My consciousness flickered like a dying ember.
For years—maybe centuries—I'd been trapped in the cold darkness of this cave, buried under collapsing stone and rotting chains. The air tasted of dust and forgotten prayers, and the only sounds were the soft groans of ancient metal binding me down.
I couldn't move.I couldn't speak.I couldn't even remember the last time I felt a heartbeat close enough to hear.
Just hunger.Endless, suffocating hunger.
If I ever had a human name, it was long devoured by the madness. Only a single truth remained carved into my existence:
I am the Sword of Ruin.A relic sealed away because I should have never been forged.
My spirit burned weakly, flickering between sanity and something far more monstrous. Every moment awake felt like drowning in my own instincts.
Feed. Feed. Feed.
A whisper scratched across the cave walls.It wasn't mine.
It came from outside.
Footsteps.
Human.
I felt a pulse—warm, fragile life approaching through the dark corridor. My dormant runes vibrated for the first time in ages. Like the scent of fresh blood waking a starving beast.
The figure stumbled inside and collapsed.
A boy.
Thin. Bruised. Limbs shaking from exhaustion. His clothes were torn like someone tried to drag him through thorns—and then kicked him further just to see him break.
His breath was shallow.His eyes were lifeless.But he was alive.
Barely.
He whispered something, so softly I almost missed it.
"Please… I don't want to die here."
His voice cracked like glass.
He dragged himself across the floor, fingers trembling, leaving faint blood smears on the stone. Every inch he moved, the chains binding me rattled, reacting to his presence.
My runes flared.
I hadn't felt this kind of mana in a long, long time.
Not strong.Not pure.But desperate.
Desperation tastes better than anything.
The boy's gaze met the faint glow on my blade.
"…A sword?"He reached for my hilt with shaking hands, barely conscious.
The moment his fingers brushed me—
Everything snapped.
The chains ignited in crimson light.Runes pulsed like a heartbeat.Metal screeched as if awakening from a nightmare.
And I felt my consciousness surge through him.
His fear.His pain.His hopelessness.
They flooded into me like a feast.
"W-What… is happening—" he gasped, dropping to his knees.
The hunger inside me roared.
FEED.
I didn't mean to.I didn't even have the strength to speak.
I just… pulled.
Mana rushed from him into me, tearing through the cave like a storm. The boy convulsed, clutching his chest, failing to breathe.
"Stop—! I-I can't—"
But I couldn't stop.
The runes on my blade cracked open, spilling crimson light across the cave, illuminating the stone like blood on snow.
My voice—rusty and broken—finally clawed its way out after centuries.
"More…"
The boy froze.
His eyes widened.Not in bravery.Not in awe.Just pure fear.
He tried to let go.His fingers wouldn't obey.
He tried to pull away.The bond held him like chains.
Because now…
He was mine.
The cave trembled.Stones cracked.A low, monstrous growl echoed from the walls—my own spiritual form stretching awake inside his mind.
A gaunt silhouette appeared behind him, pale white hair drifting like mist, eyes burning crimson.
My voice slid into his skull like a blade.
"Give me your fear. Give me your despair. Feed me… or die."
He screamed—
But the scream turned into a gasp.
Because at that exact moment, something else entered the cave.
A lantern light.Armor clanking.Voices whispering.
"Check deeper inside. The brat couldn't have gotten far.""He's useless. If monsters don't kill him, we will.""Just grab his body. He doesn't deserve a grave."
The boy's breath hitched.
His hands tightened around me.
And I felt something new from him…
Rage.Hot.Raw.Ugly.
It tasted delicious.
The chains around me shattered with a thunderous crack.
Crimson light erupted like a flare.
And I whispered to him:
"Lift me."
He didn't think.
He obeyed.
The moment he raised me, the cave exploded in a pulse of ruinous energy. The guards turned, eyes widening—
"WHAT IS THAT—"
Too late.
I dragged the boy's arm in a sweeping arc.
The first kill was instant.Armor split like paper.Blood sprayed across the stone.
The boy stared at what he'd done, hands trembling violently.
"I… I didn't mean to—"
Oh, but his body had never felt so warm.So alive.So powerful.
I wrapped my voice around his spine, cold and soft.
"Yes… you did."
His pulse sped up.
His mind cracked open.
The hunger inside me laughed.
Outside the cave, more footsteps rushed in.
The boy looked down at me.
And for the first time—
I smiled inside his soul.
"Come, child.Let us feed."