Whispers fade back—clatter-growl chorus muffled. Deep rumble? Colossal twist mist-stir trail, lover-obsess hot-neck graze. Flash faithful, shadow-elong pillar-twist, stone-damn dancer turn. 86.6%. Languid-drain mock, time-serpent tail-bite.
Echo-Scan throb temple-sub, foreign-heart soul-graft vibe. Act: world-wave open invis, primal-radar dark-sweep, threat-map percep-shard. 8m: Sand-Claw two shell-phos faint squab Shadow-Larva writhe. 10m: crevice-wound gape ooze visc-damp. Far: ruins. No ordin relic—basalt-arch collapse obsid-vein, etch-symbol pulse faint dead-giant vein. Call. Trap? Curi-fear beat, gut-squeeze old-lover.
Approach: sand-yield foot wet-crunch—earth-bleed. Ruin-maw entry, sharp-stalact drip black-corr nectar. Scan: void immed, distant-echo still-form... carcass? Aim-light: vestibule-collapse litter bone-blanch flesh-mumm stretch exos-shatter. Victim-prior, exile-other trap cocoon-curse. Shiver-recog: remain-twist mirror, love-unful freeze agony.
Noise: scrape-dull nail-leather taut. Scan-zoom: lurk-hybrid **Veil-Scratched**—twist-cross Echo-Claw, memb-wing bristle-mandib claw, bloat-sac venom pulse heart-burst. Burst-shadow flesh-fang whirl slam. Roll-blood dust, claw-rake arm—tear-sharp skin-split pink-rag, blood-hot flow traitor-kiss. Scream-Vorac answer: beast-hung ripost, nail-hard crust sink bloat-abd.
Yield-flesh ob-scene pop-wet, visc-black gush, filament-sticky cling finger goo-regret. Sac-burst press, acid-ven sizz skin eat-flesh smoke-bubble—gore-pure roast-meat sulf-stench air-fill. Pain-blind bit-savage tear memb-wing chunk: text-rubb bile-stone rot taste, bone-fine crunch tooth cart-fresh. Convulse-mon mandib-snap vain throat-near, fire-inner rise:
[Voracious Lv. 4 Unlocked]
Absorption: +20% AGI (Aerial Claws – +15% Dodge). Shadows dance. Prey bleeds.
Light-body pred-grace musc-infus—like Emma-ghost brush storm-agile. Scratched-still steam-lacer heap, eye-glass void-stare. Pant-juice corr cover, wound-arm ooze red-black mix. Light-mirac intact, glitch-then—digi-hic: phone-screen ghost-map lit, line-break pale-holo drunk-lover sketch. Symbol-anc path "Surface"... anom: cavity-near refuge-pot, mark-pulse bury-heart.
Rumble-return close. Ruin no haven. Yet.
The agility from the Veil-Scratched absorption coursed through me like liquid shadow, turning my retreat into a fluid glide, the world bending around my movements as if the sand itself yielded to my will. The corpse behind me steamed, sacs ruptured in a final, defiant hiss, venom carving serpentine paths into the stone floor that bubbled and popped like cooking fat. I pressed deeper into the ruins, the arches closing overhead like the ribs of a colossal beast, their basalt surfaces etched with symbols that caught the flashlight's beam and refracted it into fractured rainbows—mocking, almost, the normalcy of prisms back home. The air here was stale, heavy with the scent of ancient dust and something sharper, like ozone before a storm that never broke. Echo-Scan thrummed in my temples, a constant undercurrent now, pinging the shadows with mechanical precision: faint heartbeats in the walls, perhaps trapped insects or worse, the ruins' own pulse.
The map glitch lingered in my mind's eye, a holographic scar from the phone's screen—lines broken like veins under strain, pointing not just to the cavity but to something grander: "Surface," the word floating like a taunt, a promise of sky and stars or just more void. The anomaly throbbed closer, a buried heart calling through the scan, but the rumble— that persistent, earth-born growl—chased at my heels, vibrating up through the soles of my boots, loosening pebbles that skittered like fleeing rats. It wasn't alone; Scan picked up echoes, multiple signatures converging, a pack mentality in the mist that made my skin crawl even under the agility's grace.
