THIS BEAST-TAMER IS A LITTLE STRANGE

The hunger was unbearable.

In the days that followed Kain continued absorbing any core fragments that he could find.

Although Pangea had never looked better, Kain could feel it gnawing at the edges of his mind, growing sharper with every fragment he absorbed.

At first, it had been manageable—a persistent but ignorable sensation that he had grown accustomed to. But now, as the latest fragment’s energy surged through him, it was no longer just a hunger. It was a demand.

His hands had developed a permanent tremor. Sleep came in fitful bursts when it came at all, his dreams filled with just his subconscious relentlessly hunting for more of that violet energy in the dark.

The fragments were becoming harder to find, their energy weaker, like trying to quench a forest fire with droplets of water. Yet he hunted them obsessively, like an addict, turning over every rock, scanning every crevice with a desperation that made Malzahir eye him warily and Serena’s lips press into an increasingly thin line.

Then one day, while absorbing a small unassuming fragment—one too many—Kain appears to have reached the tipping point. Something within him snapped.

A violent tremor tore through him, his breath catching as a surge of power erupted through his veins. He staggered, his vision flickering at the edges, a suffocating pressure building in his chest like something inside was struggling to break free.

His vision blurred at the edges, tunnelling into nothing but violet light and the relentless pulse of something vast and incomprehensible beneath the surface of his consciousness.

“Kain.” Serena’s voice came from somewhere far away, warped as if heard through water. “Your eyes—”

Then, the world around him shifted.

He blinked, and suddenly, everything had changed.

A faint purple haze clung to the edges of his vision, distorting the cavern like a mirage.

At first, he thought it was just another trick of his exhausted mind, but then he turned to look at Serena and the sleeping Malzahir—and the strange violet filter was there too, if anything the violet colour seemed dozens of times stronger on them than the surroundings.

The purple energy they emitted burned before him like twin suns, so bright they almost hurt to look at directly. He could see the flow of energy through their bodies—Serena’s noticeably brighter than Malzahir’s. It was beautiful. It was intoxicating. It made his mouth water with a hunger no food could satisfy.

But as he gazed longer at the violet glows their bodies emitted Kain realized that it wasn’t just a strange filter, a trick of the light, or a hallucination from exhaustion.

No. It was a target.

The violet colour they emitted practically acting like a homing beacon.

A wet gulping sound filled his ears – his own throat swallowing unconsciously as saliva flooded his mouth as he looked at them. His fingers curled into fists, nails drawing blood from where they dug into skin.

A violent shudder ran through him as something deep within stirred, whispering, urging. The hunger coiled tighter, a relentless need pressing against his ribs, curling around his throat like a vice.

Devour.

He could almost taste them already – Serena’s energy crisp and bright like winter air, Malzahir’s warmer, earthier, with the sharp aftertaste of grief and anger. One quick lunge. One moment of surrender to the hunger. That’s all it would take—

Kain sucked in a sharp breath, horror slamming into him like a tidal wave.

‘No. This isn’t me. This isn’t real.’

But the feeling of horror he was feeling at these thoughts was greatly overshadowed by the intense hunger he felt. He had never felt Pangea react like this before, never felt its hunger extend beyond the lifeless energy of core fragments. But now, for the first time, it wasn’t just craving energy.

It was craving them.

Kain staggered back, shaking his head violently, trying to dislodge the intrusive thoughts. “No,” he growled under his breath, forcing his gaze away from them.

But when he looked again, the faint violet shimmer around them hadn’t faded. If anything, it had grown more distinct, like an outline in the dark. He could sense their life, their energy, thrumming beneath their skin like the heartbeat of something warm, something alive—something he could take.

His stomach twisted violently. He clenched his fists so hard his nails bit into his palms, the sharp pain grounding him, anchoring him back to reality.

“What’s wrong?” Serena’s voice cut through the haze, steady and observant. Too observant.

He couldn’t let her see. Couldn’t let her know.

“Nothing,” he forced out, though the tightness in his voice betrayed him.

Serena took a step closer, but Kain flinched away before she could reach him. The movement was too fast, too instinctive. And Serena, ever perceptive, noticed.

“Kain.” This time, his name was not a question but a quiet demand.

“Look at me.”

He forced his head up through sheer willpower.

Serena stood before him, her blue eyes sharp and searching. She knew. Not the specifics perhaps, but she knew that something had irrevocably changed in him after absorbing those fragments.

Her gaze flicked to his trembling hands, to the sweat-slicked hair sticking to his forehead, to the way his pupils had dilated until only a thin ring of brown remained around black pools.

Before he could answer—before he could even try—the System’s voice thundered in his skull, sending a violent jolt through his body.

*SYSTEM ALERT: LARGE INFLUX OF UNIDENTIFIED ENERGY DETECTED.*

The words appeared in his mind like a hammer striking metal, sharp and jarring. For the first time in what felt like an eternity, the System spoke.

A second notification followed immediately after:

*SYSTEM NOTICE: DUE TO THE UNEXPECTED SURGE OF SOURCE ENERGY, THE UPGRADE REQUIREMENT OF GP HAS BEEN TEMPORARILY SUSPENDED.*

Kain barely had time to process the words before his vision blurred violently. His knees buckled. The cavern tilted.

Somewhere, Serena’s voice called out his name, but it was distant—so distant. His body was no longer his own, his mind slipping away into something vast, something endless.

The hunger pulsed one final time, and then everything went black.

*SYSTEM UPGRADE DIRECTION CHANGED.*

*WARNING: INTERNAL FOREIGN SOURCE DETECTED. SYSTEM UPGRADING…*

And then, there was nothing.

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