If you've ever had one of those mornings where the universe seems to have forgotten your existence, let me tell you—mine had it beat by a landslide. My ribs ached, the sky looked like it had been scorched by a cosmic blowtorch, and my internal beast was pacing like a caged animal, itching to rip something apart. Again.
But I wasn't going to let that happen. Not this time.
Adrian stood beside me, jaw clenched and eyes scanning the broken skyline ahead. Smoke billowed from collapsed towers, and the air was thick with the stench of sulfur and blood. We weren't just in a city under siege—we were in the middle of a full-scale apocalypse. Yay.
"How many do you think made it out?" I asked, trying to keep my voice level.
He shook his head. "Not many. The Scourge hit fast and hard. We got lucky."
I didn't feel lucky. I felt like the gods had dropped a flaming anvil on my life and said, "Surprise."
We moved through the ruins, keeping low and silent. The enemy was everywhere—creatures born from the virus, twisted into nightmares. They scuttled through alleyways, crawled on walls, and hissed from the shadows.
We found survivors—a group of ragged, terrified civilians hiding beneath the wreckage of a collapsed metro station. Kids, parents, an elderly man clutching a rusted cane like it could ward off demons. One of the kids looked up at me with wide eyes and asked, "Are you the monster who saved the city?"
Cue internal panic.
"No," I said. "I'm just... me."
Adrian shot me a look. He didn't correct the kid. Didn't need to. I guess the rumors had already spread.
We helped them move, one careful step at a time. Every shadow felt like a trap. Every sound made me flinch.
And then came the scream.
It tore through the silence, raw and chilling. I turned, already moving, my senses sharpening as the beast inside me surged. We burst into the clearing to find a Hollowed beast—eight feet tall, hunched, with sinewy arms and a face that looked like it had been sculpted by nightmares.
It was dragging a woman by her leg.
I didn't think. I didn't strategize. I let the beast go.
Muscles stretched. Bones cracked. My skin shifted. I exploded forward, claws out, fangs bared, and collided with the creature like a meteor.
The fight was brutal. Raw. I tasted blood—his and mine. I ripped, slashed, and snarled. At some point, I stopped being Elias and became something else entirely.
When it was over, the creature lay dead, and the woman lay staring up at me with glassy eyes.
"You're him," she whispered. "The beast of salvation."
Adrian helped me back, my breath ragged.
"You okay?" he asked.
"Define okay," I replied, spitting blood.
He nodded like that was the best I could manage.
That night, we holed up in an abandoned high-rise. I stared out over the ruined city, the beast quiet for now. But I knew it was temporary.
Adrian joined me. "They need a leader. Someone who can do what others can't."
"You mean a monster," I said bitterly.
"I mean someone who can walk in both worlds."
I looked at my hands, the claws fading back into skin. "What if I lose myself again?"
"Then I'll pull you back. Like you did for me."
We sat in silence.
Then the comm crackled.
"To all resistance units. This is Haven Outpost. We're under attack. Requesting immediate backup. Repeat: Haven is falling."
Adrian and I locked eyes.
"We have to go," I said.
"Then we go."
The city roared below us, alive with chaos.
And we ran into it, together.