There was no time for explanations, no space for anything but the urge to protect Alex and the stone embedded within her. The air felt thick, shifting, as if something in the Earth itself had awakened, rippling through my senses and triggering a cold, sharp instinct. The realization was seeping through the pits, reaching deeper… the other elders must have known that one of their own had fallen. It’s power stolen They were coming.
I wrapped my arms around Alex, clinging to her as though my own life were bound to hers, and surged toward the exit, every nerve blazing. The mark on my hand, the one Hunger herself had branded onto me, pulsed like a raw wound, urging me to escape… for now. Yet a wilder, hungrier part of me wanted to keep going, to rip apart this entire wretched place until none of them were left. Until I was certain no more threats were lying in wait. But Alex… Alex was my anchor now that the relic was lodged within her. I didn’t know what this meant for either of us… for the end goal of slaying the Primeval of Hunger.
I had to get her to safety. To Abel, maybe. If anyone would understand, it would be him. Abel always seemed to carry secrets he never fully shared, bits of knowledge that somehow fit when nothing else made sense. He sent me down this path initially… he had to know something.
Then I felt it… a faint tremor opening up behind us, somewhere near the elder’s corpse. It was like the very ground had split, revealing a pocket, a corridor within the body itself. I could sense figures moving, shifting on the other side, and they were coming through. We had to go, now.
On pure instinct, I sprinted out of the building. I nestled Alex against me as snug as I could without causing more damage. I was cradling her as if my hold alone could shield her from the imminent threat of the sharp crags of stone around us. Every instinct screamed to protect her from the jagged edges scraping through the dark, clawing at the very air as we rushed past them. I bolted upward, scaling the insides of the Primeval, each movement was a challenge. Jumping from handholds with only one free arm as the other was preoccupied with carrying Alex’s form against me. Then as my palm touched a certain section of wall, a jolt surged through me.
The mark on my hand, the twisted, glowing brand flared. With a searing intensity, I felt a current like molten metal course up my arm, each pulse urging a direction I hadn't chosen. It felt as though the Primeval of Hunger itself was communicating through the marking, a whispered question settling in my mind. Where do you need to go? The only answer I had, was escape. We had to get out.
The petrified husk responded as the walls shifted violently. We were pulled into a yawning void, the darkness swallowing us whole as if a colossal beast had sucked us down its gullet. The walls churned with movement, rocks and spikes shifting and twisting in chaotic patterns, each one a threat to her fragile body. I clutched Alex tighter, wrapping myself around her like a second shield, the razor-sharp points barely missing us as the stone ground against itself. I moved with sheer desperation, every motion calculated to keep her safe from the shifting, churning mass that threatened to impale us. The noise was deafening, and the fire of a thousand cuts laced my flesh as the rocks themselves propelled me upward, chewing against me as it forced me through the earth.
It felt like we were being ground up, the crushing rocks pressing closer until even the air thinned, heavy with dust and grit. Then, suddenly, the rock convulsed and spit us out. The earth opened above us, expelling us with a force that threw us across the ground, tumbling into a familiar darkness. My senses staggered, taking in the cavern walls, the faint glint of mineral veins in stone. I looked back to where we had been ejected. There was the faintest hint of the petrified bone of the Primeval. It barely scraped through the natural cavern below. That was the part of the husk that we had exited. We were out. We had escaped the pits.
We flopped out onto the rough cave floor, and just like that, the crushing sense of pursuit vanished. Relief settled over me. We were out, and somehow, I knew the elders wouldn’t follow. It felt certain they’d have no way of tracking us now.
Charles had claimed the legs were the only entry and exit points, but that clearly wasn’t the full story. It felt as if we’d moved through the remnant shell of the Primeval, slipping through bone and rock as if we were embedded within it. Without passing a single open gateway, we’d been carried through its petrified flesh, my branded mark guiding us along some unseen, hidden route… guided by the will of Hunger itself.
Alex… I thought in my head. I looked down at my hands which were hard and rigid, forming a hardened shell around her body. My bones locked in a position to not crush her through our movements. Her red hair spilled out from between my fingers, her skin was exposed in places her clothes had been shredded, and she was still unconscious. I sent a pulse into her again, analyzing her vital signs. It wasn't an exact science, but I got the feeling that she was okay, and in healthy condition… for an anthropophagus vampire. And there it was, right in the middle of her chest. The hungry energy that had once been a solid rock formation. It was a part of her.
