Monarch of the Calamity Beast

Chapter 1: The Void Awakes

Blood filled Kaelen’s mouth. He lay on the jagged volcanic crust of the wasteland, his ribs shattered and his right lung punctured. The towering Ash Ravager that had just crushed him was dead, collapsing from its own grievous wounds.

The beast's massive armored body began to disintegrate into shimmering violet ash. The toxic wind didn't blow the dust away. Instead, it aggressively funneled into the black brand at the base of Kaelen's spine.

Agony spiked through his nervous system. It was a white-hot spear of pure fire. He gritted his teeth, refusing to scream as his blood boiled.

[System: Essence Resonance Confirmed.]

[System: Low-Tier Calamity Beast Core Assimilated. Revival Protocol Initiated.]

His broken bones violently snapped back into place. His punctured lung sealed perfectly, drawing in a sharp breath of the poisoned air. The perpetual, gnawing starvation he had endured for twenty years was wiped away instantly.

In its place, a freezing vacuum opened in the center of his chest. It demanded to be filled. The feeling made him want to crush something just to sate the emptiness.

"Breathe, boy."

The deep voice vibrated directly against the inside of Kaelen's skull. It wasn't a hallucination. The tone was ancient, heavy, and completely devoid of panic.

Kaelen pushed himself off the dirt, ignoring the blood caked on his clothes. He cracked his neck, feeling a predatory calmness wash over him. "Who are you?"

"I am the reason you aren't rotting on a rock," the ancient entity replied. "They called me Malakor. You died, which finally opened the door."

Kaelen clenched his fists. The grime of the Eldermire refugee camps still stained his forearms, but his muscles felt impossibly dense. The crushing weakness of his mortal body had vanished forever.

[System: Host Initialization Complete. System link established.]

[Name: Kaelen Thorne]

[Affinity: Void]

[Passive: Devour]

[Active: Void Step]

Aether. It was the holy light that powered the walled cities and fueled the Aegis Order. Kaelen possessed absolutely none of it.

He had the Void.

"Aether is a parasite," Malakor scoffed, his amusement dripping with malice. "You do not need their false light. The Void does not resonate, it consumes."

Crunching footsteps interrupted them.

Kaelen turned his head. His new eyes effortlessly pierced the thick, toxic fog of the wasteland. Three soldiers marched out from behind a crag of black rock.

They wore the white enameled armor of the Solar Aegis Order. Captain Garrick walked in the center. Just hours ago, Garrick had kicked Kaelen out of a wagon to use him as living bait.

Garrick stopped, staring at the towering pile of violet ash. He completely ignored Kaelen.

"The beast is dust," Garrick muttered, scratching his scarred jaw. "Where is the core?"

The soldier on his left leveled an Aether-tipped spear. "Look at the pariah's neck, Captain. The black veins. He absorbed it."

Garrick let out a heavy sigh of sheer annoyance. He looked at Kaelen like a rat infesting his clean pantry.

"Cut his stomach open," Garrick ordered casually. "Dig it out before his filthy body digests the energy."

Miller lunged forward. His spear hummed with blinding yellow Aether, aimed straight for Kaelen’s gut.

Kaelen didn't flinch. To his new eyes, the elite vanguard moved with pathetic sluggishness. The heavy armor only made the soldier's strike clumsier.

[System: Active Skill 'Void Step' triggered.]

The world vanished into absolute darkness. For a fraction of a second, sound and light ceased to exist. Then Kaelen's boots hit solid rock.

He stood directly behind Miller.

"Where did he go?" Miller gasped. He swung his spear at empty air, his helmet turning frantically.

Kaelen reached out and grabbed the back of the knight's neck. His dense fingers crushed the heavy steel collar like cheap tin.

[System: Passive Skill 'Devour' activated.]

Black mist exploded from Kaelen's palm. A freezing surge of energy rushed up his arm, feeding the hungry void in his chest. The raw Aether inside the knight's body fought back, trying to burn Kaelen's hand.

It was useless. The Void swallowed the holy light whole, converting it into pure, violent strength. Miller’s skin grayed and flaked away like old parchment.

Miller screamed, but the sound died instantly. In three seconds, the soldier's flesh and life force were completely drained. A pile of dry bones rattled to the dirt inside an empty suit of armor.

[System: Mana absorbed. Void Core stabilized.]

The second soldier shouted in blind panic. He swung his holy greatsword horizontally at Kaelen’s head. It was a sloppy, desperate strike.

Kaelen raised his bare left hand. He caught the razor-sharp blade squarely in his palm.

The enchanted steel didn't even break his skin. Black mist swallowed the sword's golden Aether light, instantly snuffing it out.

Kaelen squeezed his fist. The legendary weapon shattered into a dozen useless pieces.

Before the soldier could react, Kaelen stepped directly into his guard. He drove his palm squarely into the center of the man's breastplate.

The concussive impact caved the thick steel inward. The knight's ribcage pulverized instantly, sending his lifeless body flying twenty feet across the jagged rocks. He hit the ground in a messy tangle of limbs and didn't move.

Silence returned to the wasteland. Only the toxic wind howled.

Captain Garrick stumbled backward. His greatsword trembled in his hands. The arrogant sneer was completely gone, replaced by pure, sweat-slicked terror.

Kaelen wiped his bloody hand on his tattered pants. He walked toward the captain. His steps were slow and deliberate.

"Stay back!" Garrick yelled, nearly tripping over a volcanic rock. "The Order will hunt you down. The Legion will burn you to ash!"

"Let them try," Kaelen said coldly. He stopped mere inches from the captain's blade.

Garrick swung his sword in a desperate, wild arc. It was a strike born entirely of fear.

Kaelen effortlessly ducked under the blade. He reached out and grabbed Garrick by the throat.

With one arm, Kaelen lifted the fully armored captain completely off the ground. He didn't feel a shred of strain. The extreme weight should have torn his shoulder out of its socket, but his arm remained perfectly still.

Garrick dropped his sword. It clattered against the volcanic rock. He clawed uselessly at Kaelen’s unbreakable grip.

His polished boots kicked at the empty air. His face turned a deep, bruised purple as his airway collapsed.

Kaelen watched him struggle. He felt no grand sense of justice, only the cold necessity of extermination. This man was a parasite.

He snapped Garrick's neck.

[System: Passive Skill 'Devour' activated.]

[System: Three hostile entities consumed. Leveling sequence initiated.]

[System: Host leveled up. Level 2 Achieved.]

[System: Strength +10. Agility +8. Vitality +15.]

A fresh surge of power flooded Kaelen's veins. He felt his muscle fibers tearing and rebuilding themselves denser than before. He dropped the lifeless husk to the ground.

Kaelen stood among the corpses, staring up at the sickly violet sky of Aethelgard. He felt an intense, predatory calm wash over him.

"Brutal," Malakor chuckled in his mind. "But highly effective. Do not linger, boy."

"The energy you just released will draw high-tier beasts from the Obsidian Mountains," the ancient entity warned. "We need a larger nest to burn."

Kaelen ignored the warning. He looked south toward the sprawling ash dunes.

Eldermire lay just beyond the ridge. The Aegis priests were there right now, collecting the monthly blood tithe for their parasitic Sun God. They were taking innocent children to the slaughter.

Kaelen touched the smooth, unnaturally cold skin of his jaw. The weak, starving boy who had been tossed to the beasts was dead. The thing left standing in his place was a nightmare born of the Void.

He stepped over Garrick’s shattered body, leaving a bloody boot print on the pristine white armor. It was time to return the favor.

Kaelen marched south, bringing the Void with him.