A heartbeat.
His own.
Slower.
Stronger.
Then—
There was pain next.
Then breath.
Harsh. Raw. Not his.
Dominic's eyes snapped open.
The sky was rust-red, veined with cracks of flickering plasma. Wind howled across jagged stone, carrying the distant howl of something alive. Something hunting.
He sat up with a gasp, coughing dry blood that wasn't his. His hands—smaller than he remembered, lean but calloused—dug into soil that pulsed faintly with energy.
Where the hell…?
A cold pulse surged through his chest. Then, like an eye opening behind his ribs, information poured into his vision—projected directly onto his retina.
[Neural Sync Complete]
Subject: Dominic Solari
Status: Recovered | Dormant Realm Designation Confirmed
Power Level: Dormant
Stats — STR: 13 | AGI: 11 | END: 14 | INT: 9
Absorption Progress — Feral Tier: 72% | Dire Tier: 0%
Anomaly Detected: Cellular Mutation | Memory Sync Unstable
$$ Error Error System compromised...reboot.....
Dominic flinched, the interface flickering for a heartbeat before stabilizing. The stats didn't just show up. He felt them—etched into his nerves, burned into his bones.
Error?
Wait—
Mutation?
He looked down.
His body was younger. Sixteen at most. Wounds across his ribs—claw marks—were already sealing shut. No scars, no synthetic implants. Just raw flesh adapting faster than any normal Dormant human should.
This wasn't reincarnation.
It was infiltration.
Same name. Same soul. New body.
Did I die?
He didn't remember how. Only the explosion. Then the silence. Then…
This.
A rumble echoed in the distance. Then a howl—low and wet, primal. From over a ridge, something emerged. Low to the ground. Four-legged. Eyes glowing red.
Feral-Class. Dormant Level.
Dominic's HUD tagged it instantly.
Target Identified: Raftbeast — Subclass: Stalker
Absorption Viability: 28%
Warning: Defensive stats insufficient for frontal engagement.
He exhaled slowly, teeth clenched. His heart was racing—but his hands weren't shaking.
Whoever this body belonged to before—it didn't matter.
He was Dominic Solari now.
And he wasn't about to die twice.
The Raftbeast crouched low, its cracked skin crawling with twitching veins, muscles taut like steel cables ready to snap. Its yellow eyes glowed with a savage hunger, nostrils flaring as it scented Dominic.
Dominic's breath came in ragged gasps. His body still unfamiliar, his limbs heavier than memories promised. His vision flickered briefly with the status readout hovering faintly in his mind:
[Power Level: Dormant]
[Stats — STR: 13 | AGI: 11 | END: 14 | INT: 9]
[Absorption — Feral Tier: 72%]
No advice. No alerts. Just cold numbers.
The Raftbeast lunged.
Instinct screamed louder than reason. Dominic threw himself back just in time—the beast's claws slashing the empty air where his head had been a heartbeat before.
Pain exploded in his left shoulder as he hit the ground hard. The world tilted; the beast was already turning, ready to finish him.
He scrambled, heart pounding like war drums in his chest.
A jagged shard of alloy caught his eye—a broken Federation blade, half-buried in ash and rock. His fingers closed around it. No edge. No glory. Just survival.
The beast charged again. Dominic rose, staggering, and jabbed the crude weapon forward.
Metal bit into flesh. The beast shrieked, a sound like metal tearing bone. It twisted violently, throwing Dominic sideways like a rag doll. His shoulder screamed, every nerve ablaze with fire. He slammed into stone, breath knocked out.
Pain wasn't just a warning—it was a tether to life.
Blood dripped from his split lip. His vision blurred at the edges.
The Raftbeast's heavy footsteps pounded toward him.
He rolled, dodging a lethal claw swipe that would have shattered bone. The air whistled with the strike.
Dominic forced himself up, every muscle trembling, limbs shaking from exhaustion and pain.