I looked around at the section of the cave I stood in, taking stock of my surroundings. Some openings led out of here, however they were much smaller than my monstrous form had grown. To go anywhere next, I had to revert back… become human again. I reached out with my mind to the Primeval, agreeing with it on what was next. I felt its hands pull back from the wheel, granting me full control again. It slithered back slowly, whisking its power away to where it was stored… until I needed it again.
My body shifted, shrinking and compacting itself back into human form. This regression back to my human nature was different. I had never reversed the growth of a tail before. And it felt oddly disturbing. My spine felt ten times longer, it clicked and popped as a tightness grew in my back, pulling the muscles back into my core. Slowly but surely, the tightness reached its peak, and I felt like my body had been restored to original form; the monster pressed within me… back in its cage. As always my teeth and talons were the last things burning through the pain of transformation. The first and last signs of the monster I hid from the world; the lingering death just beneath the surface of my skin. I tried to force my eyes back from black, but it was no use. The moment I tried to revert them, I could feel the resistance just as before. They would stay this way, as they had been. As fully human as I could muster, I held Alex in my arms. She was obviously more my size, now that I had returned to normal, but my strength was more than enough to handle her with care, and treat her like she weighed nothing.
It was strange, to say the least, making my way through the underground caves beneath St. Louis without a shred of clothing, smeared in blood, and carrying an unconscious woman. My brief attempt to strip off my clothes in my frenzy to kill the elder had left me in this unusual predicament. So here I was, trudging through the pitch darkness, buck naked and dripping red, trying to get Alex to safety.
As I carried her up through the winding caves, leading into the sewer systems, and finally out through a manhole, I realized dawn had already broken. Golden light crept over the horizon, stretching long shadows across the city. With urgency biting at me, I held Alex close, keeping her in what little shadow remained, careful that no sun touched her skin. The last thing she needed was to be trapped in daylight; the last thing I needed was to be seen like this. The combination of nakedness and blood was enough to startle anyone awake at this hour… not something I wanted the morning commuters to stumble upon.
With no time to make it to Alex’s apartment downtown, I took the path through a wooded area on the city’s edge, heading for my old hideout, the abandoned factory. The closer I got, the fewer people I’d have to dodge. Worst case, I could even cut through the river, stay in the shadows of one of the passing barges, keeping just our heads above water until we reached the factory’s shadows.
Finally, as the sun fully broke over the trees, I slipped into the dark, crumbling entry of the factory. Alex still lay limp in my arms, safe from the sun and any unwanted eyes. For now, we’d be hidden here, away from daylight and the eyes of anyone who might have wondered what a blood-streaked, naked man carrying a woman was doing wandering the early morning streets.
The sun was high in the sky, it had been a few hours since we arrived. I found the old mattress, still where I had left it. I don't think Alex would appreciate the filthiness of it, but our options here were limited. I wanted to run to Abel and see what he thought.. or what he knew. I know if anyone had answers it would be him. I knew death was my best option, but he left me for now. I didn't expect to see him again until it was done.
However, as much as I wanted to leave Alex and rush to Abel, I couldn't break myself away. I worried that something would happen, and the Primeval power would slip back out of her. If it did, what if some passerby could feel it? Some monster or sensitive person would be alerted to its presence. I didn't want to muddy the waters any more than they were. Not only that, but I felt bound to Alex in a way. It was my fault that she was with us. She had come to the depths with the Primeval and me, to help us. I know she said she was there to kill as many vampires as she could get her fill from, but I knew there was something else. She spoke about it, although teetering around the perimeter of the truth. At the end of the day though I could have sent her packing. Told her to get lost and then I didn't need her help. Honestly, I probably should have. Look at her now.
I gazed down at her unconscious form, looking at her damaged clothes and tussled hair. If it wasn't for that stone, she might as well have died down there. I knew she was a special breed of vampire, but honestly, I'm not sure if that would have been enough to heal back from what the elder did to her in one blow. It sure as hell wouldn't have been enough to heal back from while still facing the looming threat of that spider-like elder.
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That thing was like something straight out of a horror flick; sharp, bone-tipped legs clicking along the floor, and a body that looked like a bad Halloween mask stretched over too many angles. Just remembering how it skittered across the ground was enough to make my skin crawl. And its face, twisted and stretched in that nasty spider-like form… yep, that was going to haunt my dreams for a while.
The only comfort? Knowing I’d killed it. Well, technically, stomped it to death. The mental image of myself, fully transformed, hobbling around in a frantic dance while stomping the hell out of it made me snicker. It was like one of those cartoons where some poor soul’s chasing a spider around the house, smacking at it with everything they’ve got. The irony wasn’t lost on me; turns out, even monsters aren’t immune to the universal disgust of spiders.
