Kael didn't sleep.
Not really.
He drifted somewhere between waking and oblivion, like his body knew that sleep was no longer safe. As if dreams were now territory, not refuge.
When his eyes finally closed, the system took him.
---
He stood in a field of black grass.
The sky was red, the moon enormous. The air tasted like ash and flowers.
And she was there.
Lilith.
The voice from his system. The presence behind the screens. The hunger in his blood.
Naked. Pale. Crowned in shadow. Her eyes burned with knowing. Her smile was cruel and kind in equal measure.
> "You're awake, Lustbound," she whispered.
Kael turned, tense. "I didn't call you."
"You didn't have to." She stepped forward. "You touched her. Felt her pain. Drank her loneliness. The system responds to hunger."
He looked around. The world felt fragile, like if he blinked too hard it would shatter.
"This is a dream."
"A reflection," she corrected. "A staging ground. A veil between what you think you are and what you could be."
> "I don't want this," Kael said. "I don't want to become something else."
"You don't want to become," she said, running a finger across his chest. "But you're already unraveling. This world never gave you power. This system will. It already has."
A red screen bloomed beside her, pulsing softly.
---
> [ESSENCE: 5]
▸ Unlock Skill: Charm Pulse – Briefly boosts ambient attraction. Moderate emotional disruption radius.
▸ Unlock Skill: Desire Sense Upgrade – Range extended. Subtle control enhancement.
▸ Continue suppressing aura? [Y/N]
---
> "Make a choice, Kael," Lilith whispered. "Suppress. Unlock. Or surrender."
> "I'll use it," he said. "But I won't lose myself to it."
Her smile faded, replaced with something… sad.
> "Everyone says that. The first night."
And then he woke, gasping. Heart racing. Skin hot.
And the screen was still there.
---
[CHARM PULSE UNLOCKED]
---
Hours Later
The Emberwake outpost stood just outside the city's eastern wall, carved from darkwood beams and reinforced stone. Banners fluttered from its towers, each one marked with a unique crest — parties, branches, regions.
Kael stood before it in a plain gray coat, hood up, eyes low. He hadn't slept, not properly, but the adrenaline kept him alert.
> You need this, he told himself.
You need a cover. A path. A reason to keep existing.
He approached the heavy wooden doors and knocked twice.
A panel slid open.
"You here for intake?" the voice inside asked.
Kael nodded. "Name's Kael Virex. Empathic Channeler."
A pause. Then the door creaked open.
---
The intake chamber was more like a stable than a guild hall — stone floors, straw-smelling mats, racks of training weapons along the walls. Half a dozen others stood in line, waiting to be evaluated. A few seasoned guild members leaned against posts, smirking at the fresh blood.
Kael was directed to a booth manned by a tired-looking woman with ink-stained gloves.
"Class?" she asked, not looking up.
"Empathic Channeler."
That made her glance at him. "Rare."
Kael shrugged.
She tapped a rune stone. "Can I confirm it?"
Kael's pulse spiked.
The system spoke, clear and immediate:
> [IDENTITY MASK ACTIVE]
Emotion masking: stable. Aura suppression: holding.
System scan integrity: 99%.
He nodded once.
The stone glowed for a second. Then dimmed.
"Alright," the clerk muttered. "You're clean. Barely even triggered a spike. You'll start with a group eval. Party formation. D-class test mission."
"Got it."
She waved him on, uninterested.
---
Kael was led into the training yard. There, he found himself face-to-face with the other initiates.
That's when he saw Seren again — the scout from the tavern.
She locked eyes with him, brow furrowed. She looked like she wanted to say something. Then thought better of it.
They were grouped together, along with a gruff axe-wielder and a nervous-looking bow user.
"We're assigned to a patrol zone," Seren muttered, not quite to him. "Standard dungeon clearance. You sure you're a support class?"
Kael kept his face neutral. "Guess we'll find out."
She didn't smile.
---
They set out within the hour.
A minor ruin. Two hours northeast. Supposedly cleared, but marked for Essence disturbances.
Kael barely heard the debriefing.
His head was still ringing with Lilith's voice. Her touch. That screen.
> Charm Pulse: ready.
Desire Sense: enhanced.
And above it all, the hunger was still there.
Tamed, but not silent.
For the first time, Kael wondered if he'd be able to fake this long enough to survive.
Because the system didn't just want to be used.
It wanted to be fed.