Kai was giggling.
Not the kind of laugh you earn. The kind you inherit. Thin, papery, stretched too tight across cracked lips.
He was starving.
And he was giggling.
"Hey—hey, take that cloth off my friend's face! They can't breathe, Kai!"
A voice. Cheerful. Accusatory.
Kai whipped his head toward the skeleton, finger half-raised like a guilty child.
"Oh. Right. Of course!" he said brightly. "I—haha—sorry. That's... that's pretty funny, right?"
He tugged the strip of fabric off the corpse's face like unveiling a guest at a party. The jaw sagged open. A single tooth fell to the stone with a clink.
Kai clapped.
"Now that's better. Fresh air for everyone!"
He said, even though the air down here was not fresh
The bones didn't move. But they laughed anyway.
He laughed too.
Eyes wide, pupils swollen to swallow every flicker of dim light. His body was swaying where he sat, knees tucked to chest like a broken puppet still trying to fold politely.
He turned his head and whispered toward the wall, conspiratorial:
"Flicker thinks I'm being rude. I told her I'm hosting. Hosts offer snacks. But—" he leaned in, "—we ran out."
His stomach growled. It sounded like a door creaking open in the dark. He froze. Looked down at it. Then poked himself, testing the sound again.
"Was that me?"
The corpse grinned. It hadn't moved before, but now it was looking at him. Not with eyes. Just with the feeling of being seen.
"I think I'm hungry," Kai muttered.
Then louder: "Wait—no. I'm a god, I don't need to eat!"
He stood, triumphant. His limbs wobbled. His ankle bent inward. He fell sideways.
"Wait... wait..."
He lay on his side, cheek against the cold stone. "I'm not a god."
He blinked.
"I think I am."
He blinked again.
"Am I?"
There was a long pause. The kind that felt sacred. As if Sovereign itself had paused to update his system file.
Then the body stirred.
Not moved — just spoke. Its lips stayed dry and split, but Kai heard it all the same.
"You can eat me, you know."
He didn't flinch.
"What?" he asked.
"I said you can eat my flesh. I give you permission."
Kai's mouth opened. But the words didn't come out.
He looked at the corpse — the one with the cloth he'd unwrapped like a birthday present. The one with a sunken chest and flaking fingers. The one that smelled like old metal and soaked moss.
"I... I'm so hungry," Kai whispered. "But eating human isn't on my mind."
He waited for applause. There was none.
Then the corpse whispered:
"But I'm not human. I'm a ghoul."
Everything stopped.
Kai's pupils shrank. His lips twitched.
His eyes darkened with something new.
He sat up.
He looked at the body with slow, trembling anger. "You…"
The shadows leaned in. Flicker retreated.
"You pulled me into this hell," Kai said.
He grabbed the corpse by the jaw. The brittle mouth cracked under his grip.
"You dragged me into this. Into the pit. Into the flesh. Into the hunger."
The bones creaked.
Kai's voice rose. "You turned me into this."
He slammed the skull back against the wall. Once. Twice.
"I'll fucking kill you."
Again.
"I'll eat your flesh."
Again.
The ribs collapsed.
"HAHAHA. Yeah. That's it."
His teeth were bared. Not in hunger. Not in grief. In fury.
"Just like how you ate them!" His voice cracked .
He didn't recognize his own voice anymore. It was deeper. Raw. Like someone speaking from inside his lungs.
The wall was bleeding. No—he was. But it didn't matter.
He let go of the skull. It clattered sideways, mouth still open, as if laughing.
Kai pressed his back to the far wall. He was shaking.
Not from fear.
From decision.
"No gods down here," he muttered. "Only ghoul food."
Then, softly, a whisper:
"You're not real."
He waited.
The body didn't answer.
Kai closed his eyes.
Tried to breathe. The air stank of iron and piss and grief. His stomach growled again. This time it sounded closer.
He coughed.
Then started to hum. A little lullaby. Something from before.
"Go to sleep, go to sleep," he mumbled.
His head tipped forward.
"I didn't eat you," he whispered. "So I win."
The stone didn't care.
Flicker was dark.
The corpse said nothing.
But Kai slept.
It was very difficult but he did it. Probably from exhaustion or the final step to him dying.
Who's to say.
He slept...
And dreamed of chewing.
-
He didn't know how long he slept. Minutes days?
He woke with salt on his lips.
It wasn't sweat.
His mouth had been open while he slept, drooling onto the stone like a dog dreaming of food. He blinked once, twice, and then the hunger struck.
It hit like a spear through the gut.
No.
Not hunger. Need. It was lower. It was older. It wasn't his stomach that begged—it was his bones. His marrow. His soul.
His throat was raw from thirst, but his teeth ached with intent.
He dragged himself across the pit floor.
Every inch cost something. A groan. A nail. A slice of skin off his palms. But he made it to the corpse. The one with the cloth. The one that smiled.
He hovered there for a moment, breath catching.
His eyes were glass. His tongue pressed against the inside of his cheek like it was trying to hide from what came next.
The smell was rancid. Death and piss and rust. But underneath it—just faintly—meat.
He stared.
"They gave me permission," he whispered.
His fingers twitched. Then curled. Then reached.
And he took a bite.
No hesitation. No delay.
Just flesh. Tearing. Rotting.
His teeth slipped at first—skin is rubbery. But then he got through.
Something snapped.
He swallowed.
It slid down.
Warm.
Rotten.
Thick.
He gagged. Clawed at his own chest. Almost threw it up.
But he didn't.
Because he was starving.
Because he was alone.
Because he was still aware.
Tears blurred his vision.
Not tears of madness.
Tears of knowing.
He fell backward and curled around himself. He sobbed like a child.
"Why are you crying?" asked the corpse.
Kai looked up, lips still smeared with red.
"Because... I..."
"It's okay," the voice said. "I gave you permission."
The skull tilted toward him. "It's the least I can do. I did put you in this pit."
Kai's hands shook.
He leaned forward.
Took another bite.
Chewed slower this time.
It didn't taste better. Just... easier.
He didn't stop crying.
He didn't stop eating.
And that's when it happened.
[You have committed a TABOO.]
[Taboos stain the soul.]
"What..."
Before Malakai could even react something else happened.