Not life.
Not light.
But hunger.
Deep in the southwest ruins, where glassless windows stared like empty eyes and the stones still wept with fire-burned memories, Zareth Xellion stood alone.
Dust coiled at his boots, caught in the updraft of an unnatural stillness.
He didn't move.
He didn't need to.
A man crumpled to the ground thirty meters away—no warning, no sound. Just collapse. A breathless moment later, something luminous and desperate tore itself free from his chest, wailing silently into the dusk.
Zareth lifted a hand.
The soul hovered. Then drifted.
Then vanished—drawn into his palm like vapor into a furnace.
Another followed.
And another.
A quiet, invisible unraveling. Block by block. Body by body. No screams. No resistance. Just light drawn from the world like threads unspooling from a tapestry no one could see was unraveling.
["Host integrity at 100%. Animavorax reserves increased by 0.07%."]
The voice came like a whisper over glass, smooth and delicate but laced with something cruel.
["You feed too slowly,"] the Divine System murmured, a silken thread weaving through Zareth's mind. ["But I suppose you enjoy the taste."]
"I savor potential," Zareth said aloud, voice steady. "Each soul sings its own ending. Some scream. Others beg. But all of them… eventually hum."
The air around him dimmed—not darkened, but dulled, as if light itself had grown uncertain. Even the wind stuttered.
Far above, nestled in the heart of the Nexus Citadel, Max stood with arms folded inside the uplink chamber. Dozens of holoscreens surrounded him, each mapped to population vitals. Patterns were emerging. Too consistent. Too clean.
He didn't need a theory anymore.
He needed them.
"Kaelina. Luminara. Tell them to meet me at the primary uplink room. Now."
["On it, genius,"] Kaelina snapped, already rerouting Knox.
Knox paused mid-stride, hand tightening into a fist. "What's wrong?"
When he and Seraph reached the chamber, Max didn't waste time. He flicked a projection forward, letting it rotate slowly in the air. Rows of perfectly healthy biometrics hovered above an urban heatmap glowing with collapse markers.
"Lower districts are going dark," Max said. "People dropping everywhere. Same conditions. No physical trauma. No neural shutdown. Just… void."
He stepped forward, voice tight.
"They're not comatose. Their minds are active. But locked out. Disconnected."
Seraph's brow furrowed. "Dream-state?"
"More like dream prison." Max tapped another layer open. "This isn't medical. It's metaphysical."
["Soul displacement,"] Kaelina confirmed. ["But compact. Intentional. I've never seen extractions this neat. It's like they're being stored."]
Knox's jaw tightened. "Something is taking them."
Max nodded slowly. "But not a parasite. Not a demon. Whatever this is, it's methodical. Like a collector cataloging pieces."
Seraph didn't wait. "We track it. Now."
The sun was bleeding out when they moved. Shadows stretched long across silent streets. Collapsed bodies dotted alleyways and courtyards—untouched, unmoving, but still alive.
Waiting.
Then came the scream.
A single, sharp cry. Female. Real.
Knox was airborne before the echo had faded, gauntlets flaring.
Seraph flanked him, argent radiance swirling from her fingertips.
They landed in what had once been a chapel, now a mausoleum of shattered statues and fire-blackened pews.
At the center stood a man.
Still. Poised. Like a conductor waiting for the downbeat.
A woman lay at his feet, arched in a half-silent agony, her soul beginning to rise from her chest in flickering blue light.
Zareth raised his eyes.
Knox felt it instantly—wrongness. A cold behind the eyes. A pressure in his soul. Like something ancient had just turned its gaze toward him.
Seraph staggered half a step. 'Luminara—what is that?'
["Unknown Divine-Class System detected,"] she whispered, voice edged with alarm. ["Structure... predatory. Hostile."]
Zareth's lips curled into the faintest smile.
"Ah. You hear them," he said, voice like old smoke curling through shattered glass. "Good. Then this will be interesting."
Seraph narrowed her eyes. "You have a Divine System."
Zareth turned his head slowly, studying them.
"Yours radiates grace," he said to Seraph. Then to Knox—his gaze lingered. "But yours… buries something. Ancient. Violent. A depth no light touches."
["Want me to rip this smug bastard's throat out through his aura?"] Kaelina hissed, venom in every syllable.
Zareth's smile widened. "And she talks. Fascinating. You've evolved beyond framework and function. Your systems breathe."
["Identifying opposing system: Animavorax,"] Luminara intoned grimly. ["Divine designation: Soul Collector. Compatibility threshold: null. Warning: direct spiritual contact not recommended."]
Knox stepped forward, slowly.
"You've taken people."
"I've tasted their light," Zareth replied, and the chapel trembled faintly. "And soon… I will taste yours."
From beneath the floor, soul-lights flickered to life. Dozens. Hundreds. The echo of stolen essence.
Seraph raised her hand.
But Zareth was gone.
No teleport. No surge. Just... absence. Like he'd never been there. Like a breath you forgot you took.
Silence folded back in, heavy and sharp.
Only the echo of his presence remained.
And the knowledge it carried.
This was no lost god.
No demon.
No malfunction.
This was a predator of souls.
And it had found them.