----------------------------------------

I laid the bone blades out on the floor before me, taking in their full length and trying to decide what to do next. Each blade, long and thin—probably around 30 to 40 inches—had a sleek, vicious look. They were slightly curved, their natural edges razor-sharp but not as sturdy as metal. The bone had a pale, sickly hue, almost as if it had been leached of color.

Looking at the blades, I couldn’t help but think, This mf was eating me alive. The thought should have made me shudder, but also, it also felt... oddly satisfying. I smirked, gripping the bone a little tighter. "Well, tools are tools, right? If I can make use of these blades..." I paused, chuckling darkly.

"Maybe I'll tell its brethren just how sharp these bones are. Add a few more to the collection while I'm at it. Yup, sounds like a plan."

The bases of the blades, where they connected to the joint, were thicker and still a bit jagged from where I'd hacked them off the corpse. I gripped one of them, feeling its weight in my hands. They were lighter than I expected, which also made them fast.

I studied the base more closely, gripping the blade a few centimeters above where the bone naturally thinned. "This should be where the handle starts," I muttered to myself.

Taking a breath, I dipped my finger into the pool of blood still oozing from the monster's carcass, marking the spot where the grip would begin.

The dark blood smeared across the bone like ink on parchment, and I chuckled to myself. "I guess using your own blood to measure things is one way to leave a mark. Too bad this bastard's blood smells worse than I do."

The dark humor kept me grounded. I needed that—something to keep me from slipping into the abyss of madness. When you're alone, surrounded by nothing but the echoes of your own thoughts, you need those moments of levity, no matter how twisted.

I reached for one of the thicker bones from my pile, holding it up to the fire to inspect it. The marrow had dried out, leaving it hollow and brittle inside. Perfect. I set to work chipping away at the base of the bone blade, trying to carve out a rough grip. My hands worked mechanically, each motion deliberate. I could feel my body slowly getting used to the rhythm of the work, even if my muscles still ached from earlier. At least I was doing something productive.

The bone splintered as I chipped away, small fragments falling to the ground at my feet. "Almost there," I muttered, focusing on smoothing out the jagged edges. It wasn't perfect, but it was better than nothing. I tightened my grip on the makeshift hilt, giving it a test swing. It felt... rough. Shorter than what I was used to, I think—or remember.

I let out a sigh. "Well, I guess it's not the size that matters, right? More like how hard you can swing it. Or... something like that." I couldn't help but smirk at the ridiculousness of it all.

I moved on to the second blade, repeating the process with a little more ease. This time, the grip came together faster, and I was more satisfied with how it felt in my hand. "Alright, two bone swords. Dual-wielding would be a nightmare with these, but at least I've got options."

The thought of wielding both blades like twin falchions or scimitars made me grin. If only I could remember the proper stances. My body still ached with the phantom movements of combat long forgotten. The muscle memory was there, but the techniques, the precision—they were buried deep in my mind.

"Guess I'll be fighting like a caveman for a while. Hack, slash, stab... rinse and repeat."

I held both blades up, admiring the crude craftsmanship. "Could always throw one, maybe stab with one hand while slicing with the other." I mulled over the possibilities, imagining myself moving fluidly in battle…a silent dance of death. "Yeah, that could work."

Setting one blade down, I started working on the grips. The leather I had dried earlier from the monster's skin was tough but had a strange elasticity to it—almost rubbery. It burned slightly as I passed it over the flames to get rid of any remaining rot. Once satisfied, I wrapped the leather tightly around the grip of one blade, pulling it taut as I worked it into place.

I used strips of moss to create a glow-in-the-dark lining along the leather – something to help me keep track of where my sword was in the dark.

"Last thing I need is to lose my only weapon in this hellhole." I chuckled again, shaking my head at the thought. I wrapped the second blade the same way, making sure everything was secure.

"Hmm, normally glowing swords would be a terrible idea, but with these moss patches everywhere, I doubt it'll make much difference. It's dark enough that those lizard monsters probably navigate some other way," I muttered, running a finger over the glowing moss lining. "Besides, I doubt I'll need these makeshift blades once I'm out of here... or once I get my heirloom working."

Once both swords were finished, I stood up, gripping them both and testing their weight. The first swing was clumsy. My arms felt heavy and sluggish. Trying to dual-wield the bone swords made me stumble slightly, and I had to quickly catch myself. "Okay, maybe not the best idea right now. One sword it is." I set one of the blades down and took a deep breath, adjusting my stance.

This felt more familiar – the weight of a single sword in my hand. I could feel old instincts kicking in as I adjusted my posture, raising the blade and slashing it downward in a clean vertical motion. The air whistled as the blade sliced through it, but the motion lacked the finesse I once had. I was rusty. Very rusty.

