The night was heavy, draping the sky in dense blackness, pierced only by the pale thread of the moon dangling between clouds. The wind moved slowly, carrying strange sounds from afar, as if the cries of unknown creatures whispered through the darkness. Alex sat near the window of the dilapidated room he had taken refuge in for hours, staring into the endless blackness—when he heard it: a sharp scream that split the silence of the night, as if emanating from the heart of the forest itself.
He sprang to his feet, his heartbeat racing. He approached the window cautiously and lifted his gaze… and there it was.
Hundreds of meters away, in the shadowed plain, a massive creature stood in the darkness. It looked like a mass of dense brown fur moving with slow yet heavy steps, each motion sending faint tremors through the earth. Its hair covered its entire body, concealing its skin, while a long tail writhed like a metallic serpent behind it. From its back protruded translucent bones like crystal, extending from its spine like shattered wings, reflecting the moonlight with a greenish glimmer.
Alex held his breath. The creature stood nearly three meters tall, massive, reminiscent of a giant gorilla—but there was something else, something otherworldly, as if it were a predator from beyond the human realm. For a brief moment, Alex felt the energy that had awakened within him since arriving in this world stir violently inside him. His senses sharpened unnaturally; his eyes captured the finest details across the distance, his ears detected the distant flapping of wings and the rustle of wind through the trees. Yes… he had become far stronger than he had imagined.
But the creature was not alone.
Looking closer, he saw five gray beings surrounding it, resembling the goblins he had fought before—strange creatures with long ears and twisted horns. They were armed with black spears that gleamed with a sinister light. They moved in a tight circle, encircling the massive beast like wolves stalking injured prey.
Alex felt as though he were witnessing a struggle between worlds that had nothing to do with humans.
Then the scene erupted.
The gray-haired beast lunged at one of them with astonishing speed, gripping its neck with a massive hand and lifting it into the air. The gray creature screamed, but the sound was cut off as the beast slammed it to the ground with enough force to shatter stone. The earth trembled beneath Alex's feet, the glass of his window rattling.
"Its bones… completely broken," Alex thought, mesmerized.
But the others did not falter.
Two of them charged forward, their spears flashing in the moonlight, thrusting into the beast's flank with all their might. A horrifying sound erupted—a scream of pain mixed with fury, shaking the air like a volcanic roar.
The beast spun with tremendous force, its massive arm striking one attacker, sending the goblin flying like a torn rag doll before it crashed into a tree trunk and broke.
But another did not hesitate.
From behind the beast, a third goblin leapt onto its back, plunging its spear into the glowing crystal ribs. The weapon sank to its hilt, and from the wound flickered green light, like sparks of life leaking away. The beast struck with its other hand, but the goblin leapt back with devilish skill, as dark, glowing blood spilled onto the ground.
The battle lasted mere minutes, yet to Alex it felt like an eternity.
The beast fought with desperate ferocity, striking with enough force to tear stone, but the gray creatures were faster, moving like deadly shadows, stabbing and disappearing. Every time the beast swung at one, another pierced it from the sides. The scene resembled a primal hunting ritual more than a battle.
Eventually, exhaustion and wounds took their toll.
The beast stumbled to its knees, gasping, its chest rising and falling like a furnace.
One goblin approached cautiously while the others circled, waiting for the right moment to strike. When the beast lifted its head to breathe, one stabbed its chest, another from behind, and the third—the boldest—jumped into the air and drove its spear directly into the beast's eye.
A final scream erupted, violent enough to send the birds hiding in the trees into a panicked flight.
Then the beast collapsed heavily, its body striking the ground, raising a faint cloud of dust.
Everything stopped.
Silence reigned.
Alex watched with wide eyes.
He did not feel fear alone—he felt awe, as though witnessing an unwritten law of this world being enacted before him.
But what happened next froze his blood.
The four remaining creatures approached the fallen beast, forming a circle around it as if they knew exactly what to do.
Suddenly, they opened their mouths wide and began absorbing something from the corpse.
From the dead body emerged thick green mist, as if the spirit itself were being siphoned, twisting and dancing toward the goblins' mouths.
With every breath they took, the beast's color faded, its body drying at a terrifying speed until the crystal bones shrank and lost their luster.
"They… they're absorbing its mana—or its life force?!" Alex murmured in disbelief.
Watching it, his mind refused to comprehend.
The massive corpse transformed before his eyes into a shriveled, petrified skeleton, while the mist flowed into the four creatures.
As the absorption continued, one—the one who had delivered the killing blow—began to glow with a greenish-gray light.
The others immediately stepped back, as if aware of what was about to happen.
Their expressions turned to clear fear, and they withdrew to a safe distance.
The light from the victorious goblin swirled around him like a spiritual vortex.
He screamed a strange sound, neither pain nor victory—it was closer to a transformation occurring within his body.
His muscles swelled, chest expanded, spine curved.
The horns on his head grew longer, twisting back like wild goat horns, and his gray skin gained a metallic sheen, as if the new blood coursing through him had given him a different life.
He grew taller, surpassing seven feet, his body taut and proportioned in a terrifyingly perfect way—like a legendary fighter emerging from a nightmare.
Alex stood speechless.
He was witnessing a true evolution, not metaphorical, not magical exaggeration—a physical, intrinsic transformation.
After minutes, the light subsided.
The new goblin—or what remained of the original—stood silent for a moment, then bent down and picked up his black spear.
But something had changed entirely…
The spear was no longer the same.
When he struck the corpse with it, sparks of gray light erupted from the contact between metal and flesh.
The dry body was drawn entirely toward the spear, as if being absorbed like they had absorbed the beast before.
The skeleton turned to fine ash, which quickly vanished into the air.
When it was over, the standing goblin had grown taller, the spear in his hand longer and heavier, glowing faintly with unfamiliar engraved symbols.
Alex shivered down his spine.
He did not fully understand what he had seen, but he realized one truth:
Creatures in this world do not merely die… they evolve through predation.
Slowly, Alex sat near the window, eyes never leaving the transformed creature.
The scene before him was terrifying and awe-inspiring, as if the world itself was rewriting its laws in real time.
The wind began to blow again, carrying the scent of iron, blood, and ash.
In that moment, Alex murmured, pressing the spear he had found beside him:
> "If this is the way to survive here… I either learn it… or become ash like them."
And as the creatures vanished into the shadows of the forest, the night left behind a chilling calm, as if the world was preparing for another round of conflict—an age in which no one could know who was predator… and who was prey.