Kael's eyes snapped open.
He couldn't breathe. Ash clogged his throat and nose. The taste of burning metal filled his mouth, and heat pressed down on him like a weight. He rolled onto his side and coughed violently, spitting black dust into cracked soil.
Everything hurt. His ribs throbbed, his wrists ached, and the back of his head felt like it had been cracked open and sealed shut with magma. But he was alive. Somehow.
Around him, the landscape stretched like a dying scar—blackened trees stood like skeletal hands, the sky above a roiling curtain of ash and red clouds. No sun. Just an eerie crimson light bleeding from the heavens.
"Where the hell..."
Kael sat up slowly. A sharp sting lanced through his side. He winced and looked down. A thick black band clamped around his wrist—strange, metallic, and humming faintly.
The air was wrong. It buzzed with tension. Not electrical. Not magical. Something primal.
The ground trembled slightly beneath him.
He turned.
A ridge rose nearby, sharp like a fang from the earth. And just past it, movement. Slow. Measured. Heavy.
Instinct kicked in—he ducked behind a half-burned log, pressing his back into the earth. His breath slowed as he tried to make sense of the situation.
This wasn't Earth. Not the way he knew it.
He remembered the void. The voice. The pain.
Something had brought him here.
And whatever it was, it hadn't asked for permission.
The ground trembled again.
Kael peeked out over the scorched log.
A beast emerged from the smoke.
It was like a wolf, but wrong. Its flesh clung tight to a skeletal frame, and instead of fur, it wore a mane of bone-white flame. Ribs jutted out like knives, glowing from within with a pulsing ember light. Its eyes—deep, hollow coals—locked on him instantly.
Kael didn't move.
The creature sniffed once, then began pacing, claws scraping against stone. A slow, deliberate circle.
Kael's heart pounded. He reached for anything—a rock, a stick, anything to defend himself—but his hands were empty.
The band on his wrist pulsed once.
Then again.
He stared at it, confused, and a sudden flicker of light danced across the inside of his eyes—like a HUD, but more... alive.
> "Entity detected: Boneflame Lupus."
"Core integrity: active."
"Fragment identified... compatible."
What?
The beast growled.
Kael stood slowly. His legs trembled, but something deeper—something inside him—stirred. He wasn't just afraid. He was... wired. Awake.
> "Initiate Core Hijack?"
"Core... what?"
The wolf lunged.
Kael dodged—barely. The beast's claws slashed the air where he'd just been, sending a spray of sparks flying. He stumbled, rolled, came up coughing.
The band glowed hot.
> "Initiation in progress."
The world slowed. He could see everything—the wolf's snarling face, the flicker of its heart through its exposed ribs, the flame that wasn't fire burning in its chest.
Kael's wrist snapped forward.
He didn't know why.
But the band responded.
> "Fragment breach… hijack approved."
The wolf froze mid-pounce.
Its body locked, trembled—and then screamed. Not a physical scream, but psychic—like a roar made of memory and rage.
A white light poured from the beast's chest.
And flowed into Kael's wrist.
His eyes rolled back as heat surged into him. The pain was sharp, clean, consuming.
Then—
Silence.
Kael collapsed to his knees.
The beast lay dead beside him, its body twitching, flames extinguished.
Smoke rose from both of them.
He gasped for air, sweat pouring down his face. The sigil on his wrist glowed fiercely, now etched into his skin. A rune—part flame, part bone, shifting like a live scar.
> "Fragment integrated: Boneflame."
"Core status: unstable."
"What... the hell was that?"
No one answered.
But something inside him shifted. Like he now carried a piece of the beast—its instincts, its hunger. He could feel it. And worse—he didn't feel wrong about it.
Kael stared at the body. He hadn't touched it, hadn't cast a spell or used a weapon. He'd simply... hijacked its power.
He stood slowly.
The landscape stretched endlessly around him. Burnt plains. Charred stones. In the distance, massive ruins peeked through the ash storms—half-buried towers, strange obsidian formations.
He felt something tug at his mind.
Not a voice.
Not yet.
More like a pull.
His body obeyed without knowing why, turning west.
A direction.
The system had given him a direction.
Was this what he was now? Some kind of parasite?
> "Hijack Core: Alpha Fragment installed."
"Next evolution: 3 fragment minimum."
Kael exhaled. "So… I collect pieces. That's how I survive?"
A screech echoed in the sky—high and shrill.
He ducked reflexively, heart racing.
