He turned onto his back to face the abomination but… it was gone.

  “Hahaha.” At first, it was just a chuckle, but then it turned into maniacal laughter. “HAHAHAHAHA.” The sound echoed through the jungle, unnerving in its suddenness.

  Akira’s chest heaved with ragged breaths, his heart pounding in his ears as the hysterical laughter seemed to consume him.

  His hands, still trembling, held tightly to the crimson orb against his chest, the only thing anchoring him to some semblance of reality. The haunting screech, the agony of the twisted, undead monster, it was all gone. In its place, silence.

  “Maybe everything here is fake,” Akira murmured aloud to himself, his voice hoarse. “Maybe this is all an illusion.”

  He wasn’t sure if he believed it, but the thought offered him a strange comfort.

  If it was all an illusion, then he didn’t have to face the reality of it. He didn’t have to face the lines he had crossed, the monsters and whatever else this ‘Selection Trial’ had in store for him.

  But the quiet didn’t last long. A shift in the air. A rustle in the bushes. Whispers, voices began to echo from the unknown.

  “Just give me a break.” Akira groaned under his breath, eyes darting around the shadowy jungle.

  The rustling grew louder, the bioluminescent plants casting flickering shadows that twisted unnaturally. The leaves rustled like knives in the air, and the very bark of the trees seemed to mock him.

  The night was just beginning, but Akira could already feel his body growing heavy with exhaustion. He needed rest, but there was no time, the terrors of the jungle would soon be upon him, and he couldn’t tell which ones were real and which were just hallucinations.

  Slowly he was losing the battle of staying conscious, a veil of black spreading across his eyes as his eyelids felt heavy like molten gold.

  The whispers grew louder. They were everywhere and nowhere, soft, almost caressing his ears.

  “Sleep now, everything will be fine.” So soothing.

  “You need rest. Don’t worry, it will all be over when you wake.” So gentle.

  “Get some shut-eye, you deserve it.” So tempting.

  Akira’s thoughts faltered, his mind teetering on the edge of consciousness. For a fleeting moment, the temptation of peace felt almost real.

  “Yeah, maybe I can finally rest… maybe…” He murmured, his voice barely a whisper.

  He closed his eyes, the weight of exhaustion sinking into his bones, his muscles aching with the strain of survival. For a moment, he considered giving in. Just a moment. To rest.

  But then, a voice cut through the haze.

  It wasn’t soft or kind, like the others. It was raw, guttural, like a sound born from the depths of hell itself.

  AWAKEN

  MOVE

  SLAUGHTER

  DEVOUR

  SURVIVE

  The words crashed into Akira’s mind like shards of glass, shattering the lullaby that had almost claimed him.

  His eyes snapped open, wide and frantic. His heart pounded against his ribs, fighting to stay in rhythm with the chaos around him.

  And there, hovering above him, were the creatures that were trying to serenade him with their gentle voices.

  Small, no bigger than a human’s palm, their delicate butterfly wings iridescent and glowing with every color of the dawn.

  Their soft, serene faces, an unsettling calmness etched into their features, surrounded Akira. They circled him, their whispers insistent, coaxing him back into the sleep he couldn’t afford.

  If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  MOVE Akira’s trembling hand shot up, grabbing one of the winged creatures. Its delicate body squirmed in his grasp, eyes wide with fear.

  SLAUGHTER His other hand shot forward, crushing the creature’s head with a sickening crack.

  The body went limp, its fragile wings fluttering weakly before stilling. The whispers stopped. The other creatures froze, their expressions twisting into shock and disbelief at Akira’s reaction.

  DEVOUR Akira moved the creature to his mouth, biting off its arm with savage force. The taste was sickening, but he didn’t care. He tore through the small body, swallowing down the flesh, the wings, the bones… everything.

  SLAUGHTER DEVOUR

  The remaining creatures darted away, their once gentle whispers replaced by shrill, panicked screams. They beat their wings furiously, desperate to flee from the nightmare Akira had become.

  His hands shook as he devoured the last remnants of the tiny creature. There was nothing left but the gnawing hunger in his gut, the taste of blood on his tongue, and the crushing realization of what he had done.

