Chapter 23: The Giver of Strength!
Yukeli gazed at the fruits. For a moment, he contemplated them, and it was then that he realized. They weren't just fruits. Each shimmering surface pulsed and writhed subtly, revealing something his once-weak mind could not have decoded. Each fruit was, in fact, an eye—minute, attentive, watching.
Horror struck him like a blade. Each eye seemed alive, conscious, fixed upon him. But it wasn't just a vacant stare: through them, Yukeli saw… everything.
He remembered a famous phrase: "Never look too long into the abyss."
As if each eye were a direct window into its master's mind, they revealed knowledge, intentions, identity, pain, madness, and a rot and malice that Yukeli couldn't even begin to rationalize. And he could feel the Primordial Essence contained within them. It was powerful. Immensely powerful.
The perception overwhelmed him. Each eye seemed to whisper without making a sound, projecting memories, desires, and plans into his mind. The terror grew, not from physical pain, but from the absolute clarity of what stood before him. He had been on the verge of losing himself completely, of surrendering his mind to that influence, and now he saw just how close he had come to the abyss.
The mind he had just observed was vast.
Ancient.
Wrong.
Without looking a second time, pure survival reflex took hold. Yukeli threw himself backward, bolting like a bullet. His heart hammered out of sync, each beat carrying not just the fear of what was to come, but the terror of what he had just seen. He wasn't just running to get away; he was running to assert himself against the invisible threat he had just perceived, conscious of the depth of the danger that had nearly consumed him.
Yukeli sprinted through the crystal woods, heart thumping against his ribs, breath ragged, each step kicking up shards that clinked beneath his feet.
"Shit! Shit! Shit!" He repeated the word as if, by speaking it, he could expel the terror consuming his mind. The wind cut his face, but he hardly felt it. Every muscle pulsed with renewed strength, every fiber of his body reacting with absurd velocity, far beyond what would be natural for any human.
The forest became a blur around him. Crystalline trunks rose like towers, sharp leaves glinted under the light, and he dodged instinctively, superhuman reflexes guiding every move. But despite the strength, despite the speed, the pain still followed him. His wounds throbbed, blood flowed and burned, and exhaustion threatened to swallow his body if he didn't act.
Then, with desperate willpower, he focused.
[Crystal Protection]
The rune that the being who nearly controlled his mind had made him hesitate to engrave would now be his physical salvation.
Strength + 5
He inhaled deeply, feeling the Primordial Essence seething inside him, ready to be used.
He lunged forward, channeled, and directed every fraction of Essence into the rune. A wave of heat surged through his body, starting in his chest and expanding like a tide of pure energy. Then, over his skin and his wounds, thin layers of crystal began to emerge. First, small translucent plates—fragile but adhesive. Then, layer upon layer, forming a resistant mesh that fitted perfectly over his musculature, cuts, and bruises.
The blood stopped flowing. The pain subsided, becoming only a distant echo, as if each wound had been stanched by invisible hands. Each emerging crystal seemed to pulse with Yukeli's own Essence, absorbing the pain, reinforcing his body's structure, and making him more solid, more stable. He could feel each muscle gradually relax, each nerve regain control, each heartbeat grow less heavy.
Even as he ran, even while still consumed by the terror of what he had seen, he began to feel a thread of safety. The Crystal Protection didn't erase the fear, but it created a physical barrier that allowed his body to keep pace with the changes. He could breathe better, dodge better, react faster—each razor-thin crystal becoming an extension of his will to survive, his defense, his refuge against the chaos within and without.
Yukeli pushed through the woods, his mind still on absolute alert, but now finally able to keep up with his body's transformation.
The terror hadn't vanished, but he had found armor—something tangible keeping him alive while the Predatory Intelligence guided every thought and reaction.
The pain receded.
It didn't disappear, but it retreated, contained.
He felt his structure firm up.
His body became more stable. Freer. More his own.
He kept running.
Breathing.
Surviving.
For an instant, he believed he had escaped.
Then—
"STOP."
Then he had it again—an intrusive thought, which he had previously judged to be his own—and his body stopped, motionless, as if it could not ignore the command.
Every muscle, every fiber, every impulse to flee or move simply ceased to exist. Yukeli found himself hostage to an invisible force, something that penetrated deeper than any physical pain ever could.
Yukeli screamed in pure horror, the sound torn from his throat, raw and desperate. He knew now who that thought, that compulsion, that command belonged to. There was no longer any doubt. Everything that had pushed him to devour the fruits, to ignore the pain, to obey without question, came from another. From someone—or something—that had studied his mind, understood his weaknesses, and used every bit of his instinct against him.
It wasn't human. It wasn't instinct. It was something intelligent, conscious, cold, and predatory—more than he could ever dream of being.
Seconds ago, the moment he looked at those eyes—which he had previously judged to be fruits atop hair he had mistaken for bushes—Yukeli saw. Not just with sight, but with a sudden comprehension that pierced his mind and struck every corner of his body. Hit by a strange and invasive knowledge, he saw, he heard, he knew.
Below the ground, buried beneath the hard crystal soil, lay a creature. Each gaze he had believed to be an innocent shimmer was not just light; they were extensions of that presence's consciousness.
They were its eyes, serving as bait for foolish beings like Yukeli, manipulating every movement, every thought, every desire. A carefully prepared trap.
The creature was horrendous, ghastly, and its intelligence was as deep and calculating as the very Essence pulsing through the forest.
Yukeli contemplated this being. He felt the creature's presence like a pressure cutting through the very earth, touching not just his mind, but his soul. Every fiber of his body trembled, not just with fear, but with recognition—recognition of the power that had nearly consumed his mind, of the cunning that had nearly deceived him.
Every creature in that forest—the one he had just killed, the two he had seen fighting when he arrived—all of them, without exception, were nothing more than mere puppets.
The horror was absolute, but there was also a painful clarity.
He knew now who the true predator was.
He knew its malice.
He knew its presence.
He saw.
He felt.
He contemplated…
He contemplated the Giver of Strength!