CHAPTER NINETEEN: Crimson Hunger II
Leylin moved.
Not toward the rim.
Down.
Something below called to the hunger more honestly than the distant pull above. He didn't think about it — his body simply chose, feet carrying him across the fractured basin toward a jagged split in the crater floor where darkness breathed upward like the exhale of a buried world.
He crouched at the edge.A hollow.
Deep.Alive.
"…Food?" he murmured, unsure why that was the first word that came to mind.
The hunger answered with a tightening in his chest.
Leylin dropped.
Stone walls rushed past in a blur. He didn't panic. Instinct bent his fall, twisting his body midair until he struck the cavern floor in a low crouch, the impact rippling outward in a dull shockwave that rattled loose dust from the ceiling.
He blinked.
"…I didn't even feel that."
The darkness here was absolute ...but only for a moment.
Sound unfolded first.
Drips mapped distance. Scrapes traced tunnels. Tiny heartbeats pulsed through the stone like hidden drums.
Then scent.
Rot. Iron. Damp earth. Old hunger.
Leylin straightened slowly.
"I can smell them…"
Movement answered.
The ground ahead ruptured.
A massive worm burst upward, its segmented body plated with chitin harder than steel, circular jaws splitting open into a ring of grinding teeth. Acidic drool hissed where it struck the stone.
In another life, it would have been a nightmare.
Leylin just stared.
"…That's it?"
It lunged.
He moved without deciding to.
His hand shot forward, fingers closing around the creature's upper mandible. The impact should have crushed bone.
Instead, the worm stopped.
Just… stopped.
Leylin frowned.
"Why are you so weak?"
The creature thrashed, body smashing against the cavern walls hard enough to crack stone. He felt the force travel through his arm ..distant, muted, like someone knocking on a door several rooms away.
The hunger surged.
Without thinking, he squeezed.
The chitin collapsed like brittle glass.
A wet, tearing sound echoed through the cavern as the worm split open, its body convulsing before falling limp. Dark fluid spilled across Leylin's hand, steaming where it touched his skin.
The essence threads rushed in instantly, devouring the leaking life.
For a moment, relief brushed the edges of the hunger.
Then...Nothing.
Leylin looked down at the carcass.
"…That's all?"
The emptiness inside him yawned wider, irritated rather than satisfied.
More movement.
The walls erupted.
Dozens of worms burst from every direction, drawn by the death of their kin. The cavern shook as bodies thicker than tree trunks coiled and struck, jaws snapping, acid spraying in wild arcs.
Leylin exhaled.
"Fine."
He stepped forward.
What followed was not a battle.
It was harvesting.
He tore through them with bare hands, movements precise and almost absent of effort. Bodies ruptured. Chitin shattered. The cavern filled with the stench of dissolving flesh and boiling blood as essence streamed into him in crimson threads.
Still not enough.
Still hollow.
Leylin stopped amid the carnage, chest rising slowly.
"…Why am I still hungry?"
The answer came as a scent.
Not rot.
Not earth.
Something warm.
Alive.
His head turned sharply toward a narrow tunnel veiled in darkness.
The smell hit him again ... faint but unmistakable.
Human.
Leylin's pulse changed.
All at once, his senses collided.
Sound sharpened first .. a distant heartbeat, controlled but not calm.
Then scent surged ahead of it, richer, layered with something familiar he couldn't name.
Sight followed last, the darkness peeling back as his pupils narrowed.
"…There."
His fingers twitched.
The hunger didn't rage this time.
It focused.
Curious.
Expectant.
Leylin took a step toward the tunnel, unaware that far ahead, another presence had already felt him awaken.
And was waiting.