Threshold

Ares woke to silence.The cave was dark—too dark. The kind that swallowed light whole.For a moment, he didn’t move. He listened.
No growls. No skittering. Nothing.His body felt… different. The deep aches in his ribs had dulled to a faint soreness. The wound on his arm—where the Cave Lizard had bitten him—was sealed shut.Ares raised his hand, flexing his fingers. The movement felt smoother.Not stronger. Just… efficient.
System: [Cellular stabilization complete.] [No critical injuries detected.]
Ares exhaled slowly.It worked.Eating the Cave Lizard hadn’t just kept him alive. It had accelerated his recovery.But there was something else.A faint… awareness. A sensation humming beneath his skin.Not physical. Something deeper.
System: [Unknown energy still present.][ERROR—Data analysis failed.]
It wasn’t just that the system couldn’t identify it.It was still inside him.He didn’t like the idea of something unknown lingering in his body.
But it was keeping him alive.And right now, that was all that mattered.
He pushed himself upright, ignoring the soreness. The cold stone beneath him was damp. His fingers brushed against the rough texture of the cave floor.How deep had he fallen?Ares turned his attention to his wounds.No infections. No open cuts. No lingering weakness.That shouldn’t have been possible.
“Rapid digestion, increased recovery speed… What else?” he muttered.
The system’s messages had hinted at something beyond simple healing.Minor biological adaptation.
Ares flexed his fingers again. His nails… looked slightly sharper. Was it his imagination?
He needed light.Ares took a deep breath.
“System.”No response.It never answered. Just glitchy text.He had already learned that it couldn’t understand everything about this world.“Show me status.”
System: [ERROR—Unavailable.]
Not surprising.Ares exhaled. “What can you do?”
System: [Combat protocol partially restored.] [Biological monitoring active.] [Digestive acceleration active.] [Threat detection unstable.]
He narrowed his eyes.Threat detection… unstable?As if on cue—
System: [WARNING—[GLITCH]—PROXIMITY ALERT.]
Ares tensed.A sound echoed from deeper in the cave.A slow, dragging scrape.Something was down here with him.And it was moving closer.