This led to other questions, like what exactly that thing was. The only thought that made sense was that it was one of Hunger’s “children”. I remembered from the memories I saw and when she spoke that they were like her, with eight legs. At first, I thought it was another shapeshifter, but it was something else entirely. Its transformation had that same dark, oily fluid, though, almost like an ancestor of the species I saw fighting with Alex and Charles in the alley.
But easy answers didn’t exist in this world. The ones with answers were all too eager to kill me and my friends. They weren’t exactly lining up to share information before I killed them first.
It was just after two in the afternoon, and the sun still burned down on the ground. I had plenty of daylight left, and I knew there was no way Alex could leave here without crossing straight through it. She was trapped… even if she wanted to leave. For a moment, I considered heading down to Abel’s house by the river to get answers, to grill him with questions. But every time I tried to get up, I stopped myself. I wanted her to wake up first. I couldn't just leave her.
Then, out of nowhere, Myoordrakien surged through my mind, like it had somehow heard the unspoken request. A dark force spilled out, reaching toward Alex and sending a wave of dread straight into her mind as she lay there, defenseless. It lasted only seconds, but I saw her face twist with unease before her eyes snapped open wide, and she bolted upright.
Alex stumbled to a dark corner of the room, bracing herself against the wall, as if she could feel something dangerous nearby. It took her a few seconds, but soon enough, her gaze landed on me, and she realized we were back topside.
“We’re… out?” she said, more a breath than a question. Her shoulders slumped as she took in the fact. I just nodded, watching her closely. “What… happened?” she asked, like she was piecing it together slowly, lost in thought. “The last thing I remember…” Her words trailed off, her fingers brushing against a tear in her shirt, her expression shifting to something darker. She pressed a hand to her leg, stamping her foot on the ground as if testing it. “That’s new,” she said, almost to herself, with a firm nod.
“What exactly do you remember?” I asked.
She hesitated, as if unsure where to start. “I don’t know. I… thought…” She faltered, struggling to find the words. “I thought it was over. I thought that was it. Everything went dark, and I thought…” She swallowed, a faint tremor in her voice. “I thought I’d finally reached the end. And then I woke up here. How did we get out?”
I held up my hand, letting her see the faint, reddish symbol there, still tingling. “This,” I explained. “Hunger marked me when it spoke to me. Once everything was dead, I tried to get us out before more came. As we got closer to the border wall, it felt like this mark was pulling us up, like it could somehow bring us to the surface without retracing our steps. I don’t know exactly how it works, but I get the sense that if we need to go back, we’ll have to find part of it… anything that’s still connected to it. Touch it, and it’ll let us back down. Once we’re done, we touch it again to leave. Hunger might be a husk now, but… it’s not gone. Not entirely. I don’t think anything else can come and go like we can.”
She absorbed every word, nodding slowly, her face unreadable as she stared at the symbol on my hand.
“How do you feel?” I asked gently, trying not to lead her into any answers, just hoping she’d give me a hint of what was on her mind.
For a moment, she didn’t respond, her gaze fixed on the floor. Then, she looked up, a flicker of something unreadable in her eyes, a shadow that hadn’t been there before.
“Good, I guess.” She shifted uncomfortably, letting out a small sigh. “A little frustrated that I got swatted like a fly.” She gave a half-smile, but I could sense the tension behind it. Her gaze lingered on me for a moment, and then she tilted her head. “Why?” she asked, her voice softer, probing. “There’s something you’re holding back. Something you haven’t told me yet. Just… spit it out.”
I hesitated, knowing this wasn’t going to be easy to explain. “When I killed the elder,” I began slowly, “I found something inside it… a relic, the piece of power that it had stolen from Hunger.” I took a breath, measuring each word. “So I… took it. But more were coming. That next chamber after the elder, it was flooding with creatures. I knew I’d only be able to fight them if I didn’t have to worry about you. Leaving you behind wasn’t an option. If they’d found you... well, it wouldn’t have been good.”
Her brows furrowed as she listened, and I could see her trying to piece things together.
“I hid the relic with you,” I continued, “hoping to keep you out of sight with the rock. Once I took down the creatures that reached us, I came back. I went to grab you and the relic… but the relic was gone.” I let my gaze drift, slowly, pointedly, toward the center of her chest, watching for any hint of understanding to dawn. “Maybe… maybe you feel something different?”
She gave me a bewildered look, then raised an eyebrow and smirked. “Why are you staring at my chest?” She crossed her arms, shooting me an exaggeratedly disgusted glance. Back to her usual antics. She must have felt good.
