Gold towers stretched over Jason, their sharp edges cutting into a red sky that looked like it might split open and bleed. The air felt thick and unsettling, sweet enough he could barely breathe through it. The coin-eyed figure stood there waiting, staring at him with those unsettling eyes, hands wrapped around a crown that glowed like someone had just yanked it out of a furnace. His horse pressed in close. Its coat looked flat, dead almost. Eyes kept twitching with this hunger Jason didn't understand, and watching it made his gut churn. The silver street hummed under his boots. Not mechanical. Alive. Like the whole city was some kind of creature with its mouth open, just waiting to swallow him. He had this feeling it wasn't really about the gold anymore. Whatever this thing was, it wanted him to lose it all.
He took a step and the ground shook hard. Felt angry almost. The street cracked open, coins falling into a black hole like water going down a drain. The towers started melting, gold dripping down and turning into tables stacked with food. Roast meat, cakes, fruit rolling everywhere. Wine glasses that looked like they had melted glass inside them. The whole city started sinking. Walls folded in on themselves, the whole thing turning into this huge underground hall. Like someone had dug out a basement from a nightmare. The air smelled like a kitchen where food had been cooking for way too long. Too thick, too heavy. Made his head feel fuzzy. There were faces carved into the walls,stone faces with their mouths hanging open like they were starving. All of them staring right at him.
"What the hell is this?" Jason muttered, his voice rough, swallowed by the hall's buzz. The horse snorted, bumping his arm, its eyes half-wild, like it smelled the food and didn't trust it. The coin-eyed figure stood at the biggest table, its crown gone, hands now holding a platter of meat that looked too perfect, too fresh. "Eat, Jason," it said, its voice a twisted version of his own, deep and hungry, like it came from his gut. "You've been running on empty. Fill up."
The words hit him hard, pulled up something he hadn't thought about in years. Eli. His friend from way back, skinny kid with a stupid grin, standing outside some shop holding a bag of apples. They were young then, twelve maybe, getting by in a dusty nowhere town. Jason had grabbed that bag off a vendor's cart. Not because they needed it, they weren't starving or anything. He just wanted more. More than Eli had. More than everyone else. He'd eaten most of those apples himself, tossed Eli one that was already bruised, laughed about it like it was funny. Eli stopped smiling after that. Jason heard later he got sick. Too weak to bounce back. Didn't make it past winter. And Jason? He just kept taking things. Food, opportunities, whatever made him feel bigger. Never once looked back at what he left behind.
His stomach growled, it was loud and embarrassing snapping him back to the hall. He moved toward the table without meaning to. His hand hung over a loaf of bread, golden brown, still warm, like someone had just pulled it from the oven for him. Smelled like that old shop. Like those apples. Like everything he'd taken from Eli back then. His fingers started twitching. Another memory flashed through his head: him walking through town like he owned it, showing off coins he'd stolen, stuffing his face while Eli got thinner and thinner until he just wasn't there anymore. The horse shoved against him, breath hot on his neck. Felt like it was telling him to cut it out. Jason jerked his hand back. His heart was hammering.
The figure's eyes weren't coins anymore. Just dark. Deep, like you could fall into them and never stop. "You can't outrun hunger," it said, moving closer with that platter still in its hands. "Take it. It's yours." The tables made this groaning sound, food stacking higher and higher. Fruits split open on their own. Wine poured out like it had a mind of its own. Jason's mouth watered even though his chest felt squeezed tight, packed full of guilt he couldn't swallow down. "I don't want it," he said, but his voice came out shaky. Like he wasn't convinced himself.
The hall trembled, and words carved themselves into a wall of cracked bone, slow, like someone was scratching them with a knife: What fills you up but leaves you empty, and starves you when you take it? Jason stared, his mind racing, the figure's gaze heavy on him. "Answer, or you're eating forever," it said, its voice half his, half something else, cold like a fridge left open too long. The horse pressed against him, its warmth the only thing keeping him steady.
