I could no longer tell whether minutes or hours were passing. All I could feel was the cold clinging to my limbs, and the weight of my body, unable to respond.
I remained in that state for a long time, drifting between fragmented awareness and suffocating silence, until a faint ray of sunlight slipped into the hollow. A thin line of light cut through the darkness and touched the dirt in front of me. The light was dim at first, but it gradually became clearer, announcing the arrival of morning. Only then did I realize that the night was over…
I tried to move, but my body did not respond immediately. It took great effort just to lift my head, then I pushed the dirt away from my face with difficulty. I brushed the soil off my chest and shoulders and noticed that some of it was frozen, stuck to my clothes and skin, hard as if it were part of me.
After several attempts, I managed to stand up outside the hollow, but my legs failed me for a moment, and I had to steady myself so I wouldn't fall. My body was still stiff, my movements slow and heavy, and every joint screamed from the intense cold.
I lowered my gaze to examine my body, and that was when I noticed something strange. My injuries… were no longer bleeding. The blood that had been flowing all night had completely stopped—not because the wounds had healed, but because they had literally frozen. The wounds were covered with a thin layer of ice, as if the deadly cold had forcibly stopped the bleeding.
I swallowed silently.
"This… is the only good thing that happened."
I stood there under the morning sunlight for a short while, doing nothing but waiting. I let the slow warmth seep into my body, gradually melting the ice clinging to me and restoring sensation to my stiffened limbs.
With every passing moment, my body regained a bit of its strength, and with it, the pain returned… but it was a familiar pain, one I could endure.
I remained standing for a few additional moments before I was finally able to move my neck. The stiffness was severe, as if my joints had been made of stone. I slowly turned my head, cautiously scanning the surroundings, until my eyes fell upon a thick branch that had fallen from a nearby tree. I approached it with hesitant steps, picked it up, and leaned my body against it. It wasn't comfortable, but it was enough to help me walk without falling.
I began moving forward, putting as much distance as possible between myself and that place. Every step I took caused pain, but the thought of staying there was worse. I decided to push deeper into the forest, hoping that I would eventually find a path leading out, or any sign of civilization.
I walked for quite some time, breathing with difficulty, listening to the sounds of the forest around me, and then suddenly… I stopped.
Ahead of me, at not too great a distance, I saw a scene that made my body freeze in place.
Two monsters… fighting each other.
I immediately hid behind a large tree, watching silently through the branches. One of them was massive, closer to a beast standing on two legs, with dark, rough skin and terrifyingly prominent muscles.
Its claws were long and sharp, and every strike it delivered left a clear mark on the ground or on its opponent's body.
The other was slimmer, but slightly taller, with grayish skin and glowing red eyes. Its movements were faster, more agile, dodging and leaping around its opponent, relying on speed rather than brute strength.
It was a truly brutal fight.
The massive monster attacked first, raising its arm and delivering a devastating blow, but the other narrowly avoided it and countered with a swift attack, driving its claws into its opponent's side.
The large monster roared in rage and stomped the ground so hard that dirt scattered around them, then grabbed its opponent by the arm and hurled it violently toward a nearby tree, cracking its trunk from the force of the impact.
My body trembled as I watched.
I instinctively took a step back, a strong urge to flee immediately washing over me. But before I moved, a thought crossed my mind and made me stop.
What if… I used this fight to my advantage?
One of them would win in the end, but no matter who it was, the victor would be injured and exhausted. An opportunity… that might not come again.
I swallowed, feeling my heartbeat quicken, but I decided to wait.
I continued watching from between the trees as the fight grew more savage. Blood spilled onto the ground, and furious growls filled the area. After minutes that felt like hours, the massive monster finally managed to land a finishing blow. It grabbed the slender monster, lifted it off the ground, and smashed it forcefully against a large rock. A horrifying cracking sound echoed everywhere before the slender monster died.
But the victor was not in good condition either.
It was breathing heavily, one of its arms bleeding badly, and its movements had become slow and sluggish.
Now…
I slipped behind it, holding my breath with difficulty. Every step I took felt louder than it really was. I moved very slowly, inching closer, repeating frantically in my mind:
Don't look back… don't look back… don't look back.
I repeated the words again and again as I approached, until only a single step separated us.
But my luck was bad.
I stepped on something hard beneath my foot, producing a faint sound—but it was enough.
I felt it notice immediately.
Before it could fully turn toward me, I drove the branch I was holding into its neck with all the strength I had, from behind. A sharp, terrifying scream burst from its mouth, and it began struggling violently to turn around, but I pressed the branch harder, preventing it from turning.
When it realized it couldn't turn, it attacked me with its claws from behind—a fast, desperate movement aimed at my back. But its previous injuries made it slower…
I threw myself to the ground at the last moment.
Its claws passed over me and instead sank into its own body, throwing it off balance and causing it to fall backward violently. But it… was not dead yet.
I rushed toward it without hesitation, pulled the branch from its neck quickly, then grabbed a large rock nearby.
I lifted it with everything I had left and began smashing it down onto its head.
Once. Then again. Then a third time.
I struck without stopping, without thinking, until its head was completely crushed and shattered into pieces.
Only then did I stop.
I stood there, panting, my hands trembling as the rock slipped from my fingers. Everything around me was silent… except for the sound of my heavy breathing, and my heart still pounding violently in my chest.