I could barely stand. My limbs felt like they were about to crumble under the weight of exhaustion, the cracks in my body widening with every labored breath I took. The creature I had fought lay unconscious—or dead—in front of me, its massive form sprawled on the ground. Its ragged breathing had long since stopped, but I couldn't bring myself to confirm whether it was truly gone or just too injured to move.
I wasn't sure if I should be relieved or terrified. Relieved that I had managed to survive, terrified that I had no idea what was lurking in this strange world, or whether there were more of those things out there.
Nexus's voice buzzed faintly in my mind, but it did little to comfort me. My "Unique Skill" was barely functioning now. Its usual calm, robotic tone had become almost... hollow, like it was struggling just as much as I was.
I needed to move. If I didn't leave this spot, I was sure I wouldn't make it far enough to survive the next encounter.
Slowly, I pushed myself up, my body creaking like an old, brittle statue. My arms shook with the effort, but I managed to get to my knees. I barely had the strength to hold myself up. My legs—more like chunks of stone—refused to support me properly. The weight of it all felt unbearable.
A brief flicker of energy came from Nexus, only to fail instantly.
Typical. Another failed scan. Nexus's ability to analyze my surroundings had been mostly useless lately, but there was no time to dwell on it. I could feel the faintest stirrings of panic rising in me, but I shoved it down. I had no choice. I needed to keep moving.
I glanced around the misty, dense forest that surrounded me. The silence was oppressive. No creatures, no rustling leaves—just the stillness of the land. I couldn't tell where the next threat might come from, and I had no way of knowing if something was watching me.
With one last grunt of effort, I struggled to stand, barely finding my balance. Each step was like dragging myself through a sea of stone. I wasn't sure where I was going, only that I had to keep moving, had to get away from the scene of the battle. I didn't trust the quiet.
"Great," I muttered under my breath. Another failure. But Nexus was right—my energy reserves were so low, I could hardly make it a few steps.
Still, I pressed on, forcing my battered body to move. I didn't have the luxury of choosing where to go. The forest, the ground, the thick air—it all blurred together as I staggered forward. It was hard to tell if time was passing or if I was simply trapped in an endless cycle of steps.
I cursed under my breath. This wasn't a time for Nexus to give up on me. I needed information, anything that could help me understand what I was facing. But there was nothing. Just me, my cracked, broken body, and the wilderness.
I wasn't sure how long I wandered in that haze of exhaustion, but the world around me seemed to shift. The trees grew thicker, the mist heavier. It felt like I was walking in circles, my body screaming for rest, my mind a jumbled mess of fleeting thoughts.
Suddenly, the ground beneath me gave way, and I stumbled forward, my body unable to compensate. I hit the ground hard, my limbs slamming into the rough earth, the impact sending waves of pain through my fragile form. I barely had the strength to lift myself again.
I let out a shaky breath, my chest constricting with panic. I was alone. There was no one coming to help me. Nexus wasn't going to save me. I had no one to rely on but myself, and I barely even knew how to survive in this place.
The realization hit me like a weight crashing down. There was no rescue. No second chances. If I didn't get out of this, I was as good as dead.
I pulled myself up once more, my muscles trembling with the strain. The stone that made up my body felt like a thousand tons, my every movement slower and weaker. I had no choice. I had to keep going.
I couldn't afford to stop.
The suggestion echoed in my mind, and I scoffed weakly. Rest? How could I rest when I had no idea what dangers lurked in this forest?
I knew Nexus was right—my body could barely function—but I couldn't just stop here. If I did, I would never get up again.
One step. Then another. And another.
That was all I could do. I could barely keep my balance, but I couldn't afford to fall again.
I had no one but myself. And that was all that mattered now.
And as Nexus fell silent, leaving me alone in the dark, mist-shrouded forest, I was left with nothing but my will to survive.
