When I woke up again, the first thing I felt was thirst.
A sharp, painful thirst, as if something was clawing at my throat from the inside. My mouth felt like it was filled with sand, my lips cracked and stinging.
I tried to swallow, but there was no saliva. Only a dryness that made my throat feel like it was burning.
Water... I need water.
My memory drifted to the wooden bottle I'd made, hanging at my waist. With careful movement, my hand groped at my side, and my shoulder immediately bumped against the rough, cold stone wall beside me. This space was too narrow, and i couldn't even stretch my arms fully to the side.
With great difficulty in this cramped room, I twisted my body slightly, ignoring the protests from my stiff muscles. Then my fingers finally reached my waist.
Empty… I just remembered the bottle fell when I fought the troll.
"Damn..." I whispered in a hoarse voice that hardly came out.
I lay still for a moment, trying to gather strength just to move. My body felt heavy, like sinking in mud pulling me down. But something was different.
The pain in my waist... had lessened.
Not gone, but no longer feeling like something was tearing my flesh from the inside. Just a dull throb I could bear.
Carefully, I tried to move my left shoulder, the part that was badly injured but I hadn't had time to bandage before passing out. My shoulder immediately bumped against the wall above, limiting my movement. In this tight space, even a movement that small felt difficult.
But, the movement wasn't as bad as I'd feared.
There was no stabbing pain that made me want to scream. Just stiffness, like muscles that hadn't moved in too long.
Then I slowly lifted my left hand, feeling every pull in my shoulder. My hand trembled, but it moved. It actually moved, without the explosion of pain I'd dreaded.
Holding my breath, I moved my right hand, awkwardly twisting my wrist in this cramped space, to touch my shoulder. My elbow kept hitting the stone wall, making this simple movement so difficult and frustrating. But finally my fingers reached and felt the skin that should have been wide open, torn by the troll's claw.
But what I felt...
My skin was still intact.
Not smooth, and there was a rough ridge along the wound, like a raised line. But the wound... was closed.
With a more urgent movement now, though still constrained by the cramped space, I touched the cloth I'd tied around my waist. Even for this, I had to twist my body slightly, trying to find an angle that allowed my hand to reach my waist without my shoulder getting stuck on the wall.
The cloth was still damp, smeared with my own blood that had begun to dry and become sticky. Carefully, I loosened the knot, holding my breath as the cloth came away from my wound.
The wound on my waist, the long, deep slash that should have made me bleed to death, was now closed.
Though not perfectly and there was still a clear red line. But the skin had fused back together, and blood no longer flowed out.
I touched it with the tip of my finger, very slowly.
"Ngggh..."
It hurt, but not like before. Not a tearing pain, just a stinging like a wound in the process of healing.
A long, trembling breath escaped my lips.
My body... had truly healed itself.
I didn't know how long I'd been unconscious in this narrow hole. Hours? A day? Longer? When I was chased by the troll, the sky was already dark. And now, the same darkness still enveloped everything.
There was no way to measure time inside this place, with only the slowly shifting sliver of moonlight. I couldn't tell if this was still the same night I was chased by the troll, or a new night already?
But long enough for my body to close wounds that should have been fatal.
I raised my hand in front of my face, staring at it in the darkness. Observing the purple nails that still shimmered faintly even in the dark. Beneath the dirty, bloodstained skin, I could feel something different. A power flowing beneath the surface, like a small current constantly moving.
I remembered when I first ate the raw wolf meat, how my body changed after, how my nails changed color, how I became stronger.
I was no longer a weak, ordinary human.
But... I wasn't entirely human anymore either, was I?
That thought should have been frightening. It should have made me panic, made me cry for my mother, for my old life, for the normality that had long been lost.
But what I felt...
Was only a strange emptiness. Like accepting a fact I'd long known but only now truly acknowledged.
I had lost so much since coming to this world. My old life, my status as a normal human, even my old self, the weak girl who always bowed her head and accepted mistreatment.
All of that was gone.
All that remained was... this. A changing body, a growing power, and the resolve to survive.
And for revenge.
Revenge.
That word echoed in my head, bringing the faces I had memorized. Eri with his cruel smile. Dito with his condescending laugh. Maya, Mira, Leo, Gregory...
Then King Thorian, and Eldrin who had discarded me.
They were all still out there, living comfortably in their luxurious palaces, while I was thrown into this place to die.
But I didn't die.
I was still alive.
And someday, I will return to pay them all back.
But...
I looked again at the scar on my waist, then touched my shoulder which still felt stiff. These wounds were a reminder. A painful reminder of how foolish I had been.
"Foolish..." I whispered to myself, my voice bitter in the darkness of this hole.
That troll almost killed me. No, it was more than almost. I should have died there.
I was too overconfident. Too blinded by the new power I possessed.
Just because I could defeat wolves and a bear, I thought I could face anything. I thought I was strong enough to challenge a creature as large and powerful as that troll.
How arrogant I was…
The power I had made me forget one important thing, I could still die. My body might be stronger now, and could heal faster, but I wasn't invincible. I wasn't like the troll that could close its wounds in seconds.
If the troll's claw had torn my throat instead of my shoulder...
If its blow had hit my head directly...
I would be dead. It was that simple.
And all my revenge plans would have ended in this forest, my body becoming food for wild beasts, and no one would ever know or care.
"No," I muttered, gripping the damp earth beneath me, the only movement I could easily do in this confined space. "I cannot die. Not yet."
