The Void did not feed him.
Thanex realized that slowly.
At first, he had assumed the strange energies inside him would remove the need for something as ordinary as food.
After all, his body had already survived things no human should have endured.
The Subrift had nearly erased him.
The Void had poured into his soul.
Chaos flowed through his veins like burning liquid.
Surely something like hunger would no longer matter.
But the human body still had rules.
Even if that body had been reforged.
The first signs appeared not long after his battle with the Blighted wolf.
A dull ache began forming deep in his stomach.
At first, it was small.
Easy to ignore.
Thanex continued climbing toward the faint glow of the Rift Gate above him, pushing through the currents of the Subrift as carefully as possible.
The Void parted around him with greater ease now.
The fight had taught him something important.
Emotion controlled the currents.
Focus controlled emotion.
The more disciplined his thoughts became, the more smoothly the darkness responded to him.
But the ache in his stomach grew.
Minutes passed.
Or maybe hours.
Time still had no meaning inside the Subrift.
The faint glow of the Rift Gate grew slightly larger above him.
Yet the hunger grew worse.
It spread outward from his stomach into his chest.
Then into his limbs.
A hollow weakness began creeping through his muscles.
Thanex frowned slightly.
That shouldn't have been possible.
His body had been rebuilt.
Strengthened.
Filled with energies that belonged to forces far beyond human existence.
Yet the hunger did not care.
His stomach twisted painfully.
His body demanded something simple.
Fuel.
Energy.
Even the Inchor of Chaos flowing through his veins seemed restless.
The cobalt-blue liquid pulsed slightly faster with every beat of his heart.
The Void inside his soul stirred uneasily.
As if both forces recognized the same problem.
Thanex's movements slowed slightly.
Climbing through the Subrift required focus.
But hunger was a powerful distraction.
His breathing became heavier.
His body felt strangely hollow.
The Void currents around him began responding to the subtle shift in his emotions.
They grew slightly unstable.
Not violent.
Just restless.
Thanex forced himself to calm down.
Losing control here would only make things worse.
He steadied his breathing again.
But the hunger continued growing.
It was no longer a dull ache.
Now it felt like claws tearing at his insides.
Thanex pressed a hand against his stomach instinctively.
Nothing changed.
Of course it didn't.
There was no food here.
No animals.
No plants.
Nothing living.
The Subrift was a graveyard of forgotten matter drifting endlessly through darkness.
Thanex continued climbing for several more minutes.
The hunger worsened.
His muscles began trembling slightly.
Even his vision blurred briefly.
Then something caught his attention.
A faint cluster of dark particles floated nearby.
Thanex slowed.
The drifting fragments moved slowly through the Void currents.
At first they looked like ordinary debris.
But the Void inside him reacted immediately.
It stirred.
Hungry.
Thanex looked closer.
Recognition dawned slowly.
These were the remains of the monster he had killed earlier.
The Blighted wolf had dissolved into drifting black mist after dying.
But not all of it had vanished completely.
Small condensed fragments of energy still remained.
They floated quietly in the darkness like droplets of thick shadow.
Each one pulsed faintly.
Thanex hovered in place.
His stomach twisted painfully again.
His instincts began screaming at him.
Food.
The thought felt absurd.
Monsters weren't food.
They were predators.
Things humans feared.
Things Resonants killed.
Not something you ate.
But the hunger continued clawing at his insides.
And something else stirred inside him.
The Void.
It reacted strongly to the drifting fragments
.
Like a predator sensing prey.
Thanex stared at the fragments silently.
This was insane.
Consuming Rift monster essence was not something normal humans could survive.
Even Resonants avoided it.
Their bodies could not process that kind of energy safely.
It corrupted them.
Destroyed them from the inside.
But Thanex wasn't normal anymore.
Void and Chaos already existed inside him.
Two impossible forces that should have destroyed him already.
Maybe…
Just maybe…
His body could handle it.
The hunger surged again.
Pain stabbed through his stomach like a knife.
That decided it.
Thanex reached out slowly.
One of the drifting fragments floated toward his hand.
It was small.
Barely larger than a coin.
The fragment looked like condensed black mist frozen into a fragile crystal.
Void energy pulsed faintly inside it.
Thanex hesitated only a moment.
Then he did something desperate.
He consumed the condensed fragment.
The moment the essence touched his tongue—
Agony erupted through his veins.
It felt like swallowing burning acid.
The fragment dissolved instantly.
Raw energy exploded inside his body.
Thanex gasped as the power surged through him violently.
The Void inside his soul reacted instantly.
It devoured the invading energy like a starving beast.
The Inchor of Chaos flared brightly inside his veins.
The cobalt liquid surged through his bloodstream like wildfire.
The collision of forces nearly tore him apart again.
Thanex's entire body convulsed.
Pain shot through every nerve.
His muscles tightened violently.
His bones vibrated under the pressure.
For a moment, he thought he had made a terrible mistake.
The energy flooding his body was wild.
Unstable.
Far too violent for any normal human to survive.
The Void consumed it greedily.
The Chaos inside his veins burned through the rest.
Thanex screamed silently.
The agony lasted only a few seconds.
But those seconds felt eternal.
Then the pain faded.
Slowly.
Gradually.
The energy settled.
The Void stopped devouring.
The Inchor stabilized again.
Thanex floated in silence.
His breathing was heavy.
His heart pounded in his chest.
But something had changed.
The hunger was gone.
Completely gone.
In its place, a new sensation spread through his body.
Strength.
His muscles tightened slightly.
Not painfully.
Just… stronger.
The energy he had consumed had not harmed him.
It had been absorbed.
Processed.
Converted.
Thanex slowly clenched his fists.
His grip felt firmer.
More controlled.
His senses sharpened.
The faint glow of the Rift Gate above him suddenly appeared clearer.
The drifting fragments around him looked sharper.
Even the subtle movements of the Void currents felt easier to read.
Thanex looked down at the remaining fragments floating nearby.
Several pieces of condensed monster essence still drifted through the darkness.
Each one pulsed faintly with unstable energy.
He understood now.
His body could process them.
Not easily.
Not safely.
But it could.
The Void inside him devoured the energy.
Chaos refined what remained.
Together, the two forces transformed it into something his body could use.
Power.
Thanex stared at the fragments for several long seconds.
A dangerous realization slowly formed inside his mind.
If he could absorb monster essence…
If each kill made him stronger…
Then the Subrift wasn't just a prison.
It was something else.
A hunting ground.
Thanex looked upward again toward the distant Rift Gate.
Then back at the drifting fragments of the creature he had killed.
His stomach was calm now.
Satisfied.
And a new thought settled into his mind.
In this place…
Monsters were food.