What is hunger? That question repeated itself endlessly.
Would hunger be the will to eat?
Or would hunger be what made them evolve?
Sunny did not think so.
For at that moment, hunger was all that existed.
An endless void in the stomach, while the mouth resembled a desert.
He tried to cough, but not even saliva escaped. His thin hands were cadaverous.
A worn-out blonde young woman was beside him, just as worn out as he was.
Sunny was starving, so starving...
Starving to live.
'That must be it...' he thought, believing he had found the answer to what hunger meant.
Hunger was desire.
The desire to keep existing.
And that was his most burning desire at the moment. The desire to leave that cell. To eat a great banquet, and drink water for long hours.
A bath was not out of the plans.
And yet, he was afraid.
Small movements betrayed his mind. The lingering glances at the dried blood, the unconscious shivers when a haunting scream came from somewhere distant in the temple...
The terror that inhabited the other side of the impenetrable doors.
It was a true paradox.
'Damnation... I'm going crazy again!' in a constant fight against himself, Sunny stayed against the wall.
The glimpse of leaving that place was beautiful, almost childish. But he, perceptive, knew that behind the doors unknown horrors lived.
The proof of that were the soldiers' increasingly worse expressions. The disappearance of one after another, the screams of despair coming from some dark place deep in the temple...
All of that was driving him insane, and how wouldn't it?
His only options were either to wait for a miracle and leave that cage, only to be welcomed by a psychopathic lunatic, or stay there and die of hunger and thirst.
Neither seemed good.
Clank!
A creak sounded loudly, the sound of iron striking.
Something was dragged with force, scraping the floor and leaving deep grooves. An aura of despair.
The door was opened.
Blood dripped in the middle of the darkness, the sword raised near the neck, as if considering ending its owner's life right there.
But the sword did not move, it only dissolved into shining fragments.
A groan of anguishing pain came, while heavy steps crossed the doorway.
With his vision, Sunny noticed the handsome guard who had been guarding them in the last weeks. He was not well at all.
The eyes had disappeared, the hole where the globes should be was terrifying, like a vision coming directly from hell.
The skin was pale and sickly, gray marked old grooves that had not yet healed.
The face dirty with soot had not received cleaning for days, the image of a broken warrior reflected in Sunless's eyes.
'The guard?'
The man had not appeared for quite some time, practically leaving the two of them to their own fate, and now he had returned?
A dark feeling formed in Sunny's heart.
The suppressed voice of the awakened, taken by fear and anger, came:
"Everyone... Everyone is dead..." he murmured weakly, like a cracked mirror.
"Each one of my friends was consumed or killed... No one is here to save us..."
"There is no one left... No one!" his empty expression broke, a wave of hatred flowing.
"Damn it! Why?! What kind of thing did we do that condemned us to such a fate?!"
"Why?! Why?! Why?!"
The guard continued shouting for a long time, if he had eyes he would be crying...
That is if he could survive long enough with them.
"There has to be! There has to be some reason for all this suffering! Someone! It must have been someone..."
His face suddenly turned, staring at where Sunny and Cassie should be.
"Yes... It was someone."
That sent shivers down Sunny's spine, as he watched the awakened summon a bow.
At some point, the target of all his pain had turned to Sunless. The one responsible for releasing the beast from nothing.
And that debt was going to be paid with blood.
He raised the bow, aiming at Sunless and Cassie. They were quiet, not making any movement.
Both had a silent understanding, remaining still.
"It was you... You! If it weren't for you, that demon would still be imprisoned!" the arrow was set, the fingers lightly pulling the string.
"If it weren't for you, everything would be fine!"
His fingers gripped the string, pulling it with tremendous effort. The string stretched.
"If it weren't for you, everyone would still be alive!" he shouted at the same moment he released the arrow.
The arrow crossed the air, a snap echoing.
Sunny's heart almost stopped, as he saw the arrow going toward him.
It tore through the air, before crashing against the wall.
Sunny and Cassie were fine.
'Phew...' Sunny let out a silent sigh, not wanting to draw attention.
Silence reigned for a few moments, before being broken.
"Huh... Do you think I don't know you are alive? Do you think I am stupid?!"
He grabbed the string once more and pulled the bow. Sunny prepared himself, already ready to dodge.
All he needed was for the living chest to bite the man's leg, then he would take the key.
The arrow once again flew, heading toward Cassie. The blonde remained impassive.
The awakened missed.
"Could it be that these bastards are really dead?" The comment was well received by Sunny, a small hope that there would not be another shot.
However, his thoughts did not conclude. The awakened raised the weapon again.
And now Sunny was in his exact aim.
'Damn it!' his chest was not close enough yet to interrupt the attack, and being hit in that state was a death sentence.
"Die, you bastard!" the string stretched with tremendous force, the calloused fingers pulling it.
The arrow fit perfectly, the shot was ready.
"You will pa—"
The awakened felt a faint line form, in seconds that seemed like an eternity.
His head flew, going to the ground.
It rolled across the stone floor, leaving a dark trail.
Mordret watched for a moment.
"Hm."
Then he looked away, as if the spectacle had already lost its charm.
The body remained frozen in the launching position, an unknown expression on the severed face.
"Well now, what a beautiful surprise I have here." Mordret whispered, the smile open in reception.
Without worrying about the dead lost one, Mordret crouched and picked up the key from the body. The dead soldiers entered the cell and stood guard outside.
He walked slowly to the lock, while he saw himself reflected in Sunless's eyes.
'Night vision really is interesting...'
When he reached the bars, he noticed an expression of shock and apprehension on Sunny's face, while Cassie was... calm?
A frightening calm, and a resigned tranquility. The way Cassie was, she resembled a monk.
'She must have foreseen this, even if it is a change in the story...' but that did not irritate Mordret, it even made him confident. After all, if the oracle was calm, the problems were not yet serious.
Mordret turned the key in the lock, sighing lightly.
"What a tiring day…"
The sound echoed through the place, like an omen of the end of the lost.
Sunny and Cassie were free.