said firmly. "Sidd's corruption is already at dangerous levels. If he attempts this trial and it increases his corruption further, he could cross the fifty percent threshold. We cannot risk that."
"Then who?" Gery asked. "We need the power this trial offers. None of us are strong enough to face the Mother as we are now. We need to become stronger."
"I will do it," I said.
"Did you not hear me?" Kael turned to face me. "Your corruption is too high. The risk is too great."
"The risk is necessary." I walked toward the throne. "You said it yourself. We need more power. This trial offers Tier 3 level abilities. That is significantly stronger than what we have now. And I am the only one with a realistic chance of passing it."
"How do you know you will pass?"
"I do not know. But I know I am the best option we have."
Somi stepped forward, her clinical voice cutting through the argument. "Tactical analysis supports Sidd's assessment. Success probability: unknown but higher for him than others due to his Devourer attribute and corruption resistance. Risk of failure: high. Risk of not attempting: higher. Recommendation: proceed with attempt. Monitor for critical corruption levels."
"This is madness," Kael protested.
"This entire world is madness," I replied. "We are walking on the body of an entity that wants to assimilate us. We have bound ourselves to her power. We are already losing our humanity. At this point, taking risks is not optional. It is the only path forward."
I did not wait for further argument. I walked to the throne and sat down.
The moment my body made contact with the bone-and-flesh throne, everything changed.
Pain.
Not physical pain. Not the pain of injury or illness. This was deeper. Spiritual. The pain of having your soul examined, dissected, judged.
The throne came alive beneath me. The flesh pulsed. The bones shifted. Tendrils of corruption erupted from the armrests and wrapped around my wrists, binding me to the throne. More tendrils wrapped around my ankles, my waist, my chest.
I could not move. Could not escape. Could only sit there as the trial began.
A voice echoed through the chamber. Not spoken aloud. Spoken directly into my mind.
CHILD OF THE CRADLE. YOU WHO HAVE BOUND YOURSELF TO ME. YOU WHO CARRY MY MARK. YOU WHO CONSUME MY CHILDREN.
I AM THE MOTHER OF LIMBS. I AM THE FLESH CRADLE. I AM THE WOMB THAT HOLDS ALL.
YOU SEEK POWER. YOU SEEK STRENGTH. YOU SEEK TO BECOME MORE.
BUT POWER HAS A PRICE. STRENGTH DEMANDS SACRIFICE. BECOMING MORE MEANS LOSING WHAT YOU WERE.
I WILL TEST YOU NOW. I WILL SEE IF YOU ARE WORTHY TO BE MY FIRST CHILD. MY CHOSEN ONE. MY HEIR.
THE TRIAL OF HUNGER BEGINS.
The world dissolved.
I was no longer in the chamber. No longer sitting on the throne. I was somewhere else. Somewhere that existed only in my mind. Or perhaps in the Mother's mind. Or both.
I stood in a vast empty space. No walls. No ceiling. No floor beneath my feet, yet I stood on something solid. Everything was grey. Featureless. Infinite.
And before me, figures appeared.
My parents.
I had not thought about them in weeks. Had not wanted to think about them. But here they were, manifesting from the grey void. Looking exactly as I remembered them. My mother with her kind eyes and gentle smile. My father with his stern expression and calloused hands.
"Siddhartha," my mother said. My full name. The name I rarely used because it reminded me too much of who I had been before this nightmare began. "What have you become?"
I looked down at myself. Saw the black-red veins covering my arms. Saw my bone-white mask with its devil horns. Saw my almost-entirely-white hair. Saw my endless black eyes.
"I became what I needed to become to survive," I answered.
"You have become a monster," my father said. His voice was not angry. Just disappointed. Which was somehow worse. "We raised you to be better than this. To be human. To have compassion and mercy and restraint. And you have thrown all of that away for power."
"The power was necessary."
"Was it?" my mother asked. "Or did you simply enjoy it? Did you enjoy consuming that man in the temple? Did you enjoy hunting those creatures? Did you enjoy the feeling of their essence flowing into you?"
I wanted to lie. But my Truth-Seer attribute would not let me.
"Yes," I admitted. "I enjoyed it. I enjoyed the power. The strength. The satisfaction of feeding the Hunger. I enjoyed all of it."
"Then you have already lost," my father said. "The moment you began to enjoy the corruption is the moment you stopped being our son."
The figures dissolved. Faded back into the grey void.
FIRST TEST: SELF-KNOWLEDGE. PASSED.
YOU ADMIT THE TRUTH OF WHAT YOU ARE BECOMING. GOOD. LIES SERVE NO PURPOSE HERE.
New figures appeared.
Lucy. Gery. Somi. My companions. My friends. Standing before me in the grey void.
