The darkness lifted slowly. Alec's consciousness swam up from the void, grasping at fragmented sensations—cold, pain, confusion.
*Am I... alive?*
The last thing he remembered was the knife—seventeen times, the blood, the gurgling breath escaping through his severed throat. He remembered the darkness closing in, and that final desperate plea.
"Please... just one more chance..."
Alec's eyes fluttered open. Gray sky overhead, bare branches reaching up like skeletal fingers, and snow everywhere.
He tried to sit up. His body felt different. Lighter. Weaker. His limbs were spindly, lacking any real strength.
Alec lifted his hands. They were pale, almost translucent. He touched his face.
No wounds. No scars. No blood.
"Is this my brain's last attempt at comfort?"
He realized he was completely naked, his skin covered in goosebumps, the cold seeping into his bones.
"Am I dead? Is this hell?"
Before he could inspect his surroundings, something strange appeared—a screen hovering in the air, glowing cyan. Text appeared in real-time.
[Ding!]
[Compatible host found!]
[System binding in progress...!]
"Host? What host?"
A strange tingling sensation spread through his body, starting at his chest and radiating outward. It wasn't painful, just odd. Like something was connecting to him.
[System successfully linked!]
[You have signed in at Aurora Shrine!]
[You have obtained a passive skill!]
[Skill: Temperature Regulation!]
[Activate: Y/N?]
He looked around frantically. Aurora Shrine? All he could see were trees, snow, and—
His breath hitched. Bodies. Or what remained of them. Scattered across the snowy ground were torn pieces of fabric, stained dark with blood. Skin, ripped and shredded. Bones, gnawed clean.
"Oh god."
Alec's teeth started chattering. The cold was intensifying, biting into his exposed skin. He was going to freeze to death.
*Is this some sort of game?*
But the cold felt real. Too real. And those bodies suggested this was no game.
With trembling hands, Alec reached toward the screen and thought "Yes" as clearly as he could.
[Temperature Regulation: ACTIVATED]
[Duration: 24:00:00]
Warmth spread through his body immediately. It started in his core, radiating outward, pushing back the numbing cold. His shivering stopped.
"Holy shit," he whispered. "It actually worked."
The screen faded, but he could still sense it lurking at the edge of his perception. Alec forced himself to look at his surroundings properly. Ancient stone pillars jutted up from the snow.
"Whatever did this must have devoured them."
Before he could spiral further, Alec heard something that made his blood run cold.
Breathing. Heavy, labored breathing, accompanied by a low growl.
Behind him.
Alec turned around slowly, his legs feeling like lead. His eyes traveled up until they locked onto the most terrifying thing he'd ever seen. A sabre-tooth tiger.
Massive—easily the size of a small car—with rippling muscles beneath tawny fur. Two enormous canines, each as long as his forearm, curved down from its upper jaw like twin scimitars. Stained with blood, bits of flesh still clinging to them.
"These things are extinct! They've been extinct for thousands of years. What the fuck kind of dream is this?"
The tiger's golden eyes locked onto Alec with predatory focus. Its lips pulled back in a snarl.
Alec's body went completely still. "Run! Fight! Play dead!"
But what could he do? He was naked, weaponless, and weaker than he'd ever been. This creature could tear him apart in seconds.
Even if he was at full strength and built like the incredible hulk.
Alec closed his eyes and felt a strange calm wash over him.
"So this is it. Second chance at life, and I last five minutes?"
He accepted his fate. Who the fuck was he to try and fight something so massive, so perfectly designed for killing?
The tiger crouched, preparing to pounce. Alec could hear its muscles bunching, could smell its rancid breath.
"At least make it quick." But the killing blow never came.
Instead, there was a rush of movement—impossibly fast—and suddenly someone was standing between Alec and the tiger.
A woman. Alec's eyes flew open, and his jaw dropped.
She was tall—at least six feet, maybe more—with muscles that were defined and powerful. But it was her proportions that shocked him. Her breasts were enormous, barely contained by two strips of animal hide. They bounced and swayed with every movement, dancing all over the place. Her hips were wide, perfectly curved, leading to thick, powerful thighs. Her buttocks were round and high.
"She looks like the perfect breeding machine."
Wide hips, toned body, big breasts and buttocks—she was physically perfect in a way that seemed almost supernatural. And she was barely dressed, despite the freezing temperature.
But before Alec could shout a warning, the woman moved.
She moved with fluid grace and deadly precision. In her hand was a crude spear with a sharpened stone tip. She twirled it once, almost casually, and then—
THUNK.
The spear drove straight through the sabre-tooth tiger's skull.
Right between the eyes. Perfect placement. The massive beast collapsed onto the snow with a ground-shaking thud, dead instantly.
Alec stared. His brain couldn't process what he'd just witnessed. This barely-dressed woman had just killed an apex predator with a single strike.
"...huh?" The sound escaped his lips.
The woman turned to look at him. She was beautiful in a wild, untamed way, with sharp features and eyes that held intelligence and wariness. She looked him up and down, her expression unreadable.
For a moment, they just stared at each other.
Then Alec's survival instincts kicked in.
"HELL NO!" he screamed.
And he ran.
His weak legs pumped beneath him as he bolted away from the woman, away from the dead tiger, away from the corpse-strewn shrine. He had no idea where he was going. He had no plan. All he knew was that he needed to get away from whatever nightmare he'd woken up in.
Behind him, he could sense the woman's confusion. But he didn't stop. He couldn't stop.
Because if she could kill a sabre-tooth tiger with one strike, what the hell could she do to him?