Chapter 10 CHAPTER TEN

The stone doors groaned open inch by inch.

Dust fell from the ceiling as ancient mechanisms buried somewhere inside the ruins dragged the massive slabs apart. Cold air poured from the darkness beyond, carrying a smell Adrian couldn’t immediately recognize.

Not rot, not blood, something older. Dante stepped backward slowly, one hand already gripping the hilt of his massive sword. “Stay behind me,” he said. The seriousness in his voice immediately changed the atmosphere, even the woman noticed. “What is in there?” she asked quietly. Dante didn’t answer, the doors finally stopped moving. Darkness stretched beyond them, then came footsteps, Slow, heavy.

Each step echoed through the ruins like metal striking stone. Adrian tightened his grip around the axe instinctively while his pulse quickened. The hunger inside him had gone completely silent now, replaced by something else, the feeling grew stronger with every approaching footstep then the figure emerged.

A man, at least he looked human at first glance.Tall and unnaturally thin, wrapped in black robes covered with faded silver symbols. His skin looked almost gray beneath the dim light while strange black veins spread from beneath his neck toward his jawline, but his eyes were wrong, completely silver, No pupils, No emotion.

The moment the figure stepped into the chamber, the Nest outside suddenly became quiet.

No shrieks, no movement, even the Broodmother stopped screaming. The silver-eyed man slowly looked around the ruins before his gaze landed directly on Adrian, and smiled,not warmly Hungrily. “Well,” the man said softly. “That explains why the Nest is restless.” Dante stepped forward immediately, blocking Adrian from view. “You shouldn’t be here.” the silver-eyed man tilted his head slightly. “Neither should you.” The tension in the room thickened instantly. Adrian glanced toward the woman beside him and noticed her hands trembling around the spear. She looked terrified without fully understanding why. Dante slowly drew his sword, the sound of metal scraping free echoed sharply through the ruins, the silver-eyed man sighed almost disappointedly. “You survivors always make things difficult.” Then he moved. Adrian barely saw it happen. One second the man stood near the doorway. The next he appeared directly in front of Dante. Their weapons collided violently. The impact exploded through the chamber hard enough to crack the stone floor beneath them. Dante slid backward several feet while the silver-eyed man remained perfectly still.

Adrian’s eyes widened too fast. Dante recovered instantly and swung again, the massive sword cutting sideways toward the stranger’s neck. The silver-eyed man avoided it effortlessly, moving with unnatural precision before driving his palm directly into Dante’s chest. A dull shockwave burst outward. Dante crashed through a nearby pillar,stone exploded everywhere.

The woman cursed under her breath. “What the hell is that thing?” Thing, not person. Adrian understood why immediately, the silver-eyed man no longer moved like a human being. Dante pushed himself out from the rubble quickly despite blood running from the corner of his mouth. “Get out of here!” he shouted toward Adrian. The silver-eyed man smiled wider. “I’m afraid he can’t.”

His silver eyes shifted back toward Adrian again. “The Nest already chose him.” Adrian felt that pressure return immediately. The stranger’s gaze felt invasive somehow, like fingers digging beneath his skin, then the system suddenly appeared before him.

Warning, Higher Observer linked entity detected.

Analysis prohibited, Observer. The word settled heavily in Adrian’s chest, not Watcher. Something lower, Or closer, the silver-eyed man noticed the notification reflected faintly in Adrian’s eyes and chuckled softly. “Interesting.” Dante attacked again before he could continue. This time the ruins shook violently as the massive sword crashed downward. The silver-eyed man sidestepped smoothly, but Dante immediately twisted the blade and smashed the side of it directly into the stranger’s ribs, the impact launched him through another pillar, for the first time, the silver-eyed man looked irritated, black blood dripped slowly from his mouth, then the wound healed. Adrian felt cold watching it happen, the flesh beneath the man’s skin shifted unnaturally before sealing itself completely.

The woman whispered, “That’s impossible.”

“No,” Dante growled while tightening his grip around the sword again. “It’s corruption.”

The silver-eyed man rolled his neck slowly before smiling again. “And yet you’re still alive because of it.”

Then his body changed, black veins burst violently beneath his skin while bone-like growths spread across one arm. His fingers elongated into clawed appendages while the silver color in his eyes deepened, Adrian immediately recognized the feeling, Mutation.

But this was far worse than anything happening to him, the silver-eyed man looked almost pleased by their expressions. “You call it corruption because you’re afraid of evolution.” He disappeared again, this time Adrian saw him moving toward the woman, fast enough to kill her instantly. Adrian reacted without thinking. He grabbed the broken spear beside him and threw it with everything he had. The silver-eyed man turned sharply as the spear shot toward his face, that tiny distraction was enough. Dante’s sword slammed into him from the side like a collapsing wall, the impact shattered the floor beneath them. The silver-eyed man crashed violently across the chamber before skidding to a stop near the ancient doorway, silence followed briefly, then he started laughing, not angry laughter.

Genuine amusement.

He slowly pushed himself upright while black blood dripped onto the ruined stone beneath him.

“You really don’t understand what you found down here, do you?” Dante’s expression darkened instantly.

The silver-eyed man pointed directly toward Adrian.

“That thing inside him,” he whispered. “Do you think the Nest created it?” Adrian’s chest tightened immediately.

Dante moved first. “Shut up!”

The massive sword came down hard enough to split the chamber floor apart, but the silver-eyed man was already gone, Adrian spun sharply, too late. Cold fingers wrapped around his throat from behind.

And a quiet voice whispered directly into his ear.

“You were never becoming a monster, Adrian.”

The silver eyes reflected beside his face.

“You were born as one.”