From the red clouds, a shadow passed. Massive wings, talons trailing sparks. The creature didn't stop. Just a warning. This world wasn't safe.
He turned back to the wolf.
Its corpse looked oddly peaceful now. As if... released.
Kael knelt and touched its side.
"Thanks," he murmured. He didn't know if it was ridiculous, but somehow it felt right.
Then he heard the footstep.
Not animal.
Human.
His head snapped up.
Across the clearing stood a girl.
She was tall, cloaked in silver and black. Her hair shimmered faintly like lightning. Eyes sharp and distant. She carried herself like a soldier, but with the poise of a noble.
She stared at him like he was a puzzle she didn't like.
"You're not from here," she said.
Kael didn't answer. Couldn't.
"And you're not supposed to survive that hijack."
She raised her hand.
Lightning crackled.
Kael's wrist pulsed again.
---
Kael took a step back, hands raised. "I'm not your enemy."
She didn't lower her hand. "Then what are you?"
"I don't know," he admitted.
The lightning dimmed slightly—but her gaze didn't soften.
"Name?" she asked.
"Kael."
"Clan?"
"I don't have one."
"Birthmark?"
He blinked. "What birthmark?"
That seemed to confirm something. Her expression changed—cautious curiosity replacing cold suspicion.
"You're not just a rogue," she murmured. "You're... from outside."
Kael hesitated. "I think so."
The girl finally dropped her hand.
"You hijacked a core fragment. No one unmarked should've survived that. The backlash alone—"
"Nearly killed me," Kael muttered, rubbing his chest.
"Then you're either lucky... or something's watching you."
Kael swallowed.
He had a thousand questions. But right now, one stood above the rest.
"What now?"
The girl turned.
"Now, we get you out of the open. Before more boneflames smell you."
She walked away, not checking if he followed.
Kael stood still for a heartbeat longer.
Then he ran after her.
---
Far above the ash plains, in a floating chamber woven from clouds and crystal, an old man watched a projection ripple in midair.
"That boy..." he whispered. "He survived the fracture."
Beside him, a younger scholar nodded.
"The lightning noble saw him. She's bringing him in."
The old man's fingers traced a sigil in the air, causing the image to zoom. Kael and Seris were walking side by side—uneasy allies at best.
"A wild hijack core," he said. "How long until it breaks him?"
The scholar said nothing.
The image flickered once.
Then showed a flash—Kael's hand absorbing a second flicker of power.
The old man's eyes narrowed.
"Or worse... how long until he breaks the world?"
---
As they walked, Kael began to notice how the land pulsed underfoot—faint but real, like the world itself was breathing. The ash here wasn't just soot. It shimmered faintly under starlight, as if carrying the memories of those burned before him.
He asked, "What is this place?"
Seris didn't answer right away. She scanned the horizon before replying. "This is the Ash Circle. One of the Outer Rings. A place where power decays... or festers."
Kael frowned. "Sounds cheery."
"Better than the Vein Mire. Or Ember Hell."
He wasn't sure if she was joking.
Suddenly, Kael paused. His wrist tingled again.
> "Environmental imprint detected: Tier-1 Fracture Scar."
"What's that mean?"
Seris turned. "Means you're not done mutating."
"Wait—what?"
She smirked, the first sign of emotion he'd seen from her. "You survived a raw hijack without a mark. Your body's still processing the breach. More fragments might come to you, unbidden."
Kael stared at her. "So you're saying... I'm a ticking time bomb?"
"No," she said, glancing forward. "I'm saying I hope you explode in the direction of our enemies."
---
Nightfall
That night, they set up camp beneath a collapsed stone arch. A broken statue—some ancient warrior now decapitated—watched over them like a forgotten god.
Seris sat with her back against a blackened tree. She sharpened a short blade with careful, practiced strokes.
Kael stared at the fireless pit between them. The ash here glowed softly on its own. He wondered what burned here to leave embers that never died.
He finally asked, "Why help me?"
She didn't answer at first.
Then: "You're a variable. This world hates variables. I want to know which way you tilt."
"That's not much of a reason."
"It's enough for now."
Kael leaned back, his head resting against a smooth stone. His wristband hummed faintly again, as if whispering secrets in a language he didn't know yet.
He didn't sleep. Not really.
The wind here didn't howl—it whispered. Names. Places. Regrets.
And in his chest, the fragment burned quietly.
Not hostile.
Not quiet either.
Just... waiting.