The two black eyes did not blink.
I stood completely still, barely breathing as I stared into the darkness ahead. The enormous shape at the end of the corridor looked almost identical to the Guardian Wolf that had chased us through the forest. Its massive body towered over everything around it, its four legs planted firmly against the stone floor, its head raised slightly as if it were watching over the dungeon. Even the two black eyes looked disturbingly real in the dim light.
My heart dropped.
For one terrible second, I thought it had followed us inside.
I slowly moved one foot backward, already preparing myself for another desperate run through these cursed tunnels. The creature did not react. I waited for it to move. Nothing happened. I took another step back.
Still nothing.
The silence became more unsettling with every passing second.
"Are you seeing this too?" I whispered.
Asura, who had been standing beside me, tilted his head and stared toward the enormous wolf.
"Unfortunately."
We remained there for several more moments, neither of us willing to approach it first.
Eventually, I gathered enough courage to take a few steps forward.
Nothing.
A few more.
Still nothing.
When I finally came close enough to see the surface clearly, I realized what I was looking at.
Stone.
The entire Guardian Wolf was a statue.
I stared at it for several seconds, then let out a breath I hadn’t realized I had been holding.
"You almost gave me a heart attack."
Asura glanced at me.
"It was a statue."
"I didn’t know that."
"You could have noticed it before embarrassing yourself."
I turned toward him. "You were afraid too."
"I was assessing the situation."
"Of course you were."
The wolf statue was enormous, far larger than the other stone wolves we had encountered. Its body had been carved with such incredible detail that the individual strands of fur were still visible beneath the layer of dust covering its surface. The claws were long and sharp, and the enormous jaws were slightly open, revealing rows of stone teeth.
Yet despite how lifelike it appeared, it remained nothing more than a statue.
I walked past it carefully, resisting the urge to look over my shoulder every few seconds.
We continued deeper into the dungeon.
The corridor gradually changed as we progressed. The walls became smoother, the ancient carvings more elaborate, and the wolf imagery appeared everywhere. Some murals showed wolves hunting in forests. Others depicted packs surrounding enormous beasts that looked nothing like anything I had ever seen in the original novel.
Every few dozen steps, we found another statue.
Some were small.
Some were almost human-sized.
A few were larger than horses.
After what had happened earlier, I kept a careful distance from each one.
The dungeon was strangely quiet now. No stone wolves were chasing us. No hidden traps had activated. Nothing jumped out of the darkness.
That should have made me feel better.
Instead, it made me more nervous.
Places like this were never peaceful for no reason.
I was beginning to wonder whether the dungeon itself was waiting for us to relax before killing us.
We turned into another corridor.
Asura was walking beside me, his tail swinging lazily behind him.
"Do you think there is another exit?"
"I hope so."
"And if there isn’t?"
"We die."
"You really know how to brighten the mood."
"Thank you."
I ignored him.
A moment later, Asura placed one paw on a slightly raised section of the stone floor.
There was a click.
We both froze.
I slowly turned my head toward him.
Asura looked down.
The stone beneath his paw sank inward.
"Oh."
The entire floor suddenly shifted.
"What do you mean, ’oh’?"
The stone beneath us folded inward like a hidden mechanism had been activated. My stomach dropped as the ground disappeared beneath my feet. I grabbed for the wall, missed completely, and fell.
"YOU DAMN PIECE OF SHIIIIITTTTT!"
Asura fell alongside me.
"Why are you blaming me?"
"BECAUSE YOU STEPPED ON IT!"
"How was I supposed to know?"
We disappeared into darkness.
When I opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was white.
Not stone.
Not the dungeon.
White.
The ground beneath me was smooth and featureless, stretching endlessly in every direction. There were no walls, no ceiling, no visible source of light, yet the entire place was brightly illuminated.
I sat there with my legs stretched forward and stared ahead.
Then I sighed.
"This place again."
I had seen this strange white world before.
The last time I had entered it, I had wandered around for what felt like hours before finally waking up. Even then, I had been convinced that it was some kind of dream.
This time, however, I wasn’t interested in exploring.
I stood up and immediately began walking.
"Asura!"
My voice echoed through the endless whiteness.
"Asura!"
Nothing.
I kept moving.
"Asura!"
Still nothing.
My footsteps made no sound, yet somehow I could tell that I was walking. The entire place felt wrong. There was no wind, no temperature, no smell, no sense of direction.
It was as though I had been dropped into an empty thought.
I kept walking.
Minutes passed.
Then more.
I eventually stopped trying to understand where I was. I simply continued forward, calling Asura’s name every now and then.
I already knew this was probably a dream.
That should have made me calmer.
It didn’t.
Because last time I had eventually awakened.
This time, I wanted to get out.
"ASURA!"
My voice echoed farther than before.
Nothing answered.
I kept walking.
Then I smelled something.
I stopped.
A strange odor drifted through the white space.
At first it was faint.
Then it became stronger.
I frowned and looked around.
"What is that?"
The smell grew worse.
I turned and started walking in the opposite direction.
