Survival.
The most ancient, primal instinct. It had driven humanity to evolve, to endure, to push forward against impossible odds. Without it, existence would have been erased long ago.
Now, that same instinct consumed Noah entirely. His mind raced, calculating every possible way to escape.
Leaning against the cave's cold stone wall, he caught movement at the edge of his vision. His pulse spiked as he turned sharply—only to find his own shadow, stretched unnaturally across the ground.
He frowned. That's… strange. His shadow wasn't supposed to be so dark. So still.
"Oh, great. Now I'm seeing things," he muttered.
Before he could process it further, a deep, guttural rumbling erupted from within the cave's depths. The ground trembled beneath him, the vibration growing louder, closer.
Noah stiffened. The noise wasn't just shaking the cave—it carried a sound he couldn't quite place. A rushing, roaring noise, almost like… floodwaters?
His breath hitched. Is there water down there? How?
The sound swelled, barreling toward him at an alarming speed. His heart slammed against his ribs as his eyes darted around, searching for an escape.
The only way out was the cave's entrance.
He hesitated. The desert. The heat. But as he glanced outside, he saw the twin suns dipping below the horizon. The temperature had already begun to drop.
"Well, if I'm gonna die, I'd rather not drown. Oh, wait—burning's worse, right? Ugh, no time for this!"
He sprinted for the exit.
Just as he leaped outside, expecting the searing heat to devour him, cool air wrapped around his skin. A crisp, soothing wind.
His mind reeled. What the hell?
For a brief moment, relief flooded him—but then he heard it.
The flood hadn't stopped.
He turned, eyes widening in horror.
A black tide surged from the cave's depths, a monstrous, writhing wave moving with unnatural speed.
His breath hitched. It's getting closer.
"God, can I get a single moment to breathe?!" he groaned, forcing his exhausted body forward.
His muscles screamed in protest. His lungs burned with every ragged breath.
Ahead, a steep cliff of loose sand and jagged rocks loomed before him.
No time to think. No time to stop.
Jump or die.
Before he could fully register the decision, his foot slipped—and suddenly, he was tumbling down the slope.
Rocks slammed into his ribs. The world spun. The ground blurred past him.
Pain exploded through him.
When he finally stopped, he lay sprawled across the cold ground, his body covered in scratches and bruises. A low groan escaped his lips, but his mind remained locked on the flood.
Heart pounding, he lifted his head.
Is it still coming?
For a long, breathless moment—nothing happened.
The black tide hadn't followed him. It had stopped.
A shaky laugh bubbled out of him, half-delirious.
"I… I survived."
A grin cracked through his exhaustion.
"Yes! I survived! In your face, Fate!"
He limped toward a boulder, leaning heavily against it as he caught his breath. Out of habit, his gaze flicked to his shadow.
But it was gone.
The night had swallowed it completely.
Noah scoffed.
"Oh, so now you're sleeping? Good for you, you lazy thing."
His body remained tense, waiting for the next surprise. Every part of him screamed for rest, but his instincts knew better.
I need to understand this place.
"It has its own weather, its own rules," he muttered, scanning the landscape.
His gut told him the night wouldn't be merciful either.
He clenched his jaw.
"First things first—I need to get back to the top. I need to see what happened. And I need to find shelter. Again."
With a deep breath, he forced himself to move.
Each step up the cliff was a battle.
He clawed at the shifting sand, slid backward more times than he could count. His limbs trembled with exhaustion, muscles screaming in agony.
Keep moving. One more step. One more.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, his hands grasped solid ground.
He hauled himself up, collapsing onto the plateau. His chest heaved, breath ragged as he stared at the sky.
The stars were impossibly close.
A massive moon—twice the size of Earth's—dominated the heavens, its pale glow reflecting across an endless expanse. The stars burned brighter than he'd ever seen, as if he could reach out and touch them.
For a moment, he simply lay there, mesmerized.
"…Alright. I'll admit it. The night sky is beautiful."
Then he turned toward the cave—
—and froze.
His breath caught. His pulse stalled.
The cave was gone.
The entire mountain was gone.
In its place, stretching for miles, was a massive black lake.
And the water—if it even was water—wasn't still.
It pulsed. It writhed. It watched.
Noah's stomach twisted.
It wasn't just the cave that had vanished. The entire mountain range had been replaced by this impossibly vast, black expanse. The landscape itself had changed before his very eyes.
His mind raced, grasping at theories. Could the mountains and rocks have shifted at a quantum level? The laws of physics dictated that matter couldn't be created or destroyed—only altered.
"What if this substance wasn't just a liquid, but a form of non-Newtonian matter, responding dynamically to its environment?"
He took a step forward, gaze locked onto the writhing, ink-like surface.
It wasn't still—it pulsed, trembled, reached.
A chill ran down his spine.
Was it alive?
Noah took another cautious step forward, fascinated yet wary.
The black tide reacted.
It stretched toward him, creeping like tendrils. He froze, pulse quickening.
Then—a sound.
Faint at first, like a whisper caught in the wind.
But it wasn't the wind.
"Noah…"
His body stiffened. His breath shallowed.
The voice was soft. Intimate. It slipped through his ribs like a knife.
Recognition struck him, leaving him breathless.
That voice. "Noah… dear, come give me a hug."
His blood turned to ice.
His gaze snapped to the lake's center. The surface rippled, disturbed by something beneath.
A presence. Watching. Waiting.
Then—his body moved on its own.
What?
His muscles betrayed him, his legs carrying him forward, step by step, toward the lake's edge.
His mind screamed at him to stop, but he couldn't.
He wasn't in control.
The dark water lunged toward him—stretching, writhing, eager to pull him in.
"No. No, no, no!"
MOVE, DAMN IT!
His mind screamed commands, but his body refused to obey. He could only watch, powerless, as his feet carried him closer—toward the abomination lurking beneath the black lake.
The tentacles rose from the depths, reaching.
Noah gritted his teeth.
If he could just—
Pain.
He bit his lip hard, the sharp sting breaking through the fog.
For a fleeting moment, the spell shattered.
With every ounce of strength left in his body, he threw himself backward, just as the tendrils lashed out.
He hit the ground hard, gasping.
"Ouch…!"
But he was alive.
"That was too close..."
He stood at a distance, catching his breath, keeping as far from the lake as possible. His eyes remained locked on its shifting surface, unease creeping back into his soul.
"First the burning suns and the flood… now this place is trying to mess with my mind?"
The thought of something controlling his body—of being reduced to a puppet—sent a shiver down his spine. Scorching heat was one thing. Losing control was something far worse.
His hands clenched into fists.
"Whatever, man! I survived, and I'll do it again and again! You hear me, fate?! I will never be your pawn!"
The lake reflected the brightness of the massive moon and the close, unnervingly sharp stars. Their eerie glow only made the black water look more unnatural, more alive.
Noah forced himself to move. Every step away from the lake felt like a victory. Regaining full control over his legs was a comfort in itself.
"Alright, let's think this through again."
He rubbed his temples, piecing together what he had learned so far.
"I can't move when the suns are in the sky… meaning I need shelter during the day. But I also need to get away from this place before nightfall, or I'll end up swallowed by that—thing."
His gaze flicked back to where the mountain used to be.
"And if the mountains only appear when the suns rise…"
He exhaled sharply, running a hand through his hair.
"Easy. I just need to hide during the day and move at night."
A dry chuckle escaped his lips.
"Simple plan… except for one tiny problem."
He scanned the horizon.
There was nowhere to go.
This land—this strange, shifting land—felt empty.
No life. No direction. Just an endless, shifting void.
"Great. Now I just need to figure out where the hell I'm even supposed to go."