The first thing Aric noticed… was the silence.
Not a peaceful kind.
No wind.
No birds.
No distant chatter of people.
Just… emptiness.
He lay still on the ground, eyes half-open, staring at the grey sky hidden behind black clouds. The air tasted dry, like something had burned here a long time ago.
Where… am I?
The last thing he remembered was… light.
And people screaming.
After that just darkness—and now this.
He pushed himself slowly up, his muscles stiff, his head throbbing with a dull ache. Dust slid from his clothes as he moved. He looked down at himself.
He was wearing what he always wore—simple, plain-looking clothes. Nothing special.
And with nothing that could help.
Aric brushed the dust from his shirt and paused for a moment, catching his reflection in a shard of broken glass half-buried near his feet.
His messy dark hair fell unevenly over his forehead, slightly too long as if he had put off cutting it for weeks. A faint shadow of exhaustion rested under his brown eyes.
Nothing about him stood out at first glance.
Not his looks.
Not his small frame.
He was just… ordinary.
The kind of person you'd overlook in a crowd.
And yet—
Standing alone in the middle of a dead, silent village…
That normality felt strangely out of place.
Collapsed wooden houses leaned against each other like corpses refusing to fall. Stone paths were cracked and swallowed by weeds. Broken fences jutted from the ground like ribs.
He looked around and yet—
There were no bodies.
Not a single sign of life.
"Hello?" Aric called out, his voice echoing weakly between the ruins.
No answer.
He stood up fully now, his heart beginning to beat faster. A creeping unease settled in his chest as he stepped forward, his boots crunching softly over gravel and ash.
The cold air brushed against his skin. The faint smell of decay lingered in every breath.
Aric moved cautiously through the village, peering into every broken home he could find. Inside, he found remnants of different lives lived. Chairs overturned, tools scattered, plates still resting on tables as if someone had simply… left.
Not fled.
Not fought.
Just vanished.
Everywhere he found the same.
"What the hell had happened here…?"
His voice sounded smaller now.
The deeper into the village he went, the heavier the silence became.
Then—
A sound.
Crunch.
Aric froze.
It didn't come from him.
Slowly, he turned his head toward the edge of the village, where the ruins gave way to a forest of blackened trees. Their branches twisted like reaching hands.
Another sound.
Scrape.
Something was moving.
"Hello?" he called again, though every instinct told him not to.
The forest remained still.
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then—
Aric's breath got caught in his throat.
It wasn't human.
The creature that stepped out of the treeline… had once been a wolf.
At least—that was the only way Aric could make sense of it.
Its body still carried the general shape of one, but everything about it was wrong. It stood too tall, its spine unnaturally arched as if it had been twisted beyond its limits. Patches of dark fur clung unevenly to its body.
Its legs were elongated, the joints bent at disturbing angles, giving it an unnatural stance—as if it had forgotten how to move properly. Each step was uneven, accompanied by a faint cracking sound, like dry branches snapping under pressure.
The head was the worst part.
It still resembled a wolf's skull—but stretched, warped.
The snout was too long.
The edges were torn.
Teeth didn't fit together. Its mouth hung slightly open, strings of dark saliva dripping to the ground.
And its eyes—
No longer those of an animal.
They glowed with a dim, sickly yellow light, sunken deep into hollow sockets… empty of instinct, empty of life.
Whatever this thing was—
It wasn't a wolf anymore.
The moment those eyes locked onto him, Aric felt it.
A pressure.
Like something ancient and hostile had just noticed him.
"…Okay," he whispered, taking a slow step back. "Not good."
The creature tilted its head.
Then it lunged.
"Shit!"
Aric turned and ran.
His body moved on instinct, adrenaline surging as he sprinted through the broken village paths. Behind him, the creature let out a shrill, distorted screech that pierced the silence like a blade.
It was fast.
Too fast.
Aric could hear its claws scraping against stone, closing the distance with terrifying ease.
Think! Think!
He darted around a collapsed cart, nearly slipping on loose debris. His lungs burned, his legs already screaming from the sudden exertion.
"I just woke up—!" he gasped. "Give me a break!"
Aric risked a glance over his shoulder—
—and immediately regretted it.
The creature was right behind him now, its twisted face stretched into something that resembled a grin.
"Yeah, that's not normal—!"
His foot caught on something.
Time seemed to slow.
No—
He stumbled forward, crashing hard into the ground. Pain shot through his arms as he hit, dust erupting around him.
The world spun.
Behind him—
Silence.
Then—
A shadow fell over his body.
Aric's breath trembled as he slowly looked up.
The creature loomed above him, its glowing eyes burning into his own. Its claws lifted, poised to strike.
This is it.
Death.
His hands were clenched against the ground.
He didn't want to die.
Not like this.
Move.
Get up.
Do something—
The creature's claws came down.
And in that instant—
Something changed.
A faint pulse echoed through Aric's body.
Like a heartbeat that wasn't his own.
The air around him seemed to distort—just for a moment.
And then—
A voice.
Cold. Mechanical. Unfamiliar.
[Human Signature Detected]
[Initializing System…]
The creature seemed to be frozen in place.
Just for a fraction of a second.
But it was enough.
Aric's eyes widened.
"…What?"
[Codex Activation: 1%]
The world seemed to shift.
And for the first time since he woke up—
Aric felt it.
Something deep within him…
Awakened.