Vurok looked at him with word horror written on his face.

"Oh, don't look at me like that, I was just thinking about you, don't believe me? Let me show you."

"Let's start with your favorite finger. The one you used to point and mock with. The one you used to signal your dogs to start the beating."

CRACK.

Sol didn't just snap the bone. He gripped the joint between his thumb and forefinger and ground it, twisting slowly until the cartilage disintegrated into a wet mush of grit and marrow.

Vurok's mouth fell open, and for a second, there was only silence as his brain struggled to process the sheer intensity of the agony. Then, a scream tore through his throat—a high, thin whistle that bounced off the hollow walls,.

"Shhh," Sol hissed, leaning in close. "If you scream too loud, you'll lose your breath. And I want you to have enough air to tell me how it feels when I get to your other fingers."

He moved to the next finger. Then the next.

SNAP. CRACK. POP.

With every break, Sol felt a piece of his "Modern Self" wither away. The man who valued law, the man who believed in the sanctity of life… and the "morality of law" was being buried under the weight of this primitive, cruel world. He wasn't just breaking Vurok; he was breaking the chains of a civilized man who was no longer equipped to survive.

And Sol absolutely reeled into the feeling. He welcomed the coldness, the discomfort, the instinctual urge to retch. He welcomed it all, for this was his baptism in the blood of his enemy. He was shedding his humanity like a dead skin, replacing it with the cold, hard scales of the predator. He needed this. He needed to be the monster to ensure that Lyra and the others never had to see one.

"This," Sol whispered, as he moved to Vurok's ring finger, "is for every time you called me a cripple."

SNAP. CRACK.

Vurok let out a high-pitched, sobbing whine. "N-no... please... I'll give you anything! I'll stay away from you! I'll never touch your cousins ever again!"

"Ohhhhh! That's a tempting offer," Sol said, his voice light, almost conversational. He tilted his head, a look of mock contemplation crossing his face. He tapped the flat side of the bone dagger against his chin, the porous edge clicking rhythmically against his jaw.

Seeing him seriously consider it, Vurok grabbed this chance like a falling man grabbing a frayed rope. His voice became a frantic, desperate babble.

"Sol... please... brother... I'll give you everything! A house in the central area... the smoked meats... all the leathers I've hoarded. I'll give you all the girls I have enjoyed until now. I'll even make you my second-in-command when I become Chief. You'll be the shadow king, Sol! No one will ever touch you again!"

"Ohhhh… second-in-command..." Sol trailed off, his eyes widening in fake wonder. He leaned in closer, his shadow stretching over Vurok's trembling frame until the light was gone. "That seems like a really good offer. Maybe I should really let you go. Think of the power, the comfort... I wouldn't have to hunt another day in my life."

"Yes, yes! Let me go!" Vurok's face lit up with a jubilant, manic look. He actually forced a bloody, toothless smile, his breath hitching with a newfound, pathetic hope. "I promise I'll forget everything you've done today. It'll be our secret. We'll rule together!"

"Hmmm," Sol hummed, tracing the tip of the dagger along Vurok's jawline, barely breaking the skin, just enough to leave a thin, stinging line of crimson.

But then, the temperature in the hollow tree seemed to suddenly drop. The mock curiosity vanished from Sol's face, replaced by a mask of cold, reptilian indifference. His eyes… those flat, Charcoal orbs… didn't reflect Vurok's hope. They swallowed it all.

"Do you really think I'll believe you?" Sol asked with a dark, predatory smirk. "Or more accurately... do you really think I'd trade the satisfaction of hearing your bones snap for a 'second-in-command' title from a dead man?"

Vurok's face froze. The jubilant light died, replaced by a grey, hollowed-out despair.

"The problem with your offer, Vurok," Sol whispered, his voice dropping into a jagged, lethal register, "is that you're assuming I still value things like 'houses' or 'titles.' I've spent the last few hours shedding the skin of the weakling you used to kick. That boy wanted your pitiful offerings. I? I just want to hear what you sound like when you realize no one is coming to save you."

The hope that had briefly flickered in Vurok's eyes didn't just die; it curdled into a cold, hollow vacuum. He watched Sol's face/// a mask of Charcoal-tinted indifference… and realized he wasn't looking at a human being anymore. He was looking at a force of nature that had finally come to collect.

