The first breath in the new body didn't feel like breathing.
It felt like pulling heat straight out of the air and grinding it into strength.
I pushed myself up slowly. My claws dug into the stone without effort, slicing tiny lines through it just from pressure alone. Too sharp. Too light. Too controlled.
Good.
The transformation haze faded in flickers, like the floor stuttering between frames. My vision adjusted weirdly—edges sharpened first, then depth, then heat patterns. Everything clearer. Too clear.
Pulse Sense throbbed alive inside my skull, bouncing faint vibrations off every surface. Pillars. Ceilings. Even the dead Warden's armor gave off a faint trembling impression.
Everything had shape.
Everything had movement.
Even the air.
My new legs bent easily beneath me. Not the way my old ones had. Stance was higher, weight placed more forward, ready to pounce without warning. Claws flexed once, twice—metal whispering under them as stone split.
I turned my hand, curious.
The claws reflected the forge-light in thin, curved lines. They didn't glow. They absorbed. Pulled light inward.
A shadow weapon made from the floor's own hatred.
I tried a step.
Soundless.
I tried another.
Still nothing.
"…Okay," I murmured. Or tried to.
It came out as a low rasp, not quite speech. Not yet.
Close, though. Closer than before.
I stood fully, rolling shoulders, adjusting to the scythe-like protrusions along my spine. They balanced automatically when I shifted my weight. Adaptive. Useful.
A faint vibration traveled across the chamber floor.
Not danger. Not heat.
Movement.
Shadeborn.
Pulse Sense caught faint tremors—soft, controlled, from several points around the forge chamber entrance. Watching. Testing again.
They didn't step closer.
Didn't flee.
Just waited.
Figures.
I stepped forward. The ground didn't react. No heat pockets distorted me now. Blink pulsed in my mind like a twitchy muscle.
Fine. Let's try—
I Blinked.
The world reshaped—
and I reappeared on the far side of the chamber instantly, no drag, no snap, just clean displacement.
My body shivered at the perfection of it.
This form was meant for Blink.
I tried again without thinking.
Blink.
Another clean shift, twenty meters sideways.
This time it felt… predatory. Like the world slowed a fraction when I moved.
Something moved in the corner of my vision.
A Shadeborn Scout stepped halfway into the chamber, mask tilt indicating curiosity.
It lifted its hand—
—not a threat gesture.
A signal.
Behind it, two more stood at different angles, forming a half-circle.
Not hostile.
Not friendly.
Positioning.
Testing the "forged creature" they had been observing since Floor 2.
I stepped toward them once.
All three straightened immediately.
Not out of fear.
Respect?
No—recognition.
They backed away slowly, forming a path.
A deliberate path.
And the passage beyond glowed faintly with cool-blue light.
Right.
Floor 3 had more to say.
I followed.
The moment I crossed the threshold, the heat fell away. Only a thin warmth lingered behind me like a fading heartbeat.
This new hall was different—walls lined with carved metal veins, symbols half-melted but still pulsing. A large circular door at the far end split open as I approached, triggered by essence sensing.
The floor wanted me here.
Pulse Sense vibrated harder now. Something deeper was calling.
I stepped through.
New air. Cooler, cleaner.
A cavern inside the cavern—this one shaped more deliberately. No random pillars, no melted walls. Everything crafted.
At the center stood a massive stone anvil… cracked down the middle.
A forge that died before finishing its final creation.
Strange symbols surrounded it.
One of them—
A shadow kneeling beneath a winged shape—
Burned a little when my eyes traced it.
I growled low. Instinctive. My claws dug into the stone floor.
Something descended into the hall.
Not footsteps.
Weight.
A Shadeborn figure stepped into the blue light—
Broader. Mask carved with three downward sigils.
A Hunter Captain.
So Arc 3 wastes no time.
It looked at me for a long, uncomfortable moment.
Then tapped its spear against the floor.
A challenge.
A greeting.
A test.
Probably all three.
My claws slid out reflexively.
"Fine," I rasped. "Come on then."
The Hunter Captain lowered its stance.