  The creature had looked almost human, a small, delicate thing with wings. And yet, Akira didn’t hesitate. His hunger had drowned everything else.

  SLAUGHTER DEVOUR

  He wiped his mouth with a trembling hand, the taste of the creature’s blood still thick on his tongue, and his body shuddered. What was he at this point? The larva monster he had eaten was something, but this, it was an almost exact replica of a human, a miniature with wings.

  The thick texture of the blood still reminisced on his tongue as the blood covered his trembling hands.

  SURVIVE

  Picking up the crystal, Akira stood up, his knees buckling and every muscle in his body screaming for him to stop.

  SLAUGHTER DEVOUR

  He took his first step, almost stumbling and falling over.

  SLAUGHTER DEVOUR

  Followed by another and another, his legs wobbling under the slight weight of his body.

  SLAUGHTER DEVOUR

  He reached one of the piles of bodies of the pale behemoths that had been killed by the titanic snake.

  Swallowing what blood and small remnants of broken bones were resting on his tongue and in his throat from his previous meal, Akira prepared himself for his next meal.

  He knelt beside the carcass of one of the behemoths, his hands trembling as they reached for the flesh. The stench of death was overpowering, but it didn’t matter. He tore through the soft meat, his hands slick with blood.

  His teeth sank into the flesh, tearing it apart like an animal.

  …

  The sun rose, its golden light seeping through the thick trunks of trees and the dense foliage of the underbrush. Orange rays stretched across the ground, casting long, slanted shadows that danced over the flora.

  Akira slowly blinked his eyes open, the faint crimson glow from the crystal he clutched against his chest casting an eerie light in the dim morning. He lay curled in a fetal position, the warmth of the sun’s rays heavy on his face, a welcome relief from the chilling night air.

  Stretching out a hand, he groaned as he shifted his weight, the sickening sound of something wet and squelching filling the silence.

  He dragged his body forward, his limbs stiff and exhausted.

  His once white tunic was now soaked in grime and blood, its fabric clinging to him as though it had been painted in a thick, crimson coat.

  As he pushed himself free, he looked back, his eyes landing on the grotesque pile of winged behemoths. He had crawled from the remains of one of them, its corpse twisted and lifeless behind him.

  He put down the crystal in front of himself before stretching out his limbs. “That was a good nap.”

  Akira’s silver eyes surveyed the scene around him, a grotesque tableau of carnage. The smell of blood and flesh that was starting to rot hung thick in the humid air, a putrid reminder of the price he had paid to survive the night.

  His stomach churned, but it wasn’t hunger anymore, it was something deeper, darker, an ache that reached into his very soul.

  The crimson crystal lay before him, its glow faint but steady against the blades of grass, and beside it lay… another crystal.

  This one smaller in size, around that of a human’s heart, maybe a bit bigger. It had fewer imperfections and was less rough, it was more elegant, if you could call it that, however instead of a crimson glow, it had a grayish glow, it was weak. The crimson glow of the other orb was pretty weak itself, although this one was weaker.

  I found it while digging through the corpse last night to sleep in it. Akira looked at the corpse of the winged behemoth. “I wonder if every monster here has something like this.” He muttered, voicing his thoughts while looking at the piles of dead pale creatures.

  Akira sat cross legged on the blood soaked soil, his fingers brushed the smaller, gray glowing crystal as he pondered his discovery.

  Its dim light pulsed faintly, like a heartbeat, and though its glow was subdued compared to the crimson orb, it carried an air of mystery.

  He held it up to the sunlight, inspecting its rough edges and cloudy core. “Maybe it’s like a heart for these things… But why? Why are they different in size? Why are they a different color? And why not just have a heart?”

  A sigh of disappointment left his body. “As much as I want to uncover where the hell I am or just what is happening.” His silver gaze slowly drew to the piles of corpses around the small clearing. “I don't think sticking around here for too long will be a good idea.” Pushing himself off the ground with a grunt, he took a look around once more. “I doubt that this place will leave a free feast like this untouched for too long.”

  He took up both the glowing spheres, holding them close to his chest like a cradle. “I should try to find a way out of here, or at least someone else.

  With that, Akira departed once more, unready for what this gruesome ‘adventure’ had to offer him.