The wind howled around Kael.

  Dust spiraled outward from his feet, forming an invisible storm that pushed villagers back. Some stumbled. Others fell. Fear spread across their faces like wildfire.

  His eyes burned.

  Not with pain—but with power.

  Inside his chest, the stellar fragment pulsed faster and faster, each beat sending waves of energy through his veins. It felt alive. A second heart. No… something greater.

  “Monster…”

  The word came from somewhere behind the crowd.

  Kael flinched.

  The glow around his eyes flickered.

  “I’m not…” he began, his voice shaking.

  But he wasn’t sure anymore.

  The pressure inside him kept growing. It wasn’t just energy. It was hunger.

  A deep, instinctive hunger.

  Then he heard it.

  A faint sound.

  A skitter.

  Kael’s head snapped toward the treeline.

  Something was there.

  The villagers noticed it too. Branches trembled. Leaves rustled violently, even though the wind had died.

  “W–what is that?” someone whispered.

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  From the shadows, a creature emerged.

  It was the size of a wolf, but its body shimmered like liquid glass. Its skin wasn’t flesh—it was made of translucent crystal, with faint starlight flickering inside. Its eyes glowed with cold, alien intelligence.

  It wasn’t an animal.

  It wasn’t from this world.

  The creature locked onto Kael.

  And Kael felt it.

  A connection.

  The fragment in his chest pulsed violently, reacting to the creature’s presence.

  The creature screeched.

  The sound wasn’t natural. It vibrated inside his skull, sharp and piercing.

  Villagers screamed and scattered.

  The creature lunged.

  Fast.

  Too fast.

  But Kael was faster.

  His body moved on instinct. He stepped aside, the creature’s claws missing his chest by inches. The moment it passed him, Kael felt something strange.

  He knew its movement.

  Its energy.

  Its structure.

  Like he could see the star inside it.

  The creature turned, preparing to strike again.

  Kael raised his hand.

  Not in defense.

  But in response to something deeper.

  Something instinctive.

  Something ancient.

  The fragment in his chest burned.

  A stream of faint blue light emerged from the creature’s body, pulled toward Kael like invisible threads. The creature shrieked, its movements slowing.

  Kael’s eyes widened.

  “I’m… pulling something…”

  The energy flowed into his chest.

  Warm.

  Powerful.

  Alive.

  The creature panicked, trying to retreat, but it couldn’t. Its body trembled as more light was drawn out of it.

  Kael’s breathing quickened.

  He could feel it becoming part of him.

  The creature let out one final, desperate scream—

  Then shattered.

  Its crystal body collapsed into dust, carried away by the wind.

  Silence fell.

  Kael stood frozen.

  Inside his chest, the fragment pulsed once.

  Twice.

  Then stabilized.

  He gasped as strength flooded his body. His senses sharpened even further. He could hear heartbeats. See microscopic cracks in the ground. Feel the movement of air across his skin.

  He had changed.

  Again.

  The villagers stared at him in horror.

  “He… killed it…”

  “No… he absorbed it…”

  “That’s not human…”

  Kael’s hands trembled.

  He hadn’t meant to do that.

  But it had felt so natural.

  So right.

  Suddenly—

  A voice echoed in his mind.

  Cold.

  Ancient.

  [Compatible Stellar Host Detected.]

  Kael froze.

  The voice wasn’t sound.

  It was inside him.

  [First Devour Complete.]

  His heart pounded.

  [Neutron Core Stability: 3%]

  [Evolution Path Unlocked.]

  Kael’s breathing stopped.

  He didn’t understand what those words meant.

  But one thing was certain.

  Whatever had fused with him…

  Was only just beginning to awaken.