Ethan stared at what he was seeing, his shock deepening instead of easing.
"Self-repairing?" he muttered, and the moment the words left his mouth, everything connected. He had noticed it earlier, how the cave did not feel like stone at all, but like the inside of something alive. Vines were embedded deep into the walls, pulsing in a steady rhythm. At the time, he had brushed it off as a strange formation, something that merely resembled veins. Now, after watching the damage seal itself, the comparison felt far too accurate.
The image of a wounded body flashed through his mind, skin torn open, blood flowing, then stopping as the body worked to close the wound.
"Wait, what?"
