The sun began to set, the swirling sky outside gradually darkening from pale blue to deeper shades of violet and black. Yet Moon hadn't been able to tell anybody about what he'd found. Ever since he'd entered the cave, Gareth's eyes had been on him, watchful, like a predator tracking potential prey.
This made Moon even more suspicious about the bones outside. Could they have followed a cannibal to his den? The thought was horrific to contemplate, but it fit.
The repeated mentions of "when night comes" also made him suspicious. Gareth had said it multiple times, always with that same ominous undertone. And with the sun setting, Moon didn't have much time left to warn the others or prepare for whatever was coming.
He needed to communicate with someone.
Selene was his best option; she'd shown the most awareness, the most capacity for independent thought. But with Gareth watching, any obvious attempt at private conversation would raise suspicion.
So Moon decided to use the cold as a means to get closer to her.
Despite feeling embarrassed about what he was about to say, this was life and death. There was no shame in survival.
"Hey," Moon said, his voice loud enough for everyone to hear, projecting discomfort that came naturally given the circumstances. "I'm feeling really cold. Can we huddle closer together, so we can use our body warmth to warm each other up?"
Silence permeated the air for a brief moment, which made things more awkward for Moon.
John raised an eyebrow, a smirk playing at the corner of his mouth. Elara looked at Moon with barely disguised disgust, as if he were a pervert using the cold as a flimsy excuse to get what he really wanted.
Even Derek's group glanced over, their expressions ranging from amused to judgmental.
Selene, however, wasn't as quick to judge. She looked at Moon silently for a brief moment, her eyes searching his face. Whatever she saw there seemed to satisfy her.
She motioned for him to get closer. "I'm feeling cold too, let's do it."
Moon moved immediately, closing the distance between them until they were sitting shoulder to shoulder. The body heat was actually welcome, cutting through some of the persistent cold that had settled into his bones.
More importantly, he was now close enough to whisper without being overheard if he timed it right.
Gareth's eyes were still on them, but his expression hadn't changed. Apparently, two people huddling for warmth wasn't suspicious enough to warrant intervention.
Moon waited, letting a few minutes pass, letting Gareth's attention drift elsewhere as the man checked on the injured survivors near the fire.
Then, keeping his voice barely above a breath, Moon leaned slightly toward Selene.
"Outside, Human…bones. Everywhere." He whispered, his lips barely moving.
Selene's body went rigid beside him, but to her credit, her expression didn't change. She kept her eyes on the fire, her face neutral.
After a moment, she whispered back, her voice even quieter than his. "Amount?"
"Many."
Selene didn't speak after that, her eyes remaining fixed on the fire. Thankfully, she was good at concealing her emotions.
After some time had passed, she stood up abruptly. "I need the toilet. Can you lead me to where you did it?"
Moon nodded and stood. "Sure."
Before they could move toward the entrance, Gareth's voice cut through the cave. "It's getting dark outside. You should just use the one inside the cave. It's much more dangerous out there now."
Selene turned to face him, her expression calm and reasonable. "I know, that's why I wanted him to come with me. We could protect each other. Besides, he said it's nearby, so it shouldn't be much of a problem."
Gareth didn't argue, but his silence was heavy, weighted with disapproval. "That's how you get yourself killed."
Derek's group seemed to agree with him. Marcus nodded vigorously. "Selene, I think you should stay, at least for tonight. Just bear with it. Nobody will look inside."
Moon cursed the idiots inwardly. They were making things difficult, speaking as if they had zero survival instincts, as if they couldn't sense the wrongness permeating this place.
"It's okay, don't worry. I'll be really quick!" Selene smiled, the expression not quite reaching her eyes, before turning her back and making her way toward the exit.
Moon followed immediately.
As they made their way out, Moon could feel Gareth's eyes fixed on their backs, burning into them with unsettling intensity. The moment they stepped outside, Moon glanced back through the cave entrance and saw Gareth turn around, walking deeper into the cave's darkness.
Outside, the cold hit them like a physical blow, worse now that the sun had set. The temperature had dropped even further.
Moon immediately grabbed Selene's hand and led her toward the area where he'd found the bones, moving as quickly as the treacherous ice would allow. The wind howled around them, and visibility was barely ten meters. He needed to be fast.
Arriving at the location, Selene knelt down and took hold of one of the bones protruding from the snow. She turned it over in her hands, examining it closely despite the fading light.
"This is a human's remains... you're right."
"What should we do? Should we go back?" Moon kept looking around, scanning for movement, for beasts, for Gareth following them. "I feel like he's already suspicious. Ever since I left and re-entered, his eyes were glued to me."
"I noticed that." Selene stood, brushing snow from her knees. She looked back toward where they'd come from, toward the cave entrance barely visible through the blizzard.
"We can't go back. We need to find another place for now." Her voice was steady, controlled, but Moon could hear the fear beneath it. "As for the others... we'll have to leave them there for the time being. There must be a reason he hasn't acted yet. Either he's waiting for a specific condition to be satisfied, or he simply isn't strong enough to take on all of us at once."
Moon nodded. "I was thinking the same. But what if these remains are simply those of deceased awakeners who died during their stay? Bodies they couldn't bury in the frozen ground?"
Selene shook her head slowly, her expression grim. "That's possible, but it's very optimistic. Look at these bones—they have no flesh on them. Most of them are completely clean." She gestured at the scattered remains around them. "This means something wiped them clean, whether a beast or..."
She didn't finish the sentence.
"You mean..." Moon's eyes widened as the full implication hit him.
"Yes." Selene's voice dropped to barely above a whisper, as if afraid something might overhear. "He might be a cannibal. Either a human native to this hidden realm who's learned to hunt awakeners and impersonate them, or he's actually one of us but has resorted to... this... to survive." She paused, her breath coming out in shaking clouds. "Or he's giving something in sacrifices to remain alive. Feeding in exchange for protection."
The wind howled louder, as if punctuating her words.
"Either way," Selene continued, her hand tightening around her staff, "we need to leave this place. Now."
Moon's hand moved instinctively to gather mana, the fire element responding to warm his freezing fingers. "Where do we go? We have no shelter. No supplies. The temperature will kill us before morning."
"I don't know. But staying in that cave isn't a good idea. At least out here, we have a chance."
A sound echoed from the direction of the cave.
Selene's eyes immediately met Moon's, and in that moment, they both understood. They needed to run.