The smile didn't last.
Another sound,
heavier,
closer.
The ground shook beneath him.
I froze in place.
This sound…
knew how to kill.
I moved without thinking.
My body acted before my mind.
I turned just before the creature lunged from behind.
It was massive,
its jaw open,
its teeth shining in the dark.
I stabbed.
Not a strong strike,
but a desperate one.
The blade sank in.
Blood flowed.
The creature screamed and stepped back.
I was trembling.
My muscles were burning.
But something had changed.
Not strength…
but awareness.
I could hear better,
feel the space behind me,
know when to move.
It was as if fear…
had sharpened me instead of breaking me.
I sat on the rock, panting.
Darkness surrounded me from every side.
I was weak.
I was alone.
And I was in the abyss.
But I was alive.
And in Morium…
this was only the beginning.
Kyle sat on a broken rock, gasping, his eyes unable to believe what had just happened.
He couldn't believe he had struck the monster…
and forced it to retreat, to flee.
Blood was still on his hands,
and the mix of fear, anger, and life churned in his chest.
But more astonishing than that
was the strange feeling creeping inside him.
How…? How did I do it?
It wasn't just strength,
nor pure skill.
It was something else… something awakening within.
Kyle remembered his fear, every moment he had trembled in the dark,
every step he had taken while fleeing death.
Then, suddenly, fear turned into instinct,
and his eyes began analyzing, reading the monster's moves before it moved.
The rock trembled beneath his fingers,
the sound of air in the abyss became clearer,
as if everything was watching him, testing him.
He smiled faintly, despite the shock, despite the pain, despite the disbelief.
I survived… I struck… and made it flee.
But the shock was not joy.
It was the beginning of a new, heavy feeling,
a sense of power he did not yet understand…
and the value of life and death he had felt up close.
Kyle slowly stood, watching the darkness around him.
Every shadow, every rock, every whisper of air carried a new meaning.
Movement, sound, caution…
all signs on the path of survival, and something greater stirring within him slowly.
He stood there,
realizing for the first time that staying alive in the Abyss of Morium was not luck…
but a constant choice, a continuous effort, and a courage quietly forming in his depths.
And at that moment, he understood one more thing:
Morium changes you… and you never know when you will become something else.