The moment Kaelion stepped into the forest, his hand instinctively reached for the knife strapped to his side.
Old and worn, it wasn't much — but to him, it was everything.
"I need to stay sharp.
There could be wild beasts out here… or worse… monsters."
His footsteps were slow and light, barely brushing the ground.
Every snapped twig beneath his shoes sounded like thunder.
He moved like a shadow between the trees, fully aware that this was not his domain.
This was a place no unawakened human should ever enter alone, let alone a fourteen-year-old boy.
—
Time stretched.
The forest was thick, its canopy choking the sunlight, turning day into dusk.
No birds sang. No insects buzzed. Just silence — and the sound of Kaelion's breath.
Forty minutes had passed since he entered the woods.
He hadn't found anything. No signs. No clue. No hint of what the old woman had meant.
But still… something deep inside told him to press on.
Then — a sound.
A heavy impact, somewhere behind him.
A split second later, a gust of wind ripped through the trees, carrying leaves and dust like a storm.
Kaelion froze.
His pulse thundered in his ears.
Slowly, he turned.
And what he saw would haunt him for the rest of his life.
—
A girl lay on the ground, barely breathing.
But her body… was unrecognizable.
One leg was twisted at an unnatural angle.
The other — gone, torn clean off.
Her arms were missing, ripped from the shoulders.
Her face was a mask of blood and shattered bone. Her nose caved in. Her forehead split. Her skull fractured.
"P…please…"
she whispered.
She looked up at him, one eye swollen shut, the other glistening with tears.
Their eyes met.
And Kaelion broke.
He stumbled back and vomited, his body trembling with horror.
Never in his life had he witnessed such a grotesque sight.
"He… help me…"
the girl sobbed, her voice faint and shaking.
"All of them… my team… they're all dead… I'm the only one left… please…"
Blood and tears mixed together on her face as her words grew weaker.
Kaelion's mind began racing.
Despite her condition, the fact that she was still alive meant one thing —
she was a true Awakened.
Unlike him.
And if her entire team had been wiped out… then they had all been Awakened too.
And yet they were slaughtered.
"What kind of monster could do this…?"
There was nothing he could do.
He knew that.
There was no fight to win. No rescue to make.
He had to run.
He turned. Took a step back.
Too late.
—
A roar tore through the forest.
It wasn't the growl of a beast — it was a shockwave of hatred and fury.
Kaelion screamed, clutching his head as pain exploded through his skull.
His legs buckled. His ears rang. His vision blurred.
Then he looked up.
And saw it.
—
Perched atop a jagged rock column, thirty meters high,
a monstrous figure towered above the forest.
It was no animal.
It was a Dark Gorilla —
five meters tall, cloaked in shadow, its skin jet-black and laced with glowing blue veins.
Its muscles rippled with unnatural strength.
Its eyes bled red light, empty and soulless.
Both its arms were monstrous in size, covered in scars and symbols etched deep into its flesh.
Its fingers ended in curved, razor-sharp claws.
In the center of its chest…
a pulsating crack of pure energy, like a burning core barely held together.
A demonic aura poured from its body, shaking the air itself.
Trees bent under the pressure. Birds fell dead from the sky.
Kaelion could no longer breathe.
His limbs were paralyzed.
"Is this where I die…?"
Then something surged within him.
Survival.
Not bravery. Not strength.
Just the raw, desperate instinct to live.
He turned and ran.
No plan.
No direction.
Just blind terror.
The creature roared again — closer this time —
as Kaelion tore through the woods, dodging branches, jumping over roots, slipping in blood.
Behind him, the monster was coming.
And the hunt had only just begun.