In the dark space of a grand cavern, my world shook and vibrated from the violence above. Maybe it’s time to find a new home again.

Rock wyrrms were known to fight one another for territory. If the fight lasted long, the environment around would be torn in the wake of their dispute.

Keeping a close eye on my surroundings, I hurriedly finish depositing my catch for the day, into my pack. Just as I place the last of the animal’s carcass into the worn sack, my ears prick up, pointing towards the ceiling, before my head registers what’s going on.

I leap far out of the way, and continue rolling with my bag in hand, as the ceiling above erupts into a shower of heavy stone. Down comes the rock wyrrm, crashing loudly for all to hear.

Shortly following behind is a smaller creature, this one shouts and screams chaotically before landing on top of the worm. An audible snapping sound comes from the smaller creature when it attempts to land. Unlucky.

It lets out an obnoxious cry of agony. I think I recognize this creature, it’s a person. More specifically… human.

They roll off the giant worm with a sickening thud, followed by more cries of pain. The good news is that the worm appears to be dead, the fresh smell of its blood fills their air.

I carefully approach the pair on the floor, making sure I’m not heard or seen by the human.

As tempting as the fresh worm meat smells, I’m certain this place will be swarmed with monsters in mere minutes. I don’t want the human to die, so I’ll have to pass on the free worm meat that could feed me for weeks.

I find a suitably large enough stone nearby, pick it up with two hands, and approach the screaming human. They scramble around blindly, in search of their weapon for defense.

‘Did they see me?’

The human's eyes dart around aimlessly, until they hear the sound of the rock being lifted up off the floor. They look in my direction, now aware of my presence.

They crawl away, screaming something at me. I can’t tell what they’re saying, their language is foreign to me.

'I have to make this quick.'

I rush towards the human, building up momentum, then launch the rock in the air.

It doesn’t get very high up, due to my poor strength, but it moves far enough to collide with their head and knock them unconscious.

‘Finally, they’re quiet.’

I readjust the strap slung over my shoulder and move towards the unconscious human. It’s going to be very difficult to move them.

Retrieving a study rope from my pack, I wrap it around their shoulders and drag them away from the area at nearly a snail’s pace.

I can hear the huge monsters that inhabit these floors, they’re coming closer, and fast. With all my might, I strain against the ropes and tug on the human, dragging them along the cold stone floor.

Their broken bones make a terrible sound as they grind along the floor.

‘I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry...!’

It hurts to listen to, but I’d rather save their life than be concerned about a little permanent damage.

They're here now!

Goliath beasts enter the room, rushing straight towards the cooling rock wyrrm. They rip and tear into its flesh, gulping down mouthfuls.

'Curse you, all of you! I was here first, yet I won't be getting any of it, thanks to this foolish human.'

Thankfully, I enter a small tunnel before any of them notice me. It's just big enough for the human to move through if they were to crawl on their own.

Among the many monsters that join the rock wyrrm eating party, some are too small to fight for their share of the meal. They pick up on the human’s scent and follow the trail of blood.

I'm forced to drop the human and fight off the smaller hungry monsters every so often, slashing and clawing furiously to drive them away.

There are a lot more monsters here than I’d like, and I don’t know how much longer I can continue to drag the human before they bleed out.

I find an even smaller tunnel with a dead end and decide to leave them there for now. I’m beyond exhausted, but I know that the human is still not safe.

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I remove their clothes and quickly patch them up the in an attempt to slow the bleeding, then retrieve some foul-smelling herbs from my bag and leave them to stink up the place.

The human will have to deal with the smell, it should deter most monsters.

I clean up the trail of blood with my own tongue and leave my scent everywhere I go. I don’t want any other monster to know where I’m keeping the human.

Once I’ve cleaned up to a certain distance, I hurriedly make my way back to my previous home to retrieve some supplies I left for safe keeping, then return to the human.

I left them behind with a small fire in a natural pit to keep them warm. I also bound them in sturdy ropes to discourage their escape, they’ll probably wake soon. Hopefully they’re doing well.

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Karth wakes with a start, attempting to sit up, but failing as agony consumes him. His legs are shattered and twisted beyond help. He will never be able to walk again.

The pain coursing through his entire body makes it difficult to think, but he forces himself to observe his surroundings while lying on his back.

