CHAOSBORN: DEVOUREROF THE DEEP

You may not remember these words.

Perhaps you will not remember me, either.

But remember this: everything I have done was for you.

One day, you may hate me for it. You may curse my name and wish you had never been born. When that day comes, I ask only one thing of you.

Do not surrender.

Turn your hatred into strength. Turn your fear into caution. And when the world finally shows you its true face, do not let it decide what kind of person you become.

The world awaiting you is cruel. Your enemies will hide behind familiar faces, and some of the hands reaching to help you will be the very hands that lead you to ruin.

Trust carefully. Question everything.

Above all, survive.

Your past has been taken from you. Your name may be the last piece of yourself you have left.

Protect it.

Because when the truth finally returns, you will understand why you had to lose everything.

They are coming.

And if they find you before you are ready, there will be no second chance.

So rise.

Endure.

And when the time comes, let the world regret what it failed to destroy. “Wake up.”

The voice was small, sharp, and irritatingly close.

“Wake up! Seriously, are you dead? Because if you are, I would appreciate knowing before whatever is coming over there decides to eat me too!”

Rex opened his eyes.

For a few seconds, he couldn’t understand what he was seeing.

The sky was a bruised shade of purple, stretched across the world like a wounded thing. Strange ripples moved through it, slow and uneven, as though something enormous were breathing on the other side.

Pale trees surrounded him. Their trunks were thin and twisted, their branches bare. No birds sang. No insects chirped. Even the wind seemed reluctant to move.

The ground beneath his back was warm.

That was the first thing he noticed.

The second was the metallic smell hanging in the air.

The third was the fact that he had absolutely no idea where he was.

Rex sat up too quickly.

Pain stabbed through his skull.

“Ah! Wonderful. My head is trying to kill me.”

“Congratulations. You’re awake enough to complain.”

Rex froze.

“Who said that?”

“Me.”

“Where are you?”

“That’s a fantastic question.”

“You’re not helping.”

“I’m working with limited information here!”

Rex looked around. Nothing moved between the trees. There was no one nearby, no person hiding behind a trunk, no obvious source for the voice.

He pressed his fingers against his temples and tried to remember.

His home.

His family.

A face.

Anything.

Nothing came.

He reached deeper into his mind, searching for even the smallest fragment of his past, but all he found was an empty darkness that seemed to stretch forever.

Then a name surfaced.

Rex.

He held on to it.

“Rex,” he whispered.

“What?”

“My name. I think it’s Rex.”

“Think?”

“It’s the only thing I have!”

“Well, Rex, I have some unfortunate news.”

“What?”

“Something is about to eat you.”

A shadow swept across the ground.

“Roll left!”

Rex barely had time to react.

He threw himself sideways.

BOOM!

Something enormous struck the ground where his head had been. Dirt and shattered roots exploded into the air, pelting his face.

Rex scrambled backward, coughing.

Then he saw it.

The creature stood several metres away, its body low to the ground and its long limbs bent at unnatural angles. It resembled a hound only in the loosest possible sense. Its gray hide stretched tightly across a rib cage that looked too large for its body, and its legs ended in hooked claws that dug into the soil.

Where its eyes should have been, two sunken pits glowed orange.

Its mouth opened.

Rex immediately regretted looking inside.

There were too many teeth.

“Okay,” he whispered. “That’s a very large dog.”

“That is not a dog.”

“You’re right. It’s an ugly dog.”

“Are you trying to get us killed?”

“Us? You said it was going to eat me!”

“Well, I didn’t expect it to be so enthusiastic about the idea!”

The creature lowered its head.

Rex’s instincts screamed.

“RUN!”

For once, he obeyed without arguing.

He sprinted between the pale trees, his feet striking the uneven ground with surprising precision. He didn’t remember learning how to run like this, but his body seemed to understand the terrain better than his mind did.

“Left!” the voice shouted.

Rex veered left.

“Now duck!”

He ducked.

