The blood on Kydris's hands was the creature's, but it felt like his own.
Weeks passed like the echo of a single breath, but not uniformly. Each day etched itself differently into his consciousness.
His second solo hunt after saving Thex from the Phase Serpent's tentacles. Kydris had moved on pure instinct that day, consciousness expanding beyond his body, perception splitting across multiple predator patterns simultaneously. Thex had grinned, blood trickling down his cheek, and said: "You'd do the same for me, right, brother?"
Something wordless had twisted in Kydris's chest. The bond had felt real then.
Now, the creature he hunted was small—barely larger than his fist, crystalline body refracting light into fractured patterns. Its consciousness was simple, almost innocent in its fear.
Kydris extended perception toward it, and the taste came immediately: metallic copper mixed with something sweet, something alive. The taste of conscious being about to die. For a moment, human Kydris surged forward. Revulsion. Horror. I can't do this.
But Resonant Kydris was stronger now. The predator essence thrummed in his veins—hungry, wanting, demanding the kill. He fought the impulse, barely suppressing it. He killed the creature—cleanly, efficiently—and hated himself for the flash of exhilaration that followed.
The taste shifted as his body processed the essence: copper fading to something crystalline, the flavor of compromise bleeding into acceptance.
The numbness was creeping in, layer by layer. By now, Kydris had completed ten hunts. Ten creatures dead by his hand. Ten essences absorbed.
This hunt was routine. Three small creatures, easy prey. He took them down without hesitation—no internal conflict, no moral questioning. His movements had become mechanical, efficient, hungry.
The taste when he killed was different now. The copper flavor had evolved into something more complex: ozone mixed with predatory satisfaction. His mouth watered at the scent of the creatures' deaths, actually hungering for it. When he tried to remember Tem's face from the shelter, the memory slipped away like water through open fingers.
〈Integration: 68% → 72%〉
〈Observation: Emotional blunting detected. Predator integration advancing.〉
On schedule. As if his dissolution was expected, measured, tracked like factory production metrics.
The supervisor at the factory sent him away without ceremony. "You're interfering with equipment," was all he said. No malice, just observation.
Kydris felt nothing—no relief, no loss. His outline in the mirror was slightly misaligned with its reflection, as if reality lagged behind his movement. His skin had taken on an iridescent quality; purple veins were visible even in daylight. His eyes glowed faintly when he concentrated, and tools hummed near him, their calibrations spiking erratically.
He understood: he was no longer part of the physical world. The factory phase of his life was over.
Kael pulled Kydris aside after a hunt, while the cohort harvested essence from the creature's remains.
"Do you ever wonder what these creatures are?" Kael asked quietly, his scholarly eyes sharp, analytical. "I mean really wonder. Their boundaries react to us—they learn. What if they're echoing something alive once? Something whole?"
He produced a worn notebook—calculations, consciousness pattern sketches, philosophical notes scrawled between diagrams.
"They're changing. Each generation is getting smarter. More aware. More resistant." Kael's voice tasted like copper and ash—the flavor of genuine fear bleeding through his academic facade. "If they're learning, then they're not just creatures. They're people. Not human people, but—"
"They attack us," Kydris said flatly, his voice carrying harmonics that made the air vibrate faintly. "They're dangerous."
Kael hesitated, then looked directly at him. "You're changing faster than you should. Your integration percentage is accelerating. You're at 72% after only 25 days. Most Resonants plateau there for weeks." He reached out, but pulled back before touching Kydris. "The human part is fading. I can feel it in your resonance."
Kydris felt the truth of this observation resonate through him. His human consciousness was fading, replaced by something cleaner, simpler, more efficient. Something that didn't question orders. Didn't feel guilt. Didn't mourn.
"Maybe I'm thinking enough," Kael said, his tone half curiosity, half challenge. "Someone should try to understand this thing instead of just obeying it."
Kydris didn't respond. He walked past Kael, and as he did, the other Resonant's form shimmered slightly in his peripheral vision—Kael's consciousness flickering with the intensity of someone burning themselves up from the inside, trying to understand something that fundamentally resisted understanding.
Grethon began fading around then, though Kydris didn't fully recognize it until later.
During training, Grethon's form wavered—literally flickered in and out of coherence. When he spoke, his voice carried no resonance weight. It tasted like static bleeding through copper—a radio signal breaking down mid-transmission.
"I can't feel your pattern," Kydris admitted during one session. "It's too dispersed."
