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CHAPTER 18 — When the Roar Became a Memory
The forest froze.
The creature's massive frame hunched low, its twisted spine pulsing with veins of crimson light. Its single blazing eye locked on Leo—not with hunger, but with something far more unsettling.
Recognition.
"Stay behind me," Leo said quietly, stepping forward even as the air trembled around them.
The boy obeyed without a word. His hands clutched Leo's shirt, trembling… but not from fear. From something else—something Leo didn't understand yet.
The creature inhaled sharply, every breath scraping its throat like broken stone.
"Le… o…"
The forest shuddered. Leaves trembled. Even the ground seemed to recoil as the monster forced the distorted sound out of its ruined body.
Leo's pulse spiked.
"What are you?" he whispered.
The creature's muscles convulsed—then it charged.
A shockwave exploded through the clearing. Trees bent, roots tore from the earth, and Leo barely had time to react before the monster's claw came crashing down where he had stood.
He rolled aside, grabbing the boy and pulling him behind a cluster of roots. The blow shattered the ground, sending fragments of stone flying like arrows.
Its roars chased him.
Not animal roars.
Human roars.
Twisted, warped, but filled with pain that sounded far too familiar.
The monster lunged again—a blur of corrupted muscle and rage. Leo dodged, but the wind pressure alone sent him sliding across the soil.
"Why is it after you?" he shouted to the boy.
The boy shook his head violently. "I don't know!"
The monster slammed its claws into the earth, lifting a rain of dust that swallowed the clearing. Leo coughed, shielding the boy.
Then—
The world flickered.
For a moment Leo wasn't in the forest.
He stood inside a memory.
A village. Burned. Screams echoing through a shattered sky. Fire swallowing wooden homes. And through the flames, a man—no, the same creature—falling to his knees as a black mist wrapped around him like a curse.
A man's face.
A human face.
Eyes bright with love and fear.
"For my son… please… someone… help him…"
The vision shattered.
Leo found himself back in the forest, chest heaving.
"That wasn't mine," he whispered. "That… came from it."
The creature staggered. The crimson veins in its flesh pulsed violently, as if reacting to the memory being exposed.
"Le…o…" it groaned again—this time weaker, almost pleading.
Leo stepped forward despite the danger.
"Were you human?" he asked.
The monster thrashed its head in anguish, slamming its claws into a tree so hard the trunk cracked clean in half.
But its eye—
its one remaining eye—
softened.
A sound crawled from its throat. Not anger.
Sorrow.
Leo clenched his fists.
Something inside him responded—like a thread tying him to the creature's agony. His blood grew warm. His heartbeat grew loud. Too loud.
Thump.
Thump.
The creature flinched—as if hearing Leo's heartbeat inside its skull.
Then its body convulsed violently, muscles twisting out of shape. Its roar spiraled into a distorted cry that echoed across the forest.
"L…eo… ru…n…"
That voice—
the cadence—
Leo recognized it.
Not the monster's voice.
The man from the memory.
"Leo!" the boy shouted, pulling on his arm.
"It's going to explode!"
The crimson veins spreading across the creature's skin were cracking like burning lines of molten fire. Its body was becoming unstable.
Leo didn't run.
Instead, something deep inside him surged—responding to the creature's pain. His vision sharpened. His breath steadied. And for a moment, the creature's heartbeat matched his own.
The monster stopped.
Its eye widened—realizing something Leo didn't understand.
"Y…ou… are…"
A violent tremor stopped the words. Its body arched back, glowing with deadly light.
The boy screamed. "Leo, MOVE!"
Leo scooped him up and ran just as the creature's body ruptured in a blinding crimson burst. The explosion tore through the ground, uprooting trees and sending an entire wave of force through the forest.
Leo hit the ground, shielding the boy as dust and debris rained over them.
Silence followed.
Then—
a single sound.
A whisper carried by the fading wind.
"…forgive… me…"
Leo lifted his head slowly.
The creature was gone.
Nothing remained but scorched earth—and a faint, flickering ember where its heart had been.
The boy crawled forward, reaching for the ember with trembling fingers.
"This…" he whispered, voice breaking. "This was my father…"
Leo froze.
The revelation slammed into him like a blade.
The creature wasn't just recognizing him—
It was warning him.
A cold chill ran down Leo's spine.
"What did it mean," he whispered, "when it said… you are…?"
The ember pulsed once, as if answering.
Leo didn't like the answer.
Not at all.
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End of Chapter 18
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