Night had fully settled over the ruined camp.
Ash floated in the air like grey snow, wafting slowly down on top of the burned tents and the broken wooden frames.
The seven moons hung above the sky like silent watchers, their pale glow mixing with the faint orange light left from dying flames.
Omen sat in the center of the ritual circle.
Eleven rings of thick, dried blood surrounded him.
Dozens of human bodies lay in mounds, some burned, some fresh, but there was one thing common about them, which was the fact that all of their eyes were intact.
The boy tried not to look at them.
He tried not to think of the smell, that thick, heavy mix of iron, smoke, and rot.
Lilith stood near the body pile, wiping the last drops of blood from her claws using a torn cloth she found near one of the tents. Her eyes were calm, too calm for someone who had just slaughtered an entire camp.
Omen had realised by now why the girl's parents had abandoned her.
It was the fact that Lilith could only mutate her hands and nails.
At least, these two were the only types of mutations that she had been able to fully perform by now.
Omen took a deep breath, trying not to gag as another wave of rotten smell hit him. His throat lurched, and he pressed a hand to his chest.
"Lilith," he whispered softly, "I don't… I don't know if I can do this."
The 19-year-old girl turned towards him, her hair still messy, sticking to her cheek.
Lilith's bare legs were splattered with dried blood, and her rugged skirt swayed lightly with the breeze.
She walked towards him, quiet and steadily.
"Omen," she said, stopping right in front of the ritual circle. "You want strength..but you lack the courage needed for it."
The boy lowered his head, feeling a silence slowly drape their surroundings. It happened in the span of a second as Lilith's hand clutched the boy's neck.
She placed her hand softly around his chin, pulling it upwards to her face.
Then, without consent, she closed the distance between the two, her breathe audible right in Omen's ears.
"The only fate of human in this world is death."
"Some of us are born dead…"
"While some refuse to live shackled by the chains set towards them by heaven and walk the path of Nihaar."
Omen knew he belonged to the second kind, but what Lilith said next shocked the fuck out of him.
"…but you, you belong to some Third State.
Although you look like a human and even the aura around you is that of a human, whenever I try to sense you, I only find the fluctuations of a ghoul, an unawakened ghoul to be precise." The girl finised, her statement being more of a question than an answer in itself.
Omen didn't know what to say or make of it. He simply nodded, but the fear in his stomach didn't fade.
It only twisted deeper.
"Yeah, but…" Omen swallowed. "This thing says I have to die. That's not exactly easy to accept."
Lilith crouched down in front of him and held his chin gently, lifting his face so he would look right into her eyes.
Her red eyes glowed softly in the moonlight.
"You won't die," she whispered. "You will wake up as something stronger."
"…an awakened ghoul." Omen finished her sentence, already knowing what she meant.
Lilith nodded, playfully continuing. "Yes. You'll be my awakened ghoul of a master~"
A chill ran down the boy's back.
He had seen what she could do.
What she was.
And even though he admired her strength…he feared it too.
Lilith stood up again and stepped out of the circle.
"Start reading," she ordered. "Begin with the third verse…and don't stop."
Omen looked down at the blood-bound scripture in his hands.
The pages felt warm.
Too warm.
As if something inside the book was breathing.
He turned to the next page and the words glowed faintly blue.
***
"Verse III—
The Birth of Hunger."
To become what the world fears,
one must let go of what the world protects.
Life is a chain.
Break it.
Let hunger swallow your last breath, and rise as one who needs no mercy.
***
Omen's lips twitched. "Break life…let hunger swallow your last breath…" He looked up at Lilith.
"Isn't it just simply asking you to die?"
Lilith nodded, but instead of fear, she looked proud.
"It means you must leave your human body," she said softly.
"Only then can the new one be born."
"…"
***