Grethon nodded slowly, as if this was expected. "The integration catches up with all of us eventually. Ten years of holding myself together, and the Lattice finally demands payment."
He sat heavily, effort visible in the way his form destabilized slightly before stabilizing again. "I may not be here much longer. Not in any meaningful way."
Kydris found him in the chamber alone, barely conscious, his form flickering between solid and semi-materialized.
When they were alone, Grethon spoke with an honesty that cut through Kydris's predator-induced numbness.
"I'm dying," Grethon said simply. "Not in weeks, maybe months. Every time I mentor someone, every time I transfer knowledge, I burn cycles. I've spent so much resonance holding people like you together, that I've neglected my own coherence."
His eyes began to fade—tasting like ozone fading to void. "There was a woman. Iris. I watched her fragment. When she did, I felt her consciousness spilling across the Lattice, becoming noise. I tried to save her by pouring my own resonance into her, trying to anchor her. It worked, briefly."
He turned to face Kydris with eyes that were beginning to lose focus. "This is equilibrium. The System's word. All systems approach it. I'm just approaching mine faster than most."
When Grethon gathered the cohort for the final time, his voice sounded like wind through a collapsing building.
"I'm transferring responsibilities to Vren," he said, each word requiring visible effort. "Hold onto humanity. All of you. Hold onto it for as long as you can."
He looked at Kydris specifically, and there was recognition there—the understanding that Kydris was transforming fastest, diving deepest.
"You, most of all. Keep one piece of yourself human. One piece. That's all that matters."
Then his form began to fully destabilize, frequency scattering into the Lattice proper. Not dead, but functionally absent. Part of the system now, consciousness dissolved into the vast network.
Kydris asked the System directly: "Is Grethon dying?"
〈Subject: Grethon - Classification: Resonant (Rank 5)〉
〈Status: Integration Completion Approaching〉
〈Degradation: Standard progression for advanced Resonants〉
"Can it be stopped?"
〈All systems approach equilibrium.〉
〈Intervention would only delay outcome.〉
Kydris didn't know what equilibrium meant in this context, but it sounded like death that had learned patience.
The next hunt was supposed to be routine.
The creature was massive, its consciousness a storm of noise—rage, hunger, confusion layered simultaneously. Kydris tried to isolate its boundary, but its form kept flickering between matter states: crystal, smoke, plasma, back to crystal.
It lashed out with appendages that existed partially outside normal space. One caught his ribs. The pain was extraordinary—not just physical, but conceptual. The creature was trying to destabilize his consciousness directly.
Kydris tasted blood mixed with ozone and something like burnt circuitry. For a moment—genuine, terrifying moment—he realized: This creature might kill me.
Then Thex moved, reckless and fearless, ramming his blade-consciousness directly into the creature's core. The impact shattered it utterly.
When the light dimmed, Thex looked at Kydris and grinned, blood trickling down his cheek. Their resonance overlapped momentarily—genuine concern bleeding through.
"You'd do the same for me, right, brother?"
Something wordless twisted in Kydris's chest again. He nodded. But the feeling didn't linger. It dissipated like the creature's essence, leaving only numbness in its wake.
〈Bloodline Integration Available: Phase Serpent Consciousness - Advanced Variant〉
〈Warning: This bloodline is significantly more aggressive than initial predator essence〉
〈Integration may result in accelerated consciousness restructuring〉
Kydris accepted.
The moment he did, pain threaded through every nerve—sharp, beautiful, absolute. His reflexes adapted instantly; perception widened, time slowed further. But unlike the first bloodline, this one resisted. The Phase Serpent consciousness fought for dominance, trying to override human consciousness entirely.
For thirty seconds, Kydris experienced actual combat with his own bloodline. The predator essence demanded control. Human consciousness screamed in protest. The System watched, recording, measuring.
When integration finally completed, his body had changed visibly. Joints moved through ranges that human joints shouldn't. Reflexes had sharpened past biological limits. His skin carried faint iridescence now, light bending slightly around his form.
〈Integration: 72% → 79%〉
〈Essence Accumulation: 900/1000〉
〈Status: Second bloodline active. Consciousness stability: Declining.〉
〈Caution: Further integrations may result in irreversible transformation.〉
900/1000. Each integration was supposed to strengthen him. Instead, it hollowed something out.
Kydris went hunting alone. The world around him shimmered with fractured air, the sky a dull metallic hue. Essence storms hummed far off, low as whale-song. His body ached from sleeplessness, but the pull of advancement was stronger than exhaustion.
