Adair woke to the sound of dripping water.
His body ached. Every part of him felt heavy, like his muscles had forgotten how to move while he slept. The air inside the chamber was still, cool against his skin. The glow of the core hovered in its usual place, calm and unmoving.
He blinked slowly. The memory of yesterday returned in pieces, finding the mountain, the passage opening, the core shaping the chamber around him. And Ebb.
He sat up and saw that Ebb was gone.
Adair rubbed his face, groaning as his limbs protested. He pushed himself to his feet and walked toward the tunnel entrance. The passage was narrow, but sunlight leaked through the cracks near the top. He squinted as he stepped outside.
The forest spread out below the rocky hill. Trees swayed gently in the morning breeze. The sky was pale and quiet.
A flash of green caught his eye.
Down the slope, just a few steps from the entrance, Ebb looked be dancing, or at least trying to dance.
His arms flailed in uneven circles. His stubby legs bounced up and down. Something small wriggled in his hands.
Adair moved closer.
Ebb grinned when he saw him and held up the creature like a trophy. It was a rabbit. A small one. Its back leg hung limp and twisted. Blood smeared its fur, and its chest rose and fell in weak, shallow gasps.
Ebb spun in a circle, still holding the rabbit.
Adair frowned, he wasn't sure how to feel about the situation, it seemed like Ebb had caught them some food but seeing the small animal twitch in Ebb's grasp made his stomach churn.
The creature was dying.
Ebb laughed and clutched it to his chest, hopping in tight little circles like it was a favorite toy.
Adair knelt down beside him.
The rabbit blinked slowly. Its ears twitched, but it couldn't move. Adair looked at the creature's small body. At its broken leg. At the red stain that spread from its belly.
His stomach growled.
He looked away.
They needed to eat. That much was true. But something in him didn't like the way the rabbit looked up at him with quiet fear. He reached out and gently took the creature from Ebb's hands.
"We're going to use it for something," Adair said quietly. "We won't waste it."
Ebb tilted his head, then nodded once, proud he found something of use even if he was just looking for a toy.
Adair stood and looked at the tree line. "Help me find firewood," he said. "Dry stuff. Sticks, bark, whatever you can carry."
Ebb dropped to all fours snarling and began snatching up twigs with surprising speed.
Adair moved slower, scanning the ground as he worked. His legs were still weak, but the motion helped ease the tightness in his muscles.
By the time the sun climbed above the trees, they had a small pile of wood. Adair brought it back into the chamber and set it in a neat stack in the center of the room. He placed the rabbit beside it.
Ebb sat cross-legged nearby, watching with wide, eager eyes.
Adair took two sharp rocks and scraped them together. Sparks flew but quickly died.
He tried again. Then again. The wood just would not catch.
"Come on," he muttered. "Just one flame."
He adjusted the bark, added a few dry leaves, tried a different angle. Nothing worked and both he and Ebb's stomachs had been grumbling.
Ebb let out a confused grunt.
"I'm trying, man" Adair said through gritted teeth. "We can't eat it raw."
The rabbit let out a soft breath. Then went still.
Adair sighed and wiped sweat from his brow. He leaned forward to move the body but stopped.
Blood had soaked into the stone beneath it.
A single drop slipped from the rabbit's side.
The core reacted.
It flashed bright once. Then sent out a thin bolt of light. The spark struck the center of the woodpile.
Flames burst to life.
Adair stumbled back, eyes wide. Ebb clapped his hands and bounced in place with a wide grin.
The fire burned clean and steady.
Adair stared at the rabbit, then at the blood, then at the core.
"That's twice now," he whispered.
He looked at the core puzzled for a moment before setting the rabbit near the fire.
Smoke curled upward. The scent of cooking meat filled the chamber.
Adair looked away and waited a few minutes.
His own stomach turned again. Not at the sight but at the smell.
Warm. Metallic. Sharp in the air.
His fingers twitched.
Ebb picked up the rabbit's limp body and ravaged most the meat off the corpse. Then he looked up, blinking. With a grunt, he held out the carcass to Adair.
There was almost no meat left. Just bones and sinew and dark red stains.
Adair took it.
His hands trembled.
He raised it to his mouth and tasted the meat, it was terrible, he looked towards Ebb "How can you eat this" he felt disgust, that was until he tasted the blood.
His body reacted instantly.
Heat rushed through his chest, curling into his arms and legs. His heart beat faster. His skin prickled.
It felt like taking a deep breath after holding it too long.
He drank more.
Not for flavor. Not for pleasure.
Because it filled something inside him.
When he finished, he set the bones aside and stared at the fire.
Ebb had laid on his back, rubbing his belly and humming to himself.
Adair wiped his mouth and looked at the blood that had soaked into the stone near the firepit.
The core still pulsed gently nearby.
"My blood made the core," he said quietly. "And now the rabbit's blood lit the fire."
He leaned forward.
"Is blood your fuel? Is that how you work?"
The core gave no reply. Its light remained steady.
Adair looked at Ebb.
"Can you catch another rabbit?"
Ebb sat up quickly and gave a lopsided salute.
Adair pointed toward the cave entrance. "Bring it back here. Alive or dead."
Ebb bounded toward the exit and disappeared into the daylight with howl.
Adair leaned back and stared at the fire. The heat was real. The light danced across the stone walls. The room felt like a shelter. It felt like a base. Like the start of something more.
He watched the core as it drifted in the center of the chamber, calm and silent.
"I'll figure you out," he whispered. "One piece at a time."
He crossed his legs and waited for Ebb to return.