Price Of Survival

Ares slumped against the cave wall, his body trembling from exhaustion, pain, and blood loss. His breath came in shallow, ragged gasps, each inhale a struggle against the searing ache in his ribs. His injured arm hung uselessly at his side, warm blood still seeping from the bite wounds.
The cave was silent except for his own unsteady breathing.
His eyes drifted to the lifeless body of the Cave Lizard. Its scaled hide was slick with blood—his and its own. Its body twitched slightly, muscles still firing off the last signals of death.
Ares swallowed hard, the metallic taste of blood thick on his tongue.Then—
System: [WARNING—Critical Condition.]System: [Energy reserves depleted. External sustenance required.]
He barely reacted. His mind was slow, sluggish, drowning in exhaustion. The system’s messages flickered at the edges of his vision, but the meaning barely registered.Then—
System: [Viable energy source detected.]

Ares blinked.His eyes flicked downward—to the Cave Lizard’s corpse.His stomach twisted violently.No.He couldn’t. He wouldn’t.
System: [WARNING—Severe metabolic depletion detected. Failure to replenish energy will result in fatal collapse.]
Ares squeezed his eyes shut, pressing the back of his head against the stone wall. This isn’t happening. This isn’t real.
He had gone hungry before. He had endured hardship. But this was something else.
His stomach twisted again, this time from hunger, not revulsion. His body was shutting down, his limbs weak and heavy. The system had burned through everything to keep him alive after the fall. There was nothing left.
System: [Emergency protocol initiated—Digestive Acceleration Active.]
Ares opened his eyes, heartbeat sluggish.
The system was forcing the issue.
His hands trembled as he looked at the Cave Lizard.
The logical part of his brain—the part that had always dissected problems, searched for solutions—told him the truth. This was survival. He was already dying. If he hesitated any longer, his body would shut down, and he wouldn’t get a second chance.
Slowly, painfully, he dragged himself toward the corpse.
The scent of blood filled his nostrils, thick and sharp. He could still feel the warmth radiating from the monster’s body. It hadn’t been dead long.
His fingers curled against the rough, leathery hide.
A deep breath.No other choice.With the dull stone still gripped in his hand, he pressed it against the creature’s stomach and cut.The skin resisted at first, but then split open with a sickening wet sound. The Cave Lizard’s insides were warm, slick, and pulsing with dying heat. Ares’ throat clenched as the scent hit him—a mix of iron, decay, and raw meat.
His stomach growled.He hated that.His hand trembled as he ripped a chunk of flesh free. The meat was dark, fibrous, and glistening with thick fluids.He hesitated.
System: [WARNING—Host function deteriorating. Immediate consumption required.]
Ares forced himself to bite down.The texture was tough, chewy, the taste overwhelming—coppery, bitter, with a lingering musk. It was nothing like the food he had once taken for granted. No seasoning, no heat, no comfort. Just raw, unfiltered necessity.He chewed, forcing himself to swallow. His throat rebelled at first, but the hunger overpowered the disgust.The moment the meat hit his stomach, the system responded.
System: [Digestive Acceleration in Progress…]System: [Breaking down proteins, extracting essential nutrients…]
A warmth spread through his core. His body was processing the food unnaturally fast.Then—
System: [UNKNOWN ENERGY SIGNATURE DETECTED.]System: [Attempting Analysis…]System: [ERROR—DATA CORRUPTED]
Ares’ breath hitched. Unknown energy signature?
He clenched his jaw as a strange sensation washed over him—not pain, but something deeper. A warmth that wasn’t his own. It spread from his stomach, weaving through his veins, tingling under his skin like a low electrical current.His wounds itched.
System: [Cellular regeneration active. Prioritizing critical injuries.]
The puncture wounds on his arm tightened. He could feel the muscles repairing themselves at an unnatural speed, the tissue knitting back together.Ares stared at his own arm, heart pounding.
What the hell is happening to me?
The system continued its work, but Ares’ mind was somewhere else now. The pain was fading, his body recovering at an unnatural rate—and it was using something inside the monster to do it.
An unknown energy.
Something his own world never had.He took another shaky breath.
Then—he reached for another piece of flesh.