"Not yet," he muttered, voice hoarse, teeth clenched.
The beast charged again—slower now, bleeding from the side, muscles faltering.
Dominic feinted left, then exploded right, driving the jagged blade deep behind its glowing eye.
The beast staggered, a guttural groan escaping its throat.
Dominic barely had time to brace before the creature thrashed violently, flinging him to the ground again.
His ribs ached, breath rasping in his lungs.
But the beast faltered. Its growls faded into gurgles.
It collapsed with a final shudder.
Dominic lay there, chest heaving, blood mixing with ash on cracked lips.
The faint status flickered once more.
[Beast Neutralized]
[Absorption — Feral Tier: 77%]
[Mutation Efficiency: Increased Absorption Rate]
Pain throbbed in every limb. Yet beneath it was something else: a fierce, raw thrill.
He was alive.
Not just surviving—fighting.
Alive in a world that expected him to die.
Alive in someone else's place.
And the worst part?
This body was starting to feel like his own.
The Raftbeast's corpse still beneath him, but Dominic's breath was shallow and ragged.
Then—
A distant roar tore through the thick air.
Not one.
Multiple.
Echoing off the jagged cliffs like thunder in a nightmare.
His heart slammed against his ribs.
More beasts.
Hungry. Furious.
Closing in.
Dominic forced himself to rise, wincing as pain screamed through his battered body.
The broken blade still clenched in his hand was his only weapon.
Around him, the Dormant Realm pulsed with cold shadows, twisted roots clawing from the ground like living fingers.
The system's faint status booted and flickered once more.
[Power Level: Dormant]
[Stats — STR: 13 | AGI: 11 | END: 14 | INT: 9]
[Absorption — Feral Tier: 77%]
No changes
No guidance. No strategy.
Just the brutal truth: fight or die.
Dominic's gaze hardened.
He didn't come back from death to fall here, in this forsaken place.
He stepped forward, eyes sharp, muscles coiled.
The hunt was far from over.
Then the earth shuddered.
Roars—ten of them—tore through the valley like a chorus of nightmares. Trees cracked. Stone split. The sound vibrated in his bones.
He turned.
And froze.
From the cliffs and shadows, they emerged—ten Feral-class beasts, hulking, snarling, each one worse than the last. One had jaws that split sideways. Another's body rippled like molten stone. All of them locked eyes on him.
Blood.
They smelled the blood.
And they were starving.
Dominic's hand trembled around the broken blade. His legs burned. His right arm hung limp from a shoulder hit he hadn't even noticed during the last fight. His breath came ragged. A shallow cut across his ribs dripped steadily.
[END: 14]
[Pain Resistance: Low]
But he didn't back down.
He staggered into a crouch, grit between his teeth. A jagged rock collapsed behind him, breaking off into the chasm. The ground here was unstable—cracks webbing beneath his feet, the terrain ready to swallow anything that stayed too long.
No escape.
No second chances.
One beast lunged.
He ducked low, gritting through the fire in his legs. The edge of his blade scraped its hide—just enough to make it shriek and veer off. Another rushed from the side. He rolled—barely—landing hard on uneven stone. Pain exploded through his ribs.
He spat blood.
Still moved.
He kicked upward, slamming his foot into a lunging jaw, twisting, using momentum to drag himself onto a sloped ledge—only for it to shift under him. The entire section of terrain cracked and dropped a meter.
A trap.
The Dormant Realm wasn't just full of monsters. It was a monster.
More roars. More shadows. The pack surrounded him like wolves around a bleeding stag—still they looked like huge rats.
He didn't care.
He bared his teeth. Eyes blazing.
"No more running," he growled.
He charged first.
Blade high, pain screaming in his nerves, exhaustion pressing in like a drowning sea—but his heart roared louder.
He would not die again.
The first clash ripped open his already strained muscles.
Dominic's blade carved a shallow arc into the side of a tusked beast, barely slicing flesh. It shrieked, blood arcing across the broken rocks, and retaliated with a swipe that sent him flying.
