The forest did not breathe.
It watched.
Parth's legs trembled as he stared at the shadow standing on the ridge above him. The figure didn't move, didn't speak—only swayed slightly, as if amused by the sight of a half-dead child crawling through dirt.
Something about the way it tilted its head made Parth's stomach twist.
Before he could gather the courage to speak, the figure's hand flicked.
A knife fell at his feet.
A golden token followed, spinning once before landing silently in the mud.
Even from a distance, Parth felt it—
the figure could have killed him easily.
And yet, it didn't.
He picked up the token with shaking hands.
A black lotus was carved into its surface.
Beneath it, barely visible through scratches—
LEADER.
Parth swallowed.
His voice cracked.
"Sir… who are you? Please… help me."
The shadow finally spoke.
A voice without warmth, echoing as if spoken through a hollow chest:
"Follow the token, boy. Come to where it leads. I'm waiting."
Parth's lips parted—
but the figure dissolved into the fog, leaving behind neither sound nor footprint.
Silence returned.
A wet, gurgling noise pulled Parth's gaze to the wolf corpse behind him.
Its flesh shivered.
Something inside the body writhed.
A stream of red energy tore out of the dead wolf, spiraling into the forest.
A metallic smell pierced Parth's nose.
He knew that scent.
Blood Wind Wolves.
Not one.
Not two.
A whole pack.
And the moment they caught his scent, he would become nothing more than warm meat.
Parth ran.
His wounds reopened instantly.
Hot pain carved lines through his body with every step.
Yet something else moved with him—
a pressure, a red force, pushing through his veins like boiling water.
His foot slammed into the ground.
The impact cracked through his bones.
But it made him faster.
He sprinted toward the Jade Lake—
only to freeze.
Two wolves stepped out of the mist, blocking the water.
Their eyes were static red.
Their breath carried heat like open furnaces.
Parth turned.
Another wolf stalked silently behind him.
Three adults.
A dying child.
His heartbeat became a hammer beating inside his ears.
His throat dried.
His fingers shook.
His body instinctively told him:
You can't fight this. Run.
Parth did.
The forest blurred around him.
The red energy in his legs pulsed violently—
each pulse like shards of glass tearing through muscle.
A wolf lunged.
Parth kicked out, not with skill, not with control—
but with the force of something unnatural twisting inside him.
His heel smashed into the wolf's chest.
The beast flew back—
and fell into the Jade Lake.
The water didn't accept it.
It burned it.
The wolf shrieked, flesh dissolving like wax in fire.
"W-what…?"
The sound barely left Parth's throat before another wolf clamped its jaws at him.
The bite missed—
but its fangs tore open his arm.
Muscle peeled away.
Skin split like rotten fabric.
Bone glistened beneath, white and wet.
Pain didn't come immediately.
It stuttered in—
as if his body needed a second to understand what had happened.
Then—
it hit him all at once.
"AAAHHHHHHHHHH!"
His scream shook his ribs.
Blood poured across his arm—
then twisted.
Thickened.
Solidified.
His bone darkened to red.
Crimson crystal crawled across the fracture.
A spike—formed entirely from his own blood—shot downward.
It pierced the wolf's throat in one brutal thrust.
The beast collapsed.
Parth didn't feel victorious.
He felt hollow, trembling, nauseous.
His bones cracked inside his arms—
reshaping—
fusing—
breaking again.
The red power vanished suddenly.
He dropped to his knees, choking on his own breath.
"Why… now…?"
A shadow moved.
The third wolf struck.
Its claws tore into his stomach.
Warm entrails shifted.
Parth tasted iron as blood filled his mouth.
"UGHH—! AHHH—!"
The beast's jaw opened, ready to bite down on his skull—
Parth's hand jerked.
A knife flashed.
CRACK—
The blade tore through the wolf's jaw, splitting bone and flesh, then burst out the back of its neck.
The wolf fell.
Parth collapsed with it.
His fingers fumbled against dirt as he dragged himself—inch by inch—toward the Jade Lake.
Every movement tore him further open.
He didn't feel his legs anymore.
Didn't feel his stomach.
Just cold.
And fading light.
He slipped into the lake.
The water hissed against his wounds—
but didn't burn him.
Not him.
Above the surface, the remaining wolves melted.
Their bodies dissolved into red vapor.
Streams of crimson energy spiraled into the lake—
straight into Parth.
The moment the energy touched his bloodstream—
his chest convulsed.
His heart ruptured—
—and reformed.
A red crystal grew where his human heart used to be.
Dark.
Beating.
Alive.
Parth's eyes opened slowly.
"Uhh… am… I still alive?"
His voice sounded less like a question
and more like disbelief.