The Unknown Monsters had seen him. Kael's heart had stopped the instant the elongated, pitch-black forms had detected his presence among the corpses. Their movement was deliberate, calculated, and almost intelligent. Five of them emerged, sliding silently over broken rubble and ash-laden streets, their limbs bending unnaturally, shadows stretching like ink across the ruins. Kael pressed himself flat against the cold, sticky remains of a decayed corpse, each ragged breath a betrayal that might give him away.
He could feel the creatures' awareness pressing into him, not with sound, but with intent. Panic clawed at his chest, a choking weight. His mind raced, considering escape routes through shattered walls, fallen buildings, and twisted iron beams. Every path was uncertain, every step fraught with danger. Yet he could not remain frozen forever. Survival demanded movement, but instinct screamed at him to remain invisible.
Slowly, carefully, he inched backward along the pile of corpses, mind acutely aware of each sound his body made. Ash stirred beneath him, falling like snow onto skeletal remains. His stomach churned violently, bile threatening to escape. Nausea, exhaustion, and terror combined into a crushing weight on his chest. He whispered silent prayers he had not dared to voice since arriving in Ashfall. Nothing answered, and perhaps nothing ever would.
The Unknown Monsters paused. One tilted its elongated head toward him, crimson glint shimmering in the void where its eye—or the closest thing to one—might have been. A shiver raced through Kael's spine. He realized, in an instant of horror, that these creatures sensed not only presence but intent. Every beat of his heart was a signal to them, every shallow inhale a declaration.
He crawled along the edge of the corpses, muscles screaming in protest. Pain from his thin, malnourished body tore through him with every careful movement. Finally, he reached a narrow alley between two collapsed buildings. It was too tight for the Unknown Monsters to follow directly, a narrow fissure through the rubble that offered a sliver of hope. He pressed himself against the stone wall, listening.
The creatures lingered near the square, sniffing the air, their collective focus undiminished. Their patience was terrifying. Kael realized that they would not abandon him easily, that survival required not only cleverness but endurance. He pressed his face to the ground, closing his eyes for a moment, trying to slow his frantic heartbeat. Is this what it means to be hunted? he wondered. To be aware of every breath you take because it could be your last?
Hours passed—or what felt like hours in the timeless gray of Ashfall. Kael learned to move with the shadows, slipping from ruined building to ruined building, observing, avoiding, hiding. Every encounter sharpened his senses. He began to notice small patterns: the Unknown Monsters avoided sunlight, preferred corridors where collapse had left debris, and hunted in arcs that suggested coordination and intelligence.
One morning, as he climbed over the skeletal remains of a collapsed cathedral, the sky began to shift. At first, it was subtle: a stretching of the clouds, a faint ripple in the ashen ceiling above. Kael froze, panic giving way to curiosity, dread pressing into his chest like iron bands.
Then he saw something the sky was falling ,No it was tearing apart . It widened each moment ,Then he released something ,It was not that the sky was tearing itself ,Some being was tearing it ,it was beyond imagination,it was impossible to believe what he was seeing ,because he know it inside despite not wanting to accept it ,it was not the sky that was falling apart it was reality itself at that kael reality shattered, everything he has seen before , experienced before even after transmigration ,and his death.It was unbelievable but something worse happen anyway eye was looking at him through that shattered reality ,a large crimson eye even bigger than the moon itself was looking at him ,No it was the world it was looking at the world itself but something happened in that moment .He felt unimaginable pain he was bleeding from eyes ,nose ears ,he starts vomiting blood ,his eyes was gouging out ,he clenched his teeth in pain but it also broke ,then his veins start bursting It was the price for taking a glimpse at something he shouldn't look at . He tried screaming but he couldn't hear anything because his ears failed him , but unknowingly to it was not just his ears ,he also lost his voice ,then his pain break the threshold of what he can and his head bursted .
" He died ."