The silence in the alley was heavy.
A moment ago, there was screaming and the sound of breaking metal. Now, there was only the sound of Kaelen's heavy breathing.
Haa... Haa...
Kaelen stood over the dead body of the Scuttler. The giant spider-monster was motionless. Its legs were curled up like a dead bug.
Kaelen looked at his hands. They were covered in green slime.
"I killed it," Kaelen whispered. His voice was shaking. "I actually killed it."
He took a step back, and his foot bumped into the monster's shell. It was real. This wasn't a dream.
Panic suddenly hit him like a bucket of ice water.
"Oh no," Kaelen gasped. "The Peacekeepers! The alarm!"
The red lights were still flashing on the street. In the distance, he could hear the heavy boots of soldiers running toward him.
If they found him here, standing over a dead Voidborn with monster blood on his mouth, they wouldn't give him a medal. They would shoot him. They would think he was infected.
"I have to run," Kaelen thought.
He turned to leave, but the blue screen appeared in front of him again.
[System Alert]
[Biomass Detected.]
[Would you like to store the target in the Void Locker?]
[Yes / No]
"Store it?" Kaelen stared at the screen. "How can I store a bus-sized spider?"
The footsteps of the soldiers were getting louder.
"Over here! Sector 4 breach!" a voice shouted from the main street.
"Yes! Just do it!" Kaelen yelled at the air.
He touched the dead monster.
Suddenly, Kaelen's shadow on the ground stretched out. It turned into a dark, swirling pool of black water. The giant monster sank into the shadow. It didn't make a sound. In two seconds, the massive beast was gone. The alley was empty, except for some green stains on the concrete.
Kaelen looked at his shadow. It looked normal again.
"That... is crazy," he whispered.
"Freeze! Put your hands in the air!"
A bright white light blinded him. Three Peacekeepers in white tactical armor stood at the entrance of the alley. They aimed heavy laser rifles at his chest.
Kaelen's heart hammered against his ribs. Thump-thump. Thump-thump.
Usually, he would have surrendered. He would have fallen to his knees and begged.
But now?
His body didn't want to surrender. His legs felt like compressed springs, ready to snap.
"I said freeze, Null!" the soldier yelled.
Kaelen didn't think. Instinct took over.
He turned and ran toward the back wall. It was a brick wall, three meters high.
"He's running! Fire!"
ZZZT!
A red laser beam scorched the air right next to Kaelen's ear. It burned a hole in the brick.
Kaelen didn't stop. He jumped.
He expected to hit the wall and fall. He expected his bad leg to fail him.
Instead, he flew.
He soared into the air, clearing the top of the wall with ease. He landed on the roof of the factory in a crouch, silent as a cat.
He looked down at his hands. "I can fly?"
"Where did he go?" the soldier below shouted. "He just... vanished. Did you see that jump? Was he a Wind Conduit?"
"No wind," another soldier said. "Just raw strength. Check the scanners. Where is the monster?"
Kaelen didn't stay to listen. He ran across the rooftops.
The Undercity looked different from up here. He jumped over gaps between buildings that were ten feet wide. He felt weightless. For the first time in his life, he wasn't dragging his leg. He was free.
Kaelen made it back to his apartment block in ten minutes. Usually, the walk took him half an hour.
He sneaked through the back entrance of Block 9. The hallway smelled of boiled cabbage and mold. He climbed the stairs to the fourth floor, avoiding the neighbors.
He rushed into apartment 4B and locked the door behind him with trembling hands.
"Safe," Kaelen breathed out. He leaned against the door.
The room was tiny. Just a mattress on the floor, a small table, and a rusty sink. It was a miserable place, but right now, it was a sanctuary.
He ran to the sink. He needed to wash the green blood off his face.
He turned on the tap. Brown water sputtered out. He scrubbed his face hard, scrubbing until his skin was red.
"It's okay," he told himself. "You survived. You just need to sleep. Tomorrow is the draft. Just act normal."
He looked up at the cracked mirror on the wall to check if he was clean.
