The wind shifted as they moved through the skeletal ruins of what had once been a stronghold. Kael could still smell smoke, though the fires had died long ago. Burned beams and scorched stone marked the homes and halls of a forgotten place. A city that once thrived on Veinfire, now reduced to cracked bones and ash.
He stepped over a rusted weapon buried halfway in the dirt, its hilt melted. A wall to his right bore carvings — old, precise, but faded by time and weather. Kael paused to read one. It was a spiral with lines radiating outward like veins.
"That symbol again," he muttered.
Rei glanced at it but kept walking. "The Seed. That's the old mark."
Kael turned to her. "You've seen it before?"
"In places like this. Places that shouldn't still be standing."
The air was dry, full of dust and heat. Kael's Core pulsed faintly against his chest, humming with tension he didn't understand. The deeper they moved into the city, the heavier his steps felt. He noticed Rei wasn't breathing normally. Her pace had slowed.
"What is this place?" Kael asked.
"Dregfold," she said, finally stopping. "It was once a gathering place for Veinbound. They trained here. Fought here. Then the Rot came. The Path took them."
"The Path?" Kael asked.
Rei pointed to the carvings on a nearby statue — a man made of jagged stone, arms raised to the sky. His chest had been hollowed out. At the base of the statue, a warning had been scratched in crude lettering.
Do not follow the whispers. Do not answer the Seed.
"They walked the Rot Path," Rei said. "Some thought they were chosen. Touched. They let the corruption in."
Kael stared at the statue. The man's eyes had been carved out.
"They wanted to become more," Rei added quietly. "Instead, they became less than human. It starts with the Core whispering. Then the body changes. Then the hunger begins."
Kael's stomach twisted.
"You think that could happen to me?"
"I think you're already on the edge," she said, not looking at him.
They walked deeper into the ruin. The air grew colder, unnatural. A series of footsteps echoed to their left — too light for a Rotspawn, too fast for a scavenger. Rei raised her hand and motioned for silence.
Kael crouched low behind a broken slab of wall. The Core in his chest beat harder now.
Rei took a cautious step forward, her gaze fixed on a collapsed doorway. She pulled a short blade from her boot.
There was no attack. Only silence.
Then Kael saw it.
A corpse.
Sprawled in the open like a warning.
It was recent. The blood was still drying in the dirt. The man had no shirt, only a shoulder guard and loose combat trousers. But Kael's eyes were drawn to the gaping hole in his chest — where the Core had once been.
Rei didn't speak. She knelt beside the body and inspected the wound. Her breath caught.
"This wasn't a beast," she whispered. "No clawing. No decay."
Kael moved closer. The edges of the wound were seared. Surgical.
"It was taken," Rei said, her voice tight. "Someone cut the Core out."
Kael stared at the dead man's face. His eyes were still open.
"That means someone else is here," he said.
Rei stood and stepped back. "Not someone. Something worse."
Kael frowned. "Rotspawn?"
"No," she said. "This is Veinhunter work."
The word sent a chill through him.
He had heard of them in whispers from vagrants and traders. Mercenaries once hired to hunt Core-thieves. But the war ended. They didn't. They went rogue, seeking stronger Cores for their own twisted gain.
Kael turned to her. "Are they after me?"
"You're carrying a relic. You lit up half the Wastes when you activated it."
"How can they track that?"
"They don't need to. Your Core calls to others. Especially them."
A stone cracked somewhere behind them.
Rei's hand went to her sword.
Kael turned slowly. The world was quiet. Too quiet.
Another step. A soft crunch of gravel.
Kael's grip tightened. His Core thrummed louder.
He looked up. On a rooftop above the corpse, a figure stood motionless. Wrapped in dark robes, mask stitched with vein-like metal. A hooked blade shimmered in its hand.
Rei drew her weapon.
"That's not a scavenger," she whispered.
The figure tilted its head.
"That's a Veinhunter. And they've already found your scent."