DEVOUR THE GODS: They had all the power. He took it

Chapter 5: The Test

I didn't sleep.

Couldn't. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw their faces. Mrs. Chen clutching her chest. The thread-mage collapsing. Marcus screaming. Elena crying on her mansion floor.

The voices didn't help. They whispered through the darkness, layering over each other until individual words became meaningless and only the hunger remained clear.

More. Always more. Never enough. NEVER.

I traced the black veins on my arms. They'd spread past my elbows now, branching like tree roots seeking nutrients. When I pressed against them, they pulsed. Warm. Alive. Not quite part of me but not separate either.

The locket had merged with my sternum. I could feel it there, fused to bone, its crystal heart beating in rhythm with my own. Sometimes I couldn't tell where I ended and it began.

Footsteps approached my cell. Multiple sets. Armed, judging by the metallic clinks.

I stood and faced the bars.

Silas appeared first, flanked by four others. Three men, one woman. All carrying weapons. All radiating magic that made my enhanced senses light up like signal flares.

Combat mages. Real ones. Not academy dropouts or minor talents. These were people who'd fought and survived in a place where weakness meant death.

"Morning," Silas said. He didn't smile. "Sleep well?"

"Didn't sleep."

"Smart. Trust is earned down here, and you haven't earned it yet." He gestured to his companions. "This is Garrett, Vex, Isadora, and Torch. My inner circle. The people who keep the Vault functional."

Garrett was the largest, built like a brick wall with fists to match. Earth magic, probably. His knuckles were covered in stone-like calluses.

Vex was lean and pale, with eyes that didn't blink often enough. Poison affinity, if I had to guess. Chemical manipulation. Dangerous in close quarters.

Isadora carried twin daggers and moved like water. Fluid. Precise. Either enhanced agility or wind manipulation. Maybe both.

Torch earned his name. Fire danced between his fingers absently, like nervous energy he couldn't quite control. Pyromancer. Volatile. The kind who burned first and asked questions never.

All of them stronger than the people I'd stolen from so far.

All of them watching me like I was a rabid dog that might need putting down.

"You said you could be useful," Silas continued. "Time to prove it. We've got a problem that needs solving, and you're going to solve it."

"What kind of problem?"

"The kind that kills people." Silas unlocked my cell door. It swung open with a screech of rusted metal. "Three days ago, something started hunting in the lower tunnels. East side, past the old market district. Four people dead so far. Two more missing. Whatever it is, it's strong. Fast. And it's not afraid of fire."

"You think it's a Hollow."

"No. I know it's a Hollow. Question is what kind." Silas stepped aside, letting me exit the cell. "Hollows come in varieties. Some are just violent. Some are smart. Some retain fragments of the magic that corrupted them and use it to hunt."

"And you want me to kill it."

"I want you to try. If you succeed, you prove you're capable. If you die, problem solves itself." Silas's expression didn't change. "Either outcome works for me."

Fair enough. I'd walked into his territory carrying enough stolen power to level city blocks. He had every right to be cautious. Sending me after a Hollow was smart. Test my abilities. Gauge my threat level. Maybe get rid of me without doing the work himself.

"I'll need a guide. Someone who knows the tunnels."

"Vex goes with you. He's mapped most of the lower levels. Knows the safe routes." Silas glanced at Vex, who nodded once. "Don't try to drain him. He's prepared for that. You make a move, he poisons you before you can blink."

I looked at Vex. He smiled, showing teeth that were slightly too sharp. Modified. Either surgically or magically. Probably both.

"Understood," I said.

"Good. Torch, Isadora, you're backup. Stay at perimeter distance. If things go wrong, contain it. Don't let it reach populated areas." Silas locked eyes with me. "And Kael? This Hollow killed four trained fighters. Don't underestimate it because you've got stolen power. The underground eats cocky people for breakfast."

We left the Vault through eastern tunnels that grew progressively darker and older. The worked stone gave way to natural cave formations. Stalactites hung like teeth from the ceiling. Water dripped constantly, forming pools that reflected our torchlight in fragmented patterns.