It followed me.
I walked faster.
The smell became stronger.
I started running.
"What the hell is that?!"
There was no source.
No visible creature.
No object.
Just that horrible smell following me through the endless whiteness.
I covered my nose with one hand as I ran, but it didn’t help.
The smell was everywhere.
Eventually my lungs began to burn.
I stopped.
My knees weakened.
I crouched down, bringing both hands over my nose.
"I am going to die from this smell."
I stayed there for several seconds, desperately trying to breathe through my mouth.
It was useless.
The smell had become unbearable.
I lowered my head.
Then everything went dark.
I opened my eyes.
Something black was directly in front of my face.
I blinked.
Two small paws were pressed against my nose.
I stared at them.
Slowly, I raised my eyes.
Asura was sitting in front of me.
I narrowed my eyes.
"You."
He moved one paw slightly.
"You weren’t waking up."
"So you put your paws on my face?"
"I tried to bite you first."
I stared at him.
"You tried to bite me?"
"You were lying there without moving. I thought you were dead."
"And your final attempt to save me was putting your paws on my nose?"
"It was worth trying."
I rubbed my face.
"You’re unbelievable."
Asura yawned.
"You are welcome."
I slowly stood up and brushed the dirt from my clothes.
I looked at him again.
"You really are the King of Shadows?"
Asura stared back at me.
"Yes."
"The King of the Great Sea?"
"Yes."
"Feared by gods?"
"Yes."
"Ten thousand years old?"
"Yes."
I sighed.
Then I walked past him.
"Never mind."
Asura’s ears twitched.
"What?"
"Nothing."
"You asked."
"I changed my mind."
He suddenly moved in front of me.
"You cannot simply ask whether I am the legendary King of Shadows and then walk away."
I stepped around him.
He moved again.
I stepped around him a second time.
Eventually, I simply raised my leg and pushed him aside with my foot.
Asura rolled slightly across the floor.
There was a moment of stunned silence.
"How dare you?"
I ignored him and continued walking.
He followed behind me, muttering insults that I pretended not to hear.
The white space eventually changed.
A giant stone door appeared in front of us.
Unlike the empty surroundings, this door looked ancient. Deep cracks spread across its surface, and dust covered the edges. At the center was a carving of an ordinary wolf.
I stared at it.
Something felt different.
I couldn’t explain it.
My senses had become sharper after entering the dungeon. I could feel the air moving through the cracks around the door, hear faint vibrations beneath the floor, and somehow sense that there was something on the other side.
Something powerful.
"There is something behind this."
Asura looked at the door.
"I can feel it too."
I stepped forward and pushed against it.
Nothing happened.
I pushed harder.
The door didn’t move even slightly.
I clenched my teeth.
"Come on."
I tried again.
Nothing.
Asura sat down beside me.
"You should eat more."
I turned toward him.
"What?"
"You’re too weak."
I grabbed one of his ears.
"Ow! Stop pulling."
"You could help."
"I am currently helping by observing your weakness."
I pulled his ear a little harder.
"Sorry."
I let go.
Asura immediately moved his paw over his ear.
"You are becoming increasingly disrespectful."
"I learned from you."
I looked back toward the door.
Then something caught my attention.
A dark stain marked the side of my clothes.
Blood.
I frowned.
I had almost forgotten about it.
During the chase through the Ghost Forest, the Guardian Wolf had attacked me several times. Its claws had torn my clothes, and some of its blood must have splashed onto the fabric.
I touched the stain.
Then I looked at the wolf carved into the door.
A thought entered my mind.
I tore the bloodstained piece of fabric from my clothes.
Asura raised an eyebrow.
"What are you doing?"
"I have an idea."
I pressed the bloody cloth against the wolf carving.
For several seconds, nothing happened.
Then the floor trembled.
I froze.
A faint white light began spreading across the door.
The wolf carving glowed.
Stone shifted somewhere beneath us.
With a deep grinding sound, the enormous door slowly began to open.
I stepped backward.
Asura’s eyes narrowed.
The doorway revealed a completely dark room beyond it.
I stared at the bloodstained cloth still in my hand.
"The blood."
Asura looked at me.
"What about it?"
"The Guardian Wolf."
He waited.
"This dungeon recognized the blood."
Asura’s eyes narrowed slightly.
"How did you know?"
I shrugged.
"Books."
He stared at me for a moment.
Then he nodded.
"Woah."
I ignored him and stepped through the doorway.
The moment we entered, the air changed.
It was colder.
Much colder.
The room was enormous, far larger than the outside structure suggested. Strange markings covered the walls, and ancient pillars surrounded the center of the chamber.
At the center stood a statue.
A wolf.
But it wasn’t like the others.
This one stood upright, its enormous body covered in intricate armor-like carvings. Its head was raised proudly, and its claws were wrapped around something held against its chest.
A heart.
A real heart.
It rested inside the stone wolf’s hands.
I stared at it.
Unlike everything else in this dungeon, it wasn’t made of stone.
It was flesh.
