The stone scraping behind him slowed.
Once.
Twice.
Then—nothing.
He stayed frozen, breath locked in his chest, waiting for the sound to return. His muscles burned from the strain of holding still, but he didn't move. Not until his lungs screamed.
When he finally exhaled, it came out in a thin, shaking stream.
It's gone.
The thought felt fragile. Like saying it too loudly might invite it back.
He crawled forward again, slower now, careful not to let his elbows scrape too loudly against the stone. The passage tightened once more, forcing his shoulders inward until his ribs protested with every breath.
Then—space.
The pressure eased.
The stone ahead sloped upward, and cool air brushed his face. He pushed once, twice, and spilled out of the crevice onto solid ground, collapsing onto his side.
For a moment, he just lay there.
Breathing.
Alive.
A weak laugh escaped him before he could stop it. "I'm… alive."
The sound echoed too loudly.
He clamped a hand over his mouth and listened.
Nothing followed.
Slowly, carefully, he lifted his head.
The cave opened up here—wider than before, the ceiling lost somewhere above. Jagged stone pillars rose from the ground like broken teeth, forming natural clusters of cover. Beyond them, the darkness stretched on… and glimmered.
Buzz.
Soft. Constant.
His stomach tightened.
Winged—
monsters.
The buzzing wasn't just noise anymore. He could see it now. See where it came from.
Translucent wings cut slowly through the air, their movement uneven, almost lazy. Faint pulses of light bled from their bodies, weak and wrong, staining the darkness instead of pushing it back. Shapes slid in and out of view as they moved, never still, never rushing.
They weren't flying randomly.
They were circling.
His throat tightened.
Something pushed at the back of his mind—
and slipped away before it could take shape.
Why are they here?
The question twisted, turning inward before he could stop it.
No.
Why am I here?
The ground shuddered faintly beneath him.
Just enough to notice.
Just enough to make his stomach drop.
His fingers curled into the dirt, nails digging in as his heartbeat roared in his ears.
Something was wrong.
Wrong in a way his body understood before his thoughts could catch up.
still,
He stayed pressed behind the cluster of stone, back against the cold surface, knees drawn in just enough to keep himself small. The rock was rough against his skin, grounding in a way nothing else had been since he woke up.
In.
Out.
He forced his breathing to slow, even as his chest resisted the rhythm.
The buzzing didn't stop.
It drifted through the cavern, steady and unbothered, rising and falling as the winged shapes continued their slow, endless movement below. Pale light flickered between the gaps in the stone, sliding across the ground near his feet before fading again.
They weren't searching.
They were just… there.
That somehow made it worse.
His heartbeat finally eased, though it never fully settled. His hands still trembled when he loosened them from the dirt, fingers stiff and sore.
This place didn't feel empty.
It felt occupied.
Like he'd stepped somewhere he wasn't meant to be.
The thought came without panic. Without noise.
Just a quiet certainty settling in his gut.
Staying here wasn't an option.
He didn't know where the way out was. Didn't know how far it might be. Didn't even know if there was one.
But waiting—
waiting meant something would eventually find him.
His gaze lifted toward the darker stretch of stone beyond the cavern, where the light from the buzzing shapes thinned and vanished completely.
Deeper.
His stomach tightened.
Out, then.
However that happened.
However long it took.
He drew one last slow breath and shifted his weight, careful not to scrape stone against stone as he prepared to move again.
The cavern didn't react.
Not yet.