The Unkown Variable

Ares drifted between consciousness and oblivion. Pain still racked his body, but something was different.He wasn’t dead.
The warm pulse in his chest hadn’t faded. It wasn’t pain—it was something else. Like a low hum, vibrating beneath his skin. His body felt wrong, yet functional. The system had done something.
Then, the glitching text flickered again.
System: [Skeletal integrity… [47%]System: [Blood volume restored… [62%]System: [Neurological function stabilizing.]
Ares exhaled, the action sending a dull throb through his ribs. His body was stabilizing—but at what cost?The memory of the last message resurfaced.
System: [Unknown organ producing bioenergy. Attempting extraction…]
His breath hitched. The system had tapped into something inside him—something even it didn’t understand.
“...What did you do?” His voice came out hoarse, barely above a whisper.
System: [ERROR—Unable to process query.] [Unknown biological structure remains unclassified. Energy output unstable.]
Unclassified? Unstable?Ares tried to move his fingers. They responded—stiff, aching, but functional. He flexed his hand, feeling a strange lightness in his limbs. Whatever the system had done, it worked.
But that organ.His mind scrambled for explanations. The human body didn’t produce bioenergy like that. ATP production? No, that wasn’t the same. Was it acting like some kind of biological capacitor? A secondary heart?His thoughts spiraled.Focus. First, confirm survival.
Ares forced himself to sit up. His vision swam, a fresh wave of nausea rolling over him. His hands pressed against the cold, uneven stone beneath him.
Darkness surrounded him.His breathing slowed. He wasn’t outside anymore. He had fallen into a cavern.Then—
System: [ALERT—Low energy detected. Recovery halted.]
The pulsing warmth in his chest dimmed. His body stiffened, the exhaustion creeping back in. The system was running out of whatever energy source it had tapped into.
Ares exhaled sharply.
No more safety net. From this point on… he was on his own.