Vex moved ahead, silent as shadow. He navigated without hesitation, choosing paths that looked identical to my eyes but clearly meant something to him. Scratch marks on walls. Stone cairns marking intersections. A language of survival written by people who lived in permanent darkness.

Torch and Isadora followed at fifty paces. Close enough to help. Far enough to avoid being caught in the initial attack.

Smart. Paranoid. Necessary.

"How long have you been down here?" I asked Vex. My voice echoed strangely, bouncing off irregular surfaces.

He didn't answer immediately. Just kept walking. Finally: "Twelve years. Came down when I was sixteen. Council wanted to execute me for poisoning a merchant who'd been selling tainted medicine. Said I exceeded justifiable force. Said I was too dangerous to live on the surface."

"Were they right?"

"About me being dangerous? Absolutely." He glanced back, those too-sharp teeth catching torchlight. "About execution being justice? That's subjective."

We walked in silence after that. The tunnels grew colder. My breath misted in the air. The magic I'd stolen kept me warmer than I should have been, but even that had limits.

Enhanced hearing picked up sounds ahead. Scraping. Like claws on stone. Something large moving through confined spaces.

Vex raised his fist. Stop signal. We froze.

The scraping grew louder. Closer. Accompanied by breathing that sounded wrong. Too wet. Too labored. Like lungs that had forgotten their proper function.

Then I saw it.

The Hollow emerged from a side tunnel, and my enhanced vision captured details I immediately wished it hadn't. It had been human once. Maybe male. Maybe young. Hard to tell now. The corruption had transformed it into something else. Something that wore human skin like an ill-fitting costume.

Its arms were too long, joints bending in extra places. The hands ended in claws that scraped stone with each movement. Its face was almost featureless, eyes sunken into deep sockets, mouth stretched too wide. Black veins covered every visible inch of skin, thicker than mine, raised like cables under flesh.

It looked at us.

Recognition flickered in those sunken eyes. Not intelligence exactly. Just awareness that we were prey.

Then it screamed.

The sound was inhuman. Multiple voices layered over each other, some high, some low, all of them expressing the same wordless rage. The tunnel amplified it, turning scream into earthquake.

It charged.

Vex threw something. Small vials that shattered at the Hollow's feet, releasing purple gas. Poison. Concentrated enough that I could smell it even from twenty feet back. Acrid. Caustic. Designed to burn lungs and liquefy organs.

The Hollow ran through it without slowing.

"Shit," Vex muttered. "It's not breathing. Doesn't need to."

I raised my hand and released lightning. The bolt struck center mass, bright enough to blind. Electricity arced across the Hollow's body, making its muscles spasm. It stumbled but didn't fall. Kept coming. Kept screaming.

"Behind me!" Vex produced two daggers, both coated in something that gleamed wetly in the torchlight. "Let me bleed it. Poison works eventually. Just need time."

Time we didn't have. The Hollow covered ground impossibly fast, claws striking sparks from the stone floor.

I switched tactics. Telekinesis. I grabbed the Hollow with invisible force and slammed it into the tunnel wall. Stone cracked. The impact should have broken bones. Pulverized organs.

The Hollow peeled itself off the wall and kept advancing.

Behind us, Torch and Isadora arrived. Fire bloomed in the tunnel, turning shadows into demons. Torch sent a stream of flame directly at the Hollow. It engulfed the creature completely, hot enough that I felt the heat from twenty feet away.

The Hollow walked through it.

Its skin blackened. Cracked. Peeled away in sheets. Underneath was more corruption. Black muscle that pulsed with stolen magic. This thing had absorbed multiple abilities before going Hollow. Fire resistance. Enhanced strength. Probably regeneration too, based on how fast the burns were healing.

"It's a collector," Vex said. His voice was tight. Controlled fear. "Same as you. It stole powers until they overwhelmed its humanity. Now it's just hunger wearing a corpse."

The same as me. He didn't have to say the rest. That in a few days, maybe less, I'd look like that thing. Sound like it. Be it.

The Hollow lunged at Vex. He dodged left, impossibly fast, and scored a cut across its ribs with his poisoned dagger. Black blood oozed from the wound. The Hollow didn't seem to notice.

