Malachai returned to his hotel room hours later, soaked in the aftermath of death and collapse.
The city hadn’t changed.
But the fog had.
It pressed harder against the windows now. It curled around the high-rise like fingers clutching a cage. Distant screams sometimes broke through it. Other times—laughter.
But Malachai didn’t rest.
Not yet.
He placed the Core of the Cradle Mother on the floor.
It pulsed like an infected heart—warm, alive, stitched together with nerve-flesh and shimmering fluid that ran like translucent blood. It whispered in the back of his mind.
Not words.
Instinct.
He sat cross-legged before it, laid the Hungering Veil around his shoulders, and drew his bloodied claws across his palm. The blood dripped onto the core.
It responded.
A dozen voices howled.
The lights blew out.
Veins erupted from the core, snaking around his wrists and spine. They pierced flesh. Filled veins. Sought bone.
He screamed.
Not in pain.
In transformation.
The Reaperborn shifted.
And the system spoke.
---
> Essence Fusion Complete. Core: Cradle Mother Path Chosen: Graveborn Rebirth
> Class Update: Reaperborn → Reaper: Gravewrought Reaper
> New Passive Unlocked: Womb of the Slain
You may now store up to 2 slain enemies as cocooned Graveborn. Each gains altered forms and may be summoned in battle.
---
> New Ability: Birthing Cry
Unleashes stored Graveborn in a shriek of blood, dealing AoE fear and summoning cocooned spawn.
> Trait Synergy: Cradle Mother Fragment Integrated
Parasitic and summoning evolutions now require 25% less essence and unlock deeper tier paths.
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> Veil Adaptation: Hungering Veil gains new behavior — Nesting Hunger. Will automatically feed on nearby dying entities to strengthen next summoned Graveborn.
---
He collapsed to the floor.
Shivering.
Burning.
Alive.
He lay there for what felt like hours. Listening to the hum of the Veil. To the heartbeat of the city outside. To the soft gnawing of something inside the walls that didn’t care that he lived here.
Eventually, he stood.
And looked at his status.
---
Name: Malachai Voss
Class: Reaper: Gravewrought Reaper (Fused Core)
Level: 9
HP: 168/168
MP: 63/63
Strength: 23
Agility: 20
Vitality: 21
Reflex: 17
Willpower: 20
Intelligence: 12
---
Traits:
Deathbrand
Gravecall
Voice Mimicry (Minor)
Dread Pulse (Tier II)
Core-Fused: Singular
Toxic Resilience (Standard)
Predatory Insight
Cradle Mother Fragment (Synergized)
---
Passives:
Womb of the Slain
Veilwalk
---
Abilities:
Feast of the Slain
Shade Step
Crimson Hookstep
Birthing Cry
---
Weapons:
Slaughter Claws (Bleeding, Frenzy Chance)
Hungering Veil (Nesting Hunger active)
---
He grinned.
Then turned to the window.
The fog outside moved.
Shapes drifted in the mist—too tall, too thin. One walked upside-down along a light pole. Another stared directly at him, its face made of twitching rats sewn together.
He stepped onto the balcony.
The cold wrapped around him. Not like air. Like breath.
He climbed onto the railing.
And leapt.
Veilwalk shimmered.
He landed twenty feet down, silent. The fog welcomed him like a mother might embrace a child she never wanted.
He walked the perimeter of the city.
Fog swirled.
The Manascope Tower pulsed overhead—a flickering beacon trying to scan through corrupted atmosphere.
The deeper he went, the quieter the city became.
And then the whispers returned.
From the fog came voices.
A man speaking backward.
A woman humming a lullaby made of screams.
A child asking for its eyes back.
He walked on.
Because he had new power now.
And the fog would learn to fear it.
