Darian stepped through the Rift gate, and the world he knew came apart at the seams.
One breath he was surrounded by the clean, sharp metal and humming shields of the Federation deployment platform. The next, he was falling no wind, no motion, just sensation as if gravity and time twisted and reassembled themselves mid-thought. His body jerked slightly, and then his boots struck uneven terrain with a dull crunch.
The air was heavy. Not in weight, but in pressure. It folded around him, thick and metallic, like he had stepped into a cocoon spun from magnetic energy. Vision blurred and cleared again. Colors bled together in impossible ways. The sky overhead wasn't a sky at all just a ripple of violet, cracked by lines of silver that pulsed like veins in a dying creature.
His mind raced. The Federation had briefed them on Rift distortion: how physics broke down, how terrain was stitched together from overlapping dimensions. But nothing prepared him for the feeling the slow invasion of wrongness pressing against his thoughts, as if the Rift itself were curious about his presence.
He moved carefully through twisted stone pillars and crooked trees that glowed from within, pulse matching the rhythm of his breath. Mist clung to the ground in a blanket, curling around his knees. Each step sounded louder than it should have, echoing like he was walking on memory instead of rock.
[Zone Entry Confirmed – Sector Theta-12]
Environmental Stability: 59%
Dimen-Field Flux: Active
Combat Protocol: Live Engagement – ON
The system prompt snapped him back into mission mode. He adjusted his grip on the standard-issue blade in his right hand, pistol holstered on the left hip, and activated his short-range scanner. It flickered, glitched, then recalibrated.
Static.
No targets immediately visible, but Riftspawn rarely showed up on scan until they were ready to tear your face off.
He edged forward through a broken ridge that looked half natural, half melted, when something shifted in the fog ahead. A ripple barely perceptible. A silence that tightened.
He crouched instantly, blade up, breathing shallow.
The fog parted, revealing a four-limbed creature crawling over shattered stone low to the ground, armored in black plates that shimmered with faint purple reflections. Its head had no eyes, just a wide, jagged maw and heat-sensing ridges. Muscles bunched as it tasted the air.
[Target Identified – Riftspawn: Class C – Predator Subspecies]
Threat Level: Moderate
Aggression: Proximity-triggered
The creature's neck arched. Its nostrils flared. It snapped its head toward him.
Then it charged.
Darian reacted without thinking. He leapt to the side as claws scraped the rock where he had stood. The beast snarled and spun. Its speed was faster than expected. He parried with the blade barely. The force of the impact numbed his wrist.
The Riftspawn lunged again. This time, he ducked low and rolled beneath it, landing hard but smoothly behind its flank. He slashed deep at the back leg. Sparks and mist sprayed, but the armor held.
No hesitation.
He dropped to a kneel, pulled his sidearm, and fired three rounds two into the side of the beast's neck, one directly into its back knee joint. The last round hit softer flesh.
The Riftspawn shrieked and staggered, dragging a clawed foot.
Now.
He closed in fast and drove the blade into the exposed joint between armor plates at its collar. The steel sank deep with a metallic crunch.
The creature froze. Then convulsed.
It let out one last distorted howl before collapsing, limbs twitching. A second later, it dissolved into a fine mist that was sucked into the air around them, leaving no trace.
Silence returned.
[Kill Confirmed – Rift Entity Neutralized]
Trigger Event Detected – Awakening Conditions Met
Initializing Beast Core Integration…
Status: Synchronizing
Then came the pain.
It wasn't physical in the conventional sense. Not muscle tearing or bone snapping. It was internal like something ancient was opening a door behind his spine and crawling through. His mind flooded with pressure, and for a moment he couldn't tell where his thoughts ended and the Rift began.
The light around him dimmed. Or perhaps his senses shut off.
A pulse bloomed inside his chest, rhythmic and deliberate.
Not his heartbeat.
[Beast Core Interface – Activated]
Beast Name: Void Serpent of the Silent Coil
Beast Grade: Sovereign-Tier (Unregistered Classification)
Beast Type: Hybrid – Elemental / Physical
Element Affinity: Void, Space, Dimensional
Beast Stage: Infant – Phase I (Coiled State)
Cultivation Stage: Awakened – Tier 1
Primary Talent: Evolution Architect [SSS]
Secondary Talent: Spatial Instinct [A]
Passive Trait: Dimensional Silence (Locked)
Transformation: Inaccessible (Insufficient Rank)
Next Stage Unlock Requirement: 1 Sovereign Core or Path Catalyst Relic
Evolution Paths Available:
Path I – Rift-Tongue Wyrm
• Space Instinct Boost
• Rift Speech (Sealed)
• Passive Phase-Walk_
Path II – Blacklight Coilbeast
• Night Domain Resistance
• Predator Haze (Locked)
Path III – Astral Spine Drake
• Dimen-Warp Affinity: Moderate
• Starfire Pulse (Hidden)
Darian knelt, breath shallow, skin cold. The interface didn't feel like something added to his consciousness. It felt like a living map a neural blueprint of something that had just merged with him. He could see the beast's coil, the pulsating potential of its evolution. Three paths already showed possibilities, but deeper than that, he could sense more. Buried. Hidden.
Something nudged the edge of his awareness. Not thought. Not communication.
But intent.
The Void Serpent was aware of him. And now, so was the Rift.
The mist cleared slightly ahead, revealing a path deeper into the dimension zone. Rift energy pulsed in the distance, steady and rhythmic.
Darian stood slowly, blade still slick with Rift residue. His body didn't tremble. His heart didn't race.
Instead, a quiet understanding settled in.
This wasn't a one-time event. It was the beginning of something far larger. He had bonded with a force that existed beyond the classifications the Federation relied on. A beast not born of Earth or science. Something sovereign.
He turned toward the horizon where dimensional waves shimmered.
His first kill had awakened the serpent.
Now came the real test.