Chapter 9 – Throne of Maw and Memory
Kael ran.
The sky above him split with thunder, but it wasn't the storm that chased him. It was memory—raw, acidic, alive. Ravager and Vyrmclaw flanked him, their claws carving streaks into the ash-blown earth as they bounded forward through a sea of skeletal forest. Behind them, JiRuun's cry still echoed, folding the world in half with its hunger.
[Codex Alert: Progenitor-Class proximity increasing. 84 seconds to contact. Recommended action: Evade or initiate terminal sequence.]
"No," Kael spat, lungs burning. "We don't die today."
The Codex hummed, unsure if it agreed.
Ash fell like black snow. The land before them twisted downward into an old research basin—what was once a subterranean sanctuary, now torn open by seismic fury. Towering pylons jutted out of the earth like broken ribs. Kael knew this place.
Project Nestline.
Dr. Rhane's contingency.
He slid down the incline, boots cracking against fossilized cables and bone. Vyrmclaw sniffed the ground and let out a growl—low, uncertain. The wind changed.
They weren't alone.
Something shifted in the dark.
Kael raised his hand. The Codex shimmered.
[Signal detected… Echo Signature: Dormant.]
The darkness opened a golden eye.
From the shadow emerged a beast—twice the size of Vyrmclaw, with plated armor down its back like molten obsidian. It moved like fluid metal, claws scraping sparks against steel wreckage. Its head was broad, jagged—somewhere between a Giganotosaurus and an armored Theropod, but fused with… other things.
Its chest pulsed with a core Kael recognized.
[Codex Match Found: Subject XENO-VORAX]
Status: Dormant hybrid link… pending.]
Kael stopped.
His breath caught.
"You left me in the dark," Xenovorax said. The voice echoed from within the Codex and yet outside his skull.
"I didn't know you were still…"
"Alive?"
Kael nodded slowly.
"I am always alive. You carry me in your blood now."
Vyrmclaw snarled at Xenovorax. Ravager stood between them, tail swaying, unsure.
Kael reached out—not physically, but through the Codex.
[Attempting reconnection…]
A pulse. A surge of static. Then—
Pain.
Kael dropped to his knees as images poured into him: oceans boiling, teeth like daggers, the trench screaming. He saw his own body from inside Xenovorax. Felt the fusion, the awakening, the rejection.
"You abandoned me. I should devour you."
"But you didn't."
Silence. Then a grudging response:
"Because JiRuun marked you."
Kael stood shakily. "Then help me kill him."
Xenovorax turned his head slightly. The air tightened.
"If I help you… you help me."
"Help you how?"
"Feed me. Let me evolve. Let me become more than what Rhane intended."
Kael nodded. "Deal."
The Codex lit up like fire.
[Bond Reinforced. Sync Level: 39%. Hybrid Echo Pathway Reopened.]
Suddenly—*
Boom.*
The wall behind them exploded.
A creature twice the size of Xenovorax barreled through: long serpentine neck, wings like razors, and eyes full of war.
Hybrid Class: Wyvern-Rex / Manta / Sabertooth amalgam.
Kael barely rolled aside as the beast lunged, crashing into Ravager and slamming Vyrmclaw against the rocks. Xenovorax tackled it with a snarl, ripping into its flank. Kael screamed as a splinter of its claw grazed his side.
Blood hit the dirt.
[Genome Sample Detected: Unknown. Assimilation possible.]
"Now or never," Kael hissed. "Xenovorax—bite and burn."
Xenovorax unleashed.
He tore a chunk out of the creature's wing and let out a roar that rattled the bones beneath the earth. His scales shimmered, changing shape, adjusting mid-combat.
Kael felt it too. Something shifted in his body.
The Codex whispered:
[Hybrid Trait Absorbed: Echolocation Shriek / Manta Glider / Razor Lunge (Locked)]
Then the sky turned gold.
A scream—
JiRuun descended.
Wings spread like a hurricane, his roar bending trees sideways.
Kael turned in time to see Ravager charge the new hybrid with suicidal force. Teeth sank in. Claws met bone.
The hybrid stabbed down—
—and Ravager didn't move.
Kael screamed.
[Vital Link Severed: RAVAGER.]
"No—NO!"
Xenovorax stood over him, body shaking, core pulsing.
"You saw death. Now feed me vengeance."
Kael clenched his fists. "We end this. Not today. But we begin it now."
He raised his hand toward JiRuun.
The trench-born warden stared back.
Kael's Codex burned.
[Target Locked: Progenitor JiRuun]
[Chapter Ended: Volume 1 - Chapter 1]
Author's Note:
This one's for Ravager.
We're back, EchoKin. Chapter 9 has dropped with blood, teeth, and betrayal.
Kael has bonded. Xenovorax has returned. And JiRuun is watching.
Let us know what you felt. Because what's coming next? It's going to hurt.
From ash we rise. From genes we conquer.
🧬🦖 Stay mutant, fam — EchoWomb