A claw swept through the air above his head, cutting through a branch thick enough to break his neck.

Rex’s heart hammered against his ribs.

“What are you?”

“Currently? Terrified!”

“That’s not an answer!”

“It’s the most accurate one I’ve got!”

Something struck his wrist.

Rex glanced down and discovered a crimson metal guard wrapped around his left forearm. Thin golden lines ran across its surface, flickering whenever the voice spoke.

He nearly stumbled.

“You’re the thing talking to me?”

“Excellent deduction.”

“You’re a bracelet!”

“Wrist guard.”

“You’re a talking wrist guard!”

“And you’re a running target. Focus!”

The beast’s claws tore through the dirt behind him.

It was gaining.

Rex cut sharply between two trees, hoping the creature would be too large to follow. Instead, it smashed through both trunks, showering him with splinters.

“That’s cheating!” Rex yelled.

“Tell it that!”

His foot caught beneath a twisted root.

He fell hard.

The impact knocked the air from his lungs.

For one brief, terrible moment, he couldn’t move.

The beast’s footsteps stopped behind him.

Rex slowly lifted his head.

The creature was standing over him.

“Oh,” he whispered.

“Get up.”

“I would love to.”

“Then do it!”

“My legs appear to have resigned!”

The beast opened its jaws.

Rex threw up his right arm.

The teeth closed around it.

CRACK!

Pain exploded through him.

He screamed as the creature’s jaws crushed his forearm. Its head jerked sideways, tearing flesh and grinding bone. Rex felt something inside his arm give way.

Then the pain changed.

A scorching heat surged from his shoulder.

He stared in horror as the ruined flesh began to move. Torn muscle drew together. Bone shifted with wet, grinding clicks. Skin crawled across the wound, sealing itself even while the beast’s teeth remained buried in his arm.

The creature shook its head.

His arm tore open again.

Then healed again.

Rex could only stare.

“My arm...”

The voice fell silent.

“My arm is growing back.”

“Yes,” the wrist guard finally replied.

“Is that normal?”

“No.”

“Are you sure?”

“Rex, I am a talking piece of metal with no memory, no face, and no understanding of why we’re here. But I am reasonably confident that arms aren’t supposed to do that.”

The beast tightened its jaws.

Pain flared, but beneath it, something else stirred inside Rex.

A strange, cold clarity.

The creature had already crushed his bones. It had torn through his flesh. Yet he was still alive.

His arm was rebuilding itself faster than the beast could destroy it.

An idea formed.

It was a terrible idea.

Unfortunately, it was also the only one he had.

“Hey, ugly.”

The creature’s orange pits turned toward him.

Rex forced a grin.

“Ever swallowed something you couldn’t digest?”

“Rex,” the wrist guard said carefully, “what are you planning?”

“Improvising.”

“That isn’t a plan!”

“It is today!”

He shoved his trapped arm deeper into the creature’s mouth.

The beast gagged.

Its jaws loosened for a fraction of a second.

That was all Rex needed.

His free hand closed around a broken branch lying beside his head. He gripped it with both hands and drove its jagged end upward into the creature’s left eye socket.

SKREEEEEE!

The beast released a shriek that shook the surrounding trees.

Its head thrashed violently, dragging Rex across the dirt. His arm tore. He screamed. It healed. He tightened his grip on the branch and drove it deeper.

“LET GO!” the wrist guard shouted.

“I’M TRYING!”

“NOT YOU! THE MONSTER!”

“THEN TELL IT!”

The creature slammed its head against the ground.

Once.

Twice.

Rex’s fingers nearly slipped from the branch.

He twisted it with everything he had.

The beast convulsed.

Its limbs kicked against the dirt, gouging trenches into the ground. Then its movements slowed.

Its massive body sagged.

Silence returned to the forest.

Rex remained where he was, barely breathing, his hands still wrapped around the branch.

For several seconds, he didn’t dare move.

Then he slowly pulled his arm free.

