The voice echoed inside his skull like a whisper trapped in bone."Welcome back, Revenant."Leonis lay there, twitching, half-buried beneath a mound of corpses. Warmth returned slowly, in stabbing jolts, as blood vessels repaired themselves. Muscles knitted back together like rope soaked in fire. He inhaled—and choked on the stench of rotted flesh.He rolled onto his side, slick with black ichor, and retched what little remained in his gut. His vision flickered—orange, red, then violet. His eyes, freshly reformed, hadn't adjusted to the lanternlight yet.And he wasn't alone.The pit groaned.Not metaphorically. It actually groaned.Somewhere behind him, a corpse shifted and collapsed, followed by the crunch of bone. The sound was wet, thick, final.He pushed himself upright, hands sinking into viscera and half-skeletonized bodies.He tried to scream—but found he couldn't. His throat felt scraped raw, as if someone had run a saw across the inside. He tasted iron and earth.The Revenant System spoke again, this time with calm detachment:"Status: Soul restored. Class: Forbidden Entity. Title unlocked: First of the Revenants.""Warning: Life state unstable. Host must feed."Leonis coughed out a broken laugh."Feed?" he rasped. "On what, you bastard voice? I'm in a grave.""Correct. Nutritional resources: abundant."He froze.His eyes moved slowly to the corpse nearest him—a soldier by the look of it. Rusted armor. Sword clutched in skeletal hands. The jaw hung loose, a tongue of rotted leather."...No," he whispered."Instinct Override engaged. Hunger protocols online.""No—"But it was too late. His hands were already moving.Something deep in him—not instinct, not thought—commanded his limbs. He straddled the corpse, pressed one hand to the man's chest, and—Drank.Not blood. Not meat.Soul.It poured into him in a stream of white-gold smoke, curling from the dead man's mouth and eyes. His skin glowed faintly as it entered. He shivered, moaned, clutched his chest—And screamed.Flashes of memory not his own burned through his skull:A child's laugh.
Screams in a siege.
A prayer muttered before death.
Then it was gone.And he was stronger."Soul Absorption: complete. Minor stat increase. Ability unlocked: Gravewalk."He sat there, panting, fists clenched in dead hands."What… did I just…?""You fed."The voice sounded smug.Leonis spat to the side. "Don't talk to me like I'm a dog.""Correction. You are a Revenant. You are worse."He pushed himself to his feet. He was covered in slime, blood, and memory—but his body felt whole. More than whole. Sharper. Leaner. His hearing returned with sudden intensity.And with it—footsteps.Boots. Torchlight. Voices."…corpse pit hasn't burned yet.""Not our problem. Just dump and torch. Then back to the temple. Too many bodies today."A pause. "Any nobles?""Crown Prince was the only one. Rest are criminals and heretics."Leonis moved fast.He ducked beneath a ribcage. Slid under a mound of tangled bodies. A second ago, he wouldn't have been able to breathe, much less move. But now?Now, he could feel the power threading through him. Gravewalk pulsed like a shadow under his skin.He whispered, "Activate ability.""Ability: Gravewalk – Active.
You may move silently and swiftly through any corpse-filled space. Duration: 60 seconds."The moment it triggered, the pit shifted.The bodies around him softened, slickened, pulled at him like silk. He slid through the dead like a fish in water, moving silently just as two torch-bearing guards climbed down the corpse ramp.He crouched behind a marble column as they scanned the pile."See? Still wriggling. Told you the damn pit's haunted.""Shut up. It's just gas. Dump and burn."They dragged two new corpses from a cart. One was still twitching—barely alive.Leonis moved before he could think.He leapt out of shadow, his fingers already reaching for the man's soul before the guard could turn."Soul Absorption: Success."The guard collapsed, eyes rolled back, breath stolen before it could become a scream. The second turned——and Leonis drove a bone shard into his neck.Blood sprayed. The man gurgled and staggered.Leonis grabbed him by the face and drank.Two souls. Two kills. Strength surged into his veins like lightning."Level Up: Revenant Tier I. Skill unlocked: Shadow Pulse."He gasped, trembling, as the bodies slumped.He stood amidst the dead once again. This time, they weren't anonymous. They weren't accidents. He had made them.And he felt…Hungry.Not for food. Not even for power.For vengeance.He looked toward the distant grate above, where torchlight flickered beyond the ceiling of bone.And he whispered:"I'm coming, Celianne."