Silence.

  Then — a heartbeat. Not Kael's.

  It echoed inside his skull, heavy and hollow, like a god knocking from within. His hand still burned where the fragment touched skin. Each pulse made the mark spread — thin, black lines tracing his veins, drawing symbols older than speech.

  > [Status Update: Contamination Threshold — 3%]

  [Foreign Essence detected.]

  [Advisory: Separate from Source or face absorption.]

  If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

  Kael tried to open his hand. He couldn't. The shard had melted into his palm, its edges dissolving into lightless ash.

  The System hissed, static crawling through the void:

  > [Correction Unavailable.]

  [Host synchronization in progress.]

  [Warning: Entity within fragment… awakening.]

  He staggered. The world bent around him. Planets flickered out. Stars turned to whispers.

  Then came a voice — deep, calm, yet terrible in its familiarity:

  "You took what was mine, little vessel. Do you remember the first hunger?"

  Kael froze. His throat closed. Somewhere within the void, he saw it — a silhouette standing over galaxies long dead. Wings of dust. Eyes like collapsed suns.

  "You devour to survive. I devoured to exist. The difference, Kael… is that you still believe there's a choice."

  The figure reached toward him — not with hate, but recognition.

  Kael's vision blurred.

  > [New Trait Acquired: Echo of the First Devourer]

  [Effect: +Unknown Power / -Unknown Sanity]

  He collapsed. The void screamed without sound. And for a moment, the stars blinked — as if remembering the one who once consumed them.

  ---