"Again," I muttered, slashing the blade horizontally this time, followed by a quick stab. Each motion felt more natural, more fluid, as I focused on controlling the blade. I slashed again, then another stab—quicker this time. The repetitive movements made my arms burn, but I pushed through it.

Minutes passed, and the more I moved, the more my body protested. Sweat dripped down my forehead, and my breaths became heavier. It wasn't long before I was huffing and puffing, the blade feeling like a dead weight in my hands.

"God, I'm out of shape," I groaned, dropping the blade and doubling over to catch my breath. My muscles screamed in protest, and my lungs felt like they were on fire. How long had it been since I had trained like this? Weeks? Months?

"Great. I can barely swing a sword for a few minutes without dying." I straightened up, wiping the sweat from my brow with the back of my hand. But despite the exhaustion, there was something satisfying about the practice. I hadn't fought in ages, and even though it was sloppy and unrefined, I could feel a small flicker of my old self returning.

"Alright, that's enough for now." I sat down beside the fire, letting the warmth soothe my aching muscles. The cave was still, the silence broken only by the crackling of the flames. I stared at the sword in my hand, turning it over in the firelight.

It wasn't perfect. Hell, it wasn't even good. But it was mine. And for now, it was enough.

"Soon" I whispered, more to myself than anyone. " I'll be stronger in due time. Then, I'll remember more. Baby steps, Lexi."

This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

With a final sigh, I placed the sword down beside me, letting the firelight dance across its pale, bone-white surface.

After finishing the makeshift swords, I shifted my attention to the two longest claws still attached to the monster's grotesque, oversized hands. They were massive, almost ridiculous, but sharp—just what I needed to make a pair of knives.

I twisted the claws from the finger bones, feeling the sickening squish as I pulled them free. "Guess this is better than the alternatives," I muttered, disgust evident in my voice.

As I examined them, their potential became clear. They were short, but that didn't make them any less dangerous. If anything, their serrations made them look even more vicious—perfect for close encounters or gutting smaller creatures if necessary.

Holding one of the claws, I repeated the process I'd used for the swords. I chipped away some of the base, shaping it to fit comfortably as a handle. The bones weren't ideal for a grip, but it was workable.

"Ridiculous-looking, maybe, but it'll do the job," I said with a smirk, giving the knife a small twist in my hand. It wasn't balanced, and the serrations looked crude, but that could come in handy for tearing through flesh.

"Might not win any awards for craftsmanship, but these will do," I chuckled, giving the knives a little test swing. Satisfied, I set them aside with my makeshift swords. A small part of me wondered if I was ever any good at fancy designs—I could almost hear Aunt Nora's complaints seeing these creations.

Chuckling to myself, I remembered there was still a lot to do.

Next, it was time to make some tools. I sat down, pulling a few thin bones from the pile.

"Needles first," I muttered, picking up one of the finer bones and beginning to chip it down with one of the monster's claws.

Getting them as thin as possible without snapping was a challenge, but the monster's claws, though serrated, were sharp enough to get the job done. "Damn, these claws are really something. Almost like having a serrated blade," I mused as I worked, my hands deftly shaping the needle until it was fine enough to pierce through the leather.

It took a while, but I ended up with a decent set of three bone needles. "These'll do," I said, examining them in the dim light. They weren't perfect—nothing about this situation was—but they were good enough for stitching up leather or even minor wounds if it came to that. After piercing a very small hole at the base of each needle, I placed them into a small pouch I'd made earlier from scraps of the monster's leathery hide. "Could've been worse," I mumbled as I rolled the leather pouch and secured it with some sinew I'd harvested. "Can't have the needles piercing me."

Next up: throwing weapons. I gathered a few of the remaining claws and carefully inspected each one. The claws were naturally pointed—perfect for throwing—but I had to make sure their weight distribution was even. With some careful chipping and shaping, I turned five of the claws into makeshift kunai. "Five of these bad boys," I grinned, holding one between my fingers and giving it a test throw across the cave. It landed with a satisfying thunk into the cave wall.

"Not bad," I muttered, retrieving the kunai. They weren't perfect, but they were small enough to conceal, sharp enough to pierce, and balanced enough to throw somewhat accurately. "Could come in handy in a tight spot. Also, before I forget... moss, moss—there." I quickly wrapped a lining of moss and lichen—after rolling them into threads—around all the kunai and knives, even some around the needle bundle.

"Phew..."

Now, for containers. I needed something to hold water if I ever found any, and maybe some of the other supplies I'd managed to gather. I thought a leather skin pouch would be better and could store more, but I wasn't risking it with this leather. I grabbed two of the larger hollow bones—the femur and humerus bones, I think—that I'd set aside earlier, figuring I could hollow them out and seal them to make some crude containers.

