Arc 1: The Unnatural Predator
The first thing Daniel Cross learned about being a Titan was that transforming into a giant monster was considerably less enjoyable than it looked.
The second thing he learned was that falling flat on his face afterward hurt like hell.
And the third?
Apparently, there were things in this world that could make even a giant monster feel small.
Daniel stood in the darkness beneath the abandoned building, one hand pressed against the damp stone wall. His breathing was ragged. His legs trembled with every step, and the strange sensation inside his skull—the one that had accompanied his transformation—refused to disappear.
Somewhere behind him, water dripped steadily into a puddle.
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
"Wonderful," he whispered. "I'm trapped underground, my body feels like it's been used to tenderize meat, and there's something screaming in the dark."
He paused.
"Really should've stayed in bed."
Then he remembered something important.
He didn't have a bed.
He didn't even have a proper understanding of whose body he was currently occupying, why he'd ended up in this world, or how he'd managed to turn into a Titan without immediately dying from the experience.
His previous life felt like a half-remembered dream. A name, a handful of memories, and fragments of a world that no longer existed.
Daniel Cross.
That was what the voice in his head had called him.
And the voice had been disturbingly confident about the whole giant-monster situation.
[EVOLUTIONARY SYSTEM — STATUS UNSTABLE]
[Current Evolution Points: 0]
[Acquired Trait: Enhanced Olfactory Perception]
[Transformation Control: Unstable]
[Warning: Repeated transformation under current conditions may result in severe biological damage.]
Daniel stared at the warning.
"Could've mentioned that before I turned into a walking skyscraper."
[The host initiated transformation under emergency conditions.]
"I was being chased!"
[Correct.]
"By something that wanted to eat me!"
[Correct.]
"Then perhaps a little helpful advice would've been appreciated?"
The interface remained silent.
Daniel closed his eyes.
"Right. Talking to a magical menu. That's where my life is now."
He continued down the tunnel.
The air smelled of wet earth, rust, and something unpleasantly sweet. His enhanced sense of smell had become both a blessing and a curse. Every scent seemed to have its own distinct character, from the mustiness of the stone to the faint traces of old blood embedded in the floor.
But beneath them all was another smell.
Fresh blood.
Daniel crouched beside a dark smear on the ground.
It hadn't dried completely.
Someone had been here recently.
He touched the edge of the stain with one finger, then immediately regretted it.
"Please be a dead rat," he muttered.
The smell intensified as he leaned closer.
"Actually, no. I take that back. I don't want to know."
A noise echoed from somewhere ahead.
Not the distant scrape of stone he'd heard earlier.
Footsteps.
Daniel froze.
One step.
Then another.
Slow. Uneven. Deliberate.
Someone was walking toward him.
He backed into a narrow recess in the wall, holding his breath as the footsteps grew louder.
A dim light appeared around the bend.
Then came a voice.
"Who's there?"
Human.
Daniel nearly cried with relief.
Then the stranger spoke again.
"Come out. I know you're here."
Daniel peered around the corner.
The boy holding the lantern couldn't have been much older than fifteen. He had messy brown hair, sharp green eyes, and a face that looked perpetually one bad decision away from a fight.
His clothes were dusty. His right sleeve was torn, and there was a shallow cut across his cheek.
He held a short knife in one hand.
Daniel looked at the knife.
Then at the boy.
Then at the knife again.
Excellent. A teenager with a knife. Because my evening wasn't already going badly.
"Before we do anything stupid," Daniel said, stepping into the light, "I'd like to point out that I'm unarmed."
The boy's eyes narrowed.
"Who are you?"
"Daniel."
"Daniel what?"
"Cross."
The boy didn't lower the knife.
"Where did you come from?"
"That's a complicated question."
"Try me."
"Somewhere I very much wish I'd stayed."
For a moment, neither moved.
Then the boy's gaze dropped to Daniel's hands.
They were shaking.
Not from fear alone. His muscles were still recovering from the transformation, and every breath seemed to scrape against his ribs.
The boy noticed.
His expression changed slightly.
"Are you hurt?"
Daniel considered lying.
Then he remembered that he'd recently transformed into a fifteen-meter monster, collapsed in a tunnel, and apparently acquired the ability to smell blood from several rooms away.
"Yes," he answered. "In ways that would require a very long explanation."
The boy hesitated.
Then, from somewhere deeper in the underground passage, came a sound that wiped the expression from his face.
A scream.
Human in pitch.
Monstrous in volume.
