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"Don't. Move. Another. Inch."
The edge of the blade was cold, biting right into the soft skin under my jaw. One twitch and I’d be leaking enough blood to paint the dirt red. I froze, my heart hammering against my ribs like a trapped bird.
I didn't know where I was. I didn't know who this woman was. All I knew was that the air smelled like ozone and rotting meat, and the woman holding the knife looked like she’d personally walked through hell just to find me and kill me.
"Please," I croaked. My throat felt like I’d swallowed a handful of gravel. "I don't even know how I got here."
"Wrong answer," she snapped. Her voice was like a whip—sharp, clean, and designed to hurt. "You're in the Sundered Verge. You're a glitch. A stray. And strays get put down before they infect the rest of the herd."
She pressed the blade harder. I could feel a tiny bead of blood trickle down my neck. I tried to shift my weight, but her other hand slammed into my chest, pinning me against a jagged rock wall. She was strong. Not just 'gym' strong, but 'I-break-bones-for-fun' strong.
"Who sent you?" she demanded. Her eyes were a piercing, icy blue, scanning my face for a lie. "Which guild? The Council? The Black Market? Give me a name or I'll start with your fingers."
"I don't have a guild!" I yelled, the panic finally bubbling over. "I was working a night shift at a warehouse! I was thinking about how much I hate my boss, and then the floor just... opened!"
She didn't blink. "Cute. The 'lost soul' act. Try it on the scavengers; maybe they'll eat you slower."
Then, something happened.
My chest didn't just hurt—it ignited. A searing, white-hot brand of pain erupted right over my sternum, tearing through my cheap cotton shirt. I gasped, my back arching as a symbol—a Sigil—flashed a violent, neon gold through the fabric.
"A Sigil?" Her grip tightened, her eyes narrowing. "You're a rookie. But that's not a standard issue. What the hell is that?"
I couldn't answer. The pain was blinding. It felt like someone had poured molten lead into my veins. And then, I saw it. About five feet away, lying in the dirt, was the carcass of some kind of mutated wolf-thing. It had been dead for a few minutes, but a glowing, pulsing core of violet energy was still hovering just above its ribcage.
*Loot it.*
The thought didn't come from me. It was a command. A glitchy, digital voice echoing inside my skull.
*Siphon Core: 0%... 10%...*
"Stop moving!" she hissed, the knife nicking my skin again. "If you try to cast a spell, I'll take your head off before you finish the incantation."
"I'm not casting anything!" I screamed. "It's happening on its own!"
I could feel it now. A thread of energy, invisible and hungry, stretching from my chest toward that violet core. It was like a vacuum, pulling the essence of the dead beast through the air.
*Siphon Core: 30%... 40%...*
As the energy hit me, the pain shifted. It wasn't just burning anymore; it was consuming. I felt a sudden, violent surge of strength, but it came with a price. My vision blurred. My muscles cramped. It felt like the Sigil was eating my own life force just to fuel the transfer.
"What are you doing?" She sounded genuinely confused for the first time. She didn't pull the knife away; instead, she leaned in, her face inches from mine. I could smell something like winter rain and steel on her. Her breath was warm against my cheek, a sharp contrast to the freezing blade at my throat. "You're not chanting. You're not using a focus. How are you ripping a core from a distance?"
"I don't know!" I gasped, my lungs burning. "Just... stop... pushing the knife!"
"Answer me, you little rat!" she commanded, her voice dropping to a dangerous, low hum. She shifted her weight, her thigh pressing against mine, pinning me more firmly against the rock. The proximity was suffocating. I could see the tiny flecks of silver in her irises. She wasn't just a hunter; she was an elite. I could feel the pressure of her rank—it felt like a physical weight crushing the air out of the space between us.
*Siphon Core: 50%... ERROR... Connection Unstable...*
Suddenly, the flow stopped. The violet energy snapped like a rubber band, sending a shockwave through my chest that knocked the wind out of me. I slumped, my head hitting the rock with a dull thud.
"Pathetic," she whispered. "A glitchy power and no stamina to back it up."
She didn't let go. If anything, she pressed closer, the knife now resting right against my carotid artery. She looked at the half-absorbed core, then back at me.
"That Sigil... it's not from any known archive. You're either a miracle or a death sentence," she said, her voice devoid of emotion. "And I don't like risks."
"Look," I panted, trying to regain my breath. "I'm useless. I'm broke. I have zero combat skills. You kill me, you get nothing. But if you let me live... maybe I can find more of those cores for you?"
She paused. A small, cruel smile touched her lips. "You think you're in a position to negotiate?"
"I'm in a position to bleed out," I countered, my voice shaking. "Which means I'm desperate. And desperate people are the only ones who actually find things worth keeping in this shithole."
She stared at me for a long beat. The silence was thick, broken only by the distant, guttural howl of something that sounded like it had too many teeth. I could feel her pulse through the hand pressing my chest—steady, slow, utterly unafraid.
Slowly, she eased the pressure of the knife, but she didn't pull it away. She slid the blade down, tracing the line of my collarbone, the cold metal sending shivers down my spine.
"I should just cut your hand off and see if the Sigil stays with the limb," she mused.
"That seems... counterproductive," I whispered.
"Does it?" She leaned in even closer, her lips almost brushing my ear. The tension was electric, a mix of lethal threat and something that made my skin prickle in a way that wasn't entirely about fear. "Tell me exactly where you came from. No more stories about warehouses. No more lies."
I opened my mouth to speak, but the Sigil flared again.
*Siphon Core: Resuming... 51%... 52%...*
The surge of energy hit me like a freight train. I groaned, my hand instinctively flying up to clutch at my chest. In the chaos of the movement, my palm slammed directly onto the glowing violet core that had drifted closer in the wind.
*CRITICAL OVERLOAD. Direct Contact Detected.*
"Get your hand off that!" she screamed, her voice cracking like a gunshot.
Before I could react, she slammed the blade of her knife down, pinning my wrist directly into the dirt, the steel missing my bone by a fraction of an inch. The violet light exploded, blinding us both.
"I told you," she hissed, her face contorted with rage, "touch it and lose the hand."
I looked down. My fingers were still clamped tight around the pulsing core, and the progress bar in my head was screaming:
*Siphon Core: 60%... 70%... WARNING: LIFE FORCE DEPLETING...*
"Let go!" she yelled, her weight leaning into the knife, forcing my arm deeper into the soil. "Let go now or I'll carve you out of that skin!"
I tried to pull away, but the energy had me locked. It was like a magnet. I looked up at her, the terror and the adrenaline mixing into a cocktail that made my head spin.
"I can't!" I shrieked. "It won't let go!"
Just as she shifted her grip to twist the blade, a massive, guttural roar ripped through the air from the treeline behind us, and the ground beneath our feet began to shake.