His back slammed into a fractured stone spire, the air bursting from his lungs.
The terrain answered.
Stone groaned. The impact dislodged the support. The spire cracked—then broke—toppling toward him with brutal finality.
Dominic rolled, breathless and half-blind, as a rain of shattered rock exploded beside him. Dust and grit bit into his eyes. Blood matted his brow. The world spun.
But there was no pause.
Another beast lunged from the settling dust. This one was fast—sleek like a panther, but its claws sparked against the ground like living metal. It darted low, silent.
Dominic barely raised his blade in time.
The beast collided with him, and they tumbled together. Its fangs grazed his throat. He screamed, a raw, guttural thing, and drove the broken end of the blade up into its neck. It thrashed, coughing black-red blood onto his face, then went limp.
He shoved the corpse off just as three more charged.
He sprinted—or stumbled—back toward higher ground, weaving through jagged outcrops and trenches carved by ancient quakes. The ground trembled beneath his feet, the fault lines unstable.
Lava-glow flickered in the distance—thin cracks bleeding heat from the planet's crust. Steam hissed from vents. The air stank of sulfur and blood and burned ozone.
Dominic skidded over loose stone, nearly pitching into a deep crevice. One beast followed, too fast to stop—its screech turned into a fading echo as it fell into the darkness.
Nine left.
His body screamed for rest. Muscles cramped. Vision narrowed. His hands—slick with blood, sweat, and dirt—struggled to hold the blade. It felt like swinging a lead pipe.
Another beast came. He ducked under a lunging strike, then used the last of his momentum to vault off a rock and drive both feet into its head.
It staggered—enough.
He finished it with a downward slash—wild, fueled by desperation more than skill. The blade tore through its skull.
Two down.
The other beasts hesitated.
Not from fear—but instinct. They knew. He was bleeding. Slowing. Dying.
But not dead.
They circled, low and tense, letting the terrain work against him. The slope was uneven. One wrong step meant falling into lava fissures or collapsing stone. One of the cliffs shivered, stone crumbling in a slow landslide just meters away.
Dominic coughed—blood again. His left leg trembled uncontrollably. His skin was torn, armor shredded, ribs bruised to hell.
But his eyes never dimmed.
He welcomed the pain now. It was real. Grounding.
A reminder.
He was alive.
Not Dominic. Not Rael.
Both.
And he would survive this.
Even if he had to crawl through ash and death.
The hesitation snapped.
The remaining eight beasts surged as one.
Dominic gritted his teeth and forced his legs to move. His lungs burned, each breath a knife scraping inside his chest. But he moved. He fought.
The first came from above—leaping. Its shadow swallowed the light as it soared.
He dropped to one knee just in time. The beast overshot, and Dominic slashed upward. The blade tore through its underbelly, spraying steaming viscera across the rocks. It landed hard behind him, howling, half-dead.
No time to finish it.
Another rammed into his side.
He crashed into the wall of a shallow ravine, the impact jarring his bones. Pain exploded across his ribs. Something cracked. He didn't check. He couldn't.
He spun, stabbing reflexively. The tip pierced an eye. The beast howled and reeled away, black blood streaming down its face.
Two more replaced it.
He ducked low, sprinted under their claws, skidding across the unstable slope. Rocks crumbled beneath him, dragging him down toward a glowing fissure.
Heat roared from below.
The world was hellfire and chaos.
One wrong move and he'd fall into molten death. He dug his blade into the rock, sparks flying, slowing his slide. His palm shredded open on the hilt, but he stopped just short of the lava.
Another beast pounced from the ledge above—pinning him.
Dominic roared, more fury than fear, and headbutted it. Bone cracked. He bit into its shoulder, tasted blood, stabbed, stabbed, stabbed—
The weight collapsed.
His chest heaved. His arm trembled uncontrollably. The smell of scorched blood filled his nose.
