The cave was quiet. Dark.
My makeshift torch had died long ago.
I lay on the stone floor. Cold. How long had I been unconscious? An hour? A day?
I tried moving my fingers. They worked.
I tried taking a deep breath.
No pain.
The broken left ribs... healed.
The punctured lungs... sealed.
I sat up slowly. My body's movements felt alien. Light. Too light. As if the gravity around me had been halved. Or perhaps, my muscles were now capable of resisting gravity with minimal effort.
I raised a hand to my face. In the total darkness of this cave, I... could see.
Not like daytime vision. It was monochrome. I could see the contours of the rocks, the texture of the stalactites, and the floating motes of dust. My eyes had adapted. Tapetum lucidum? Or retinal sensitivity enhanced a thousandfold?
I turned toward the giant serpent's carcass. The crystal on its forehead was still pulsing faintly. Its light was dim. The energy inside was still swirling sluggishly.
Growl...
The sound broke the silence.
My stomach.
The hunger that arrived wasn't just a "need to eat" signal. It was an absolute command. The gnawing pain in my stomach was so intense I felt my gastric acid would burn a hole through my abdomen if not filled immediately.
Metabolic cost.
Evolution required energy. Healing required material. My body had just burned through every existing fat and glucose reserve. I was in a severe deficit.
I stared at the exposed flesh of the serpent. White meat, thick, coarsely fibered.
I crawled closer. The stone knife in my hand moved swiftly, carving out a chunk of meat weighing about a kilogram. No fire. No seasoning.
I took a bite.
Tough. It tasted like chewing on tire rubber soaked in metallic blood.
But the moment the meat went down... pure pleasure detonated in my brain. Not a delicious taste on the tongue, but a sense of rightness within my cells.
Dopamine. Serotonin.
My brain was rewarding the behavior.
Eat. Grow. Survive.
I ate like a meat grinder. My jaw felt stronger; my teeth tore through the tough muscle fibers without difficulty. I didn't stop until the pain in my stomach vanished, replaced by a comfortable heaviness.
I leaned against the cold carcass, wiping the blood from my mouth with the back of my hand. I reached into my pocket. The pack of cigarettes was still there. Miraculously uncrushed.
I lit one. A small spark flared. Tobacco smoke filled my mouth, mixing with the lingering taste of metallic blood. A strange combination. Civilization and savagery.
I exhaled the smoke into the air. It curled, and my new eyes could see the turbulence patterns forming within it.
I picked up a fist-sized piece of limestone.
I squeezed it.
Crack.
The stone fractured.
I pressed harder.
Crumble.
The stone shattered into gravel and dust in my hand.
The average grip strength of a normal human was around 50 kilograms. This... was at least over 150 kilograms.
I was no longer human. Nor was I a monster.
My nervous system was calm. No anxiety. No overthinking. The world felt slower. Or was I the one who was faster?
I stood up, walking toward the mouth of the cave.
The morning sunlight greeted me at the end. Bright. Blinding.
The forest stretched out before my eyes.
Green, vast, dangerous.