It backhanded Vex casually. The impact sent him flying into the tunnel wall. He hit with a crack that might have been stone or bone. Slid to the ground and didn't move.

Isadora darted in, twin blades flashing. She moved like wind itself, striking from six different angles in three seconds. Each cut found purchase. Each drew more black blood.

The Hollow caught her mid-strike. Just snatched her out of the air like she was standing still. Its oversized hand wrapped around her throat, claws digging into flesh.

She struggled. Kicked. Struck at its wrist with her daggers. Nothing worked.

The Hollow started squeezing.

I felt her power. Wind manipulation. Moderate tier. She could create gusts strong enough to knock people down. Sharp enough to cut skin. Useful. Valuable.

Dying.

The locket burned. The voices screamed encouragement.

TAKE IT. KILL THE HOLLOW. TAKE EVERYTHING. WASTE NOTHING.

I raised both hands. Lightning in my right. Ice forming in my left. Combined them. The electricity froze into crystalline spears that crackled with voltage. New application. New technique. Instinct guided by stolen knowledge.

I hurled them at the Hollow.

Three spears hit. Chest, shoulder, thigh. They penetrated deep, electricity spreading through the wounds like liquid light. The Hollow's muscles locked. Its grip on Isadora loosened. She dropped, gasping, clutching her torn throat.

Torch pulled her back while I advanced.

The Hollow turned its attention to me. Those sunken eyes met mine. For just a moment, I saw something in them. Not intelligence. Recognition. Kinship.

It saw what I was becoming. Saw itself reflected in my corrupted veins and hungry eyes.

Then it attacked.

Fast. Faster than anything its size should move. Claws aimed at my face. Mouth stretching impossibly wide, revealing teeth that had become fangs.

I caught its wrist with telekinesis. Froze its other hand with ice magic. Poured lightning through both contact points. Every ability I'd stolen, thrown at this thing with desperate, uncoordinated force.

The Hollow screamed again. That terrible multi-voice wail. It thrashed against my hold, strong enough that maintaining the telekinetic grip felt like trying to restrain a landslide.

My nose started bleeding. Then my ears. The strain of using multiple powers simultaneously was tearing something inside me. The corruption spread faster in response, black veins crawling up my neck toward my jaw. Racing to consume me before the effort killed me.

The Hollow's struggles weakened. The lightning was cooking it from the inside out. The ice was spreading through its circulatory system. The telekinetic pressure was crushing its bones.

It looked at me one last time. Those sunken eyes holding something that might have been gratitude. Or warning. Or both.

Then it stopped moving.

I released it. The corpse hit the ground with a wet thud. Steam rose from its blackened skin. The smell was indescribable.

I stood over it, breathing hard, tasting copper. The powers inside me fought for dominance. Six abilities trying to coexist in a body that was maybe ten percent human now.

Torch approached cautiously. "You killed it."

"Yes."

"Alone. You killed a collector Hollow alone." He stared at me with something between fear and awe. "How many powers do you have?"

"Six."

"Christ. And you're still coherent. Still standing." He looked at the dead Hollow, then back at me. "You're not going to end up like this thing, are you?"

I didn't answer. Couldn't. Because I didn't know. The locket kept me stable, but for how long? How many more abilities before the hunger consumed everything human? Before I became just another monster hunting in the dark?

Vex groaned from where he'd fallen. Still alive. Good. Isadora was breathing too, though her throat looked bad. Would need healing. Real healing, not the emergency medicine available down here.

"We need to get them back," I said. My voice sounded rough. Damaged. Using that much power at once had cost me.

Torch nodded. "Can you walk?"

"Yes."

"Then let's move. Before something worse shows up."

Something worse. In tunnels that bred Hollows and housed criminals too dangerous for the surface, there was always something worse.

We made it back to the Vault an hour later. People gathered when they saw us. Saw Vex being supported by Torch. Saw Isadora's neck wrapped in makeshift bandages. Saw me, covered in the Hollow's blood and my own, black veins visible up to my jawline now.

Silas pushed through the crowd. His expression didn't change when he saw our condition.

"The Hollow?" he asked.

"Dead," Torch said. "Kael killed it."

Murmurs rippled through the gathered people. Killed a collector. Alone. Survived.