It was whole.

Not merely functional. Whole.

There wasn’t even a scar.

Rex stared at it.

He flexed his fingers.

Once.

Twice.

Then he sat down abruptly.

“Okay.”

The wrist guard said nothing.

“Okay,” Rex repeated.

“Are you all right?”

“No.”

“Good. I was worried you might be taking this surprisingly well.”

Rex laughed.

It came out shaky and unfamiliar, almost like a sob.

He pressed his restored arm against his chest and waited for the trembling to stop.

Only then did he look at the crimson guard.

“Who are you?”

The golden lines flickered.

“I don’t know.”

“Where did you come from?”

“I don’t know.”

“Why can I hear you?”

“I don’t know.”

Rex stared at it.

“You’re incredibly useful.”

“I have other qualities.”

“Name one.”

“I haven’t died yet.”

“Neither have I. And I was the one who killed the monster.”

“Fair point.”

Despite himself, Rex smiled.

It was a small thing, but it helped. He was alone in a strange forest with no memories, no supplies, and a creature’s blood drying on his clothes. If he didn’t laugh, he suspected he might start screaming instead.

The golden lines brightened.

A thin panel of pale light appeared in front of him.

NAME: Rex

AGE: 14

RANK: Iron

OTHER INFORMATION: UNREADABLE

Rex leaned closer.

“Fourteen?”

“Apparently.”

He examined his hands. They were smaller than he expected, with scraped knuckles and dirt beneath his fingernails. He looked down at his clothes, then at the dead creature beside him.

He had the body of a fourteen-year-old.

He had no memories of being one.

“Do I have a family?”

The question escaped before he could stop it.

The wrist guard went quiet.

Rex looked away.

“Forget it.”

“I would help if I could.”

“I know.”

For a moment, neither spoke.

Then Rex pointed at the crimson metal.

“If we’re going to survive together, you need a name.”

“Why?”

“Because calling you ‘wrist guard’ is going to get annoying.”

“How about something dignified?”

Rex studied the crimson surface and golden lines.

“Red.”

Silence.

“Red?” the voice repeated.

“You’re red.”

“That’s your entire naming process?”

“It’s a very efficient process.”

“It’s a terrible process.”

“You can choose another name.”

A pause followed.

“...Red is fine.”

“Excellent. I’m Rex, and you’re Red.”

“A legendary partnership.”

“Let’s try to keep it legendary for more than five minutes.”

Rex started to stand.

Then he heard a sound.

Thump.

He froze.

The pulse came from the dead creature’s chest.

Something beneath its gray hide glowed faintly, beating with a slow, steady rhythm.

Rex took a cautious step closer.

The glow pulsed again.

Thump.

Something answered inside his own chest.

Rex stumbled backward.

He pressed a hand against his sternum.

There it was again.

A second heartbeat.

Not the frantic beating of his ordinary heart, but a separate, steady pulse buried somewhere behind his ribs.

Red’s golden lines dimmed.

“Rex?”

“Tell me you heard that.”

“I felt it.”

“What is it?”

“I don’t know.”

The glow inside the dead beast brightened.

Rex felt an inexplicable pull toward it, as if something inside him recognized the thing lying in the creature’s chest.

Red’s voice dropped to a whisper.

“Rex, there’s something you need to understand.”

“What?”

“Humans don’t have cores.”

Rex stared at the dead beast.

Then he pressed his hand harder against his chest.

The second pulse answered.

Thump.

He looked at Red.

“Then what am I?”

For the first time since they had met, the wrist guard offered no joke.

No clever remark.

No answer at all.

And somewhere beyond the pale trees, something howled.

Something answered.

Rex tightened his grip on the broken branch.

He had been awake for less than an hour.

Already, something had tried to eat him.

Already, he had discovered that his body could do things no human body should be able to do.

And now he had learned that he might not be human at all.

The worst part?

He had a terrible feeling that the forest was only the beginning.