He rests inside what looks like a small monster den, it reeks terribly.

There’s a crudely made pit fire, just a few arm lengths away. It staves off the freezing cold of the cavern and provides light.

Looking over himself again, Karth has been stripped bare, not even a pair of underwear to protect his sensitives. Instead, his body is wrapped poorly in dirty bandages, prioritizing his wounds.

The bandages wrapped around his legs are soaked in his own blood.

‘I’m… going to die…’

Previously, he hadn’t quite understood why his body was so weak and sluggish, but after seeing the amount of blood that had left his body, it was understandable.

Even though he was dying, whoever rescued him felt the need to bind him with frayed rope.

Something told Karth that his rescuer was scared of him, even in this state.

As he contemplates whether or not he should trust his rescuer, something begins moving in the darkness beyond the small tunnel entrance.

A pair of yellow eyes glow against the darkness. The creature crawls on all fours, stepping slowly into the light.

The first thing that the human notices are a pair of cat ears, as it lightly pads through the opening. Matted and unkept, dark fur with gray streaks cover its body.

It would look like a strange cat, if not for the fiery orange head of hair, and humanoid body shape.

If he had to guess, it would be a young catilyss – a monster with physical attributes akin to humans and cats. This one looks starved and frail, compared to other catilyss he’s slain before.

It cautiously enters the room, watching the human with cold, wary eyes. A deep intelligence is reflected back, one that speaks of neither hunger nor instinct, but curiosity.

‘Catilyss are weaker monsters that live in the low-level floors, they don’t take hostages and they don’t use tools. This one must be a unique monster!’

The little creature makes small hoarse noises that sound like it’s trying to talk, but none of it is understandable.

“He-hello..? Are you keeping me prisoner?”

Karth asks, trying to discern the catilyss’s motives.

Visibly concerned, the monster tries for another approach.

It approaches the human, staying on guard, and points at his shattered legs and other bodily injuries. It then retrieves a familiar looking water skin from a nook in the room that was unseen.

The catilyss leaves the water skin near the human's side, then unravels his bindings.

The frail monster gestures for him to drink from the water skin, pointing at his legs once more.

‘It put something in my water. Maybe a drug or poison. No, that doesn’t make sense, it could have killed me while I was unconscious, or just left me for dead.’

Still wary of the liquid, Karth pours out a small puddle into his hand.

It’s blood.

‘I’m not drinking this.’

Looking back to the catilyss, he shakes his head.

“No.”

The creature urges him to try. It bows low to the floor... pleading?

‘Monsters never beg for their life, or anything for that matter. Yet it really wants me to drink this… unknown blood.’

Reluctantly, Karth sips from the container, wincing from the taste and the feeling of small bits of raw flesh enter as well.

‘What on earth am I drinking?’

With a hard gulp, he forces himself to keep it down, then feels sharp pains flare throughout his body.

His legs twist and snap violently, tearing up the wrapping that once covered his wounds. However, they seem to be in slightly better shape than before.

Karth recognized this sensation. It's monster blood, obviously, but the kind that is often used as a material in high quality healing potions.

Usually, they have other things mixed in to help prevent any extreme pain but drinking this raw brought about an immense agony.

The Guild, and veteran adventurers, highly recommend against drinking stuff like this raw, because some have died from shock.

‘It’s worse than any poison, I could very well die from this, but I have no other choice if I am to get out alive.’

Karth forces himself to chug down another mouthful of the vile sludge.

Pain wracks his body once more before he even finishes, the instant healing effects cause him to spit out a bit of the monster blood.

The catilyss rushes towards the human, but stops beside the blood on the floor. It laps furiously until all of the blood and gore is gone.

The creature does not swallow, but instead quickly moves towards the human and presses its foul lips against his. His lips are pushed apart by the monster’s tongue and even fouler fluids are forced inside.

Both of their eyes go wide with surprise, fear, and disgust. Though Karth tries to resist the sudden embrace, the catilyss holds firm, not pulling away until Karth swallows.

He wants to vomit, but the new wave of pain makes his body go limp and the fluid enters without much resistance.

The creature shrinks back away in terror, picking up the water skin that falls from his hand, as it goes. It looks as though it had done something wrong.

Karth doesn’t have long to ponder why, as the physical and mental shock cause his consciousness to drift away.