The door moved an inch before it hit something with a dull thud.


Liam looked up.


Through the crack in the door, a bloated, pasty-white face stared back at him. Wet, black hair matted over most of the features, revealing only a single, swollen eye. It was like the eye of a dead fish—cloudy, pupil-less, and completely devoid of life.


The face was terrifying, like a zombie straight out of a horror movie, but worse. A layer of white, fuzzy mold was growing out of the skin.


It happened so fast Liam's brain couldn't even process the horror. A scream tore out of his throat, and instinct took over—he spun around to run.


BANG.


The door was yanked open. Before Liam could take a step, something wet and heavy slammed into his back. The force was incredible. Liam lost his footing and face-planted hard, his forehead cracking against the floor. Stars exploded in his vision.


Warm blood trickled down his face, but he didn't have time to check it. A heavy weight pinned him to the ground.


Adrenaline surged. This was it. Life or death.


Liam kicked and thrashed, engaging every muscle in his legs and core. With a desperate heave, he managed to flip over and throw the creature off him.


He scrambled back, finally getting a good look at his attacker.


It was the cadaver. The dead woman from the flooded stairwell.


Her body was swollen from soaking in the water. Horrific chunks of flesh were missing from her torso and legs, eaten away to reveal gleams of white bone and viscous, trailing organs. Water dripped constantly from her hair and clothes. But the worst part was that layer of white fuzz covering her skin—like some legendary White-Haired Ghoul.


She was incredibly strong, but she moved with a jerky stiffness, lacking the fluidity of a living person. After Liam threw her off, she collapsed sideways. She reached out with fuzzy, claw-like hands, trying to crawl toward him, but her movements were sluggish.


Liam scrambled to his feet, raising his weapons. He didn't hesitate. He swung the cleaver and hammer down on her head.


Impact. Blood and rot sprayed across Liam's face.


He couldn't understand how a corpse was moving, let alone trying to kill him. The only explanation was a Necrotic Mutation. She wasn't human anymore; she was a monster.


The thing was strong and scary, but it was dumb. It didn't dodge. Liam's cleaver hacked deep into its face, and the iron hammer came down hard on its forehead.


CRACK.


The sound of the skull shattering was sickeningly crisp.


Liam was running on pure terror and adrenaline now. He put everything he had into that swing, caving the creature's skull in. Brain matter splattered the floor.


But he didn't stop. He couldn't. Liam went berserk, swinging the cleaver and hammer in a frenzy. By the time he finally stopped, gasping for air, the cadaver's face was unrecognizable. He'd hacked it seven or eight times, the blade biting deep into the bone, and the hammer had obliterated half the skull.


He watched the mangled corpse slump to the floor. It didn't move again.


Liam dropped his hands, his chest heaving, and finally let out a breath.


Here's the weird part: the second the Cadaver hit the floor, that layer of fuzzy white hair covering it started to vanish. It was like the fur was retracting right back into her skin.


Immediately after, Liam saw something pop out of her chest cavity—right where most of the meat had been gnawed away. It was a white sphere, about the size of a thumb. It looked fuzzy, like a ball of lint or a knot of white fur compressed together.


The fur-ball didn't just sit there. It launched itself out of the Cadaver's chest like it had a mind of its own.


Liam froze. Was this thing the puppet master? Was the only reason the corpse had gone full zombie—moving around and growing fur—because of this parasite?


Seeing the white ball bounce into the air, Liam reacted on instinct. He swung his cleaver flat, trying to swat the thing out of the air like a bug. He was pretty sure now that this was some kind of unknown insect, something that had been piloting the corpse from the inside.


Smack.


The cleaver slapped the Cadaver's chest, but Liam missed his target. The fur-ball was way faster than he expected. He saw a flash of white light, and then the thing lunged straight for his face.


Liam felt a weird itch on his forehead. Panic flared in his chest. He knew this was bad. His hand flew up to his face, swiping wildly.


He grabbed nothing but air.


He frantically patted his face, but he couldn't feel anything there. He jumped up, checking the floor, shaking out his clothes, scanning the room. The white fur-ball was gone. Disappeared without a trace.


"What the... where did it go?"


While he was still standing there in shock, a message slammed into his brain. It wasn't a thought; it felt like a line of code being hardwired directly into his memory.


[Ether: 1/5]


Liam clutched his head, freaking out. "Ether one out of five? What does that even mean? What is Ether?"


Before he could process it, a wave of intense heat exploded from the center of his forehead. It wasn't painful—it felt like warm currents rushing through his veins, spreading to his fingertips and the ends of his hair. For a second, his whole body felt like it was on fire.


But the heat vanished as quickly as it had arrived. It only lasted a few seconds.


As the mysterious heat faded, Liam realized something felt... different.


First, his forehead. He'd smashed it pretty good earlier, and it had been throbbing with a burning pain. Now? The pain was gone, replaced by a soothing, cool sensation.


And it wasn't just his head. After hacking away at the zombie with a cleaver and a hammer, his arms had been screaming with exhaustion. He'd been running on fumes. Now, the fatigue had evaporated. He felt wired. Juiced up.


The changes were hitting him too fast. Liam stood there for a moment, totally dazed. He took a deep breath, forcing himself to cool down. He focused on that weird message floating in his mind, and things started to click.


The fur-ball hadn't disappeared. It had merged with him the second it hit his forehead.


The message in my head... it's like a status update from that thing merging with me, he thought. Ether: 1/5. So, that fuzzy ball was 'Ether'? It seems like it buffed my stats. My head is healed, my stamina is refilled, and I actually feel... stronger.


Liam gripped his hammer and gave it a test swing. It definitely felt lighter. It wasn't his imagination. His strength really had leveled up.