The massive grip was still crushing them.

  The creature’s thick fingers wrapped around both Bani and Sora, squeezing their bodies together. The pressure on their chests made breathing difficult. Every breath escaped their lungs with effort, and even the smallest movement only made the grip tighten more.

  The creature slowly lifted them higher until their faces were almost level with its deformed face.

  Its mouth began to open.

  Crooked teeth appeared clearly. Some were broken, others long and sharp—teeth that looked as if they were made not just for eating, but for tearing flesh apart.

  Its hot, heavy breath blew directly against Bani’s face.

  She tried to move inside the grip, but the creature’s fingers were far too strong.

  This moment…

  It was almost exactly the same as the vision she had seen before.

  The mouth.

  The shadow.

  The closeness.

  But this time there was one difference.

  They were both here now.

  Bani looked at Sora.

  Sora looked back at her.

  The pressure increased slightly, forcing a weak, choked sound out of her chest.

  “Sora…”

  His name barely escaped her lips.

  But Sora heard it.

  He turned his head toward her.

  She was closer than ever to the creature’s mouth.

  He saw the monster slowly tilting its head toward her, as if enjoying the moment before the bite.

  Then it spoke with its strange, hoarse voice.

  “Fooooood…”

  It paused for a moment.

  Then repeated the word in a stranger way.

  “Food… alive…”

  The words came out broken, as if the creature had never truly learned how to speak, but had copied sounds it had heard before.

  Bani felt the distance between her and its mouth shrinking.

  She could see the darkness inside it.

  One more moment…

  And her body would fall into it.

  At that instant, something inside Sora exploded.

  Fear.

  Anger.

  Helplessness.

  All of it crashed together at once.

  He tried to push the creature’s fingers away, but he wasn’t strong enough.

  The pressure on his chest grew worse.

  His head began to spin.

  Then—

  In the middle of the pain, he heard something.

  At first, he thought it was only an echo inside his mind.

  But the sound came again.

  A deep voice.

  Distant.

  As if it came from somewhere ancient inside his own soul.

  It said quietly:

  “Awaken…”

  Sora’s mind froze for a moment.

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  He didn’t understand.

  But the voice continued.

  This time closer.

  “Awaken… dragon.”

  His body trembled.

  Something warm began to spread through his chest.

  Not pain.

  Heat.

  Then the final word came.

  A name he had never heard before.

  “Rise… Zarok.”

  Sora’s eyes widened.

  The name felt strange to him.

  “Zarok…?”

  But his body did not hesitate.

  The heat burst through his veins in a sudden wave.

  It started in his chest, spread to his shoulders, ran down his arms, then surged through his entire body like a river of fire.

  At that same moment, the creature felt the change.

  It looked down at the hand holding Sora.

  Heat was flowing from Sora’s body directly into its skin.

  The creature suddenly screamed.

  “Food… burning me!”

  It began shaking its arm violently.

  “Food… hurting me!”

  The skin around its grip turned red.

  The heat grew stronger.

  Then suddenly—

  It opened its hand.

  Sora fell.

  His body slammed onto the wooden floor, but the heat inside him did not stop.

  The fire gathered first in his chest, then rushed through his veins like a raging current.

  His body suddenly tensed.

  The bones in his shoulders shifted beneath his skin.

  His chest rose sharply, as if something inside him was expanding—trying to break free.

  Sora grabbed the floor with both hands.

  The wood beneath his fingers began to heat up rapidly.

  “What… is happening to me…?”

  he whispered in a broken voice.

  But his body didn’t wait for answers.

  His back suddenly arched, stretching hard.

  A faint cracking sound came from his joints, as if his bones were rearranging themselves.

  The muscles beneath his scales swelled and expanded.

  His body did not double in size, but he was clearly larger than he had been moments ago.

  The yellow scales covering his skin began to change.

  They were no longer simply yellow.

  The color deepened, and faint golden lines began to move beneath the surface—as if fire was flowing under his skin.

  The heat radiating from him made the air around his body tremble.

  His horns shifted slowly.

  They stretched slightly backward and became sharper.

  Then came the eyes.

  Sora opened them slowly.

  The yellow color was no longer pure.

  Inside it, glowing golden rings slowly moved, like tiny sparks of fire living deep within his gaze.

  Sora himself stared at his hands in shock.

  He slowly raised one.

  Between his fingers, small sparks of fire appeared… then vanished.

  A faint flame flickered from his palm.

  Real heat.

  He stepped back slightly, staring at his own hand.

  “How…?”

  He breathed slowly.

  But the air that left his mouth was not normal.

  Hot vapor escaped his lips, like breath from a burning furnace.

  At that moment, the creature—still holding Bani—stopped shaking.

  It looked at Sora.

  Not the way it looked at food anymore.

  But as something… different.

  Bani was staring too.

  She couldn’t understand what she was seeing.

  This wasn’t the Sora she knew.

  The same shape.

  The same body.

  But the power was different.

  The heat surrounding him made the air inside the cabin shimmer.

  The creature shook its burned hand violently, then screamed with a distorted voice.

  “Food… dangerous!”

  “Food… wants to kill me!”

  Suddenly its arm lunged toward Sora.

  The attack was fast.

  But Sora’s body moved in a different way.

  It wasn’t a conscious thought.

  It was instinct.

  The heat around him flared stronger.

  Then a powerful cry burst from his chest.

  A long scream.

  Sharp.

  Filled with both pain and power.

  The sound filled the cabin first.

  Then it burst out into the forest.

  But the planet itself did not allow the sound to travel normally.

  Instead, the scream compressed.

  As if the ground swallowed it for a moment.

  Then forced it outward from deep within the earth.

  Far away, among the dense trees…

  Kodom was sitting beside Raf.

  Thick branches covered the sky above them, leaving only small gaps where the light could pass through.

  Suddenly kodom felt a slight vibration beneath his feet.

  Not strong.

  Just a faint tremor.

  As if the ground had taken a breath.

  Then the sound came.

  Not through the air.

  But from below.

  A muffled, compressed sound—like a cry rising from deep within the soil.

  Kodom suddenly stopped moving.

  He lifted his head slightly, then looked down at the ground.

  Raf quickly turned toward him.

  “What is it?”

  Kodom did not answer immediately.

  He was listening.

  The sound came again.

  Weak… but clear.

  A distant scream.

  Distorted.

  As if someone were screaming from deep underground.

  Kodom spoke slowly.

  “Did you hear that?”

  Raf nodded slightly.

  “Yes… but the sound is strange.”

  Kodom looked toward the distant forest.

  “The sound is coming from that direction… but why do we hear it from beneath the ground?”

  After a moment, still listening carefully, he added:

  “Is there… someone under us?”

  Raf looked down at the soil.

  His heart began beating faster, though he did not know why.

  At that moment, kodom understood one thing.

  Something was happening nearby.

  But the sound that reached them…

  Was not a normal scream.

  It was twisted.

  Strange.

  As if it had come from the depths of the planet itself.