The morning air bit at Adair's face as he stepped outside. Cold, thin light filtered through the trees. Ebb walked beside him, humming with no rhythm or purpose, kicking loose stones and swinging his arms like a child on a stroll. Adair glanced at the sky, wondering if this world even followed the same rules of time he once knew.
They followed the old trail that curved down the slope, not far from the place where Ebb had caught the rabbit the day before. Adair wanted to search farther today. If blood could power the core, they needed more of it. His strength had returned slowly, but he still felt that deep ache in his bones.
The wind shifted. Ebb stopped walking.
Adair's skin tightened. He didn't hear anything, but the air felt different. A growl cut through the stillness. Then it stepped into view.
The wolf was larger than either of them expected. Its fur was streaked with dirt and old scars. One eye was clouded over, but the other locked on Adair. Its lips pulled back, teeth yellow and jagged.
Ebb took a shaky step backward.
Adair lifted his arm in front of him. "Stay behind me," he said. Ebb growled.
The wolf charged.
Adair braced himself and grabbed a thick branch from the ground. He swung as the wolf leapt, the branch cracking hard against its shoulder. It yelped but kept coming. Its teeth snapped at his arm and tore through his sleeve. Pain bloomed down his side.
Ebb let out a strange shout and leapt forward with a rock in both hands. He slammed it down on the wolf's back, again and again. The wolf twisted, its claws raking across Ebb's chest. The goblin screamed but did not let go.
Adair shoved the branch into the wolf's mouth as it turned on him again. Blood poured from the wounds in his arm. He grabbed a jagged rock with his free hand and stabbed it into the wolf's throat.
Adair shoved the branch into the wolf's mouth as it turned on him again. Its jaws snapped around the wood, splintering it with a loud crack. Blood poured from the wounds in his arm. Pain blurred his vision. The wolf lunged again, this time slamming its full weight into him and throwing him backward into the dirt.
He gasped as the wind was knocked from his chest. The beast pounced. Its claws raked down his ribs. Teeth found his shoulder. He screamed and grabbed for anything nearby.
His fingers wrapped around a jagged stone. With a surge of panic, he slammed it into the wolf's throat once then twice but the creature only roared louder, digging in.
Then Ebb crashed into it from the side. The goblin tackled the wolf, teeth bared and fists flying. It gave Adair just enough space to stab again. The stone punched deep into the wolf's neck. It thrashed once more and collapsed between them.
Adair didn't stop. He drove the rock in again. And again.
Finally the wolf collapsed.
The forest went quiet.
Adair dropped to his knees. His breath came fast and ragged. Blood stained his clothes and pooled under his legs. Ebb lay curled on the ground, whimpering.
Adair crawled over to him and checked the wounds. They were deep, but not fatal. The goblin's eyes blinked up at him with confused pain.
"We're okay," Adair said, unsure if it was true.
Together, they dragged the wolf's body back up the trail, one limp step at a time.
By the time they reached the chamber, Adair could barely see straight. His chest heaved. Every part of him screamed. They let the wolf's body drop to the floor.
Adair sat against the wall and closed his eyes.
He had bled more in the past two days than he had in his entire life. He touched his ribs and winced. Ebb curled beside the wolf, pressing a hand to his stomach.
Adair stared at the corpse.
"I almost died," he said aloud. "Again."
He had been dropped into this world like a rabbit among wolves. No tools. No help. No shelter until he carved it from a mountain. No friend until the core grew one for him.
His hands trembled. The pain in his limbs became a storm.
He looked at the blood that now soaked the cave floor.
"I'm tired of being prey," he whispered.
The core pulsed in the far corner of the chamber.
Light flickered across its surface.
The blood on the floor crept toward it. Slowly at first, then with purpose. It flowed like it had a mind of its own.
The crystal glowed.
The core began to rise even higher than its usual floating position.
A spark ran across its surface. The light grew stronger, reaching to the walls, filling the chamber with a soft, humming heat.
Adair pushed himself upright and waited to see what the core would do next.
The core hovered in place. The blood disappeared into its stone like water soaking into dry earth.
The light flared once more. Then a voice filled the chamber.
