The moonlight was drowned out and replaced by a dusty darkness as we tumbled down the cave. My face contorted into a grimace as I hit several parts of my body midst the fall. Areas like my back, head, and arms were the main targets. Weirdly enough, I seemed to bounce off the hard rides of stone, my body only shaking with each impact leaving me slightly disoriented.
Neither I nor the creature focused on damaging one another since our main priority was survival. In all honesty, I didn't know how I was still intact. It may be due to the nature of the trials that can't have the subject be immobilized or maybe something else.
We soon reached flat ground, giving light to the fact that the drop wasn't that big. Due to the momentum, we tumbled and rolled away from each other.
I slowly got up, my eyes focusing on the dusty floor below. I rotated my head and stretched my arms and torso, taking notice that none of my bones were broken. I then ran a hand through my neck, surprised to feel my skin intact.
That's weird, I could've sworn that the creature's teeth had penetrated my skin.
My train of thought was cut short as I noticed the four-legged hound rise as well, looking more roughed up than me. The beast, now blind, moved its head from side to side, its snout twitching as it sniffed around.
Almost instantly, its head swiveled in my direction, its muzzle curving up into a vicious snarl. There was no use hiding, I was littered with blood, and the beast showed it could easily pick up on the smell.
There was only a short breath of respite between us before we charged at each other, ready to clash. Despite being blind the beast proved to still be a tenacious creature, and perhaps even more dangerous now than it was before. It was beaten, blind, and on its last stand, what more did it have to lose?
The beast jumped menacingly, teeth bared, its frightening form augmented by the all-encompassing darkness of the cave. I moved slightly to the side but still wasn't enough. Its teeth fell shut on my shoulder. I did not mind it however, in fact, it was invited to.
This is going to hurt.
I raised my arm with as much strength as I could and wrapped it around the creature's neck. Causing its teeth to carve their way up my shoulder and peel some skin back. It didn't matter though, it was all a part of my plan.
As we fell back to the floor, I put my other arm around its neck as well, and with all the strength I could muster squeezed tightly, tightening the creature's neck. The beast struggled, trying to wiggle out, its feet kicking around in vain as it let out choked whimpers.
I strained myself, more than I ever had and made sure to pour every ounce of strength I had within me. Slowly but surely, the beast began to struggle less. Its movements began to slow as I squeezed the life from it.
We remained like that for what felt like an eternity and at some point, the beast stopped moving completely. Yet, I remained resolute, not wanting to take any chances. I wanted to make sure the giant rodent was dead for good.
Eventually, once I felt satisfied, I let myself relax and pushed the dead body of the creature away.
I let out a breath and stared up at the ceiling, feeling the cold stone floor embrace the surface of my back. A chuckle escaped my lips in the aftermath of that harrowing battle.
However, my victory was cut short by a sudden pain that pressed down on my head. My life proved no end to troubles. The noise of the rustling leaves and the sound of the blowing wind filled my thoughts again as if thinned and augmented by the narrow cave entrance. Sounds I once thought of as calming felt as if they were going to be the end of me.
My stomach churned and my throat constricted. I turned to my side only just in time to throw up. I slowly sat up, finding it hard to focus on anything. The reality before my eyes slithered in a way that made my eyes ache and my head dizzy, the world around me had become disorienting all of a sudden.
I crawled back until I hit the wall of the cave and sat there. I tried closing my eyes but that only heightened my disorienting perspective, augmenting all my senses to the world around me. I snapped open my eyelids and brought my hands up to cover my ears.
Why is everything so loud?
I wondered, but as I tried shutting off my hearing, all of my senses focused inward. The gush of my saliva as I gulped down, each breath of air, and even the pounding of my heart. I could hear it all to such a detailed level that it made my head hurt, affecting the way I perceived the world before me.
How do I stop it?
My mind raced, looking through my memory for any solution to ease my discomfort. My thoughts quickly settled, resurfacing my time aboard the train. Back then, I bit down on my hands to steel my thoughts away from the belittling whispers.
Desperate to bring myself to a state of calmness, I brought my hand up to my face and bit down on it without hesitation. However, something was wrong. The familiar sensation of sharp pain never came. Instead, my teeth met resistance, like I was biting into something rubbery and tough.