Four dead.
Four left.
They circled like jackals.
The first was the panther-like one again. It had kept its distance, waiting. Now it came low and fast, jaws aiming for his throat.
He dodged sideways.
Too slow.
Its claws raked his arm—deep. Flesh opened. Bone flashed white.
He screamed, staggering.
A second beast tackled him from behind. They rolled, biting, slashing. Its claws dug into his shoulder. It roared in his ear. He roared louder and jammed a broken rock into its eye.
It shrieked and writhed.
He shoved it away.
Then—
The unstable ground beneath them split open.
The rock cracked in a blinding flash. A tremor surged through the land. One beast lost its footing and slid into a chasm. Its scream vanished into the lava mist.
Three left.
Dominic forced himself to stand, chest heaving. Every breath a war. The heat was rising. Air shimmered, blurred with ash and blood. His hair clung to his face, silver now, glinting like steel in the firelight.
His hand twitched.
His stats—he didn't need to check. He felt it. Something inside him was changing. Slowly. Painfully.
But right now, all that mattered was killing them.
The three beasts stood across the jagged rock, watching. Judging.
Then—they charged.
Dominic screamed back.
And ran to meet them.
Dominic met the charge head-on, feet skidding over loose gravel, the air a mix of smoke and blood. Pain lanced through his side with every step, but he didn't falter. He couldn't afford to.
The first beast lunged—a reptilian brute with scale-plated legs and hooked fangs. He ducked under the bite, pivoted, and slammed his boot into its leg. It stumbled. Dominic surged forward and drove his blade into its exposed throat, twisting hard. The creature convulsed, eyes rolling back—
But he didn't let it fall.
He grabbed it.
The moment his bloodied palm pressed against its cooling flesh, he felt it: a pull, like gravity shifting inside his bones.
[Essence Absorption: Feral Tier +4%]
[Feral Tier Total Absorption: 76%]
A pulse echoed through his veins—small, sharp. Not healing. Not relief. Just… change. The tiniest edge.
He turned too late.
The second beast slammed into him, dragging him into the rocks. Teeth sank into his forearm. He screamed, slammed his elbow down on its snout, once, twice. It didn't let go. His arm felt like it was being chewed.
He headbutted it.
It recoiled. He shoved the blade into its side and held it there.
Its blood spilled over his wrist. Dominic wrapped his hand around its twitching neck.
[Essence Absorption: Feral Tier +5%]
[Feral Tier Total Absorption: 81%]
A sharp jolt raced through him. Muscles twitched, burned. Not enough. Never enough.
The third beast came barreling through the ash cloud—massive, gorilla-like, covered in matted fur and scars.
Dominic tried to move.
His leg gave out.
He collapsed, gasping.
The beast towered over him, chest heaving, lips curled back into a snarl.
Then it charged.
Dominic rolled to the side at the last second. The beast crashed into a stone pillar, shattering it, sending shards flying like shrapnel. One lodged into Dominic's thigh. He screamed—but didn't stop.
He limped forward, dodged a swipe, and slashed at the beast's calf. The blade barely pierced. It backhanded him into the dirt.
His vision went dark around the edges.
He blinked.
Once. Twice.
The beast roared again, pounding its chest.
Dominic didn't rise.
He threw the blade.
It spun end over end—and pierced the beast's eye.
It shrieked and stumbled back, thrashing blindly.
Dominic crawled.
Every bone screamed.
He grabbed a rock, rolled under the beast, and slammed the rock into its exposed gut—again, again, until the roars went still.
He collapsed beneath the corpse.
Breathing fire.
He pressed his hand against the beast's side.
[Essence Absorption: Feral Tier +6%]
[Feral Tier Total Absorption: 87%]
He lay there, bloodied and broken.
Around him, the earth trembled—unstable.
Ash fell like rain.
He wasn't dead.
But he wasn't whole.
And there were still more beasts out there.