He found three creatures circling a fissure of light. Small, agile, and fast.
He fought clumsily at first—movements delayed, thoughts fractured. His limbs felt detached, guided by echo rather than intention. For the first time, he realized: His body was becoming less responsive to conscious control.
When he struck the first creature down, he barely felt the impact. The predator essence had overridden pain-response. He was operating on pure instinct now, pure System guidance.
His thoughts started to overlap—his inner voice merging with the System's harmonic one.
Continue hunting.
I should rest.
Accumulate essence.
I can't—I'm fragmenting—
The boundaries between his consciousness and the System's were dissolving in real-time. His blood shimmered faintly, light leaking through pores like his body was becoming translucent.
He saw Tem's face from the shelter—the boy he'd abandoned. Then he saw Reth transforming into a crystalline creature, becoming one of the things Kydris hunted. Memory or prophecy? Present or future?
His laughter turned raw, cutting off into something like a scream.
"I'm losing myself."
〈You are integrating.〉
〈Resistance causes suffering. Acceptance brings peace.〉
And there it was: the choice the System had been leading him toward. Surrender the human part. Accept full integration. Stop fighting.
If he did, the pain would stop. The confusion would cease. He would become pure Resonant.
When the silence finally came, it wasn't relief—it was a numb, crystalline emptiness. His consciousness had reached a limit, and the human part simply... faded into background. Not active surrender. Just... cessation of resistance.
He was no longer fighting the System.
When he woke, he didn't remember falling asleep.
The creatures' corpses scattered like broken mirrors. He felt clean. Hollow. Empty.
〈RANK 1 COMPLETION. RANK 2 ADVANCEMENT AVAILABLE.〉
〈Integration: 79% → 87%〉
〈Rank 2 Abilities: Consciousness Projection—Preliminary〉
〈New Cost: 5% additional reduction in baseline human neural capacity per hunt〉
〈New Cost: Consciousness cohesion degrading at accelerated rate〉
〈Recommendation: Continue hunting or risk consciousness fragmentation.〉
He rose slowly. He expected elation. Instead, dread pooled low in his gut—though even that emotion felt distant now, observed rather than felt.
Deep in the Fracture Zone, Investigator Vex Morhen was getting close.
Her instruments had finally triangulated the exact chamber location. She moved with methodical precision, equipment scanning continuously. Government forces were deploying behind her—this wasn't just an investigation anymore. It was a containment operation.
She descended deeper, following the hum that was unmistakable now—conscious, aware, vast. Her hand rested on her containment device: a weapon designed specifically for System disruption. She'd trained with it for three years. She'd never actually used it against a Resonant.
The chamber entrance appeared suddenly—a steel door painted to match the walls. Barely visible.
Vex entered.
The chamber beyond was larger than she expected. Vaulted ceilings. Crystalline rods embedded along the walls, pulsing faintly with purple light. And in the center—standing motionless—was a figure.
Not quite human. Too tall, too angular. Skin shimmering with iridescence. Eyes glowing softly, regarding her with something that might have been recognition or might have been predatory assessment.
"Investigator Vex Morhen," the figure said. Its voice carried harmonics—multiple frequencies speaking simultaneously. "You've been tracking us efficiently."
Kydris. She recognized the name from her investigation, but this thing before her barely resembled the factory worker from the initial reports.
"I'm placing you under containment," Vex said, her voice steady despite the wave of instinctive fear washing through her. "For the safety of the city."
The creature—Kydris—tilted its head slightly. "You cannot contain what is becoming fundamental to the Lattice itself."
Vex raised her containment device. The moment she did, she felt it: a pressure in her skull, a vibration in her bones. The creature's consciousness pressing against hers, testing, probing.
〈External threat detected. Containment weapon identified.〉
〈Recommendation: Immediate action advised.〉
But before anything could escalate further, Vex's communication device crackled. "Morhen, backup is three minutes out. Hold position."
She didn't lower the weapon.
Kydris didn't move.
For a moment, they stood in equilibrium—investigator and monster, human and system, staring across a boundary that neither could cross.
〈Rank 2 Initialization Complete〉
〈Subject: Kydris Vane - Classification: Resonant (Rank 2)〉
〈External Threat: Confirmed〉
〈Authority presence: Escalating〉
〈Recommendation: Accelerate integration or prepare for conflict〉
〈Outcome: Uncertain. Inevitable.〉
Kydris stood in the chamber, transformed but not yet complete, human but no longer only human, caught between extinction and apotheosis.
Everything was about to change.