Silas studied me for a long moment. "Get the wounded to medical. Kael, you're with me."

He led me away from the crowd. Through winding streets to a building that looked more permanent than the others. Stone construction instead of salvage. Real door with real hinges. Inside was a room that served as office, armory, and living quarters simultaneously.

Silas closed the door. "Sit."

I sat on a wooden chair that creaked under my weight.

He poured two cups of something that smelled like alcohol and regret. Handed me one. "You proved yourself today. Torch says you used six different abilities fighting that thing. Coordinated them. Adapted mid-fight. That's not luck. That's skill."

I drank. The liquid burned going down. Not magically. Just strong.

"I also heard you could have drained Isadora when the Hollow had her. Took her wind manipulation. Made yourself stronger." Silas sipped his own drink. "You didn't. Why?"

"She wasn't the enemy."

"Down here, everyone's a potential enemy. Survival means taking every advantage. You know that. So why show mercy to someone you barely know?"

I didn't have a good answer. Or maybe I did, but didn't want to examine it too closely. Because admitting I still had lines I wouldn't cross meant admitting I was still human enough to have lines.

And humanity was becoming expensive.

"I'm not like that Hollow," I said finally. "Not yet."

"But you will be. Eventually. Unless you find a way to stop the corruption." Silas refilled both cups. "There might be a way. Theoretical. Dangerous. Probably fatal."

I looked up sharply. "Tell me."

"The deepest parts of the Undercity. Below even our lowest levels. There's something down there. Old magic. Pre-Council. Pre-academy. Pre-everything we think we know about how power works." He met my eyes. "People who go down there don't come back. But the few who do, who survive long enough to make it back to the surface, they come back changed. Cured of things that shouldn't be curable. Healed from corruption that should have killed them."

"You think it could help me."

"I think it might kill you slightly less certainly than staying corrupted will." Silas set down his cup. "But here's the thing. To reach it, you need to go through territories controlled by things that make that Hollow look friendly. Creatures that evolved in absolute darkness. Mages who went down seeking power and found something worse. And at the very bottom, whatever the old magic actually is."

"How many people have tried?"

"In the twelve years I've been running this place? Forty-seven." He paused. "Three came back. Two died within days from what they experienced. The third went mad and had to be put down before he hurt someone."

Great odds. Wonderful.

But what choice did I have? Stay like this and go Hollow within days? Go to the surface and get executed by the Council? Keep stealing powers until I became exactly what they feared?

"I'll do it," I said.

"Tomorrow. Rest tonight. Heal what you can. You'll need every advantage down there." Silas stood. "And Kael? That thing you killed today? It had eight stolen powers. Lasted three weeks before going Hollow. You've got six and you've had them for less than a week."

He didn't need to finish the thought.

The clock was ticking faster than I'd thought.

I returned to my cell. Someone had left food. Bread. Dried meat. Water that tasted slightly mineral but clean. I ate mechanically, fueling a body that barely felt human anymore.

The voices whispered constantly now. Not just hunger. Plans. Strategies. Ways to optimize power collection. Ways to drain people more efficiently. Ways to become more.

I touched the locket. Felt it pulse against my sternum. Felt its hunger matching my own.

"What are you?" I whispered. "What am I becoming?"

The voices answered in unison.

EVERYTHING. YOU'RE BECOMING EVERYTHING. JUST KEEP FEEDING. JUST KEEP TAKING. SOON THERE WILL BE NOTHING LEFT TO WANT. NOTHING LEFT TO FEAR. ONLY FULLNESS. ONLY SATISFACTION. ONLY US.

I closed my eyes and tried to remember what I'd been like a week ago. Powerless. Desperate. Empty.

Now I was powerful. Still desperate. Still empty.

The void hadn't been filled. Just painted over with stolen light that would fade soon enough unless I kept taking more. And more. And more.

Forever.

Outside my cell, the Vault settled into night routines. Lanterns dimmed. Conversations faded. The underground breathed its slow, patient breaths.

And deeper. Much deeper. Below stone and darkness and everything human.

Something ancient waited.

Tomorrow, I'd go meet it.

Tonight, I tried to remember my own name.