The forest erupted.A pillar of crimson water burst from the earth, splitting ancient trees like twigs. The air filled with the hiss of boiling steam, and the sky turned the color of blood.
Aloysius was hurled into the open, landing hard against the roots of a shattered oak. His body steamed, divine fire still clinging to his skin. He coughed, the taste of molten metal burning his throat.
Then it came.
The creature tore itself from the river's wound, its body forcing reality to bend and snap around it. Segments of its form shimmered between shapes towering ribs one moment, coiled serpent spines the next. Its many eyes fixed on him with the hunger of something that had never known enough.
The forest reacted first.Wind screamed through the branches, lightning coiled low to the ground, and the soil cracked with sudden heat. It wasn't nature anymore it was the leftover will of the gods, still embedded in the land. The creature's presence woke it all.
Aloysius stumbled to his feet, his hand on his blade, the god-spark roaring in his chest. Every heartbeat made his veins glow faintly, his senses sharpened to a painful edge.
"Come and take it," he spat.
The thing lunged.Its limbs tore furrows through the earth, collapsing the trees in its path. Aloysius rolled under the first strike, the ground caving where he had been a second before. The air was so heavy with pressure that even breathing felt like dragging stones into his lungs.
He countered one clean slash that carried the flare of his god-spark. It struck the creature's hide, sending shards of molten bone flying. The monster didn't slow; instead, it split itself down the middle, reforming around the wound as if he had cut water.
Not enough. He needed more force.
The divine energy in him strained its presence seductive and dangerous. He could feel it urging him to open further, to let go of the last restraint. But he knew the cost.
The ground shook again, and the crimson river behind them began to churn, as if something else was trying to come through.
The Fracture wasn't just one entity.It was a door.