Eric tore through the clearing, cold air slicing past him as branches whipped at his clothes. His undead legs moved fast—faster than ever—just long enough to think he might actually escape the nightmare the villagers had become.
He made it ten steps.
A violent CRACK split the air behind him.
He didn't even get to turn.
A thick wooden spike—no, a branch—shot out of the darkness and slammed straight through his chest. The impact lifted him off the ground like he weighed nothing. His body twitched, teeth clamping down from the shock as a spray of blood painted the trees behind him.
"Holy—shit—!" he gasped, grabbing the branch with shaking hands.
It pulsed.
Then it dragged him.
His heels carved trenches in the soil as the branch reeled him back, pulling with predator certainty.
"No, no, no—!" he hissed, clawing madly at the ground.
The tree didn't slow.
His back hit the trunk with a brutal CRACK that vibrated through his bones. Before he could recover, the branch lifted him higher, grinding inside his chest, splinters scraping ribs.
Then the tree changed.
Hairline fissures crawled across the bark, spreading like veins under skin. The trunk swelled—throbbed—something within shifting with a wet, fibrous groan.
The bark split.
Not like wood.
Like flesh.
A jagged opening peeled wide, revealing uneven wooden teeth slick with dark sap that was far too red to be sap at all.
The maw stretched into a hungry, crooked grin.
"Oh hell no—HELL NO!" Eric snarled, pushing against the branch skewering him. His hands came away wet. He prayed it was sap.
It wasn't.
Blood seeped down his fingers, warm and sluggish.
The tree lunged.
A second branch exploded through his shoulder, ripping out the front. His vision went white. A third stabbed through his thigh. A fourth tore through his hip. A fifth punched between his ribs. A sixth rammed through his stomach.
By the time the tree finished, he hung like butchered meat—blood dripping in slow, thick curtains down the trunk, soaking into the bark as if the tree were drinking him.
He gasped on instinct. Dead or not, pain slammed through him like electricity.
"Come on… COME ON…" He yanked at one of the branches, feeling it scrape bone. "Let me go, you wooden psycho!"
The tree answered with a slow, heavy pulse.
Warmth—thick, invasive—poured into his wounds. It slid through his veins like syrup, numbing him from the inside out. His thoughts slurred. His vision warped.
'No… no… I don't get tired… I don't… stay awakee'
He blinked hard. His eyelids still drooped.
The ringing in his ears sharpened until it felt like something was screaming inside his skull. Villagers blurred. The forest swayed.
His head sagged.
Darkness swallowed him.
The last thing he saw was the tree's mouth stretching wider—teeth groaning apart—waiting to swallow him whole.
The branches hoisting him jerked upward, his limp limbs dangling like a puppet's. Blood dripped from every hole punched through him.
The maw widened.
Green light throbbed inside, revealing twitching tendrils waiting for him.
Then—
flutter… flutter…
The soft sound of a page turning.
The air twisted.
Eric's unconscious body convulsed violently, every muscle snapping tight as if something buried inside him had just clawed awake. Even the tree recoiled. Its branches yanked backward in a panic.
The mouth slammed shut, teeth grinding with a splintering crack. A tremor ran through the trunk—fear.
In blind terror, the tree threw him.
Eric's body crashed across the forest floor, skidding through leaves and dirt until he sprawled beside a fallen log. Blood pooled beneath him, soaking the ground.
The massive tree stood frozen—mouth sealed tight—like it was terrified of him.
Then something seeped from Eric's wounds.
Ink.
A thin ribbon of it crawled over his torn shirt, across his arms, spreading in branching veins that moved with intent. Within seconds the ink coated him entirely, a shifting shell of liquid darkness.
The air throbbed.
The ink rippled.
A sheet of paper pressed itself out of his chest, rising from the ink like a page pulled from darkness. Its edges burned black.
< Myles: Origin Soul condition fulfilled >
The ground trembled.
< Race attribute: Dark — confirmed >
A cold wind slithered through the clearing.
< Conditions unlocked for accessing forbidden verse in the Grimoire >
Lines began to appear across it—not written, but carved into existence in jagged strokes of blood-red ink, each mark forcing itself onto the page with a wet, slicing sound.
< Verse V — Devour >
A pressure rolled outward like an invisible shockwave.
The villagers froze.
Their glowing green eyes widened in fear—fear that felt ancient.
"The First…" whispered one.
"The Unholiest…" breathed another.
"The Dark One…"
"The One-who-is-not-meant-to-awaken…"
Their trembling words barely left their lips. The ink around Eric tightened.
Then it burst.
A silent shockwave erupted outward, a living void swallowing the clearing. Firelight vanished. Color vanished. Sound itself was devoured. The villagers disappeared without a scream, erased in an instant.
The ancient tree curled inward like an animal in pain, but the void shredded it into drifting nothing.
The forest followed. Trees, soil, roots—whole decades of life—peeled away as if ripped from existence. The clearing became a sphere of absolute darkness.
Then the void inhaled, collapsing back into Eric until every tendril vanished.
When the last tendril vanished into his body, nothing remained but barren earth.
A whisper echoed through the dead air
< Race undergoing forced evolution… >
< Former designation: Undead (Zombie) >
< Dark Attribute detected… >
< Searching forbidden lineage… >
The ink on his skin pulsed—crimson veins flickering beneath the black.
< Evolution Path Found >
< Classification: Abyssal Variant >
< Designation: Devourer-Class Entity… >
< Confirming… >
The darkness around him quivered, waiting.
< Evolution: "##&%###"—initiating >
Eric's body stiffened.
The ink wrapped around him pulsed once, and every wound sealed instantly. Holes in his chest, limbs, and sides closed in smooth, cold precision. Flesh knitted. Bone locked. Skin tightened.
In seconds, his corpse looked newly made—untouched by battle, untouched by death.
The page suspended over him shivered. Its red letters bled together, symbols collapsing in on themselves. The parchment crumbled into black dust and flowed back into Eric's body like smoke being inhaled.
The last of it sank beneath his skin.
Silence followed.