Darian’s gaze met Fayne’s and again tilted his head, assessing the other human in his domain. Darian leaned down over the corpse of Ranger and wiped the blood from his claws onto the adventurers' vest before rising to his feet and inspecting his hands. Having not removed every bit of gore from his hand, Darian drew his fingers to his mouth and suckled upon each one, until all were clean of the remnants of RangerDanger. Returning his gaze to Fayne, his lights lit up, though not literally, as they were already glowing an ominous purple.

With a mental command, his drones gently bumped into her legs, prodding her toward him. At first, she resisted, but after a light tapping with their hammer claws, she made her way forward. Her body demanded she flee, but her mind remained clear, if not panicked, and knew that if she made a sudden movement it would all be over.

Fayne’s overwhelming fear filled the air and Darian inhaled eagerly as he assessed the remaining intruder. As she grew closer he was able to more intimately assess exactly what she was, and to his delight, she was like him, she was a human. With this feeling spreading throughout his body, his drones clicked in excitement, mimicking his emotions in their own unique way.

Fayne stumbled back as the predator took a step forward to meet her. Her legs were no longer working on their own, she sought to distance herself as much as possible, but that desire was quickly thwarted. The drones behind her hammered her legs in irritation, perhaps a little too hard as it sent her sprawling to her hands and knees before the beast. She stared at his clawed feet in horror, not daring to meet his gaze. As the fear consumed her, she made the only move possible and shifted her fingers to the ‘log-out’ feature in her display.

“You may not log out; there are monsters nearby,” a voice echoed in her head as she repeatedly slammed her hands through the holographic display. “You may not log out; there are monsters nearby,” it repeated while she cursed under her breath, voice cracking in terror as she shook in place.

“It’s just a game, it’s just a stupid fucking game, this isn’t real. If this creature kills me, I’ll just come back. God dammit, why did I pick human, I could have escaped if I were a more specialized race,” she swore and swore and swore even more to herself, eyes clamped shut as she awaited a hopefully quick death and reset back to the starting area.

A guttural voice echoed through Fayne’s mind, chilling and alien. "Huu...man," it hissed, each syllable lingering, carrying a hollow, otherworldly essence.

Fayne froze, her heart thrumming out of control as she heard the word spoken directly within her thoughts. She tried and failed to take in a breath as her fingers trembled above the log-out display, unable to escape the invisible grip of the creature’s telepathic voice.

Darian's head tilted further, his glowing eyes narrowing with intrigue as he observed her reaction. "Huu...man," he repeated, the word layered with human and Vescarid tones as if he was testing its shape and weight. Even with this form of communication, it was difficult for him to speak to her in her native language. "You… are… human…?” his words hung between statement and question, “I... am... human…” he continued.

The voice was broken, disjointed, like the strained effort of something unused to speaking in human terms. Darian leaned closer, his face only inches from hers. Fayne forced herself to look up, eyes wide with terror, as his alien gaze locked onto her.

"Explain... Huu...man... Why... you... fear?" The words scratched and echoed in her mind, carrying an intense thirst for answers. His voice shifted, dark and probing, the sibilant sounds dragging over her thoughts. "You... are... me? You... feel... same?"

Fayne stammered her voice barely a whisper as she found the courage to answer. “N-no, I… I’m nothing like you!” her response was harsher than intended, laced with anxiety and uncertainty, she could only react with her basest instincts.

Darian’s mind fell silent for a moment, digesting her response, before a faint growl reverberated through the link. There was a hint of frustration as he was clearly confused by her declaration. “You.. are… not… Huu..man?” he asked, inhaling her scent once more to verify.

Darian tried to force his vocal cords to produce the word, emitting a low, guttural rumble. “Huu…mannn,” he hissed aloud, a dark glee flickering in his violet-lit eyes as he succeeded. He opened his mouth again, testing the new sensation. “We… are… Huu…man!” he proudly announced, reaching down to caress her face in his hands, only to have her jerk away, tears streaming down her face.

Fayne shuddered, not wanting to anger the creature but unsure how to proceed. She clenched her fists, trying to hold herself steady. “Just… just let me go,” she whispered, her voice trembling. “Please.”

