Soren stood there for a long time without moving
His chest rose and fell slowly, each breath rough and uneven as it scraped its way through his throat. The cave had fallen completely silent again. The desperate sounds of the struggle were gone now, swallowed by the same heavy darkness that had surrounded them since they fell into this pit. The bloodied rock still tightly clenched in his hand, the murder weapon which had been used to bash apart his best friend's head. Adrian's body lied there on the cold ground motionless, helpless; the last moments of struggle still etched across his body. His mouth still hung low, agape as if still trying to scream, but his airway was obstructed by the rising river of crimson blood that pooled out of his mouth. Soren looked at what was left of Adrian's face, the right side of his head brutally splattered open, bloodied pieces of his brain scattered across the cave. His final expression after his death remained unreadable, but Soren couldn't forget it, no matter how much he resolved himself that looked of pure fear in his eyes
That look of betrayal never left his mind
Soren stared down at his hands. They were shaking. Not violently, not enough to lose control, but enough that he could feel the tremor running through his fingers. Dark blood coated them, thick and sticky, filling the lines of his palms and drying slowly along his skin. Some of it had already begun to clot beneath his nails. For a moment he simply watched it and then he slowly wiped his hands against his clothes
It didn't help
The warmth had already faded from the blood, leaving it cold and tacky against his skin. The smell of it filled the cave now, a heavy metallic scent that clung to the air and crawled into his nose every time he breathed. It was strange. Only a few minutes ago that space had been filled with frantic movement. Kicking legs. Scratching hands. The sound of choking breaths and desperate gasps echoing against the cave walls. Now there was nothing. Just silence. Soren leaned forward slowly, resting his elbows against his knees. His head hung low as he stared at the stone floor between his feet. For a moment he pressed his bloodied hands against his face, dragging them down over his eyes as if trying to wipe something away. The smell of iron clung to him. It wouldn't go away. He lowered his hands again and stared at them. They looked unfamiliar. Like they belonged to someone else
Soren let out a low breath and stared into the darkness
For a while he said nothing. His hands rested on his knees, still stained dark, and his eyes drifted slowly toward the body lying across the cave floor
Then he laughed
It was quiet at first. Dry. Empty
"Look at that…" he muttered, "Look what I've done"
His voice echoed faintly in the cave
"They're all gone''
His gaze fixed on Adrian's still form
"All of them"
Soren rubbed a hand over his face, smearing dried blood across his cheek without noticing
"Everyone is dead. All of them"
He exhaled slowly
"And you trusted me"
The words lingered in the air
Soren shook his head faintly, staring down at the ground
"Lukas…" he murmured.
A faint smile crept onto his lips, but it didn't reach his eyes
"I told myself that wasn't murder"
His fingers curled slowly against his palms
"I told myself I didn't kill you"
His voice dropped lower
"The monster did, but I pushed you so I could survive"
He let out another quiet laugh, this one harsher
"I pushed you so I could live"
His eyes drifted back toward Adrian
"And now this"
A long silence followed
"This wasn't running," Soren whispered. "There wasn't some monster chasing me this time"
His breathing slowed
"I looked at you… and I knew"
His jaw tightened
"I knew one of us had to die"
He leaned forward slightly, elbows resting on his knees
"You trusted me," he repeated quietly. "Even when you started to understand… you still looked at me like I was your friend"
His shoulders trembled faintly
"And I still killed you"
Soren stared at his hands again
''What have I done? I even did this to you Adrian. Please, please forgive me''
''You even agreed with me, if it was for survival you'd even betray someone like family''
He let out a shaky breath, his fingers digging into his knees
"You said people do horrible things when they're desperate"
A bitter laugh slipped from his throat
"Well… look at me now"
His shoulders trembled slightly
"I'm desperate"
Soren dragged a hand down his face again, smearing more dried blood across his skin
"You were right," he muttered. "You were completely right"
For a moment he said nothing, just staring at the ground between them
Then he spoke again, quieter
"If the situation was reversed… if it was you sitting there and me lying on the floor…"
His voice faltered
"You would've done the same thing, right?"
