The echoes of the Shadow-Wretch's demise still lingered in the air, a heavy, oppressive silence hanging over the ruins. The air smelled of burnt ash and corruption, the ground beneath you still steaming from the creature's dissipating form. You stood there, your body trembling from the surge of power, the Fracture's whispers now clawing at your very thoughts.
You had evolved. You could feel it in your bones. Your form was no longer just the twisted remnants of a creature. You were something more, something other, something that the Fracture itself had birthed and reshaped. The Flesh Weeper had made you stronger, more attuned to the world around you, and the power of Nightmare-Touched pulsed through you like a living thing. You could sense the air itself, feel the heartbeat of the dying world beneath your feet.
The Fracture wanted you. It beckoned you closer with every passing moment. And yet, with each step you took, its pull grew more suffocating, more invasive.
You were no longer just a creature in the world. You were part of the world, connected to the decaying threads of the Fracture itself.
But there were still questions that gnawed at the edges of your mind.
Why are you here?
What is the Script?
What does it want from you?
You didn't have answers. Not yet. But there was something that called to you—a presence in the distance. The farthest reaches of the Corpse-Sea. A looming silhouette against the dying sky. A Pillar.
It had been there since your first waking moments, but now it seemed clearer, sharper, as though the very world was beginning to shift around it. It called to you, pulling at the fragments of your mind with a force that was impossible to ignore. The Pillar was more than a landmark. It was a purpose.
Your mind raced, trying to make sense of the whispers. You had no clear direction, no roadmap. But the Pillar felt like something you needed. The Fracture wanted it. And so did you.
With your new mutations pulsing beneath your skin, you could feel the world around you more acutely—more intimately. The land hummed with corruption, the very soil and stone twisting with an unnatural pulse. You could see the subtle flickers in the air, the echoes of time long past, the shadowy outlines of other creatures—creatures that had evolved far beyond anything you could comprehend.
You stepped forward, your tendrils instinctively seeking purchase in the broken earth, propelling you forward like a creature of the deep, moving with an eerie grace despite your disjointed body. Every movement felt smoother now, more deliberate. The path ahead was unclear, but your instincts, those whispers from the Fracture, told you to keep moving toward the Pillar.
As you traveled, the remnants of the land grew more alien, more hostile. Strange, twisted structures rose from the earth, half-buried bones that were once part of ancient titans. The air grew thicker, more oppressive, as if the very fabric of this world was unraveling at the seams. The ground beneath you buckled and cracked, and the Fracture seeped in, infecting everything it touched.
The Fracture spoke again, this time louder, clearer.
"It is closer. The Path is not one of survival alone. It is one of transformation."
You understood its words—or at least, you thought you did. Transformation. The thought resonated in your soul, a deep, insatiable longing to shed your current form, to rise, to evolve into something greater. The Pillar was the key.
Suddenly, a shift in the air. The ground trembled beneath your feet, and from the shadows of a crumbled titan, a new creature emerged.
A Flesh-Maw, a colossal, serpentine monstrosity, its skin a rotting mass of exposed muscle and bone. Its many eyes blinked in unison, fixing you with a gaze that held an unnerving intelligence, one far beyond the base predation you had come to expect from the creatures of the Fracture.
This one was different.
It was not driven by hunger alone. It was a watcher.
It coiled around the remnants of the titan's ribcage, its grotesque body shifting like liquid, its maw unhinging to reveal rows of jagged teeth, glistening in the dim light. A deep, resonating growl emanated from its throat, a warning.
"Do you seek the Pillar?"
The voice wasn't spoken aloud, yet it filled your mind, cold and calculated, a predator's understanding of its prey. The Flesh-Maw was far from mindless. It understood power, evolution, the deep hunger that you now shared with the world.
You could feel its eyes on you, probing, evaluating. It knew what you were.
"Why do you seek it? What is your price?"
It was a question that resonated deeply within your fractured consciousness. You could feel the Script shifting, as if the creature's query had triggered something in the depths of your own soul. The hunger, the need for more, was overwhelming. But you also sensed fear. A fear of what the Pillar could mean.
A choice now. The Flesh-Maw would not let you pass without an answer. But it was no ally. It was an obstacle. A test.
You could fight. You could consume.
Or you could bargain. Seek knowledge, seek a deal. The Fracture itself had shown you that power could be gained in many ways—not just through the destruction of others, but by understanding, manipulating, and controlling.
The world shifted again, the pull of the Pillar growing ever stronger.
But the Flesh-Maw did not wait. With an unnatural speed, its coils tightened and it lunged toward you, its maw opening wide.
Your choice.
...
End Chapter 3.