Time: Unknown
Race: Skeleton (Tier-0 Undead)
State: Reanimated
Vitality: N/A
System Integrity: Partial
Mind Sync: [62%]… [64%]… [ERROR]… [Resuming core protocols]
Darkness.
Not the kind that waits behind closed eyes. Not the comforting veil of sleep or the warm embrace of a dream.
No, this was the kind of darkness that presses—a weight, a void that knows you.
I couldn’t breathe.
Then again... I didn’t need to.
Something clicked. Somewhere deep. Like stone shifting under pressure. A sound not heard through ears, but felt—vibrating through marrow that should no longer exist.
System Message: Reanimation sequence complete.
Cognition stabilized. [51%]
My thoughts swam in static. Blurred logic. Unfinished loops. Questions without shape.
Who…?
What…?
Where…?
I tried to scream.
But nothing came. Not even air.
Only the dry clatter of teeth. A grotesque symphony of bone on bone.
I lay still, my awareness slowly stretching outward.
There was no heartbeat to anchor me. No breath to break the silence. But I moved.
Fingers—thin, alien—twitched. An elbow bent. My jaw clicked in a curious rattle.
My body... wasn’t mine. Not anymore.
I felt everything, and yet nothing. No nerves. No skin. Just… joints. Hinges. Connections of cold calcium and arcane will.
My skull shifted.
Light. Pale. Sickly. Blue-green, like something dead and clinging to life.
It leaked through cracks in a stone ceiling far above.
Dust danced in it like slow-falling ash.
Memory Core Access: 2%
Name: Unknown
Purpose: ???
A moment passed.
Then another.
Then...
I laughed.
Or something close to it.
A dry, grating rasp that echoed hollowly off the crypt walls.
I was dead.
Not metaphorically.
Not poetically.
Dead.
Bone. No heartbeat, no blood, no breath...
Just thought.
And hunger.
A shimmer of light—not real, but internal—flickered across my vision.
Like a dream leaking into consciousness.
[Initializing Status Interface...]
The words hovered in the void behind my eyes. They pulsed, pixelated… wrong.
Letters bled at the edges. Some characters flickered in and out. Corrupted code? Ancient language? I couldn’t tell.
Species: Skeleton
Classification: Tier-0 Undead
Vital Core: Dormant
Cognition Sync: [64% → 68%]
Mind Fragmentation: 【91%】 — Critical Instability
*Skill Unlocked: 【Bone Flex Lv.1】
Description: Enables basic skeletal articulation and autonomous reformation.
Autonomous... reformation?
I stared at the words, not with eyes, but with something inside.
And I understood.
That dry clatter earlier? That wasn't random.
It was instinct. Muscle memory without the muscle. I had moved because something deeper had told me I could.
[System Note: Higher functions unavailable. Evolution path locked. Primary directive... undefined.]
The text blinked. Then... it twisted.
The letters melted into jagged glyphs, twisted symbols that pulsed like exposed nerves.
For a moment, they whispered.
Not sound—but language injected straight into my mind.
A voice that wasn’t a voice.
Alive. Or... almost.
Like a machine half-drowned in a swamp, still trying to speak.
[You are not alone.]
A shiver ran through me. Not physical. A soul-tremor, if I still had such a thing.
Something ancient stirred in that whisper.
Not cruel.
Not kind.
Just... watching.
Observing my rebirth like a moth watches flame.
My vision dimmed again, the UI folding in on itself, buried deep beneath instinct and hunger.
But it left me something.
The knowledge of movement.
And the knowledge that whatever I was now... it was only the beginning.
I flexed my hand—no, my phalanges—and heard the click of purpose.
“Let’s see how far I can fall… before I learn how to climb.”
This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.
The shadows stirred.
Something nearby was moving.
I moved again.
The bones in my left arm groaned—dry, sharp. Like branches cracking under winter frost. But there was no pain. Just sound. Just mechanical certainty.
A thought formed.
Stand.
That was all it took.
I didn’t push with muscles—I simply intended, and my body responded. A jerky motion, limbs scraping against the crypt floor as I shifted from prone to kneeling.
My vertebrae clicked into place.
【Skill Engaged: Bone Flex Lv.1】
I rotated my head.
A neck shouldn’t move like this. No tendons. No resistance. Just rotation—pure, unimpeded. My vision tilted wildly as I adjusted, settling on my outstretched hands.