"Wait—!"

CRACK

Sol didn't wait. He didn't even pause to savor the look on Vurok's face. He grabbed Vurok's middle finger and snapped it backward until the bone pierced the skin in a jagged white splinter.

"That's one," Sol whispered.

Vurok's scream echoed in the rotting wood of the tree. He tried to pull his hand away, but Sol's grip was like an iron shackle. No matter how much he tried he just couldn't pull away.

SNAP. CRACK. POP.

One by one, Sol dismantled the hand that had so often been balled into a fist against his predecessor's face. He didn't just break the joints; he twisted them, listening to the sound of grinding cartilage with a detached, chilling interest.

"You used to love the sound of my ribs cracking in the dark, didn't you?" Sol asked, his voice a soft, conversational hum. "I remember the rhythm. It was almost like music to you. Well... let's see if your bones play the same tune."

"Stop... h-haa... please...NOOO!" Vurok blubbered, his face a purple ruin of tears and snot.

"I'm not finished with your hands yet," Sol murmured.

He didn't use the dagger. Instead, he took Vurok's thumb and slowly, with agonizing patience, began to rotate it in its socket. The sound was like wet branches snapping. Vurok's head slammed against the back of the tree, his eyes rolling back as his nervous system struggled to process the sheer volume of pain signals.

Sol moved down to Vurok's feet. He remembered how Vurok used to trip the "crippled" Sol, laughing as he fell into the mud.

"You were so proud of your legs, Vurok. The great hunter. The respected 'Elite'."

Sol raised his heavy foot and brought it down on Vurok's shin.

CRUNCH.

The fibula shattered. Vurok's leg bent at an impossible, nauseating angle. Sol didn't stop there. He began to kick the broken limb, over and over, striking the same spot with the cold efficiency of a blacksmith hammering glowing iron.

"Is it slow enough for you yet?" Sol asked, leaning down. He grabbed Vurok by the throat, not to choke him, but to force him to look at the mangled mess of his own body. "Look at it. This is what your 'Elite' status gets you in the dark."

"Gyaaaah! Stop! Please! SOL!" Vurok's voice was breaking, becoming a raw, animalistic sound.

"I can't stop, Vurok," Sol said, his eyes turning a flat, reptilian Charcoal. "I'm paying a debt. And interest is a bitch."

He reached for the bone dagger. The fragmented sunlight caught the jagged, porous edge, making it look like a shard of frozen lightning. "You said you wanted to make it slow," Sol reminded him, his face leaning into the sliver of light filtering through the trunk. "I think I like that idea."

He leaned down, pressing the cold, serrated tip against Vurok's cheek, right below the eye.

"Nnnn... no... haaa..." Vurok's breathing became a series of short, hitching gasps. He could feel the edge cutting in, the heat of his own blood starting to trickle down his neck.

Sol didn't cut. Not yet. He watched the terror bloom in Vurok's eyes… the absolute, soul-crushing realization that he wasn't the predator anymore. He was just meat. Waiting to be slaughtered.

Finally, seeing the terror he wanted, He began to make shallow, horizontal slices across Vurok's chest… thin ribbons of skin that curled back to reveal the pulsing red muscle beneath.

"This is for every bruise you gave the boy who died in this body," Sol hissed, the Charcoal energy in his eyes glowing with a predatory light.

He took a handful of the dirt and rotting wood from the floor of the tree and rubbed it into the open cuts. Vurok's body buckled in a silent, agonizing arch, his mouth open in a scream that no longer had the breath to sustain it.

"And this," Sol continued, his voice dropping to a deadly, soul-chilling whisper, "is for even thinking you could touch my family."

He drove the dagger through Vurok's good shoulder, pinning him to the wood like an insect in a display case.

"AAAAAAAGH!"

SQUELCH. POP.

"This is for Drogg and others, consider it as the repayment from me for killing. " Sol whispered.

SHUCK.

The sound was visceral… a raw, animalistic howl of agony that tore through Vurok's throat. His back arched to an impossible degree, his legs kicking uselessly against the bark as his nervous system went into total meltdown.

Squelch. Pop.

Sol twisted the blade, leaning his weight into it. He listened with a detached, chilling focus to the sound of grinding cartilage and the popping of the joint. He wanted Vurok to feel every millimeter of the jagged bone tearing through his muscle.

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