CHAPTER 40: BLOOD AND BONES

And so Alex began walking, each step a calculated effort to avoid the worst of the carnage. The squelch of blood-soaked earth beneath his feet had become a constant, nauseating rhythm that seemed to echo the beating of his heart. The crimson sky above cast everything in an ominous red glow, making it impossible to tell if hours had passed or mere minutes in this timeless hellscape.

Two hours later, he was still trudging across the bloodscape, having to carefully part his way amidst the carcasses of chitinous monsters whose shells gleamed dully like twisted armor in the bloody light. Each step required careful navigation around severed limbs, pools of congealed blood, and the twisted remains of creatures that had once been apex predators in their own right.

His academy uniform was now stained beyond recognition. Gore splattered his sleeves where he’d had to crawl under the massive carcass of what his Adept Eyes had identified as an A-Class Bone Titan, its ribcage creating a tunnel through the carnage. Mud and worse substances clung to his boots, creating a grotesque patina that spoke of his journey through this graveyard of monsters.

The knife in his hand had grown heavy with use, its blade dulled from cutting through scales, hide, and bone. During his trek, he’d managed to harvest twenty-three more cores, each one requiring him to push through waves of nausea as he cut into rotting flesh. The work was methodical now, almost meditative. Locate a suitable carcass with his Adept Eyes, identify the core location, make the precise cuts needed to extract it while fighting down memories of surgical instruments and cold metal tables.

The endless expanse of corpses told a story of violence beyond anything Alex had imagined possible. These weren’t the neat, clinical deaths from his textbooks. Monsters killed by precise strikes or techniques. This was raw, brutal warfare where creatures had torn each other apart with tooth and claw, where the ground itself had been painted red with the blood of hundreds of different species.

But gradually, mercifully, the endless expanse of corpses began to thin. The mountains of dead gave way to scattered individual carcasses, then to blood-stained earth marked only by the occasional pile of bones. Ahead, the blood-red sky was broken by a jagged silhouette. A rocky outcropping that rose from the battlefield like a black tooth, its surface scarred and pitted by what looked like claw marks the size of tree trunks.

And there, carved into its base like a wound in the stone itself, was the welcome sight of a cave entrance.

Alex stopped at the threshold, his pale eyes scanning the mouth of the cavern with careful precision. The opening was large enough for several people to walk through side by side, its edges worn smooth by countless years of wind and weather. Beyond the first few feet, however, it disappeared into impenetrable darkness that seemed to swallow light itself.

He studied the cave entrance carefully, looking for any signs of recent activity or potential threats. The opening showed no obvious claw marks or territorial markings, though the smooth edges suggested it had been worn by more than just natural erosion over time.

Alex weighed his options carefully. ’The cave could contain territorial monsters, or worse. But staying out in the open isn’t safe either. At least it offers shelter from the crimson sky and concealment from whatever apex predators might still be roaming this wasteland. If there are other survivors from the Academy, they would seek shelter in similar locations.’

He made his decision and stepped into the cave.

The temperature dropped immediately, the oppressive heat of the bloodscape giving way to cool, damp air that carried the scent of minerals and deep earth. It was a relief after hours of breathing air thick with the stench of decay. His footsteps echoed softly in the confined space, each sound seeming to travel deeper into the cave system than should have been possible.

It was dark inside, but not completely so. His enhanced vision allowed him to make out the basic contours of the cave walls and floor. The surfaces were smooth, carved by water over countless centuries into flowing, organic shapes that seemed almost artistic in their natural beauty. Stalactites hung from the ceiling like stone icicles, and he could hear the distant sound of dripping water somewhere in the depths.

But as he ventured deeper, following what seemed to be the main passage, even his superior sight began to fail him. The darkness seemed to press in from all sides, thick and oppressive, swallowing his footsteps and making the cave feel larger and more complex than its entrance had suggested. There was something unsettling about this place, a subtle wrongness that made his skin prickle with unease.

