The first scream wasn't Kai's.
It came from somewhere in the dark trees, high, sharp, animal.
Kai jerked upright on the forest floor, lungs burning, heart slamming against ribs hard enough to bruise. Dirt stuck to their palms, their fingers were trembling. Something warm dripped from them in thin silver streaks.
Blood.
But not red.
Not human.
Silver.
The moon above was full, swollen, shimmering with a faint crimson ring.
And Kai had no memory of how they got here.
A branch snapped behind them.
Kai spun and nearly collapsed.
A massive wolf stood ten meters away, fur dark as a burnt shadow, eyes glowing like molten amber. Its chest rose and fell slowly, almost rhythmically, like the creature was savoring the scent of the forest… and the scent of Kai.
Its muzzle was smeared with silver blood.
Their blood.
Kai staggered back, breath catching. Their shoulder burned. When they lifted their hand, their fingers brushed a raw, blistered wound. Flesh torn. Skin shredded. Something had bitten them recently.
The wolf tilted its head, studying them.
Not attacking.
Not retreating.
Just… watching.
Like it was waiting.
"What… what are you?" Kai whispered.
The wolf blinked.
Then, impossibly...
Kai heard it.
A whisper that wasn't sound.
A voice that wasn't a voice.
I am what you become.
Kai's breath stopped.
The world around them flickered, trees bending, shadows stretching like hands reaching from the dirt. A cold pressure slipped into their mind, soft at first, then tightening, sinking claws into memory.
Suddenly, it hit.
A flood of images.
A woman's face.
A laugh.
A kitchen with yellow lights.
Hands warm on Kai's shoulders.
Home.
The memory shattered like glass.
Kai screamed, clutching their head as agony exploded through their skull. Silver blood poured from their nose. The wolf's eyes glowed brighter, feeding on the pain.
The voice whispered again.
A first taste… Kai.
Kai froze.
It knew their name.
"How do you..." Their voice cracked. "Get out of my head!"
The forest answered instead.
A long, thunderous howl echoed through the trees, too deep, too powerful to belong to the wolf before them.
The shadow wolf stiffened.
Its ears pricked.
Its muscles tensed.
Then it stepped backward…
and vanished into the darkness, swallowed whole.
Kai staggered, gasping.
The wind died.
Even the insects fell silent.
Something was coming.
The howl boomed again, closer, so loud Kai felt it in their bones. The ground trembled with heavy, deliberate footsteps.
Branches snapped.
Leaves shivered.
A towering figure stepped into the moonlight, bigger than any wolf, broader than any man. Its skin was carved with hundreds of glowing silver scars, each pulsing like a heartbeat.
Its eyes were empty.
Not blank.
Empty.
And when it looked at Kai...
Kai felt every memory they had twitch, as though something inside them was reaching to pull them free.
The creature raised its head.
Its voice hit Kai like a cold breath against the spine.
"The first scar has been taken."
Kai stumbled back.
"What are you?"
The creature smiled without emotion.
"I am the end of you."
It lifted a clawed hand and pointed directly at Kai's chest.
"And I have come to see how much humanity you have left."
Before Kai could run,
move..
breathe...
The creature vanished.
Disappeared as though the shadows swallowed it whole.
The forest went silent again.
Kai's heart hammered. Their shoulder throbbed. Their mind felt carved open.
Then they noticed something worse.
On their chest, beneath the collarbone, a thin, glowing line had appeared, silver, bright, burning.
A scar.
The first one.
Kai touched it.
And realized with sudden, cold horror...
They could not remember the woman's face.
Not her name.
Not her laugh.
Not her warmth.
Gone.
Eaten.
The echo of the memory flickered… and then vanished completely.
Kai fell to their knees, trembling, throat raw from screaming.
"What… what is happening to me?"
A twig snapped behind them.
Footsteps.
Human.
Fast.
Kai turned sharply,
and stared into the eyes of The Keeper, breathless, terrified, calling their name.
"Kai, what the hell happened to you?"
Kai opened their mouth to answer…
but no memory surfaced.
Not the night.
Not the attack.
Not even the Keeper's significance.
They looked at the person running toward them...
and realized they had no idea who they were.