White. Yellowed. Finger bones.
My finger bones.
No skin. No blood. Just calcium and shadow.
I flexed them.
They responded perfectly.
Like a well-oiled machine—if the machine had once bled.
Then I saw the rest of me.
I shifted fully upright, one knee rising, followed by the other. I swayed as I stood, balance shaky but adequate.
What greeted me was grotesque.
Not from a horror. Not from deformity. From absence.
There was nothing human left. Not on the outside.
No muscle. No fat. No organs.
Just bones. Bound by some invisible force. Floating inches apart, yet connected—anchored by necromantic gravity.
Ribs flared like exposed cage bars. A hollow pelvis. Knees like cracked joints, aged and worn, yet moving without resistance.
“This is me…”
My voice was a thought, not a sound. No lungs, no throat. Just… internal narration.
I turned my arms. Watched the bones rotate. They felt natural, and that terrified me more than the form itself.
I looked down.
My feet—long, bare metatarsals—crunched loose bone fragments beneath them.
Someone else had died here.
Many had, if the floor’s littered remains were any sign. Their bones were broken, scattered. Mine? Whole. Restored. Chosen?
I didn’t know.
I didn’t want to know.
But I couldn’t look away.
“I should be screaming.”
The thought came unbidden, hollow.
But I wasn’t.
I couldn’t.
And somewhere… deep inside…
I didn’t want to.
This was wrong. Horrific. A walking corpse dressed in nothing but the memory of flesh.
And yet—
There was no pain. No suffering.
Only clarity. Purpose. Hunger.
And that made it worse.
Because it meant I hadn’t lost my humanity.
I had shed it.
A laugh rattled out. A dry, scraping thing. Like rocks tumbling through rusted pipes.
If I’d had lungs, I would’ve wheezed.
“I didn’t scream. I couldn’t. But I laughed. Because this felt... inevitable.”
Still standing.
Still… processing.
I rotated a shoulder, listening to the grinding echo as bone rolled against bone. Smooth, efficient. Too smooth.
Every motion whispered something ancient beneath the marrow.
I wasn’t just alive again.
I was designed to be.
But for what?
The question didn’t linger.
Because that’s when it hit me.
A feeling—not like pain or thirst—but pulling. Deep and ancient. Like my entire form was missing something crucial. Not blood. Not breath.
Essence.
A gnawing. A metaphysical itch.
A void inside me begging to be filled.
It wasn’t hunger the way I remembered it. No growling stomach, no salivating mouth.
Just need.
Need that burned cold. A vacuum in my core that sucked at the air like it wanted something… alive.
【ALERT: Core Instability Detected】
【Directive: Consume to Stabilize】
【Sustenance Type: Bone / Soul Residue】
Bone? Soul?
I looked down at the remains scattered across the crypt floor. Skulls, femurs, splintered ribs. Long dead. Long drained.
I stepped over one. Nothing stirred.
No response. No draw.
Empty.
Too old. Too brittle. Nothing left to devour.
And then—I heard it.
Shuffle.
A whisper in the darkness. Soft, but not subtle. Claws against stone. Nails scraping against damp rock.
I stilled.
The hunger surged, like a spike of ice driving into my skull.
Movement.
There.
Near a collapsed pillar. Just beyond the reach of necrotic light.
A shape. Low to the ground. Sniffing. Searching.
Small.
【Lifeform Detected: Crypt Rat (Lv. 2)】
【Threat Level: Minimal】
【Essence Capacity: Viable】
My teeth clenched. Unconsciously.
Not from fear.
From anticipation.
It was alive. It had blood. Bones. Warmth.
And I wanted it.
No—I needed it.
I crouched low, bones creaking softly, deliberately. Each movement was practiced instinct now. No pain. Just purpose.
The Crypt Rat darted into view—hairless, diseased, eyes milky white. Its spine twitched unnaturally as it sniffed toward a decayed tibia.
It didn’t see me.
I didn’t care.
There was no planning. No hesitation.
Only urge.
I moved.
The world blurred.
My legs launched forward with a sound like snapping twigs.
The rat turned too late. Its teeth bared—but not in a threat. In surprise. In panic.
I came down on it with both hands.
Its squeal ripped through the crypt—wet, sharp, pathetic.
My fingers wrapped around its writhing frame.