Dark veins spread across its surface.
And it was moving.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
My face tightened.
"That shouldn’t be possible."
Asura became completely silent.
I glanced at him.
"You know this statue?"
"Yes."
His voice was different.
Less mocking.
More serious.
"This is Muse."
"Muse?"
"The King of Wolves."
I looked back at the statue.
Asura’s eyes remained fixed on it.
"His full name was too long. People simply called him Muse."
"You knew him?"
"I knew of him."
Asura paused.
"Long ago, Muse was one of the greatest warriors of the forest. He fought creatures that would have torn ordinary kingdoms apart. He was powerful, respected, and feared by many."
I slowly looked at the heart.
"What about that?"
Asura stared at it.
"I suspect that is his heart."
I swallowed.
"His heart?"
"Muse is dead."
My gaze returned to the beating organ.
"Then why is it still beating?"
Asura didn’t answer immediately.
Finally, he said, "That is the strange part."
The heart continued to beat.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
A faint pulse of energy spread through the room with every movement.
I could feel it against my skin.
"What killed him?"
"We don’t know."
"We?"
"Stories say he was slain."
"By whom?"
Asura shook his head.
"That part was lost."
I stepped closer to the statue.
The air around the heart felt heavy.
My body instinctively warned me not to touch it.
I stopped.
For a moment, I simply stared.
Something about the heart felt wrong.
Not evil.
Not exactly.
Just ancient.
Far too ancient.
Yet there was also an undeniable pull.
Power.
Enough power to change everything.
I slowly raised my hand.
My fingers stopped a few inches away.
Then I remembered the Guardian Wolf.
Running.
Hiding.
Almost dying.
Being dragged through the forest with no strength to fight back.
And then the dungeon.
The grimoire.
The unknown dangers waiting ahead.
I clenched my jaw.
I couldn’t remain this weak forever.
My fingers touched the heart.
The statue trembled.
Cracks instantly spread across its body.
"What the—"
The entire statue shattered.
Stone exploded outward.
I stumbled backward as pieces of rock crashed onto the floor.
The heart remained in my hand.
It was warm.
Far too warm.
I looked at Asura.
"What am I supposed to do with this?"
He answered without hesitation.
"Eat it."
I stared at him.
"No."
"Why?"
"Because it’s a heart."
"So?"
"It’s a disgusting heart!"
Asura tilted his head.
"I would eat it."
"Then you eat it."
"I cannot."
"Convenient."
"My current body cannot handle that amount of mana."
He pointed one paw toward the heart.
"If I try, this dog body will explode."
I looked at him.
"And why exactly is that my problem?"
"Because we are connected."
I frowned.
"What does that mean?"
"If you consume the heart and absorb the mana, I will also gain access to some of that power through our connection."
I looked down at the heart again.
"No."
Asura’s voice became serious.
"We are going to find the Ancient God Grimoire."
"I know."
"We don’t know what is waiting for us."
"I know."
"And if we encounter something like that Guardian Wolf again, what will you do?"
I didn’t answer.
Asura continued.
"You already experienced what happens when you are powerless."
My grip tightened around the heart.
He was right.
That was the worst part.
I hated that he was right.
The Guardian Wolf had nearly killed me.
If another creature of that level appeared, I wouldn’t even be able to run.
I stared at the heart.
It was still beating.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
I closed my eyes for a moment.
"I’m sorry, real Kain."
Then I opened my mouth.
And ate the heart.
The taste was horrible.
The moment it entered my mouth, the world disappeared.
My heartbeat stopped.
Everything became silent.
Then another heartbeat answered it.
Thump.
My eyes widened.
Thump.
A second pulse echoed somewhere inside my chest.
Thump.
My body suddenly convulsed.
I collapsed onto the floor, one knee striking the stone as a wave of heat exploded through me.
"Kain!"
Asura moved toward me.
I clawed at the floor.
My entire body felt like it was burning from the inside.
"Wait!" Asura shouted. "Don’t resist it! I will help condense the energy!"
"What... do you mean... don’t resist?!"
The energy surged again.
I screamed.
Something moved beneath my skin.
My hands shook violently.
My muscles tightened.
My vision blurred.
I could hear Asura shouting something, but his voice was drowned out by the pounding in my ears.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
Then the second heartbeat changed.
It became heavier.
Deeper.
Stronger.
It no longer sounded human.
I froze.
A sound echoed inside my mind.
A howl.
It wasn’t coming from outside.
It wasn’t coming from Asura.
It was inside me.
Ancient.
Wild.
Powerful enough to make every instinct in my body scream.
I tried to breathe.
Another howl followed.
My vision flashed crimson.
For the briefest moment, I saw something reflected in the darkness ahead.
Two glowing eyes.
Not mine.
Something massive stood behind me in the reflection.
Something with fangs.
Something with claws.
Something that looked like a wolf.
I tried to turn.
Nothing happened.
The second heartbeat continued.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
The howl echoed once more through my mind.
And this time, it didn’t sound like a cry.
It sounded like something had finally awakened.