I’m tired as hell. Jason had been walking through the darkness for what felt like days now. He’d barely slept at all and the eternal darkness messed with his sense of time. Jason was trying to get to the surface just by following any path that led even a bit upward. The more of an incline the better. Yet he had come to dead end after dead end.

At least I haven’t gotten hurt again after that first time. Jason carefully stepped over what looked to him to be like a pressure plate. Or a landmine. Though why the hell are there traps in a damn cave. There were a lot. A LOT of traps in the cave system. Learning from his first brush against death Jason had decided not to tempt fate again and just carefully moved past them.

Jason was once more at an intersection where he could either take a left and go just straight across or forward and go up more. Screw it. I’m tired and need a place to rest. I’ll go left and just lay down in the hallway. At least I know that’s safe. Deciding he’d had enough for one day and preferably one lifetime Jason sat down carefully and laid his head to the ground.

THUNK.

“What is with me and hitting my head on things,” Almost crying and cradling his head Jason turned to glare at the offender. What he found was a metal bracer. “What?” Jason picked up the bracer and turned it over in his hands. There wasn’t a lot of dust and it was definitely a bracer. It was a golden-red color and cool to the touch. Odd to have someone still going around wearing plate armour but then again he had also seen some type of blue membrane that glowed and pulsed so maybe not all that weird.

With all his exhaustion disappearing into the ether Jason got up and continued on his way down the hallway finding more things as he went by. Leather strips, small crumbs of the metal the bracer was made of and broken arrows here and there. He had even found a knife that he had collected and was just carrying. Not as if he had anywhere to put it all he had on was short and a shirt. That’s what he had gone to bed in before he was transported here and that’s what he had woken up in at first as well.

After a few minutes he walked into a large circular cavern. In the middle of the room was a firepit that looked to have been made recently. There were also two holes in the floor of the room each obviously having been the result of tunneling. What attracted his attention most though were the bodies.

There were four bodies scattered across the room. Not scattered as in they were far apart. No, that would’ve been too kind. The bodies were scattered. Limbs ripped and torn from the body and thrown every which way. At this moment Jason was glad that he couldn’t see that well because he quite frankly didn’t want to. All he could see was the position and shape of the body parts but even that was bad enough. If he had to see the blood as well then he would’ve puked.

Blergh...Blaaauaghh...Blearhheggg

There it is. The fucking smell. Oh god that’s horrible. Jason stumbled out of the room never intending to return. Of course it was then that his stomach decided to perform a mating call. Pausing, Jason turned around to look back into the massacre. I bet they had food. They wouldn’t come in the caves without food...right? God I hope they have food.

He steeled himself and then walked right back into the room. This time with a purposeful stride that was bordering on running. It’s not bodies. It’s not bodies. They’re simply rocks. His bare foot landed on a small piece of meat that he hadn’t noticed. Squishy rocks, but just rocks. Just rocks. Holding back his own throwup Jason walked to each of the torso’s he saw and scavenged around for food or water.

Please have water at least. I’m already always dizzy and lightheaded so death isn’t too far away if I can’t get water. After taking everything he could from all the rocks Jason walked out of the room and dropped all of his spoils.

Let’s see. Another small knife, a broken bow, a FLASK...empty. Shit. A handle of a sword that was obviously broken, uhm some boots. HAHA. My feet now have protection. A leather helmet from a pretty looking la...rock. And four fanny pack looking things.

Opening a pack Jason peeked inside. Inside it were three blue fruits. The fruits were shaped like a squash tapering at one end to a stem where it was plucked. They glowed faintly and in his hands they felt cold to the touch. Not freezing, but cold. The skin of the fruit felt like an apple skin.

Though it looks radioactive I do need some food and this is all I got. Sighing to himself Jason brought the fruit to his mouth and without giving himself time to regret took a large bit out of it. Well it tastes like shit, but again it’s food. Aftering thoroughly chewing Jason swallowed and then sat down with satisfaction. Unfortunately that wasn’t going to last long.

IT BURNS!! I’m BURNING!! AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH. Jason was spasming and shaking. His jaw locked up because of pain. The fruit fell to the ground as his hand couldn’t grip it anymore. Jason frankly didn’t care. If he was able to control his body or even think he might’ve been cursing the fruit or stomping on it. Right now though, Jason’s world was pain.

The fruit was burning through his stomach. It had to be. It felt like an inferno from Hell itself had been lit inside his guts and that it was going to destroy him. The inferno shot out sparks of electricity that raced through his limbs causing pain. It raced into his brain and Jason fell unconscious then another one raced to his brain and he was brought back. No rest for the wicked. Jason endured the pain for what seemed like days to him. Feeling the inferno eating him alive.

Then the inferno tried to escape. It started pushing outside of his guts unsatisfied with just the electric shocks of pain it sent out. It pushed against his skin. ALL of his skin. From head to toe the inferno was pushing out threatening to blow off his skin. Instead what happened was Jason ended up opening his mouth. His jaw had somehow unclenched and his mouth fell open. The inferno knew.

It rushed to the widest opening and the next thing Jason knew he was once more puking. Black disgusting bile flowed out from his mouth. After a minute or two Jason stopped throwing up. Falling back away from the tar looking substance Jason sat there and panted.Getting up Jason stumbled over to where the fruit was.

“Damn thing. You goddamn deceiver. You’re no food. You’re a torture device,” Jason raised his left foot and stomped down as hard as he could. His foot landed right next to the fruit. Growling Jason once more raised his leg to stomp. He stopped.

“I… feel… good?” He put his foot down and looked down at his body. Specifically at his left leg which he’d just been using to stomp. The skin was normal. Well more normal than it had been. It had been a giant scab that was a worrying yellowish color but now the skin was just a little red. A bit raw, but overall much much better than it was.

He also didn’t feel like he was starving anymore, nor was he dizzy like usual, and he felt full of energy. It’s as if he had just had a small meal. He was still hungry but it was normal hunger not starvation and he was still thirsty but it wasn’t dehydration to the point of almost death.

“You...actually may have your uses you torture device,” picking up the fruit Jason brushed the small amount of dirt and dust it had collected off of it.

Jason smiled.

“I might actually get out of here alive.”