Jason shut his eyes, Eli's face clear now skinny, pale, those quiet eyes that never blamed him, even when they should've. He'd taken everything food, attention, the chance to be better thinking it would make him bigger, stronger. But it left him hollow, just like this hall. "Hunger," he said, the word slipping out, soft but solid. "It's hunger. Wanting more just makes it worse." The wall cracked, a narrow path opening deeper into the underground city, but the food glowed brighter, the smell hitting him like a punch, pulling at his gut.
He stepped toward the path, the horse right beside him, but the figure moved fast, blocking the way. Its face was less human now, too many teeth, like a mouth built to chew through bone. "You're not done," it said, holding out a cup, not wine but something thick, shimmering, like it could fill every hole in him. "Drink. You'll never be empty again." Jason's throat burned, his hands itching to grab it. Another memory slammed in: him at a table, years later, piling his plate high at some fancy dinner, showing off, while Eli's name faded from his mind. He was dead drunk, thinking it would bury the guilt. It never did...he never blamed himself but it was too late anyway.
"I'm done taking," Jason said, his voice louder, surer. The figure's eyes narrowed, and the cup fell, liquid splashing into ash. The hall shook, tables sagging, food turning to rot, stinking like a dumpster. The horse screamed, rearing, hooves cracking the floor. Jason grabbed the reins, ready to run, but the path didn't lead out it sank deeper, into a darker part of the city, where the air was so sweet it felt like drowning. The figure followed, its teeth glinting, moving like it knew every step he'd take.
The path twisted, leading to a new hall, bigger, uglier, with ceilings dripping like they were sweating grease. The tables were endless, food piled so high it spilled onto the floor bread, meat, cakes, all rotting at the edges but still calling his name. The walls were alive, faces now moving, mouths chewing air, eyes following him. Jason's stomach growled again, but his head screamed no, like it knew this was a trap. The horse stayed close, its eyes clearer now, like it was fighting the same hunger.
"Who's running this show?" Jason yelled, his voice bouncing off the walls. No answer, but the voice came back, not from the figure but from everywhere, warm and thick, like a hug you don't trust. "Eat, Jason. You've been starving too long. Take it all." He froze, his hand hovering over a plate of fruit, shiny and perfect.....
The figure appeared again, closer, its teeth longer, hands clawing at the air. "You can't stop," it said, its voice a mix of his and something darker, like it was born in this city. "You've always taken. It's who you are." Jason shook his head, his chest tight. "I'm not that kid anymore," he said, but his voice cracked, like he wasn't sure. The horse snorted, nudging him, its warmth like a lifeline. He looked at the figure, its eyes deep and hungry, and saw something new Eli's face, faint, flickering behind those teeth, like he was trapped in there...." Is this some kind of punishment? or a sick joke?! i shouldn't be blamed for what happened to you.....i was a kid" shouted at the figure angrily...but his words didn't reach the other side.
"Eli? say something" Jason whispered, his voice breaking. The figure laughed, not cruel but cold, like it knew something he didn't. "You took his share," it said. "You took his life. Eat, and you'll forget him." The tables pulsed, food piling higher, the smell so strong it made his eyes water " He was a kid too". Another riddle appeared, scratched into the floor this time: What do you take that makes you less, but gives you more when you leave it behind? Jason's mind spun, his hands shaking. The horse pressed harder, its eyes pleading, like it was begging him to get it right.
He thought of Eli, that bruised apple, the way he'd faded while Jason gorged. "Guilt," he said, the word heavy, like spitting out a stone. "It's guilt. Taking more buries you, but letting it go… it's enough." The floor cracked, the path sinking deeper still, but the figure didn't move. Its face shifted, Eli's eyes clearer now, staring like they were asking why. The hall groaned, food rotting faster, walls dripping thicker, like the city was choking on itself.
Jason stepped forward, the horse at his side, but the figure raised a hand, its claws glinting. "You can't leave," it said, its voice Eli's now, sharp and accusing. "You should pay for what you did....my life was as valuable as yours".The air turned colder, the smell sharper, like death. The figure's body split, not one but two, then three, all with Eli's eyes, all holding platters that pulsed with something alive. Jason's heart stopped, his breath gone. The city wasn't just hungry,it was Eli, or what was left of him, built from every bite Jason had taken, every chance he'd stolen, ready to swallow him whole....