The Shrine rose slowly.
Not built.
Not carved.
But **grown** — like a tumor from the earth, like a wound that refused to close.
Stone slabs pushed through the cracked earth, forming walls.
Silver roots coiled around the Cleansing Core, pulsing with faint light.
A single arch formed above what would be the entrance — jagged, unworked, as if the land had bitten the shape into the air.
Kaelen stood before it.
He did not touch it.
He did not speak.
He only watched.
And the land watched back.
The Shield had grown to 1.4 miles.
The air was still.
The sky, gray and heavy, did not move.
No birds.
No wind.
No time.
Just the pulse of the Core.
And the silence of the boy.
He had not slept.
Had not eaten.
Had not bled.
But he was not whole.
Deep in his chest, the Void Seed beat — not with strength, but with **warning**.
Something was coming.
Not from the sky.
Not from the mist.
From **below**.
---
It came on the third night.
Not with sound.
Not with footfalls.
With **hunger**.
A pressure in the air.
A shift in the dark.
A scent — like wet iron and rotting fruit.
Then, movement.
From a crack in the earth, something crawled.
Not a beast.
Not a man.
A **mass of teeth**.
It dragged itself forward on jagged limbs, its body covered in needle-like fangs, each one twitching, grinding, tasting the air. No eyes. No skin. Just muscle, sinew, and a single, gaping maw on its underside — wide, wet, lined with rows of teeth that opened like a flower.
A **Mugget**.
It did not roar.
It did not charge.
It **licked the air** — long, slow, like a tongue tasting a name.
Then it laughed.
Not with a mouth.
With **every tooth on its body** — a chorus of tiny clicks, like bones breaking in a sack.
It saw the Shrine.
And it began to eat.
---
It didn't attack Kaelen.
It attacked the **roots**.
The silver vines climbing the Core — the first signs of life — it tore them out, chewed them, swallowed them whole. Where they had been, the stone cracked. The light dimmed.
The System flickered in Kaelen's vision:
[ WARNING: SHIELD STABILIZATION HALTED ]
[ THREAT DETECTED: MUGGET – LEVEL UNKNOWN ]
[ RECOMMENDATION: EVACUATE OR HIDE ]
The words vanished.
The Mugget turned.
And looked at him.
Not with eyes.
But with **hunger**.
It spoke — not in its own voice, but in **Chief Boran's**:
"Run, boy."
Kaelen didn't move.
The Mugget laughed again.
Then lunged.
---
It moved like oil.
Fast.
Silent.
Impossible.
It didn't bite — it **wrapped**, its body coiling around Kaelen like a serpent of teeth. Pain exploded across his arms, his back, his neck — not deep, not fatal, but **constant**, like a thousand needles chewing at his skin.
He tried to **Chaos-Forge** it — to unmake it, to reshape it.
But the Mugget had no true form.
It was **hunger given shape**.
And hunger cannot be unmade.
He tried to pull back, to break free — but the teeth held.
Then it spoke again — in **Mira's voice**:
"You don't belong here."
Kaelen closed his eyes.
And **pulled**.
Not with hands.
With **void**.
The Mugget **shattered** — torn apart, teeth flying like shrapnel.
But it didn't die.
It **reformed** — slower this time, but whole.
Its body stitched itself from the scattered teeth, like iron drawn to a magnet.
It stood before him.
And laughed.
Then it turned.
And began to eat the Core.
---
Not the stone.
Not the light.
The **roots**.
The **symbols**.
The **growing life**.
With every bite, the Shield flickered.
The land cracked.
The air thickened with the stench of decay.
Kaelen tried again.
This time, he didn't attack the body.
He attacked the **mouth**.
A blade of pure void slashed down — but the Mugget **closed** it in time.
The teeth ground against the edge of nothing, screeching, then **bit down**.
The blade shattered.
Kaelen fell.
The Mugget crawled toward him.
And spoke — in **his own voice**:
"You will fail."
It raised a limb, tipped with a single, curved fang.
And brought it down.
Kaelen rolled.
The fang struck the earth — and the ground **cracked**, black mist rising from within.
He stood.
Breathing.
Not afraid.
But **angry**.
And deep in his chest, the Void Seed **burned**.
---
Then — a vision.
Not in his mind.
In the air.
A memory not his.
The Mugget, screaming — mouth wide open, teeth grinding, throat exposed.
A spark.
A flame.
A **burning from within**.
Then **explosion**.
Kaelen understood.
It wasn't weak to fire.
It was **filled with it**.
Its body consumed Anti-Zog, compressed it — turned it into **flammable gas** stored in its core.
But the mouth never opened wide.
Only when it **screamed in hunger**.
Only when it thought it had won.
Only then would it **reveal its throat**.
And only then could fire **kill it**.
But how?
He had no flame.
No torch.
No Zog left to burn.
He looked at the Core.
It pulsed — weak, tired.
He looked at the Shrine.
The arch was nearly complete.
He looked at the Mugget.
It was eating the last root.
If it died, the Shield would collapse.
If he died, the land would rot.
There was only one way.
---
He stepped forward.
Not to fight.
To **feed**.
He walked toward the Mugget.
It stopped eating.
Turned.
Watched.
Kaelen stopped ten feet away.
And **opened his arms**.
The Mugget laughed — a chorus of teeth.
Then charged.
It didn't bite.
It didn't wrap.
It **swallowed**.
Its maw opened — wide, wet, endless — and **engulfed** Kaelen's torso.
Pain.
Heat.
Teeth grinding against his ribs, his spine, his heart.
But he didn't scream.
He **waited**.
The Mugget reared back — triumph in its hunger.
Its body arched.
Its throat opened wide — a dark pit, lined with rows of teeth, leading into a chamber of **black gas**, swirling like smoke.
Now.
Kaelen **exhaled**.
Not breath.
Not fire.
**Chaos-Forged flame** — white, silent, hotter than sun.
Drawn from the last spark of the land.
From the dying pulse of the Core.
From the Void Seed itself.
The flame shot into the Mugget's throat.
For a second — silence.
Then, **light**.
From within.
The Mugget **screamed** — a sound like a mountain breaking.
Its body **swelled**.
Teeth popped like seeds.
Muscle burned.
Then — **explosion**.
A wave of fire and shrapnel tore through the air.
Stone cracked.
The Core pulsed once — then dimmed.
Kaelen was thrown back, landing hard, smoke rising from his chest.
The Mugget was gone.
Only teeth remained — scattered across the earth, still twitching.
And silence.
---
He didn't move.
Couldn't.
His body burned.
His Zog was gone.
The Void Seed pulsed weakly — not dead, but **exhausted**.
The System flickered:
[ CHAOS-FORGING: COOLDOWN – 24 HOURS ]
[ ZOG LEVEL: 1 ]
[ PURITY: 67% ]
[ WARNING: CORE STABILITY CRITICAL ]
The Shrine…
was still standing.
The roots had been eaten.
The walls cracked.
But the arch remained.
And above it —
a single word formed in black stone, uncarved, unspoken.
> **ASHEN HALL**
No choice.
No voice.
Just the land's judgment.
Kaelen looked at it.
Then at the sky.
And for the first time since the village burned,
he **closed his eyes**.
And slept.
---
The land did not rest.
Far beyond the Shield, in the deep cracks of the Hollow Wastes, something **stirred**.
Not one.
Not two.
Dozens.
Teeth in the dark.
Hunger in the silence.
Eyes that had seen the fire.
And the word on the arch.
They would come.
Not tonight.
Not tomorrow.
But soon.
And next time, they would not come alone.
---
The Shrine had a name.
The Chancellor had bled.
And the Hollow Wastes remembered fire.