This chapter contains body horror, existential horror, system anomalies, and disturbing transformations. Themes of power instability, identity loss, and eldritch phenomena are heavily present. Reader discretion is advised.

  ?? SYSTEM ALERT: ? UNIDENTIFIED EXISTENCE DETECTED. ? HOST STATUS: UNKNOWN. ? WARNING: SYSTEM CANNOT RECOGNIZE CURRENT FORM.

  Seth breathed.

  It should have been simple. Inhale. Exhale.

  But it was not.

  The air felt wrong.

  The sensation of his own lungs expanding and contracting was alien.

  As if his body was no longer his own.

  He lifted a trembling hand to his chest—his fingers brushed against something that should have been skin… but wasn’t.

  It was too smooth. Too cold. Too unyielding.

  Something was moving underneath.

  His fingers curled. His nails had darkened.

  His bones did not feel like bones.

  His heartbeat was irregular, off-rhythm, pulsing with a sound that was not human.

  Seth clenched his jaw, his breath ragged.

  The world around him was silent.

  But he could feel it.

  Something watching.

  Something waiting.

  ?? SYSTEM ERROR: ? HOST NO LONGER MATCHES RECORDED PARAMETERS. ? RECLASSIFYING ENTITY… ERROR. ? UNKNOWN PATH DETECTED.

  The system flickered.

  Words flashed across his vision, glitching, distorting.

  His very existence was being rewritten.

  The system did not know what he was anymore.

  "What… am I?"

  His voice came out wrong.

  Layered. Distorted.

  A voice that did not belong to him alone.

  Seth staggered forward, his steps uneven.

  The ground beneath his feet felt thin, fragile, like he was walking on the surface of something that could break at any moment.

  And then—

  ?? SYSTEM NOTICE: ? HIGHER ENTITIES HAVE TAKEN NOTICE OF YOU. ? SOME WATCH IN CURIOSITY. ? OTHERS IN FEAR.

  She had never looked at him like this before.

  This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.

  Not with adoration. Not with obsession. Not with love.

  But with fear.

  Her crimson eyes widened, her fingers trembling at her sides.

  She had tried to control him.

  She had tried to chain him to her will.

  And yet, he stood before her, changed—something beyond her comprehension.

  "Seth…"

  Her voice was small.

  She took a step forward.

  Seth watched her.

  He did not move.

  "What have you done?"

  The words were barely a whisper.

  She reached for him—

  And froze.

  A shiver ran down her spine.

  Because in the empty air between them, something unseen moved.

  Something vast.

  Something wrong.

  She did not know what she was reaching for anymore.

  Was he even still Seth?

  ?? SYSTEM ALERT: ? INTERNAL ENTITY REACTING VIOLENTLY. ? UNKNOWN ENERGY INFLUX DETECTED. ? WARNING: POWER DISPUTE IMMINENT.

  The abyss inside him screamed.

  "YOU DARE."

  The beast inside him was furious.

  It lashed against the walls of his mind, its form warping, shifting, struggling.

  It had thought itself inevitable.

  It had waited, whispered, corrupted—

  And yet, Seth had defied it.

  "YOU ARE NOTHING WITHOUT ME."

  Seth grinned.

  A grin that was not entirely sane.

  A grin that split too wide, teeth sharper than they should be.

  "Then why are you still here?"

  The beast recoiled.

  It felt it.

  The change.

  The thing inside Seth was no longer just it.

  Something else had touched him.

  Something that even the abyss did not recognize.

  And for the first time—

  The beast inside him felt fear.

  ?? SYSTEM NOTICE: ? HOST IDENTITY: UNKNOWN. ? NEW TITLE ACQUIRED: ?????????? ? ?????? HAS TAKEN NOTICE OF YOU.

  Seth exhaled.

  The system’s text glitched violently, flickering in and out.

  Something had broken.

  Something had changed.

  And then—

  A voice spoke.

  Not Nyxara.

  Not the beast.

  Not the system.

  But something far older.

  "Ah…"

  The air shivered.

  "You are interesting."

  Something pressed against reality.

  Something vast, unknowable, impossible.

  Nyxara stiffened, her breath catching in her throat.

  The beast inside Seth screamed in fury.

  And Seth—

  Seth laughed.

  Because now, he was not the one being watched.

  Now, he was the one watching back.

  ?? SYSTEM FINAL NOTICE: ? ?????? HAS ESTABLISHED CONNECTION. ? THE GAME HAS CHANGED. ? WHAT HAPPENS NEXT DEPENDS ON YOU.

  End of Chapter: The Aberration’s Awakening

  ?? Author's Note: This is a work of fiction. All characters, events, and settings are purely imaginary. This novel contains dark themes meant to enhance the story and character development. Reader discretion is advised.