The worst part wasn't waking up alone in the forest.
It was waking up intact-- when he knew he shouldn't be.
Leo remained beneath the tree's shade, letting harsh sunlight wash over him for several long minutes. His body felt heavy, distant, as if it didn't fully belong to him anymore. He had no idea how far he had run the previous night, nor why he had obeyed the dying man's command so blindly. All he knew was that the terrain around him was familiar-- and safe. No beasts would wander this close to Glory Base.
That fact alone left him unsettled.
When his mind finally cleared after the encounter with the hands of war group, the first thing Leo did was reach for his shoulder.
Hunger gnawed at him, his stomach growling loudly, but he ignored it. His fingers brushed against the place where the old man's inhuman fangs had sunk into his flesh. He could still remember the burning pain that had almost crippled him back then.
'Please don't be infected,' he thought grimly. 'I can't die from something that stupid.'
As a solo hunter with no supplies or support, infection was a death sentence. If he died here, he wouldn't return home as a son or brother, he would only be coming back as a body. And not the one that could still give warm hugs.
He hadn't been home in weeks. That was not how he wanted his family to remember him.
Pushing the thoughts aside, Leo pulled at his torn sleeve and exposed his shoulder.
His eyes widened and his breath hitched.
To his surprise there was nothing there.
There were no bite marks. No punctures. No scars.
Just smooth unbroken skin.
His pulse spiked as he pressed his fingers harder against the spot. Dirt and dried mud coated his skin but beneath it, there was nothing wrong. No pain burning throught him. No tenderness of exposed flesh.
"No… that's not possible," he muttered. "I must be losing it."
He forced himself to think clearly.
'I was being chased by a red-eyed jackal.' That part was burned into his memory.
With shaking hands, Leo lifted his shredded shirt to inspect the rest of his body.
His eyes grew horrified by what he saw
There were no claw marks. No cuts. No scars. Just bare, smooth skin.
For several seconds, Lep found himself unable to breathe.
He scrambled to his feet and examined himself from head to toe with frightened ferocity. Aside from overwhelming exhaustion that had taken over him, he was fine. Perfectly fine.
"That… can't be," he whispered.
His clothes told a different story—torn fabric, dried blood, shredded seams. Evidence of violence without a single wound to match.
Superhumans healed faster than ordinary humans, yes that was a truth—but only awakened ones. Leo wasn't awakened. He was barely even considered dormant. He had spent almost a year stuck at the bottom while others advanced in weeks.
There was no way he could heal like this.
"I must be going mad," he said, then stopped himself as panic tightened his chest. His breathing grew erratic. As his eyes flashed in every direction without a clear direction. "No—no, calm down."
Leo had always overthought things. It was a survival trait he had developed to keep living every day in Hellscape. He hated unknowns.
And right now— he had nothing but unknowns.
His vision blurred as he pounded hard against his chest, forcing air back into his lungs. His breaths grew more erraric with each passing second and he broke into a light sweat. After several painful breaths, his body finally obeyed. He slumped against the tree, shaking.
'Am I losing my sanity?'
'Or did something last night change me?'
The thought sent a cold chill rattling down his spine.
Unable to bear it any longer, Leo pushed himself upright and began running.
Not away from the cause of all his dilemma.
But towards the place where the old man had died.
If the body was still there, if he could see it with his own eyes, then everything would make sense.
The bite. The voice. The impossible healing.
They would all make sense, and he would know he was still sane.
He ran harder like a man chased by the truth, heart pounding hard against his ribcage.
'Please,' he thought desperately. 'Let him be there.'
Because if the body was gone—
Leo didn't finish the thought.
He just ran.