Alex paused and looked down at his right hand, drawing on his essence and willed flame into existence.

A small fire flickered to life in his palm. The orange glow pushed back the darkness, revealing smooth stone walls that bore the subtle marks of natural water erosion. The flame danced slightly, responding to air currents he couldn’t otherwise detect, and cast shifting shadows that made the cave walls seem to breathe and move.

’At least it’s natural,’ he thought, examining the geological formations around him as he continued deeper. ’Natural caves are usually more predictable than anything constructed. Less likely to have traps or artificial dangers.’

The main passage branched several times, but Alex kept to what seemed to be the primary route, following the flow of air that suggested a connection to the surface somewhere ahead. The cave was larger than he’d initially thought. What had seemed like a simple shelter was revealing itself to be an extensive underground system that could hide an army.

As he walked deeper into the cave, his footsteps echoing softly in the confined space, Alex’s mind began to wander despite his efforts to stay alert. The adrenaline of his initial survival was wearing off, replaced by a growing weight of uncertainty that settled in his chest like a cold stone. The flame in his palm flickered slightly, responding to his emotional state.

’What happens from here?’ The question circled in his mind. This whole situation felt surreal, like something out of the adventure novels he’d read as a child rather than his actual life.

’Will I die in this place? Another casualty of whatever cosmic disaster tore open that rift?’ The thought made his stomach clench. He’d already died once, in a way. Died on that surgical table when they’d cut him open and taken pieces of him to be sold out . Coming back from that, finding the strength to keep living, had been the hardest thing he’d ever done. The idea of it all ending here, alone in this cave, felt like a cruel joke.

’Will I live long enough to find the others? Are they even alive?’ Petra’s terrified expression flashed through his mind. The predatory confidence she usually wore like armor had cracked completely when faced with that impossible rift. If someone like her, with years of combat training and natural talent, had looked that scared, what hope did the younger students have? How many of them were equipped for survival in a place like this?

’Will the Academy mount some kind of rescue operation?’ They had to be working on it, surely. Professor Leo had decades of experience, and the Academy’s resources were vast. But interdimensional rifts were notoriously unstable. Even if they could figure out where the rift had sent everyone, could they open another one to retrieve them? And how long would that take?

The Academy had seemed so powerful, so in control back in their dimension. Professors with decades of experience, protective barriers that had never been breached, emergency protocols for every conceivable threat. But none of that mattered now. Whatever force had opened that rift had caught them completely off guard, and now eight hundred students were scattered across this nightmare landscape with no backup, no support, no way home.

Fear crept into his heart like ice water through his veins. The terror of being trapped in a dimension filled with dangers beyond anything he’d ever imagined, where every step forward could harbor deadly monsters. Death could call his name at any moment.

The flame in his palm flared brighter in response to his emotional spike, casting wild shadows on the cave walls.

He had absolutely no idea what the next hour would bring. The uncertainty gnawed at him. At least with a visible threat, he could assess it, plan a response, fight or flee as the situation demanded. But this existential dread, this complete lack of control over his fate, reminded him too much of being strapped to that surgical table.

The cave passage began to slope downward, and Alex could hear the sound of running water growing louder ahead. The unsettling feeling was stronger here, an instinctive warning that made the hair on the back of his neck stand up. His flame cast dancing shadows on walls that were beginning to show signs of something unusual. Scratches in the stone that looked almost like claw marks, though far too large to have been made by any normal creature.

’I could get attacked in the next second,’ he thought. The realization was sobering but also oddly liberating. If death was always just a heartbeat away, then every moment he continued to draw breath was a victory. Every core he collected, every skill he developed, every step forward through this nightmare was a defiant middle finger to the forces that had tried to break him.

As if the universe was waiting to test his resolve, a low growl eerily crept out of the darkness ahead, echoing off the cave walls with a sound that made his blood run cold and his flame flicker wildly in response.***