Inside the cave, it smelled foul, coming from the mixture of unwashed bodies, old blood, and stale air that hit everyone's nostrils like a wall.
Gareth noticed their reactions and spoke without looking back. "You'll have to get used to the smell. We've been wearing the same clothes for weeks. Can't wash them, can't change them. Get them wet in this cold and you're dead within hours."
Moon and the others said nothing, though he could see Selene covering her nose discreetly. It was a practical reality of their situation, and complaining wouldn't change it.
The cave itself was decently sized, extending back into darkness with a few torches providing illumination. Animal pelts were piled in corners, makeshift bedding. A small fire burned in a carved-out pit, its smoke somehow venting through cracks in the ceiling. Crude weapons leaned against walls. Dried meat hung from hooks driven into the stone.
But unlike the large base that Gareth had implied, there was nobody inside except two people.
They sat near the fire, both wrapped in layers of fur. One was a woman with hollow eyes and pale skin. The other was a younger man, his leg wrapped in bloodied bandages. Neither looked up when the group entered, too exhausted or too ill to care.
"Is that everyone here?" Moon asked, his eyes scanning the cave's interior.
Gareth shook his head. "No, that's not everyone. But we all have our own duties. These two are in the cave because they're unwell. The others are out doing various things—scouting, hunting, gathering firewood, checking traps. You'll meet them later tonight. That's when everyone arrives back."
Everyone nodded, understanding Gareth's words.
You couldn't remain passive in a place like this. To survive, you needed to be constantly working, constantly contributing. Sitting idle meant death, either from starvation or from letting your guard down when a beast decided to attack.
Still, Moon's eyes returned to the two injured people near the fire. The woman's hollow expression. The man's bandaged leg, the blood seeping through despite the wrapping.
How many others had Gareth mentioned? How many people were actually part of this survivor group?
And more importantly, what had injured these two badly enough that they couldn't even stand?
Moon kept the questions to himself for now, but his awareness remained sharp, cataloguing every detail of the cave, and every potential exit.
Derek moved closer to the fire, already extending his hands toward the warmth. "Thank you for bringing us here. We'd have frozen out there."
Gareth grunted, neither accepting nor rejecting the gratitude. "You can rest by the fire. Warm up. But when night comes, you'll need to contribute. Everyone works. No exceptions."
His tone left no room for argument.
Derek and the others exchanged uncertain glances. How could they possibly contribute when night came? Were they expected to go out hunting in the dark, in temperatures even more brutal than what they'd already experienced? Guard duty? Something else entirely?
None of them dared ask; the timing didn't seem appropriate, nor were the circumstances.
Moon positioned himself near the cave entrance, close enough to the fire to benefit from its warmth but far enough that he could see both the interior of the cave and the exit. The spot gave him visibility of everyone present while keeping his back to solid stone rather than open space.
He'd also chosen the location partly because Selene had decided to sit there. She'd moved to the periphery rather than crowding around the fire with Derek's group, settling onto a relatively flat piece of rock with her staff resting across her lap.
Out of everyone present, in Moon's opinion, Selene was the most mysterious.
Her class was exceptional, rare enough that the most powerful guilds would have fought over her. Yet she'd formed a party with random awakeners rather than leveraging that advantage immediately. She'd offered him money without being asked, shown concern, but something in her eyes suggested she was always observing, just like he was.
She noticed him settling nearby and gave a small, tired smile. "Cold enough for you?"
"Could be worse," Moon replied, though his fingers were still numb despite being inside the cave.
Selene pulled her knees up, wrapping her arms around them.
In a quiet voice, she whispered low enough that the others by the fire wouldn't hear. "Months…Can you imagine being trapped here for so long? I don't know if I'd last a week in this conditions."
Moon watched Gareth move deeper into the cave, checking on the two injured survivors. "He's lasted. The others have too, apparently."
"I wonder how many 'others' there actually are," Selene murmured, echoing Moon's own thoughts. "And what happened to the ones who didn't make it."
It was the kind of observation that confirmed Moon's assessment. She wasn't just friendly and optimistic. She was paying attention, questioning, and analysing the situation just like he was.
"We'll find out soon enough," Moon said.
Selene nodded, her gaze drifting to the cave entrance where wind howled and snow continued to fall.
Assuming tonight doesn't bring its own problems. Selene thought internally.
They sat in companionable silence after that, both warming themselves by the fire while remaining alert, both keeping their thoughts private while clearly thinking along similar lines.
Near the centre of the cave, Derek was already trying to strike up a conversation with the injured woman, asking about the hidden realm's layout, what they'd learned. She responded in monosyllables, her hollow eyes barely focusing on him.
John and Elara huddled close to the fire, their earlier enthusiasm completely drained by the cold.
And Gareth stood in the shadows near the back of the cave, his expression unreadable, watching them all with the patience of someone who'd seen this scene play out before.
Time passed by in an excruciatingly slow manner. Minutes felt like hours, and hours felt like days.
The fire crackled nearby, and the wind howled outside.
The two injured survivors remained motionless near the flames. Gareth occasionally moved through the cave, checking supplies, adjusting pelts, but offering nothing in terms of information or assistance.
After a few hours had passed with no sign of the other survivors returning, no food being offered, and no explanation of what they'd be doing when night came, Moon decided to explore.
He'd waited to see if anything would happen, but it seemed like Gareth had no intentions of providing anything beneficial beyond basic shelter.
Moon stood up slowly, stretching as if his muscles were simply stiff from sitting.
"Hey... you, where are you going?"