Darian’s telepathic reply slithered into her mind with a low, dangerous hum. “Go?” he asked, “Where, go?” His smile was as bright as his eyes, but Fayne refused to meet them again, and he grew more despondent with every passing second.

“I want to go home, please, let me log out. I won't tell anyone you're here. I just want to go home!” she pleaded, her fingers trying to dig into the fleshy earth below but finding no purchase. The sensation of touching the ground made her queasy, but she had nowhere else to go.

“Home?” Darian inquired, “Tell…me… home?” His grasp on human language was weak, to say the least, but still, the idea of communicating with one of his kind sent shivers down his carapace.

"Please," she whispered, her voice barely a breath. "I just want to go... please, I don't belong here." She could feel the weight of his gaze, the intense scrutiny that made her skin crawl. The air in the cavern felt thick, and stifling, like the very walls were closing in on her.

As Darian stepped closer, the flame from Ranger’s torch sputtered out, leaving the room in darkness. His glowing eyes focused on her form in irritation, though there was a flicker of something else in them. He crouched before her, his movements eerily smooth. Despite his claim of humanity, nothing beyond his questions seemed to remind her of another human.

Stolen novel; please report.

"You… not… go," he rasped, his voice still carrying the deep, guttural lilt that vibrated in her skull. "Stay. Talk. Explain." He leaned in, his breath heavy and thick as it wafted across her face, reeking of earth and flesh. "Tell me…”

Fayne shuffled back on her hands and knees, backing into the drones that blocked her escape, and immediately shoved forward, back toward the creature. She needed to escape, she needed a way out of this nightmare. "No... no more talking! Let me go! Please, just let me go!" She tugged at her legs to move them, but the drones behind her chittered in annoyance, and her arms grew limp.

Darian's expression faltered, the curiosity in his eyes shifting into something darker, more determined. He raised one of his claws, slicing it effortlessly through the air to cut away at the remnants of Ranger’s vest. With a sinister soft click, the severed flesh of the adventurer was rent from Ranger’s form and offered up to Fayne, still dripping with the warmth of his blood.

"Eat," Darian’s voice whispered in her mind, commanding her to obey. "Eat and... tell me why… you fear." The word "fear" echoed with an unsettling edge. His claw hovered closer, pressing the raw meat toward her face, gently rubbing the flesh of her friend against her lips. "Feed, human... feed and speak... of yourself."

Fayne clenched her lips tight and shifted her head to the side, avoiding the sickening offering provided to her. "I’m not eating that!" she cried, her voice breaking with panic. "I’m not like you! I’m not some... monster!" Her hands shook violently, and she looked anywhere but at the meat that Darian offered. Her head was throbbing with stress, her breath shallow and fast as she fought the overwhelming urge to vomit.

Darian’s head tilted, his glowing eyes flickering with something akin to confusion. "Monster?" he repeated, testing the word, its unfamiliar shape curling in his mouth. “Not monster… We... Hu…man.” He spoke the name of her species with confidence, with… hope?

Fayne's chest tightened. "You’re not human," she spat, her words full of spite, "You don’t know what it means to be human. You’re not even... real."

There was a brief moment of silence before Darian let out a low, rumbling growl, such a deep vibration that Fayne could feel to her core. His expression darkened. "Real? I… Real. I am real!" His voice dipped lower, louder, more threatening.

As Fayne stared at the strip of raw meat that once belonged to her friend, her thoughts began to spiral in a frantic loop, her sanity fracturing with every passing moment in this waking nightmare. This wasn’t a game anymore. The usual rules didn’t apply. Her heart beat against her chest, as though it too wanted nothing more than to escape. She tried to rationalize, to find some semblance of control, but everywhere she looked brought her back to the madness that was her predicament. She couldn’t access her menu, couldn’t call for help, couldn’t log out. RangerDanger was gone, no reset, no escape.

Her entire body drooped in defeat, trembling as helplessness took hold. Her mind was screaming to just run, to fight, to do anything; but her body refused to respond, she was in shock and too drained to care. No one was coming. No one could. It was just her and… that thing, the strange creature with its glowing gaze, broken speech, and deadly presence. Her shoulders hunched, and she wrapped her arms around herself, folding inward as though she could disappear.