“What? No, I’m…” I cut myself off, suddenly realizing how it must have looked. My face twisted awkwardly, and I tried to recover. “I wasn’t…” Tried and failed.
A sly smile crept onto her face, a bit of teasing mixed with sarcasm. “Mm-hmm. Always thought you were a bit of a creep,” she taunted, though her words had a mischievous lilt.
I sighed, trying to pull us back on track. “Look,” I said, struggling to keep my focus steady, “the relic… it disappeared, and somehow… it’s part of you now. Not physically, but the power… it’s within you. The essence of Hunger. I can feel it, like… unmistakably.” I pressed my words heavy into her, trying to get her to realize the gravity of what I was saying.
She stopped teasing, her expression shifting to something more thoughtful, almost introspective. Her eyes drifted downward, and a flicker of realization crossed her face.
“When I was out, knocked out, I think I heard something.” She spoke hesitantly, her voice barely above a whisper. “A voice. It was… telling me things. About the other elders.” She shook her head slowly. “I thought it was just a dream.”
“It’s Hunger,” I said, the realization settling heavily between us. We were both vessels, carriers of monstrous power from ancient beings.
Her eyes darted away, and a conflicted look tightened her features. The weight of it all was sinking in, and I could see her wrestling with it. She didn’t say anything for a while, and I didn’t push her. I knew better than to think any words of mine could ease whatever she was going through.
This was Alex… she had her own strong beliefs about her existence as a monster, about the power she already bore. And now, she’d been given even more of it… a curse… from a long-dead titan. I watched, silent, as she tried to process this, knowing that whatever choice she made next, it had to come from her alone.
"Something… feels different,” she admitted, her voice barely above a whisper. She stared off, her gaze somewhere distant, somewhere I couldn’t follow. It was a place inside her, a world of thoughts and feelings that seemed to swallow her whole. I wanted to reach out, say something that might ground her, but the words died on my tongue. I did have an idea though.
“There’s someone I think we could go to, once the sun sets,” I offered softly. “Able… Martin’s friend. He knows more than even Martin realizes. He was the one who told me to go down to the pits, to burn it all down. He might understand this… might know what’s happening to you.”
But she just shook her head, like my words weren’t reaching her, or maybe she just wasn’t ready to accept what they meant. Her hands fidgeted in her lap, fingers digging into her nail beds as if she could scrape away whatever was troubling her. She looked… lost, like something she’d held onto had slipped through her fingers, leaving only this strange, hollow ache.
Without a word, she rose from the bed and drifted toward the doorway. Her steps were silent, almost aimless, but I followed her, keeping close in case she needed me. We went all the way down to the ground floor, into a room where the sun sliced through a crack in the wall, casting a slanted, jagged beam of light onto the concrete floor.
She stopped just before the edge of sunlight, staring at it like it was something foreign, something she had no right to touch. Her face twisted in a mix of wonder and fear, her hand lifting slowly, almost reverently, and reaching toward the golden beam. I watch carefully, my muscles tensed, expecting the sun to sear her skin, for her to flinch away in pain.
But… nothing happened.
Alex’s hand passed into the sunlight, her fingers bathed in its warmth, and she just… stood there, her mouth parted in silent astonishment. Her eyes widened, filling with an emotion too raw to name, and then, with a sudden resolve, she moved forward, stepping fully into the light. She hesitated only for a moment, then pulled the rest of her body into the sun, stepping out of the factory’s shadow and into the open air.
I followed her outside, my mind struggling to comprehend the sight before me. Alex had dropped to her knees, her head buried in her hands, her body wracked with sobs that spilled out, unchecked and broken. She was crying, shoulders heaving, as the sunlight washed over her, casting a gentle glow on her pale skin, untouched by the sun’s usual wrath against her.
It hit me then, the enormity of what she must have been feeling. For so long, sunlight had been her enemy, a reminder of what she could never have, of the life she’d left behind. And now… here she was, bathed in daylight, untouched, unburned. She was free… free from part of the curse thrust upon her so long ago.
I knelt beside her, staying silent, just letting her be. Her tears spoke of decades of longing, of the isolation, the bitterness that had shaped her. I watched as she soaked in the sunlight like a long-lost friend, her sobs slowly fading into quiet breaths. Whatever had changed her, whatever relic of Hunger had merged with her, it had given her this, a piece of her humanity she’d thought she’d lost forever. She was no longer a creature bound to the darkness, sentenced to an eternity of night.
And so, I sat with her in the sun, not saying a word, just there, as she reclaimed a part of herself she'd thought was gone forever. I didn’t say what I was thinking, but I knew that it had to be said eventually. What would happen to her… when we gave the power back and killed Hunger?