The pain was all-consuming. Every inch of my body felt like it was on fire, each crack and fissure in my golem frame threatening to splinter completely. The weight of my exhaustion dragged me further into the ground, my limbs barely able to hold me up anymore. I had no choice but to crawl, the rough stones scraping against my body as I pulled myself forward with what little strength I had left.
The forest around me was eerily quiet. No chirps of birds, no rustling of leaves, not even the distant howl of a beast. Just silence. And the ever-present weight of despair settling over me like a heavy fog. I didn't know how long I had been wandering. Time had become a blur. Every step, every movement felt like it could be my last.
Nexus's voice crackled in my mind, distorted and weak. It wasn't the usual calm, methodical tone I was used to. It was… breaking down, just like I was. The once-reliable scans, the precise data gathering—none of it worked anymore.
I had no idea what was out there, no way to even attempt a defense. The forest around me could hide anything—creatures, traps, anything—and I'd have no way of knowing until it was too late.
I had no choice but to keep moving. Even though every step felt like it was dragging me closer to my death, I couldn't stop. The thought of lying down, letting the darkness take me… it terrified me. Because there was no guarantee that if I closed my eyes, I'd ever open them again.
I dragged my broken body forward, stumbling over the uneven ground. My legs—stone, but somehow so fragile—trembled with each movement, as if they too had given up on me. But I wasn't ready to give up. Not yet. Not after everything that had happened to me in this world.
A deep breath shuddered through me, my chest straining against the heavy weight of my form. I couldn't even remember the last time I had felt truly alive, truly whole. Everything in me was broken, every step a reminder of how out of place I was in this foreign land.
I could feel Nexus's attempt to scan my surroundings—another failure. It felt almost like a cruel joke. I wasn't sure if the skill was malfunctioning because of my body's energy or if it simply couldn't find anything useful in the wilderness that surrounded me. Either way, it wasn't helping.
I wasn't sure where I was going anymore. The trees seemed to stretch endlessly, and the terrain only grew more hostile with each passing moment. The air was thick with the smell of damp earth, and the faint scent of decay lingered. The world around me felt like it was closing in, as if the forest itself was a living thing—slowly consuming me, piece by piece.
I couldn't even get Nexus to help me anymore. My limbs felt heavier with every passing second, and my breath came out in ragged, shallow gasps. My body had nearly reached its limit, and still, there was no escape, no safety.
What was the point in continuing? There was no one to help me. No one to turn to. I was a small, broken golem—nothing special, nothing remarkable. Just a failure of a being stumbling through a world that had no place for me.
The ground beneath me shook.
I froze, muscles tensing.
A tremor. Low, distant, but unmistakable. The earth rumbled, sending vibrations through the stones in my body, and my heartbeat quickened.
The skill's voice buzzed weakly in my mind, but there was nothing. No scan result. No warning.
I tried to push myself up, my arms barely supporting my weight. But as I rose, the rumbling intensified. Something was coming. I couldn't see it. I didn't know what it was. But the ground beneath me trembled like a storm was about to descend.
The trees around me swayed, as though bowing to an invisible force. My body was too broken to run. I couldn't even stand properly, let alone defend myself.
I felt a sharp, sinking feeling in my chest. Nexus had failed me completely now. My energy reserves were too low for even the most basic of functions. There was nothing left.
Whatever was coming, I couldn't stop it. I had no strength. No ability to fight back. My only option was to survive long enough to escape, but escape seemed impossible.
The rumbling grew louder. Closer.
I tried to stand, to force my body into motion, but my legs buckled beneath me, and I collapsed back to the ground with a painful thud. The air grew colder. The silence that had once enveloped me was now broken by a deep, guttural growl, low and menacing.
I couldn't see the creature yet, but I could feel it closing in. Every instinct in my body screamed for me to move, to get away, but it was no use.
I was alone. Alone with a broken skill. Alone in a forest that would consume me without hesitation.
And all I could do was wait.
My head drooped, my vision blurry. The last thing I heard before the growl grew deafening was Nexus's final attempt to alert me, the last flicker of its presence before it too faded into nothing.
Then… darkness.