Not until I see their faces again. Not until they feel what I felt. Not until they know that discarding me was the biggest mistake they ever made.
For that, I must survive.
And to survive in this forest, I cannot keep acting recklessly like before.
Power without wisdom will only make me die faster.
I must be more careful. Smarter. No longer blindly pursuing every creature that passes just because I want to become stronger.
This forest is dangerous, far more dangerous than I imagined. And somewhere out there, that troll is still roaming. There might be others too, creatures even more dangerous than a troll.
If I want revenge, I must live long enough to get out of this forest.
I cannot die here.
Not in a place like this, alone and forgotten, trapped in a narrow hole not even big enough to move freely.
"I must be more careful," I whispered to myself, like a vow uttered in the darkness. "No room for arrogance. No room for foolish mistakes."
Every decision must be calculated. Every fight must be considered. I cannot just rely on raw power, I must use my head too.
But...
I paused for a moment, feeling something churning inside me.
The arrogance that made me challenge that troll, was that truly just arrogance?
When I hunted that troll, when I followed its trail through the forest with a nose that could somehow smell it, with eyes that could read the signs on the ground... there was something driving me. Something deeper than ego or excessive confidence.
Like an instinct.
An instinct to defeat a larger predator. To prove that I was the hunter, not the prey.
At that time, I didn't understand what I was getting. I just felt... hungry. Hungry for power. Hungry to prove I was stronger than a creature that big.
And I failed.
Not because my instinct was wrong, but because I blindly followed it without strategy. Without preparation. Like a child who just learned to run and immediately tried to leap over a chasm.
That instinct was right. The troll was perfect prey for me, its regeneration and resilience could make me stronger. But my execution was wrong.
I rushed. I was reckless. I let the thrill of the hunt cloud my judgment.
"No more," I muttered, my hand gripping the earth beneath me.
If I die here, those who want me dead will win.
And I will not let them win.
I will become stronger.
And to become stronger, I must become even stronger by eating the flesh of other monsters, especially that troll.
Its regeneration... the way its wounds closed in seconds, how its flesh fused back as if never wounded. I want that. I need that.
If I had regenerative ability like that, I wouldn't have nearly died like before. I could fight longer, more brutally, without fear of mortal wounds.
I could become... unstoppable.
My throat felt dry, yet saliva slowly gathered in my mouth just from imagining it. That troll's flesh might be tough and chewy. But inside it, there was a power I desired.
I will hunt that troll again.
Not now. Not in this condition and with insufficient strength. But later. When I have gained enough power.
And next time, I will not fail.
Next time, I will be the one tearing its throat out. I will be the one standing over its lifeless body. And I will eat its flesh, feeling that power flow into my body, becoming part of me.
My hand unconsciously gripped the earth harder, my nails, the sharp purple nails, scraped the stone surface beneath with a grating sound.
There was something inside me that was hungry. Not just hungry in a physical sense, though my stomach was indeed empty and aching. It was deeper than that. More primitive.
Instinct.
The instinct to hunt. To kill. To take power from prey.
Like a true predator.
I had felt this instinct before. When I hunted that troll, when I followed its trail through the forest, when something inside me rose and drove me to defeat it.
Back then, that instinct led me to a fight that almost killed me. Not because the instinct was wrong, but because I didn't use it wisely. I let myself get carried away, blindly, without a plan.
Like a young wolf too eager, attacking before learning its prey's weakness.
But I have learned now.
That instinct is a gift, part of my transformation. But that gift must be controlled, used with a cool head and deadly hands.
And now, lying in this narrow hole with wounds still healing, that instinct returned. Stronger and more demanding.
But this time, I will not be swept away.
But I... I like this instinct.
Even though I should be disturbed by this thought. I should be horrified at myself, at how easily I imagine tearing the flesh of another creature and eating it raw.
But what I felt was only... a strange satisfaction. As if this was indeed my path.
I am no longer the girl treated like trash in that palace, and I am no longer the weak human who could only cry and accept.
I am evolving.
And evolution requires sacrifice. Losing my humanity is the price I must pay for power. And I will pay it gladly.
Because in the end, when I return, when I stand before them all with power they cannot imagine, they will know. They will feel the fear I felt.
And when that time comes, I will not hesitate.
Not like them who hesitated to kill me and chose to throw me here.
I will kill them. One by one.
A thin smile appeared on my dry, cracked lips. A smile that felt foreign but also... fitting.
Yes. I will hunt again. Smarter. More deadly.
Yet, amidst that cold satisfaction… something else crept in.
My mother's face.
Memories of her warm voice. Of her hands rough from work, but always gentle when touching my head. Of her way of smiling, even though life was never truly fair to her.
She never taught me to hate people, let alone to kill…
My chest felt a little tight. Because I realized… the path I'm choosing now is not the path she would pray for.
I pushed that thought away.
Not because I forgot her, but because I have no other choice.
Because I have a goal to achieve.
But all those plans and ambitions must wait.
The thirst in my throat pulled my attention back with a sharp, burning sensation, forcing me back to reality. Thoughts of hunting trolls and revenge would not fill my stomach or wet my dry throat.
In the past, I might have panicked. Cried from pain and helplessness.
But now...
Now I only felt a cold determination.
I must get out of this narrow hole. I must survive, and I must become stronger.
No matter what happens.
No matter what I have to do.
No matter what I must sacrifice, even if it's the last shred of my humanity.
Because the monster they created will return to haunt them.