Chapter 8 – Hunger in the Ash
The wind had changed.
Kael could taste it—metallic, bitter, alive.
He staggered out of the ruined lab with Ravager limping beside him. Smoke and glass clung to their clothes and hide. The scent of scorched circuits and ruptured genomes followed them into the dying light.
[Codex Status: Stabilizing… Cognitive Sync: 21%… Emotional Regulation: Incomplete.]
Kael felt it. A pressure behind his eyes. The hum of something deep in his chest. Like static wanting to scream.
"You are waking up, little vessel."
Not his voice. Not the Codex. Something older.
Kael clutched his ribs.
Ravager whined but did not approach. The bond was trembling.
They found a dead plateau above the lab. Bones littered the stone, some cracked open like marrow had been sucked out. The air shimmered faintly, like an afterimage.
Kael collapsed at the edge of the rocks.
The horizon was darker now. Storms brewing over the distant sea. The old world drowned beneath endless ash, and here he was—bleeding into it.
He should be afraid.
Instead, he was starving.
His skin pulsed with light. Purple. Red. Then black. Patterns swirled and vanished.
[Mutation Spike: Controlled. Adaptive Threshold expanding.]
[Fragment Recovered: Therizino-Rex / Crocodylus hybrid sample.]
[Behavioral memory stored. Trait sync pending.]
"What does that mean?" Kael whispered.
A whisper answered.
"Eat… and you will remember."
Ravager snapped its head toward the trees.
Movement.
A low growl.
Then—a figure.
A hybrid. Unlike anything they'd seen.
Therizinosaurus posture, but hunched and agile. Crocodilian scales across its belly. Long sickle claws twitching with anticipation.
Eyes like molten glass.
Kael stood slowly.
He didn't speak. The creature tilted its head.
It wasn't attacking.
It was waiting.
Kael took a step.
The Codex surged.
[Unknown signal detected. Hybrid classification: orphaned. Instinct alignment: possible. Initiate link attempt?]
He hesitated. Then nodded.
A pulse of heat struck his spine. The air cracked.
The hybrid stepped forward—then stopped.
Its claws touched the ground in a strange pattern. A language maybe. A warning. A challenge.
Kael reached out—not with his hand.
With his mind.
[Hybrid resisting. Compatibility threshold: 62%... 64%... 68%...]
The creature screeched.
Kael screamed.
The bond snapped into place.
Vision blurred. He saw flashes—its memories. Chained. Tortured. Set loose in ruins. It hated the name it was given.
He spoke the new name aloud, without knowing how:
"Vyrmclaw."
The hybrid blinked.
Accepted.
And then—the sky cracked.
A shriek echoed across the land.
Far away, but near enough.
Kael looked up.
A massive shape moved in the clouds.
JiRuun.
He was watching.
[Codex Warning: Progenitor-class hybrid detected. Engage: suicidal. Flee: advised.]
Kael took a breath.
He didn't run.
But his blood ran cold.
Author's Note:
That's it for today, warriors of the ash. EchoWomb's gonna recharge a bit. 🧬🔥
We've now got two hybrids in Kael's squad, and JiRuun's shadow looms larger than ever.
From ash we rise. From genes we conquer.
We drop soon again. Stay mutant, stay wild. 🦖
— EchoWomb