The awareness of his newfound power settled over Instinct like a second skin.
Moonfall rested at his side, its sheath unfamiliar against his hip.
Nyx hummed softly in his mind, a sound like distant wind chimes.
Then his stomach growled.
It was such an ordinary sound—so mundane compared to everything that had happened since he opened his eyes beneath the forest canopy—that Instinct almost laughed.
“Well,” he said aloud, glancing toward the fading daylight, “something to eat would be nice.
And shelter before nightfall.”
” HOW DELIGHTFULLY MORTAL OF YOU.
”
Nyx’s voice carried a teasing purr.
” THE GREAT ABSOLUTE TAMER, BROUGHT LOW BY HUNGER AND THE NEED FOR A ROOF.
”
“Mock me all you want.
I’m not dying of exposure on my first night of existence.”
He began walking deeper into the forest, leaving the wolf’s corpse and the clearing where he had awakened behind.
The trees grew denser here, their trunks wider and older.
Moss clung to their northern faces like memories, while tangled roots twisted through the earth beneath his feet.
Instinct moved cautiously, his enhanced senses sweeping across the landscape.
Thirty minutes of steady walking brought him to what he sought.
A cave mouth yawned open in the side of a rocky outcrop, its entrance framed by ferns and trailing vines.
Perfect.
Safe.
Defensible.
Or so it appeared.
Instinct approached cautiously, peering into the darkness.
His eyes adjusted almost instantly.
He saw them immediately.
Two massive boars were rooting near the back wall.
Their bristled hides were dark as midnight, their bodies thick with muscle.
Both froze as they caught his scent.
One slowly lifted its head.
Its tusks caught what little light filtered through the entrance.
Then they charged.
Instinct had no time for hesitation.
Moonfall left its sheath in a single fluid motion.
He stepped aside as the first boar thundered past, its tusks slicing through empty air.
The second was faster.
It cut diagonally toward him, hooves hammering against the stone.
Instinct pivoted and brought Moonfall down.
The movement wasn’t perfect.
The blade was still unfamiliar in his hand, the techniques from the scroll little more than newly acquired knowledge waiting to become experience.
But his reactions—
Those were something else.
Moonfall bit deep into the creature’s shoulder.
The boar shrieked, stumbling sideways as blood sprayed across the cave floor.
The first wheeled around, its hooves scraping violently against the stone.
Instinct moved.
His body knew when to shift.
When to duck.
When an attack was coming.
Yet Moonfall demanded something different.
Knowing where to move and knowing how to wield a blade were not the same thing.
The boars were powerful.
Their charges could crush bone.
But they were wild.
Instinctive.
Predictable.
The first charged again.
Instinct twisted aside—
Not fast enough.
A tusk tore across his ribs.
Pain flashed white through him as flesh split.
He staggered a step, teeth clenching.
Then something extraordinary happened.
The wound began closing.
Instinct felt torn flesh pulling together beneath his clothes.
Blood stopped flowing.
Pain diminished almost as quickly as it had come.
Absolute Recovery.
The boar didn’t give him time to marvel at it.
It charged again.
This time, Instinct was ready.
He stepped away from the tusks and drove Moonfall into the creature’s thick neck.
The blade sank deep.
The boar collapsed with a violent convulsion.
Instinct ripped Moonfall free and turned toward the second.
It wasn’t charging.
It was watching him.
Circling.
Learning.
Instinct’s eyes narrowed.
“Smart.”
The boar lowered its head.
“Not smart enough.”
It charged.
Instinct feinted left.
The creature followed.
The moment it committed its weight, Instinct changed direction.
He moved right, brought Moonfall around with both hands and struck the junction between neck and shoulder.
Not elegant.
Not perfect.
But effective.
The boar stumbled.
Instinct followed with another strike.
The massive body crashed against the stone.
Silence returned to the cave.
For several seconds, there was only Instinct’s breathing and the dying crackle of displaced stones beneath the boar’s weight.
Then—
” LEVEL UP.
”
A strange sensation washed through his body.
” YOU ARE NOW LEVEL 2.
”
Instinct looked toward the translucent notification.
“Anything change?”
Nyx was silent for a moment.
” APPARENTLY YOUR ATTRIBUTES DID.
”
“Apparently?”
” YES.
APPARENTLY.
”
He waited.
Nyx sighed dramatically inside his head.
” THEY ALREADY SAY ABSOLUTE.