Vestibule opened to a wider hall, ceiling half-collapsed in a cascade of rubble that formed natural barricades, bones scattered like forgotten offerings—some human-sized, femurs snapped at odd angles, ribs curved in eternal flinch. I paused, beam sweeping the remains, the light catching a glint of metal: a wristwatch, band corroded to green sludge, face cracked but hands frozen at 3:17. Another exile? The thought hit like a gut punch, Scan confirming no pulse, just the hollow echo of what might have been. You too, I muttered, kicking a skull aside, its jaw hanging loose in a silent scream. The symbols on the walls seemed to watch, swirling patterns that my enhanced perception traced into half-formed words—*cocon... bleed... ascend*—lore fragments from a language I didn't know but felt in my bones.
Scrape-dull, closer now. Scan locked: Veil-Scratched proper, 5 meters left-flank, sacs bloating with predatory glee. No time for sentiment. I spun, beam lancing the dark, catching its wing-bristle in mid-unfurl—a flash of membrane taut as drumskin, claws extended like hooks hungry for flesh. It burst from shadow-niche, whirl of fang and venom, slamming me into rubble. Rolled dust-blood, its claw raking arm—sharp tear splitting skin pink-rags, hot blood flowing traitor-kiss down elbow. Scream ripped, but Voracious answered: beast-hunger riposte, nails crust-hard sinking bloat-abdomen.
Flesh yielded obscene pop-wet, black-viscera gushing sticky-filaments clinging fingers goo-regret. Sacs burst under press, acid-venom sizzle skin eat-flesh smoke-bubble—gore-pure, roast-meat sulfur-stench air-fill choking. Pain-blinded, bit savage: tore memb-wing chunk, rubbery-text bile-stone rot taste exploding, fine-bone crunch tooth fresh-cartilage snap. Mon convulsed, mandib-snap vain throat-near, inner-fire rise devouring.
The kill was frenzy, intimate as violation: fingers delving deeper, pulling loops of intestine-veined membrane that slithered like eels in my grip, snapping with wet twangs that echoed in the hall. Venom splashed wild, one droplet hitting my cheek—sizzle immediate, skin bubbling white then black, nerve-endings screaming in chorus as flesh peeled back to expose cheekbone glint. I roared, pinning it with knee to thorax, shard from earlier—now slick with gore—plunging into its eye-cluster, popping orbs like overripe grapes, vitreous humor spraying in arcs that burned on contact. The body bucked, wings flailing to rake my sides, shallow gashes weeping red-black mix, but agility danced me through, dodges a blur of instinct.
Final thrash weakened, sacs fully vented in futile spray, the Veil-Scratched stilling to steam-lacer heap, eye-glass voids staring accusation. Panted, corrosive-juice cover slick, wound-arm ooze slow. Light mirac intact, but glitch-hic: phone-screen ghost-map lit sharper, line-break pale-holo drunk-lover sketch evolving—symbols anc clarifying, path "Surface" branching clear, anomaly cavity-near refuge-pot mark-pulse bury-heart stronger, like vein-throb calling home.
Rumble-return close, hall-shake dust-sift. Ruin no haven. Yet.
The map's clarity was a double-edged blade, promising escape while mocking the cost—lines tracing not just stone, but the Realm's veins, pulsing with that same phosphor as my mutations. I bandaged hasty with torn sleeve, fabric stiff ichor-stiff, the wrap clinging wounds like reluctant lover. Agility lingered, steps ghost-light despite gashes, but fatigue gnawed deeper, Voracious sated but demanding tribute: more feasts, more warp. The hall forked, Scan pinging the anomaly right—cavity 10 meters, low-threat but high-echo, like chambered heart.
Pushed on, arches narrowing to throat-squeeze, stalactites drip black-corr nectar overhead, splatter shoulder sizzle minor. Symbols walls now legible in flashes—matrix... bleed... ascend—lore drop unbidden, knowledge blooming: jungle no wild, engineered prison, cocon for damned noobs, surface true forge. Chilled, but fueled—rage against cage.
Cavity yawned: mod hollow quartz-vein lum diff blue-glow soft inner-moon cradle. Collapsed wall, breath ragged, Scan confirm safe-radius 5m, no immediate fang. Refuge. First true breath since drop, mist-free, air blade-sharp pure. But rumble distant, horde-stir? Map glitch steadied, battery 86.4%, lines etching path upward—fissure chain to surface, marked peril but promise.
Sat, light dim save power, blue-glow bathe gore-map: arm-rake suppurate, thigh-gash throb, cheek-blister peel raw. Voracious hum content, agility weave muscle, but parasites creep: Emma flash, rain-cafe scent, gaze crink mischief—Idiot, shadows rush. Doubt gnaw: Human app? See me this? Vein-black, app chit damn ins—erod hum farce cosm. Rage swallow, blade clutch. Tomorrow, ruins delve. Out, or dissolve.