When Ayin opened her eyes, she found herself with the familiar pain, tattered, wounded, and surrounded by an otherworldly stillness.
The walls around her were pristine white, smooth yet organic, as if carved from the ribs of a colossal beast. The air was thick, heavy with an unknown energy that thrummed faintly in her broken ears. Yes, broken, as it almost fall from clean deep cut.
Her body ached, the wounds from her torture still raw, but there was something heavier—a gnawing, hollow sensation deep in her core as the living.
Hunger.
The last time she eat was probably six days ago.
She turned her head slowly, only to found the still form of Zesh lying not far from her.
His dark fur was matted with dried blood, his body battered, his eyes shut tight, and unmoving except for the faint rise and fall of his chest. His blood almost form a cold crimson pool around him.
In that instant, her hunger clouded consciousness cleared up and Ayin was obviously panicked.
She instantly remembered everything.
She was frantic.
But her condition failed her.
She crawled towards him with much difficulty to check on him—thank god, he's truly still alive.
It seems her dream was true after all.
She began licking his wounds caringly,
Zesh didn't even flinch.
The sight of him like this—so broken, so lifeless—made her chest tighten, her eyes already wet.
But she did her best to hold it all.
Since she was the cause of his suffering, she did not deserve to act like a victim.
And she saw everything.
Her brother, who had carried her through the depths of hell, who had endured pain and humiliation for her sake, now lay on the brink of death. Her eyes burned with tears, but she still refused to let them fall. She clenched her teeth, her claws scraping against the smooth floor as she forced herself to sit up.
The memory of the villagers' cruelty rose unbidden in her mind: the stones that had struck her, the jeers that had cut deeper than any blade, and the betrayal she had seen in Nakan's cold eyes.
As the saying goes: "thousands deed won't turn you into a Angel, but a single bad deed is what it's takes to make you worse than the devil; Kindness you gave yesterday would be believed as poison today." But Ayin couldn't be blamed. After all, she has gone through too much, it's only natural if she thought so.
Her gaze lingered on Zesh's unconscious face.
He had always been the strong one, the protector. And yet, they he had reduced him to this.
Her claws dug into the ground beside him, leaving faint scratches on the smooth surface.
With much difficulty, she pushed herself upright,
It was at that moment she became aware of a faint metallic scent in the air. She turned her head, her eyes landing on the bodies of five humans sprawled nearby.
They were three male and two female, their bodies preserved as if they were sleeping, but even if their heart still beating, the death's air that clung on them couldn't be clearer. Ayin recognized them immediately as Eltsopa, she still remember the scent of those who came and trampled on her glade.
Ayin's stomach twisted with hunger, the gnawing emptiness growing stronger as she stared at them. She felt a wave of revulsion at the thought that followed, but it was quickly overwhelmed by something darker—a primal need to survive.
She walked tremblingly closer to the corpses, her breaths coming in shallow gasps. The scent of blood was intoxicating, it emanating from their bodies and seemed to call to her, urging her forward.
Her gaze shifted back to Zesh who's still motionless.
Ayin's paws trembled as she reached out to the armored woman's body.
She hesitated, her brain warring with her heart.
But the memory of her father' mangled bodies, of the villagers' mocking laughter, of Nakan's cold betrayal, surged through her like a flood.
But more than that, was the urgency for the fact that Zesh's life literally slipping before her.
Her eyes glinted coldly,
Her jaw clenched as she leaned down, her teeth sinking into the warm flesh.