The forest breathed.
Wind hissed low between trees, pulling at shadows like fingers through thread. Asher Vail stood still beneath the canopy, draped in the illusion of stillness. The new mask—crudely shaped from scrap and soot-dark metal—clung to his face, cold and impersonal. No longer the cracked helmet. That had been discarded hours ago, after it fractured during his first kill.
This one had no face. Just slits for sight. A blank, gleaming snarl.
The Stealth Subsystem flickered in his mind.
> [Stealth XP: 42%] [Entropy: 5.6%] [Kill Points: 96] [Next Skill Unlock – Shadow Flicker: Locked] [Requirements: 100 KP + 50% Stealth XP]
Close. Almost enough.
His body ached from the previous fight, but pain was nothing new. Just a reminder. A marker of progress. Somewhere in these woods, something stirred—a weight in the dark, pacing on all fours.
He knew what it was.
He didn't say the name aloud.
The Rake.
He remembered the stories. From before. From another life.
It had been watching. Circling. Maybe curious. Maybe hunting.
Asher didn't wait.
He moved first.
The system hummed as he activated his Stealth enhancement. His outline blurred at the edges. Not invisibility. Just misdirection—shadows clinging tighter, footsteps swallowed by silence.
The Rake lunged from the brush.
They met in mid-air, steel against claw.
The fight was savage. Short, but not easy. Asher took a gash across the ribs; the Rake earned a knife driven beneath its shoulder.
It shrieked, a sound like static breaking bone.
He twisted, using its momentum to hurl it into a tree. Bark splintered.
Before he could follow up, it was gone. Scampering backward into the mist, trailing black-red blood and a snarl.
He didn't chase.
He'd won, barely—but not enough to kill it. Not yet.
> [Kill Points Earned: +4] [Stealth XP: 46%] [Entropy: 5.9%]
He breathed in the silence that followed.
Parasight shimmered with a new notification.
> [Replay Log: New Entry Created – "Rake Encounter"]
That could wait.
Asher leaned against a tree, slid down into the roots, and stared into the dark.
He was almost there.
Almost strong enough to truly disappear.