The lantern flame flickered.
Daniel felt every hair on his arms stand up.
The boy slowly turned toward the darkness.
"What was that?" Daniel whispered.
The boy tightened his grip on the knife.
"I was hoping you'd tell me."
The scream came again.
This time, it ended in a wet, choking gurgle.
Daniel's stomach tightened.
"Tell me that's a dog."
The boy shot him an incredulous look. "What kind of dog screams like that?"
"The kind I never want to meet."
"You're an idiot."
"That's the nicest thing anyone's said to me today."
The boy started toward the bend.
Daniel grabbed his shoulder.
"Wait."
The boy immediately turned, knife raised.
"Touch me again and I'll cut you."
"Good. Excellent. Very reassuring. Now, could you explain why we're walking toward the sound of something that just screamed like a dying person?"
"Because someone might be hurt."
Daniel stared at him.
There it was.
That particular brand of stupidity possessed exclusively by people who believed they could save everyone.
He recognized it because he'd probably possessed a little of it himself, once upon a time.
"You're going to get yourself killed," Daniel said.
"Then stay here."
The boy marched ahead.
Daniel swore under his breath and followed.
Because apparently, he was an idiot too.
The tunnel opened into a chamber that looked as though it had been abandoned for decades.
Broken wooden crates lay scattered across the floor. Rusted chains hung from the ceiling, and an old iron door stood half-open at the far end. Someone had carved strange markings into the walls.
Daniel couldn't read them.
He wasn't sure he wanted to.
The smell of blood was stronger here.
A man lay beside the iron door.
His legs were twisted beneath him, and one hand clutched his stomach. Blood seeped between his fingers.
The boy rushed forward.
"Hey! Can you hear me?"
The man's eyes snapped open.
"Don't—"
Something struck the other side of the iron door.
BOOM.
Dust showered from the ceiling.
The boy stumbled backward.
Daniel felt the impact through the soles of his boots.
BOOM.
The door bent outward.
Not much.
Just enough to make Daniel's mouth go dry.
The injured man began to cry.
"Please," he whispered. "Please, don't let it out."
The boy beside Daniel went completely still.
"What is it?" he asked.
The man grabbed his wrist.
"Get out."
His voice cracked.
"Both of you. Get out before it learns your names."
Daniel stopped breathing.
Before he could ask what that meant, the system appeared.
[WARNING: ANOMALOUS BIOLOGICAL SIGNATURE DETECTED.]
[Distance: 8.4 meters.]
[Threat classification: Unknown.]
Daniel stared at the interface.
Eight meters.
The iron door was barely six meters away.
"Oh, you have got to be kidding me."
[Additional anomalous signatures detected.]
[Total signatures: 3.]
Daniel's blood ran cold.
Three?
There were three things down here?
He looked at the iron door again.
The metal bulged outward.
And then something on the other side began to laugh.
It was a human laugh.
A young man's laugh, broken by coughing and interrupted by an occasional wet clicking sound.
The boy beside Daniel went completely still.
"What the hell is that?" he whispered.
Daniel had no answer.
The laughter stopped.
Silence swallowed the chamber.
Then a voice drifted through the iron door.
"Daniel?"
Every muscle in Daniel's body locked.
The boy turned toward him.
"What?"
Daniel couldn't speak.
The voice came again.
"Daniel Cross."
It knew his full name.
Not the name he'd given the boy.
Not the name he'd seen in the system.
His full name.
The name belonging to the life he'd left behind.
Daniel took an involuntary step backward.
"No," he whispered.
The iron door shuddered.
"Daniel," the voice repeated, sounding almost delighted. "There you are."
The system flashed violently.
[CRITICAL WARNING]
[HOST IDENTITY RECOGNIZED BY UNKNOWN ENTITY.]
[EMERGENCY QUEST ACTIVATED: SURVIVE THE ENCOUNTER.]
[Objective: Prevent the containment breach.]
[Failure Penalty: Permanent loss of evolutionary potential.]
Daniel's mouth went dry.
"System?"
[Awaiting host response.]
"Tell me how to stop it."
[Insufficient information.]
"Of course there is."
The boy seized Daniel's arm.
"We're leaving. Now!"
For once, Daniel didn't argue.
They turned toward the tunnel.
Behind them, the iron door began to scream.
Metal tore away from its hinges.
And the voice on the other side whispered one final sentence.
"You shouldn't have come back."
The door exploded outward.
And something stepped into the light.
End of Chapter 4.