They remembered nothing of the time before the Dark.
No names. No faces. No past.
Only hunger.
They had once been many things—kings, warriors, poets, lovers—but in the Realm, they were shadows of what came before. Hollowed. Broken. Twisted into shapes more pleasing to the gods of suffering.
And tonight… they awoke.
The Hunger Ones rose first—cursed with rotting skin, stretched sinew, and jaws unhinged by purpose. They emerged from the treeline as one, sniffing the air. They didn't breathe, but they smelled. The scent of fresh souls. A thousand of them. Alive. Untouched.
So many. So soft. So warm.
Behind them, the Bonekind stirred—skeletons laced with blackened veins of magic, eyes lit by hateful green fire. Where the Hunger Ones howled and charged, the Bonekind marched in silence. Calculating. Watching. Waiting for weakness.
They had no language—but they understood orders.
And in the soil of the forest, something gave it.
A whisper. A command. A promise.
"Cleanse them. Bleed them. Break the clever one."
One of the Bonekind snapped its fingers, and runes flared beneath its ribcage. A pulse of light traveled through the ground like a signal.
[Target Detected: Elias Cain]
[Potential Threat Rating: Undetermined]
[Directive: Overwhelm Before Insight Evolves]
The first wave surged.
The Hunger Ones tore across the field, their speed unnatural, their limbs twisting mid-sprint. They felt no fear. No pain. Only the urge to rip and consume. One caught a boy and split him open, teeth plunging into stomach and chest, even as the boy screamed. Another tackled a woman, cracking her skull against a rock, and then crouched beside her like a dog chewing bone.
But they all began to feel resistance.
A few of the humans weren't weak. Some burned. Some sliced. Some screamed so loud the monsters staggered back.
And then he appeared.
The one with the fire in his eyes.
The Bonekind slowed. A Hunger One turned mid-attack and stared.
There he stood—Elias Cain, dragging another human to safety, his eyes glowing faint blue. His weapon hadn't yet ignited, but they could feel it beneath the surface.
Clever one. Dangerous one.
One Bonekind tilted its skull and let out a soundless hiss.
The command updated.
[Observe the Insight Bearer.]
[Test his limits.]
[Do not kill him—yet.]
The Realm liked him.
And the Realm always devoured what it loved.