Eyes never leaving Fayne, Darian brought the strip of flesh to his mouth and paused when she winced. He leaned over and placed the flesh gently back on the corpse at his feet. His glowing eyes softened, though Fayne had not noticed as she pressed her forehead to her knees and gently rocked back and forth.

Darian began slowly reaching his clawed hand outward, brushing it against her cheek but feeling nothing through the gauntlet-like chitin covering his hands. His touch was cold, yet undeniably alive, an involuntary shiver rippled down her spine. She didn’t recoil this time, barely registering anything beyond her shattered mind.

"Tell me," Darian’s voice reverberated in her mind, rapidly displacing her worried thoughts with his presence, dominating her most private realm. "You not… like me. But you are… hu…man?" He leaned closer, his words slipping into a low, ponderous hum.

“Please stop” she muttered, barely audible even to her own ears.

Darian continued, "We… different. But… same.” There was an odd gentleness to his tone, betraying his frightening visage.

Fayne clenched her eyes shut, desperate to block out the sound, to shut him out entirely. But the presence of his voice lingered, and of course, it did. If he was speaking out loud she could cover her ears, but this form of communication left no counter, no way to shut out the words that pressed against her very consciousness. It was beginning to feel as though if her thoughts and intentions were slipping from her control.

“Get out of my head, get out of my head, get out of my head” she repeated on and on, her tone becoming increasingly unhinged as she fought to hold onto the essence of who she was.

Darian was undeterred, his focus unwavering as he pressed on with deliberate care. Slowly, he dropped his hand from Fayne’s cheek, the movement as slow and unthreatening as he could make it. Delicately, he pulled her trembling hands away from where they clung tightly to her legs. His right hand lifted her left wrist, holding it in the space between them.

Fayne didn’t resist, not that she could if she wanted to. She watched warily as Darian’s clawed fingers moved to uncurl her clenched fist, one finger at a time. Though razor sharp as his fingers were, she noted the effort he put into not harming her. It was enough to tug her ever so slightly from the chaotic feelings swarming her mind. Once her fingers were fully extended, his left hand rose to meet hers, his claws interlacing between her digits, their hands entwined.

“Hands,” Darian murmured, his tone softer in her mind, more considerate. Fayne flinched, instinctively jerking back, but his grip held firm and unyielding though not ungentle. Her gaze was frantic, like a frightened animal; her breaths came in shallow, uneven bursts. As the seconds ticked by for what felt like an eternity, she regained control over herself. She had learned quickly in her short time with this creature: resistance only led to exhaustion. With acceptance, she allowed herself to take a moment to examine his most recent actions, realizing he had no intention to kill her… yet.

Darian’s free hand moved, brushing gently against her face. His claws pushed aside the strands of sweat-slicked hair that clung stubbornly to her forehead, revealing her furrowed brow. He traced her features with surprising delicacy; her jaw, her mouth, her cheeks. The gesture felt disturbingly intimate. To emphasize the point, Darian mimicked the motion on his own face, dragging his claws lightly over the contours of his jagged exoskeleton.

“Face,” he said, his voice was almost melodic as it entered her thoughts. His attempt at a grin faltered as his rigid features failed to shift, merely opening his mouth slightly, revealing rows of sharp, predatory teeth. The sight chilled her ot the bone, but with hints of his intentions passing through the link between them, she did not feel quite so fearful of the gesture.

Darian moved again, his hand lowered, pressing gently against the center of her chest. Fayne froze, her breath caught as alarm coursed through her veins. Her primal need to flee was strong, but with her hand still in his grip, she was unable to move away. When his palm settled between her breasts, over her racing heart, it wasn’t as cold or alien as she had expected. Well, his hand was physically cool, but the action was warm. Humanly so.

Even with some understanding, she was unable to slow her heart, her body was on autopilot. Trapped as she was, there was nothing to be done. Each pulse of her heart was resonating into his palm. Darian lingered, his head tilting slightly as if he were listening to each beat. Then, slowly, deliberately, he pulled his hand back and placed it against his own chest.

“Heart,” was all he said.