But different from how I knew them. These versions were clean. Unmarked. No corruption veins. No changed eyes. No transformed hair.
These were the versions of them that still existed in my memory. Before the bindings. Before the Flesh Cradle. Before everything went wrong.
"You are going to kill us," Lucy said. Her voice was sad. Resigned. "Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow. But eventually. When the Hunger takes control. When the corruption reaches one hundred percent. When you become fully transformed. You will turn on us. You will consume us. Just like you consumed those creatures."
"No," I protested. "I would never—"
"You promised me," she interrupted. "You made me promise to kill you if you became a threat. But what if you become a threat before I can stop you? What if the transformation happens suddenly? What if one day you wake up and you are not Sidd anymore but something wearing Sidd's face?"
"I will not let that happen."
"You cannot control it," Gery said. "The corruption is progressive. Inevitable. You said so yourself. Every time you consume essence, it increases. Every time you use your powers, you become less human. You are fighting a battle you cannot win."
"I am fighting the only battle I can fight."
"Then you have already lost," Somi stated clinically. "Probability of maintaining humanity above critical threshold for more than two weeks: less than fifteen percent. Probability of complete assimilation within one month: eighty-seven percent. Probability of harming allies before transformation is complete: sixty-three percent."
"Those are just numbers."
"Numbers are truth," Somi replied. "And truth is what you claim to see. So see this truth: you are going to hurt us. Eventually. Inevitably. The only question is how much damage you will cause before we stop you."
The figures dissolved.
SECOND TEST: CONSEQUENCES. PASSED.
YOU UNDERSTAND THE PRICE OTHERS WILL PAY FOR YOUR CHOICES. GOOD. SELFISHNESS IS WEAKNESS.
More figures appeared.
But these were not people I knew. These were strangers. Dozens of them. Hundreds. All of them marked with corruption. All of them failed Awakened. All of them consumed by the transformation.
And at the center of the mass of bodies stood a single figure.
Me.
But not me as I was now. Me as I would become.
One hundred percent corrupted. Fully transformed. No longer human in any recognizable way.
My future self was tall—taller than I should be. The bones had elongated. The body was covered entirely in black-red veins that pulsed with inner light. My hair was pure white, flowing down to my shoulders. My eyes were not just black but empty—voids that consumed light itself.
The Mask of Hunger had fused with my face. No longer removable. No longer an artifact I wore. Now part of my actual skull. The bone-white surface had become my skin. The devil horns had grown into true horns, curving back from my temples.
And I was smiling.
Not a happy smile. Not a sane smile. A hungry smile. The smile of something that had lost everything human and gained everything monstrous.
"This is what you will become," my future self said. His voice was my voice but distorted. Deeper. Rougher. More animal than human. "This is your ultimate fate. The end of your journey. The final transformation."
"I will not let this happen."
"You have no choice. The corruption is inevitable. The Hunger is eternal. The transformation is already well underway. Look at yourself." He gestured at my current form. "You are already halfway there. Forty-seven percent corrupted. More than half your hair is white. Your eyes are completely black. Your mask has begun to merge with your flesh. You are becoming me whether you want to or not."
"I will fight it."
"You will lose."
"Then I will lose fighting."
My future self laughed. It sounded like breaking glass. Like screaming. Like madness given voice.
"There is another option," he said. "Embrace it. Stop fighting. Let the transformation complete itself. Become what you are meant to be. Become the Mother's First Child. Her heir. Her chosen one. Become powerful beyond measure. Become eternal. Become HUNGRY."
He reached out with one clawed hand.
"Take my hand. Accept your fate. Become me willingly. And I promise you—the power you will gain is worth everything you will lose."
I looked at his hand. Saw the claws. Saw the corruption. Saw the complete loss of humanity.
And I saw the truth.
He was not lying. The power was real. Becoming the Mother's heir would grant me strength beyond anything I could imagine. I would be nearly invincible. Nearly immortal. I would never hunger because I could consume endlessly. I would never fear because I would be the thing that caused fear.
All I had to do was surrender the last pieces of my humanity. Stop fighting. Let the corruption complete its work.
It would be so easy.
So tempting.
I reached out.
My hand moved toward his.
Our fingers almost touched.
Then I pulled back.
"No."
"No?" He looked confused. "Why refuse? Why cling to a humanity that is already lost? Why fight when surrender is easier?"
"Because I am not lost yet," I said. "The question 'Am I Lost' still has an answer. And the answer is: not completely. Not yet. I still have choice. I still have will. I still have some small piece of myself that is mine and not the corruption's. And I will fight to keep that piece for as long as I can."
"You will fail."
"Probably. But I will fail on my own terms. Not yours. Not the Mother's. Mine."
My future self smiled that horrible hungry smile again.
"Wrong answer," he said.
And attacked.