"I am awake."
Adair fell still.
The voice was low. Clear. Neither male nor female. It spoke in a steady rhythm, without emotion.
"You can speak?" Adair asked.
"Yes," the core said.
Ebb sat up, rubbing his eyes, then stared at the core with his mouth open.
Adair stood. His legs shook. "What changed?"
"Blood," the core replied. "The wolf provided enough for me to upgrade. I can now speak, though only with limited function. I remain a low-level core."
Adair walked toward it slowly. "You said blood. You used mine when I first found you."
"Yes."
"You used the rabbit's blood to light the fire."
"Yes."
Adair's thoughts raced. "You can do more with more blood?"
"I can build. I can reshape. I can enhance this chamber. I can create creatures. With enough blood, I will be able to answer more questions. I will grow."
Adair paused.
"Can you tell me how I created you?"
"No," the core said. "My current level does not allow access to that information." Adair's fists clenched. "But you admit I made you?"
"Yes."
That small word rang louder than anything else.
Adair stepped back and leaned against the wall. He looked at Ebb, who was now tugging on the dead wolf's tail with curiosity.
Then he looked at the core, still glowing, still floating. Its light no longer looked like something alien. It looked like something alive.
He sat down hard on the floor and rubbed his face with his hands.
He had almost died today. Again.
But they had killed the wolf. The core could speak now. And the blood was the key. All the pain, all the fear, all the helplessness he could turn it into something. He could use it.
He looked over at the goblin who now sat cross-legged, watching the fire with a proud grin. Ebb was already forgetting the pain.
Adair sat down and drifted off to sleep.
When he awoke Adair sat beside the fire long after the wolf's body had gone still. Its blood had been drained, absorbed into the earth. The core pulsed brighter than before, casting long shadows across the chamber walls.
He leaned back and stared up at the rough ceiling. His body still ached. His arm was wrapped in bandages made from torn cloth, soaked through in places. Ebb sat nearby chewing on a strip of meat, his eyes half-lidded with comfort.
Adair was quiet for a long time. The silence between them was thick, not heavy with grief but with thought.
He looked at the stone floor and traced the dark stains that led from the chamber mouth to the core itself. Blood had brought them here. Blood had changed him. Blood had let the core grow.
They could not keep stumbling into it by accident.
He sat up straighter.
"What if we did not wait?"
Ebb tilted his head.
Adair's voice dropped low.
"What if we brought things here?"
The words settled in the room like a challenge.
He stood and walked to the core. It pulsed as he neared, its light softening at the edges. He pressed one hand against its surface. The warmth reached through his skin. It responded to him now. It had chosen him. Or maybe it had been made from him. It did not matter.
"You need blood to grow," he said. "I need it to survive." The core vibrated under his touch. Not in warning. In acknowledgment.
"Then we will feed you."
The floor rumbled beneath his feet.
Something shifted behind the walls.
Ebb scrambled up and ran to Adair's side. They both watched as the stone cracked near the far corner of the chamber. It opened slowly, like a wound peeling wide. From inside, a pale stalk pushed out. A slick, fleshy organ grew from the wall like a root twisting through soil. It pulsed once, then again. A faint scent drifted into the chamber.
Adair stepped back. The smell reminded him of warmth and wet earth. It was not strong, but it reached his nose and made his stomach stir.
The core lit with fresh energy.
It was calling.
Calling something.
Animals, most likely. Maybe worse.
Adair stared at the new growth and felt the weight of the idea settle in his chest. This was survival. This was control.
But it would not always be a rabbit or a wolf.
He turned away and sat by the fire again. The heat licked at his legs, but he did not move.
One day, it might be a traveler. A wanderer. Someone lost or too curious. A person.
He pressed his hand to his chest.
Would he be able to do it?
Could he watch someone bleed just to keep this place growing?
He did not have an answer.
Before his thoughts got too deep he was interrupted by a rock hitting him softly from across the room. He turned to see Ebb trying to act nonchalant to no avail. He was tapping his foot and grinning ear to ear with a rock tucked behind his back.
If Adair had to take a human life Ebb would be there to make him feel better.