Chapter 7 — First Hunts
The carcass of the Black Flame Lion still smoked as we circled it, the smell of burnt fur clinging to our skin. For a moment, we just stood there—exhausted, stunned, alive.
Mara flexed her fingers, and Abyssal Flames licked across her palms in faint blue streams. The fire hissed when it touched the damp grass, leaving black scars in its wake.
"That," Hank muttered, shaking his head in disbelief, "is not normal fire."
Mara smirked. "Good thing I'm not normal anymore." She opened her hands wider, and the flames roared out, a wave of black-blue fire spraying in an arc like a living flamethrower. The heat forced us to step back.
Steve shielded his face. "By the Tower…"
The display left no doubt—Mara's Trait was real, and it was deadly.
---
We couldn't leave the lion behind. Its heart was gone, but its meat and hide could still keep us alive. From the survival packs, each squad had been given one space ring, small and plain silver, humming faintly with alien craft. It wasn't noble quality, but it could store a beast corpse, keeping it from rotting.
"Good thing they thought of this," Rob muttered, fitting the lion's body into the ring. It shrank into light and vanished. "Otherwise we'd be dragging this monster on our backs."
"Let's keep moving," I said. "If we're lucky, we'll find more before nightfall."
---
Luck, for once, answered.
By dusk, we had found and slain two more lions. One fell to Mara's flames as she drove it into Rob's snares; the other Hank speared through the eye as it lunged. The fights were brutal, the smell of scorched fur nauseating, but we won.
When the System chimed, it was both blessing and curse.
[System Notification]
– Beast Consumed: Black Flame Lion (Mutated Tier)
– DNA Essence Gained: 4 strands
– No Trait gained.
[System Notification]
– Beast Consumed: Black Flame Lion (Mutated Tier)
– DNA Essence Gained: 6 strands
– No Trait gained.
Ten more strands total. No Traits. Just meat for the ring, and exhaustion settling deeper into our bones.
But we weren't finished.
---
The third encounter came suddenly. A flicker of red fur darted between the trees, then reappeared fifty feet away. A fox—but massive, six feet at the shoulder, with three long tails whipping the air behind it. Its eyes burned gold, its fangs dripping dark venom.
"Demon Fox," Kira hissed, raising her blade.
The creature snarled, and the forest seemed to dim around it.
"Mara—flames!" I shouted.
She threw out both hands, fire bursting forth in a wave of searing black-blue. The fox screeched, leaping sideways, its tails whipping to snuff the blaze. Rob and Hank flanked it, spears stabbing at its legs. The fox moved like lightning, slashing deep into Rob's arm with its claws. Blood sprayed.
I leapt in from the side, driving my sword into its ribs. It roared, snapping at me, but Steve struck its hind leg and Mara surged forward, her fire wrapping its fur in smoking embers.
The beast shrieked, stumbled, and finally collapsed.
Its heart pulsed dark in Mara's flames. She looked at me, and I nodded. "Not me this time. Someone else."
The squad fell silent until Kira stepped forward, face pale but resolute. She drove the knife in and pulled the heart free. The System flared.
[System Notification]
– Beast Consumed: Demon Fox (Mutated Tier)
– Trait Extraction Successful!
– New Trait Gained: Three-Tailed Hybrid Form (Lv.1) — Transform into a humanoid fox hybrid, sprouting tails and razor claws.
– Secondary Effect: Velocity Surge II — Enhanced agility and speed.
– DNA Essence Gained: 5 strands
– Current Total (Mutated): 25 / 100
Kira gasped, her body shuddering. Her nails stretched into black claws, her hair shimmered faint red, and for an instant three spectral tails lashed behind her. She staggered, then steadied, grinning like she'd tasted lightning.
"Fast," she whispered. "So fast."
Our squad cheered. Between Mara's flames and Kira's claws, our orphan squad was no longer helpless prey.
---
When we returned to camp at dusk, the firepit blazed with the heat of other victories. Laura's squad gathered proudly near the flames. Behind them lay two corpses, their stink heavy in the air—a swamp gator with moss still clinging to its scales, and a Dire Wolf, white fur glowing under the alien stars.
Laura's eyes shone as she stood before the group. "Two of mine awakened Traits. One now carries the armor of a Swamp Gator—mutated plates, green and heavy, covering his head and chest. The other has the Dire Wolf form—seven feet tall, claws sharp enough to split stone."
The transformed student stood tall, his wolfish frame gleaming white under moonlight, fangs sharp as daggers.
Gasps echoed through the gathered squads. The Rift had begun to change us. Already, we were becoming something more—and something less.
I glanced at Mara, flames dancing faintly on her fingertips, and at Kira, her spectral tails flickering in the firelight. We were no longer just orphans.
We were becoming beasts.