Kaelen gasped. He stumbled back, knocking over his only chair.
"What... what is that?"
The face in the mirror was his. He had the same messy black hair, the same pale skin.
But his eyes.
His eyes were glowing a bright, blood-red color.
They didn't look human. They looked like the eyes of a wolf in the dark. They were predatory.
"No, no, no," Kaelen hissed. He pulled at his eyelids. "Stop it! Turn off!"
He tried to blink, but the red glow stayed.
"I can't go to the draft like this!" Kaelen panicked. "If the military sees this, they will kill me on the spot. Monsters have red eyes!"
He tried to practice a smile in the mirror, hoping to look friendly.
It was a mistake.
When he smiled, he showed his teeth. They were slightly sharper than before. Combined with the red eyes, he didn't look friendly. He looked like a serial killer who was about to eat someone.
"Okay," Kaelen said, dropping the smile. "Don't smile. Never smile."
[System Message]
[High Emotional State Detected.]
[Adrenaline is triggering 'Predator Mode'.]
The blue screen appeared next to his reflection in the mirror.
"System!" Kaelen whispered aggressively. "Fix my eyes! How do I look human?"
[Answer: Calm down. Your heart rate is 150 BPM. You are in fight-or-flight mode. To deactivate Predator features, you must lower your heart rate and suppress your bloodlust.]
"I don't have bloodlust!" Kaelen argued.
[Correction: You just ate a giant spider and enjoyed it. You have bloodlust.]
Kaelen paused. The System was right. He had enjoyed it.
"Okay," Kaelen sighed. He sat down on his mattress. "Calm down. Just breathe."
He closed his eyes. He thought about boring things. He thought about counting copper wires. He thought about the rusty pipes in the street.
Inhale. Exhale.
Slowly, the frantic beating of his heart slowed down. The buzzing energy under his skin faded.
He opened his eyes and looked at the mirror again.
The red was gone. His eyes were brown again. They looked a little brighter than usual, but they passed for human.
"Thank god," Kaelen slumped against the wall.
His stomach gave a small rumble.
"I should eat something normal," he thought. "Maybe that will help me feel human."
He went to his small cupboard. It was mostly empty, but he had a box of stale crackers and a bottle of water.
He took a cracker. It was dry and salty. Usually, Kaelen loved these because salt was a luxury.
He took a bite.
Crunch.
Kaelen frowned. He chewed slowly.
It tasted... terrible.
It tasted like he was eating dry cardboard mixed with sand. There was no flavor. No satisfaction. It felt like ash in his mouth.
He spit it out into the sink. "Gross."
He tried the water. It tasted metallic and slimy.
[System Message]
[Dietary Restriction: Standard human food provides 0% energy to an Abyssal Ghoul. Only Biomass containing life-force allows for evolution.]
Kaelen stared at the spit-out cracker in the sink.
"So I can't eat bread?" Kaelen asked the empty room. "I can't eat pizza? I can only eat... monsters?"
He thought about the green blood again. His mouth watered.
This was his life now. To survive, he had to kill.
He walked back to his bed and lay down. He pulled the thin blanket up to his chin.
The digital clock on the wall blinked. 21:00.
Tomorrow morning at 08:00 was the Great Assessment. He would have to stand in front of the entire city. He would have to touch the Conduit Stone to measure his power.
Jax would be there. The teachers would be there.
"If the stone detects I am a monster..." Kaelen whispered.
[Don't worry, Host.]
[The System has a 'Masking' feature. But it will cost Energy.]
"Great," Kaelen muttered. "Even my cheat code has a price."
He closed his eyes. He expected to have nightmares about the Scuttler.
But he didn't.
For the first time in years, Kaelen didn't feel the ache in his leg. He didn't feel the gnawing pain of starvation.
He felt strong.
He remembered Jax running away. He remembered the fear in Jax's eyes.
Kaelen clenched his fist under the blanket.
"I'm not running anymore," Kaelen whispered into the darkness.
Sleep took him quickly. And in his dreams, he wasn't the prey. He was the hunter.