My skin, which should have been easily split under the pressure, felt unnaturally firm, almost as if it had thickened without my realizing it. I bit down harder, trying to break the surface, but the texture was strange and unnaturally resilient.
I could barely feel my teeth, and what should have been painful, bone-crunching even, was just a subtle feeling of applied pressure. It was like trying to bite through leather, only harder, and as I pulled my hand away, I noticed that there was hardly a mark left behind.
What the hell?
I took off my sweater and took a look at my wounds. There were few blood stains but my wounds were completely healed, almost as if they were never there, even the one on my shoulder was closed completely.
Something is definitely wrong with my body and not just that, but me as well. I feel everything. It was subtle at first but the more time passed the more the world seemed to press around me. So much so that my head began getting overwhelmed.
What do I do now?
I glanced at the dead body of the deformed hound and realized its fangs were sharp enough to penetrate my skin.
I crawled my way forward and took hold of the creature's body, propping it in place so that both top canines were placed atop the skin of my forearm. I stared down at it with a distant expression before slamming my fist down on its head, causing the sharp teeth to sink into my arm.
They only went down for about half an inch, not able to dig any deeper, but that was enough. My face twisted slightly as pain shot through my body.
I began to release focused and calm breaths, pinning all my attention down on the pain. In all honesty, it didn't make me feel all that better but still, it was only just a little bit, and every little bit helped.
I remained seated, huffing and puffing, trying to settle my thoughts away from my overwhelming surroundings. Every breath I drew in was like a meditative exercise, as if every inhale could drown out the world around me.
I tried anything I could think of to focus my thoughts away from that which made me uncomfortable, like counting the seconds. Ten. Twenty. Fifty. One hundred. One thousand. But the hours stretched too long for me to keep proper track. The numbers in my head became all scrambled and it was hard to make out which one came after the last one due to my scattered awareness. So, my mind wandered.
Unwantedly, I recalled my mother. She was always there for me when I was in trouble, gave me advice when I needed it, and any question I had, she would answer. Back then, I thought she knew everything.
What would she tell me if she saw me now? What kind of advice would she think I'd need to hear to get me out of this predicament?
I know the answer all too well.
I could still hear her voice as clearly as my surroundings, telling me to focus on what I wanted to focus.
It was a simple answer, one that holds more meaning than one would think, and a concept that is much, much harder to put into practice. She'd tell me the same thing every time I had a hard time focusing my attention on something specific. It is a different situation now, of course, but the same problem nevertheless.
I recalled my mother's words and other memories that came with it to serve as an anchor for my mind. This seemed to work and it felt as though my senses thinned. Not in the way I would have ever expected.
I could still hear everything around me so clearly but it was as if my mind had unfolded, enveloping this new and foreign heightened sense that developed within. My mind no longer spun from the rush of information coming in all at once. The feeling of nausea began to subside. It felt as though I could think clearer, my thoughts no longer scattered by disorientation. I took a breath, keenly aware of everything around me.
Before I knew it, sunlight, shone its way down the cave, illuminating its dark entrance. I shifted my attention and noticed the sun beginning to rise.
My face twitched slightly as I snapped the fangs of the lifeless hound off my forearm and tossed the limp body away while keeping my eyes fixed intently on the cave's entrance.
I stood up and, regardless of my few slips and tumbles, managed to ascend up the steep slope until I was met by fresh air and filtered sunlight once again. I looked around, my mind clearer than ever, and began to walk forward.
***
Finally, after a couple more hours I retraced my steps and arrived back in the small clearing where I first found myself in. As I emerged from the forest and stepped toward the sole tree, my heart sank.
The table was still there, but the food… It was crawling with insects. Flies buzzed around the meat, ants swarmed over the bread, and mosquitoes hovered over the drinks. The fruits, once so ripe, were now rotten, with maggots wriggling through their decaying insides.
I recoiled, the sight turning my stomach. The hunger that had drawn me to desperately look for the table yesterday was gone, replaced by a repulsive sight of decay and waste. I couldn't eat this, not anymore.
Despite my complicated feelings, I couldn't seem to look away. The view of what was unfolding before me made me realize something.
Hadn't I seen this before?