Soren swallowed hard
"You would've survived"
His gaze slowly lifted back toward Adrian's body
"That's what we were trying to do this whole time"
His voice steadied slightly now, though the guilt still clung to every word
"Survive"
Another drop of water echoed in the darkness and his fingers tightened again
"I did it because I wanted to live"
He leaned forward slightly, his eyes hollow but determined
"And if your death keeps me alive even one more day"
His voice lowered
"Then it won't be meaningless"
A long silence followed before he spoke again, almost pleading
"So forgive me, Adrian"
His gaze remained locked on the body
"Because I'm still going to live"
The cave had grown unbearably quiet again. The dripping water echoed through the stone, slow and patient, like the world itself was waiting for him to make a decision
His stomach twisted violently
The hunger had been there for days, a dull ache that had slowly sharpened into something savage
Now it clawed at him from the inside, making his body tremble
Soren looked at Adrian. He forced himself to really look this time. The body lay where it had fallen, twisted against the cold stone floor. Blood had spread across the ground beneath him, dark in the weak light that slipped into the cave. The metallic smell of it hung thick in the air, heavy enough that Soren could almost taste it every time he breathed
His throat tightened
"Don't look at me like that," he muttered hoarsely, even though Adrian's eyes no longer saw anything
Soren crawled forward slowly
Each movement felt wrong. His hands trembled as he reached out, hovering for a moment before finally touching him. Adrian's skin had already grown cold. The contact sent a shiver through
Soren's entire body
"I'm sorry," he whispered again
His stomach twisted harder, the hunger overwhelming everything else. His body didn't care about guilt. It didn't care about friendship. It only knew one thing
It needed food
Soren clenched his jaw until it hurt
"This is survival," he muttered under his breath
He repeated the words like a prayer
"Survival"
For a moment he hesitated. Then he forced himself to act. The smell of blood grew stronger as he worked, filling the cave until it felt like the air itself had turned thick and metallic. His hands slipped more than once, leaving dark streaks across the stone floor and across his clothes
By the time he finally brought the first piece to his mouth, his whole body was shaking
He stopped again
For a moment he just stared at it in his hand
Then he forced himself to bite
The taste hit him immediately. Warm, metallic, sickening. His stomach lurched violently and he nearly threw it back up
He gagged
His body rejected it instinctively
Soren clamped a hand over his mouth, forcing himself to swallow. The food scraped down his throat like sand. His eyes watered
"Don't… waste it," he rasped, coughing
Another bite. Another gag
Each swallow felt like betrayal. Each swallow felt like survival
The cave floor grew dirtier as he worked, blood mixing with dust and stone until his hands were completely covered. The smell became overwhelming, clinging to his skin, his clothes, the air itself
Soren didn't stop. He couldn't stop
Because with every bite his body felt a little warmer. A little stronger
Soren sat slumped against the cave wall, breathing slowly through his mouth. He had already eaten. The reality of it surrounded him. Blood was everywhere. It streaked across the stone floor in dark smears where his hands had dragged across it. It stained his clothes, soaked into the fabric until it had turned stiff and heavy against his skin. His fingers were still slick with it, the dark red having settled into every crease of his hands. Even his face felt sticky where he had wiped sweat away without thinking
The cave smelled unbearable. Metallic. Rotten. Heavy enough that every breath filled his mouth with the taste of it
Soren swallowed slowly, though his throat still burned from forcing the food down. His stomach churned violently, threatening to reject everything he had just forced into it. For a moment he leaned forward, one hand braced against the stone floor as he fought back the urge to vomit
"Don't" he muttered hoarsely
His voice sounded raw
"Don't waste it."
He closed his eyes and forced the nausea down
Across from him lay what remained of Adrian
Soren couldn't bring himself to look for long. Every time his eyes drifted that way something inside his chest twisted painfully, like his mind was trying to protect itself from fully understanding what he had done
His best friend
The thought felt distant now. Unreal
Soren leaned his head back against the cold cave wall and stared upward into the darkness above. The hunger that had once clawed at his insides had dulled slightly, replaced by a strange warmth spreading slowly through his body. It was faint at first. Just a small heat in his chest. Soren frowned
"…What?"
He shifted slightly. The warmth spread again. This time stronger. It moved through his veins like liquid fire, crawling slowly through his arms and across his back. His muscles twitched faintly, reacting to something he didn't understand
Soren pushed himself upright
"What is… happening?"
The cave suddenly felt different. The air itself seemed heavier. Then the ground beneath him trembled. It was subtle at first. Just a faint vibration running through the stone floor, like the cave itself had drawn a slow breath
Soren froze
Another tremor followed
Then it appeared
A faint red glow. At first it was barely visible, like a distant ember flickering somewhere deep in the darkness of the cave. But within seconds the glow began to grow, spreading across the stone walls. It pulsed slowly, illuminating the cave in waves of blood-coloured light. Soren stared at it, his heart beginning to pound. The glow grew brighter. Brighter. Until the entire cave was bathed in red. The blood on the floor seemed to react to it, glistening unnaturally under the light. The stains across Soren's hands shimmered faintly as if the light itself was pulling at them. The warmth in his chest surged violently. Soren gasped as pain suddenly shot through his body, forcing him to his knees. His fingers dug into the stone as the heat spread rapidly through his veins, like something inside him had just awakened
"What… is this…?"
The red light pulsed again
Stronger
And then a voice spoke
''At last''