Using one of the claws, I chipped away at the bone, carving it out slowly but steadily. The tough bone resisted at first, but persistence paid off. Soon enough, I had a reasonably deep hollow in one of the bones. "Okay, now for the other," I mumbled, repeating the process until both bones were hollowed out.

Next came the tricky part: sealing them. I had some leftover strips of leather I'd scraped from the monster's hide, and I placed them over the openings of the hollow bones. To get a tighter seal, I'd have to melt some of the bone to act as glue. I placed the ends I wanted to seal over the fire, watching as the bone slowly began to soften and melt. "Come on, just a little more," I whispered, carefully removing the bone from the flames.

Once softened, I pressed the leather strips over the openings and used the melted bone to seal the edges. It wasn't pretty, but it seemed to hold. "Now for the test," I said, grabbing one of the containers and filling it with some of the monster's blood. I sealed it tightly and watched to see if any blood leaked out. Nothing. "Good sign."

After some trial and error, I managed to get three working containers. "Three's better than none," I muttered, relieved that they were finally done. They weren't pretty or elegant, but they were functional. At least now I had something to carry water in if I ever found any.

I placed the containers aside and stretched my sore muscles. "They should hold around two to three liters of water, give or take."

Now that I'd crafted all the tools I could, it was time to gear up properly. I had some leftover pieces of leather—scraps, really—but enough for what I needed. First things first, I had to make some sheaths for the knives. The blades were short and jagged, so I'd need something sturdy to keep them in place, especially if I planned on keeping them close for quick access.

I took the leather scraps and began stitching together a patchwork of sorts, wrapping and overlapping the leather to form a crude sheath. It wasn't elegant, but it would hold. Using some sinew I'd stripped from the monster's tendons, I secured the stitching. The sinew was tough, though working with it wasn't exactly easy. I had to keep pulling it tight to make sure the leather wouldn't slip. The whole process took longer than I would have liked, but once I was done, I had two makeshift sheaths that were functional enough.

"Not too shabby, though really uncomfortable," I said to myself, holding them up to inspect the seams. The leather was rough, and uneven in some places, but it would do the job. I secured one of the sheaths around my ankle with more sinew, wrapping it tightly so the knife would stay in place without restricting my movement. I did the same with the second sheath, strapping it to my other ankle. Once both knives were securely in place, I gave a quick test—drawing and sheathing the blades as swiftly as I could. It wasn't graceful, but it worked.

With that done, I turned my attention to the kunai. I made a simple bundle by wrapping them in leather, folding the edges, and tying it up with sinew. "That should keep them from rattling around," I muttered, pleased with the compact bundle. I tied it securely to my belt, placing it at my side where I could reach it quickly if needed.

Next, I needed some basic protection. I didn't have any real armor, but I could make do with what I had. I took the remaining strips of leather and started wrapping them around my arms, elbows, knees, and legs. It was more about reinforcing vulnerable areas than actual defense, but anything was better than nothing. The leather was tough and, once tied down with sinew, it provided a bit of cushioning and protection.

As I worked, I felt a small sense of accomplishment, like I was piecing together the bare minimum of what I needed to survive. I wasn't fully equipped, but I was getting there.

"Caveman now armored, huh huh," I chuckled, making sure the wraps on my legs wouldn't hinder my movement. Tight but not too tight. I flexed my knees, testing the range of motion. "Yeah, that'll work."

Standing up, I felt the weight of my tools and weapons on me. It wasn't much, but it gave me some confidence—like I was ready to face whatever else this cave had in store for me. The crude knives strapped to my ankles, the bundle of kunai at my side, the patchwork leather armor—it all made me feel a little more prepared, even if I knew I was far from safe.

"Alright, that's done," I said, looking down at my handiwork. I rolled my shoulders and adjusted the makeshift bandages, ensuring everything was in place. My mind was already racing ahead to the next steps.

There were still so many unknowns in this cave, and I had to be ready for anything. I sighed, feeling the weight of exhaustion creeping up on me.

"Let's get some quick sleep and move out tomorrow... or whenever I wake up," I muttered, not even sure if it was day or night anymore. Time was a blur down here.

Setting up a quick line with bits of bone across the only passageway I could find, I pulled it tight, making sure the bones would clatter if anything tried sneaking up on me. "Shitty alarm trap," I grinned, "but it'll do."

I turned to the grotesque mess that used to be the monster I just gutted and harvested, its lifeless body still slumped in the corner. "Good night, you ugly corpse," I called out with a smirk. "Try not to haunt my dreams, alright?"

I lay down near the fire, the soft glow flickering across the cave walls, and let out a weary chuckle as I closed my eyes.

----------------------------------------