And I bit.
Not with a mouth.
But with something deeper.
【Essence Consumed】
【Crypt Rat (Lv.2) – Broken Spine / Soul Shattered】
【Skill Fragment Absorbed: Echolocation Lv.1】
【Bone Matter Absorbed: Minor Reinforcement (Tarsals, Radius, Jaw)】
【Hunger: Satiated (Temporary)】
The creature twitched once more, then sagged in my grip.
Its body fell limp, collapsing like a puppet with the strings severed.
I stared at what remained. Flesh already beginning to slough off in decay. Bones cracking as the essence fled them—into me.
Something in my chest—or where my chest should be—glowed faintly.
For the first time, I felt... full.
Not sated. Not healed.
Just… less empty.
“My first instinct wasn’t to run.”
I looked down at the cracked skull of the Crypt Rat.
“It was to bite.”
This wasn’t instinct.
It was programming.
A law written into the marrow.
Survive.
Feed.
Evolve.
And I’d done all three.
Something shifted inside me.
Not bones. Not tendons—I had none.
But something primal. Something old.
A second presence stirred.
The hunger hadn’t vanished with the rat’s death. It had simply changed its shape. It had grown teeth.
I crouched beside the rat’s cooling corpse.
Its essence faded inside me, spiraling inward like smoke down a hollow pipe. A sensation bloomed at the base of my spine—or where a spine should be.
Power. Not much. But real.
More importantly—response.
The System pulsed again. Stronger this time. More complete.
【Status Updated】
– Skeleton (Tier-0 Undead)
– Core Stability: 13%
– Hunger: Dormant
– Skill: Bone Flex Lv.1 (Stable)
– Skill: Echolocation Lv.1 (Fragmented)
Trait Acquired: Partial Essence Assimilation
New Directive: Seek – Consume – Evolve
The words struck like commandments.
I stood.
The crunch of rat bones underfoot echoed too loud in the silence. Not a sound of death—but of declaration.
I was here now. Alive, in a way no priest would bless.
And something in this crypt heard me.
There was no wind. No shift in light. But something else moved.
From the dark. From beyond the runes.
From a broken stone gate now pulsing faint blue.
Detected: Entity – Crypt Rat (Lv. 3)
Status: Alerted
Behavioral Pattern: Hostile / Hungry
Estimated Risk: Manageable
【Predatory Protocol – Activating...】
My body moved.
No hesitation. No tactics. Just pure trigger.
I didn’t think.
I lunged.
Bones coiled like springs. Each step hissed with mechanical certainty.
I collided with it in a blur of fangs and claws and hunger.
This one was faster. Leaner. Smarter.
It screamed—high and sharp—baring broken yellow teeth. It darted to the side and slashed with needle claws. One raked my ribcage.
No blood.
Just sound. Impact. Shaking rib bone.
I grabbed it by the tail.
It writhed, spun, bit down on my radius with everything it had. A crack rang out—but I held.
The System screamed.
【TARGET ENGAGED】
【Weak Point: Cervical Vertebrae】
【Essence Pulse Detected】
【Soul Membrane: Semi-Intact – Viable for Extraction】
【Activate: Core Drain? – [Y/N]】
[Y]
A sound like thunder without air exploded inside me.
The Crypt Rat twisted. Jerked. Screamed.
But not from pain.
From emptiness.
Its eyes lost light.
And I drank.
Not blood. Not marrow.
But soul.
It flowed into me like black honey. Thick, burning, alien.
And yet… familiar.
Like I had done this before.
My grip loosened. The rat fell, empty. Not dead. Drained.
The UI pulsed.
【Essence Assimilated – Lv. 3 Crypt Rat】
【Skill Fragment Detected: Shadow Skitter Lv.0.5】
【Compatibility: Low】
【Stored in Bone Bank】
【Core Stability +6%】
【Mutation Tree: Unlocked (Preview Mode)】
Then, silence.
True silence.
Inside me, something clicked.
Something... aligned.
Not human. Not holy. Not kind.
Just predator.
I turned back toward the crypt.
The runes glowed brighter now.
The shadows had receded.
There were more.
I could feel them.
Moving.
Breathing.
Hiding.
Waiting.
“I had no blood...”
I flexed my claws—no, phalanges. Smooth and sharp and ready.
“...but I would taste his.”