I DON’T EXACTLY HAVE A STANDARDIZED FORMULA FOR WHAT AN INCREASE TO “ABSOLUTE” IS SUPPOSED TO LOOK LIKE.
”
Instinct stared at the notification.
“So you don’t know.”
” I PREFER “THE SYSTEM HAS FAILED TO PROVIDE ME WITH SUFFICIENT INFORMATION.” ”
“That sounds like ‘I don’t know’ with more words.”
A pause.
” I LIKED YOU BETTER BEFORE YOU STARTED TALKING SO MUCH.
”
Despite himself, Instinct smiled.
The notification faded.
He looked down at his ribs.
The wound was already gone.
No scar.
Not even a trace.
Only torn fabric, drying blood, and the memory of pain remained.
He would need to understand his abilities better.
Whatever Absolute truly meant, he clearly wasn’t incapable of being hurt.
The boar had proven that easily enough.
His abilities were extraordinary.
That didn’t mean he could afford to become careless.
Overconfidence could still get him killed.
But first—
Dinner.
He spent the next hour preparing one of the boars.
Once again, something bothered him.
He had no memory of ever butchering an animal, yet his hands seemed to understand the basics without conscious thought.
Not with the impossible precision of an expert, but with enough familiarity to make the task strangely natural.
Muscle memory, perhaps.
Or another fragment of knowledge his missing memories had somehow left behind.
He had no answer.
That was becoming irritatingly familiar.
Instinct gathered stones and arranged them in a circle near the cave’s entrance before building a small fire.
The flames caught, crackling softly as they illuminated the stone walls.
Soon, meat was roasting over a makeshift spit.
The scent filled the cave.
Instinct sat back and watched the flames, his thoughts drifting.
Who had he been?
The question had followed him since awakening.
His mind remembered nothing, yet his body remembered how to fight.
His hands retained skills he couldn’t explain.
Even the language written inside the swordsmanship scroll had been immediately understandable.
There were pieces of himself still there.
He simply couldn’t reach them.
Nyx was unusually quiet.
Somehow, that felt more ominous than her usual chatter.
He was halfway through his meal when he heard it.
A sound from outside.
Distant.
Distinct.
Movement.
Something crashing through the underbrush.
Instinct immediately set down his food.
He rose, one hand moving toward Moonfall’s hilt.
He approached the cave entrance and peered into the gathering darkness.
The forest had become a tapestry of shadows.
His enhanced eyes cut through them with surprising clarity.
There.
A figure.
Stumbling between the trees.
Moving erratically.
Not the gait of a predator.
Something else.
Something wounded.
Instinct stepped out of the cave.
His hand slowly fell away from Moonfall.
The figure was humanoid.
Slight.
Moving with obvious difficulty.
As it drew closer, moonlight broke through the canopy and illuminated pale skin and dark hair.
A woman.
She wore tattered clothing, and blood streaked one side of her face.
Instinct’s gaze shifted.
Then he saw her ears.
Sharp.
Elegant.
Unmistakable.
An elf.
She took another stumbling step.
Her legs gave way.
Instinct moved without thinking.
He crossed the distance between them in seconds and caught her before she struck the ground.
She was unconscious.
Her breathing was shallow.
Fresh claw marks crossed her shoulder, the surrounding flesh already swollen and angry.
Instinct frowned.
“What happened to you?”
She didn’t answer.
” WELL… ”
Nyx’s voice was unusually quiet.
” THIS IS UNEXPECTED.
”
Instinct didn’t respond.
He slipped one arm beneath the woman’s knees, the other behind her back, and lifted her.
She felt disturbingly light.
He carried her into the cave and laid her carefully on the flattest section of stone near the fire, positioning her close enough for the warmth to reach her without placing her dangerously near the flames.
Her pointed ears twitched faintly.
Instinct studied her.
Sharp cheekbones.
Pale skin.
Dark lashes resting against closed eyes.
She was beautiful in an otherworldly way.
But whatever had happened to her had been brutal.
He looked again at the swollen wounds crossing her shoulder.
He had no idea what she was doing in this forest.
He didn’t know what had attacked her.
He didn’t know whether she would survive the night.
And he certainly didn’t know what would happen when she woke.
For now, there was only one thing he could do.
Keep her warm.
Keep watch.
And wait.
Instinct adjusted her position slightly before sitting beside the fire.
His solitary existence had just become considerably more complicated.
The fire crackled softly.
The elf slept.
And for the first time since awakening alone beneath the forest canopy, Instinct was no longer the only person beside the fire.