The ruins rose like broken teeth from the valley floor.
Moss-covered stone, half-swallowed by roots. The kind of place most people ignored—unless they were desperate, bored, or bound to a guild contract.
Kael adjusted the straps of his satchel and scanned the crumbling entrance ahead.
> Essence disturbance: minimal
Active aura pulses: none
Environmental threat: Low-tier
Recommended behavior: Passive. Observe. Drain only if needed.
The system's notifications flickered silently at the edge of his vision. Cold. Clinical. Hungry.
He closed the screen and turned to his team.
There were four of them: Seren, the scout who kept watching him like a hawk with trust issues. Bren, a loud, axe-happy Warrior type. And Talla, a twitchy novice archer who clearly wasn't ready for combat but had something to prove.
And then there was Kael, who didn't belong here—who hadn't even truly chosen to be here—but who needed to be.
---
"It's standard," Seren said, crouching beside a cluster of half-sunken stones. "Clear the entry chamber, check for resonance markers, log the relic signs. Easy unless something woke up."
Bren laughed. "Hope it did. I've got a new axe and a grudge."
Talla muttered something about not liking underground places.
Kael said nothing.
He could already feel the walls of the ruin pulsing faintly. Emotional residue. Not danger. Just… echoes.
> Desire Sense: Active.
Detected: fear (mild), uncertainty (moderate), curiosity (sharp)
Source: party members.
It was disorienting—feeling people's emotions like temperature shifts. He focused on keeping his breathing steady, his aura dormant.
---
They pushed forward. The first chamber was empty. Just dust, stone, and a broken pedestal.
Bren poked around while Talla marked the walls with Emberwake chalk.
Seren drifted to Kael's side. Close enough to feel, but not touch.
> "You're awfully calm," she said quietly.
> "Trying to blend in."
> "You don't smell like fear."
> "I'm not afraid."
She gave him a strange look. Not hostile. Not trusting either. "Just… weird."
He smiled faintly. "Thanks."
---
They reached a side chamber — a storage room, mostly collapsed. As Bren began smashing crates out of boredom, something shifted beneath the rubble.
A low groan filled the air.
> Target detected: Echo Construct
Threat Level: Tier 1 Spectral
Emotional Aura: Confused. Hungry. Residual Lust imprint.
Kael froze.
> That's mine, he thought.
The construct slithered free — a shapeless mass of memory and regret, formed from emotion, bones, and old magic.
Talla screamed. Seren swore. Bren ran forward swinging.
Kael didn't move. He felt the construct's emotional resonance — it latched onto his aura instantly.
> It knows me.
> It's feeding off the same energy I am.
His system whispered:
> Charm Pulse available.
Draining now would destabilize both target and party.
But it was looking at him.
Seren shouted something. Bren was knocked back. The construct shrieked.
Kael raised a hand.
> "Back off," he said, voice low.
The construct hesitated.
Kael activated Charm Pulse.
A ripple of unseen energy spread out from him—subtle, seductive, wrong. Everyone in the room felt it. Even the air changed.
The construct froze. Wavered. Then shattered into light.
Talla gasped. Bren cursed. Seren…
Seren was staring at Kael.
Wide-eyed. Breath caught.
> Essence gained: +8
Charm Pulse cooldown: 3 hours
Aura Stability: Fragile
---
They left the ruin in silence.
Mission complete. Nothing spoken. No one hurt.
But Kael knew it wasn't over.
Not even close.
---
That night, Seren knocked on his door.
He opened it slowly.
She stood there in a thin jacket, arms crossed.
"Tell me what you are," she said. "Because you're not just some rare support class. I felt that."
Kael stared at her.
His mask flickered.
The system didn't speak.
And for the first time, Kael had no idea what to say.