The first twelve hours nearly broke me.
The subway ruin stank of rot and stagnant water, the tunnels stretching into darkness that never ended. The ceiling dripped constantly, each drop echoing like a countdown in my head. Somewhere far above, the Devourer prowled, its shrieks vibrating through the earth. Every time it howled, dust shook loose from the ceiling and rained over us.
We didn't speak at first. What was there to say? Lysander kept his post at the edge of the platform, blade across his knees, eyes never closing. His silhouette looked carved from the dark, sharper than the ruins around him.
I sat opposite, my arms wrapped around my knees, trying to make myself smaller. My stomach gnawed itself hollow. We had eaten nothing since yesterday, and my body screamed for something—anything—to fill it. I found myself staring at the grime on the ground, imagining it was bread, stew, rice. My jaw ached from clenching.
[ Survival Timer: 59:12:07 ]
The numbers hovered in the corner of my vision. Every second felt heavier than the last.
I hated the quiet more than the screams. In silence, my mind invented sounds—the scrape of claws down the tunnel, the wet dragging of something crawling closer. My body jerked at phantoms, every nerve on edge. I wanted to ask if Lysander heard them too, but I couldn't give him that power. I couldn't let him see how afraid I was.
When I did finally sleep, it wasn't rest. The dreams came.
I was back in the ruins of the street, scavenger corpses twitching. Their jaws unhinged, mouths stretching impossibly wide, and when they screamed, it wasn't their voices. It was his—the Devourer's. My crowbar melted in my hands, dripping blood. I tried to run, but every turn led me back to him, back to Lysander, standing there with his blade through my chest.
I woke gagging on bile, gasping so loud it echoed. Lysander's head tilted, but he said nothing. His silence was worse than words.
The next hours blurred. Hunger became an ache that swallowed thought. My lips cracked, my throat dry. We scavenged through the station, but found nothing edible—just shattered bottles, moldering paper, a rat carcass half-consumed by maggots. Lysander didn't flinch when I retched at the sight.
At one point, I caught him staring into the dark tunnel, eyes narrowed. His hand twitched on the hilt of his sword.
"What do you see?" I whispered.
"Shadows."
"That's all?"
He didn't answer.
The shadows grew heavier as time dragged on. I started seeing things—faces flickering at the edges of my vision, hands reaching from the darkness only to vanish when I looked directly. My skin crawled with the weight of phantom touches.
[ Warning: Aberration Influence Detected. ]
[ Mental Resistance Low. ]
I pressed my palms against my temples, grinding my teeth. It wasn't real. It wasn't real.
Lysander finally moved. He knelt in front of me, his hand hovering near my face. His eyes burned silver, steady in a way mine couldn't be.
"Focus," he said. His voice cut through the static. "Breathe."
"Don't tell me what to—"
"Do it." His tone sharpened, command searing.
I inhaled raggedly, chest trembling. His hand didn't touch me, but it was close, anchoring. Slowly, the shadows receded, melting back into the tunnel.
The System flared.
[ Bond Synergy: 18% → 22% ]
[ Shared State Activated: Aberration Resistance (Minor). ]
My breath hitched. It wasn't me. It was him again. Always him. The bond digging deeper, stealing pieces of me and replacing them with him.
"Stay awake," he said simply, then returned to his post like nothing had happened.
I wanted to scream at him. To ask if he even cared, if I was just a tool to keep alive because the System demanded it. But exhaustion swallowed the words.
The second day broke me in different ways.
My hunger became madness. Every sound was food—the drip of water, the creak of steel, the scrape of rats somewhere in the dark. My stomach folded in on itself until all I could do was curl up and shake. My head throbbed, temples pulsing with each heartbeat.
At one point, Lysander left. No words. Just vanished into the tunnels.
I told myself I didn't care. That if he didn't come back, good riddance. I told myself I didn't need him. But when the hours stretched and the darkness grew thicker, I couldn't stop the panic. Every noise became claws, every shadow a monster. My chest locked up, breath ragged, body shaking so violently I thought my bones would snap.
When he finally returned, I nearly sobbed. He carried something in his hand. A rat, skewered on a piece of rebar. Charred black from fire.
"Eat." He tossed it toward me.
Revulsion twisted my stomach. The smell was foul, acrid, smoke mixed with rot. My pride flared, hot and sharp. "I'm not eating that."
"Then die." He bit into his portion without hesitation, jaw working as though it were nothing.
I gagged. But my body betrayed me. My hands shook as I picked it up, skin blistered from the fire, fur still clinging to patches of meat. I tore a strip off with my teeth, bile rising even as I chewed.
It was the worst thing I had ever tasted. It was also the best.
[ Hunger Reduced. ]
[ Vitality Restored: +8%. ]
I swallowed hard, choking down shame with the meat. I didn't look at him while I ate.
When I finished, my stomach steadied enough for me to lift my head. He was watching me. Not mocking, not cold—just watching, as if weighing something. I hated that look most of all.
The third day was a blur of delirium.
Sleep deprivation shredded my thoughts. Every blink brought new hallucinations—the tunnel walls melting, the floor heaving like waves, Lysander's face twisting into the Devourer's. I lost track of time, of words, of myself.
At one point, I woke to find myself clinging to his arm, nails digging into his skin, sobbing that I couldn't do it. That I didn't want to die.
He didn't push me away.
His voice was steady in the haze. "You'll live."
I wanted to believe him.
[ Survival Timer: 00:00:03 ]
[ 00:00:02 ]
[ 00:00:01 ]
The numbers vanished.
The System blazed across my vision.
[ Quest Complete: Survive the Devourer-Class Aberration for 72 Hours. ]
[ Reward Granted: Shared Skill — Predation Instinct. ]
[ Synergy Increased: 22% → 30%. ]
[ Warning: Bond Stability Deteriorating. ]
My body went cold. The air in the tunnel shifted, heavy, suffocating.
Above us, the Devourer screamed.
The hunt wasn't over. It had only just begun.