On a dark night, with faint azure glow spreading throughout the forest—not enough to illuminate everything, barely lighting some areas—Sol sat in his cave near the Exit, staring at the strong fire. Beside him, a decent-sized pile of wood.
While Sol sat feeding the fire, there were dozens of those tapping creatures. He'd come up with a new nickname for them, something to identify them by. The name was "Night Crawlers." Honestly, it wasn't original or invented by Sol—it was the name of a famous character back on Earth, and he'd just borrowed it.
Click! Click! Click!
The Night Crawlers' tapping sounds were numerous, constant. The creatures completely surrounded the cave entrance, filling that empty space in front of the cave—the treeless area—and there were more among the trees too.
Sol lifted only his tired eyes toward the tall, broad Night Crawlers standing just a few steps away. He could see powerful muscles bulging on those creatures. His tone was cold, analytical.
"For all their hatred of light, they're drawn to it..." He paused, then narrowed his eyes slightly, studying them intently. "Intelligent creatures. They know fire doesn't burn alone at night. And gathering like this... they They exploit strength in numbers."
Sol's eyes moved, examining every part of the Night Crawlers' bodies—their muscles, broad shoulders, long arms, sharp claws.
"Given their strong build and towering height, they wouldn't need numbers unless... "
Sol recalled the strange footprints he'd seen earlier.
"unless there are creatures even stronger than them out there. That would make sense."
He sighed before returning his gaze to the fire burning in front of him. His tone turned sardonic.
"Or maybe they're just greedy creatures, wanting to grab their share before it runs out."
***
Three weeks had passed since Sol took up residence in this cave. His routine was simple: stay awake all night, gather wood from the area around the cave, fetch water from the nearby river. If he felt tired or exhausted, he'd sleep during the day.
As for food—at first, he relied on the blue girl and whatever she brought him. But he made her teach him how to find food himself.
Fortunately, the purple fruit grew near the cave. Finding it was tedious, though—it grew completely hidden underground, with only a small branch emerging, bearing a somewhat distinctive leaf. The leaf was small, making the fruit hard to spot.
Harvesting required carefully scraping away the jelly-like, soft parts clinging to the ground, slowly, while keeping the fruit away from the liquid that seeped out—the liquid that turned those soft parts into thorns.
He repeated this simple routine daily. Easy. Simple. Boring. Sol performed it in silence, suppressing whatever feelings stirred inside him, pushing through his daily cycle.
Sol leaned back against the cold, damp cave wall. His eyes were deeply exhausted, the dark circles beneath them prominent. He'd initially considered fighting the Night Crawlers, but abandoned the idea for two reasons: first, it would be a exhausting, disgusting task in his view; second, he saw no benefit in killing creatures that simply hunted at night.
Even back on Earth, humans left predators to chase their prey without mercy—watched as the predator sank its jaws into the prey's neck, preventing escape while the victim still made low sounds. All this happened while humans observed from close range, watching the predator devour its meal, never intervening, hiding behind the excuse of "Law of the Jungle"
Sol's gaze shifted beside him. A wooden bucket of water. Next to it, a wooden cup. Beside them, some empty purple fruit peels. He'd gotten the bucket and cup from the girl.
He took the cup, lifted the bucket's cover, filled the cup with water, replaced the cover, and drank. Cold, refreshing water. It was good after long hours watching the fire.
He set the cup down beside the bucket, remained leaning against the wall for a moment, then slid down in a lazy motion and lay on the ground. His fur coat on one side, the woodpile on the other. He stared at the cave ceiling in silence, motionless.
Click! Click! Click!
***
Early morning arrived, light spreading everywhere. The Night Crawlers had left long ago. Sol lay on the ground without moving, the fire beside him extinguished, leaving behind a pile of ash.
Tap! Tap! Tap!
Footsteps approaching the cave mouth. The steps were somewhat heavy, approaching steadily. Sol didn't bother moving his eyes, let alone his head. He just kept watching the ceiling.
The footsteps stopped right near him. It was the blue girl, carrying something in her hands. She set it down, then leaned forward slightly toward Sol, who lay on the ground like a corpse dead for some time.
She looked into his eyes, then sighed and stepped back. She bent down toward whatever she'd brought—it was covered with a large piece of cloth. When she lifted the top, she revealed several pieces of meat, strangely colored—a slightly dark green.
Even though she'd taught Sol how to find the fruit, she still came every time, always bringing meat or other fruits.
She took out the meat, arranged on a small wooden tray. There wasn't much. A bright smile was on her face as she placed the meat beside her. Then she turned to Sol, still lying there, and poked him annoyingly.
Sol sighed deeply before getting to his feet. He grabbed some wood and headed outside the cave. The girl followed, carrying the meat tray, her face bright with that smile.
He reached a spot with black ash from a previous campfire. Sol arranged the wood in a pile while the girl set the tray on the ground and lit the fire—she'd learned from Sol, now using fur to make it catch quickly.
The two sat on the ground before the fire. The girl, with that bright smile, hung the meat on sticks over the flames. Sol, with his dark eyes, stared intently at her shining sapphire eyes.
Time passed. and The meat cooked. She took it down, gave some to Sol, took some herself, and they began eating. The girl's eyes sparkled with happiness. Sol watched her eyes closely—so closely she noticed.
They finished eating. The girl lay on the ground, satisfaction on her face. Then she sat up again, shuffled closer to Sol, and stopped in front of him. She pulled out several small stones of two different colors from her little bag. That smile on her face, she looked at Sol expectantly.
Sol looked at her and said:
"You're really addicted to this, aren't you?"
He drew nine squares in the dark soil. The girl distributed the small stones by color—gave the black stones to Sol, kept the white ones for herself.
Then they began playing a game Sol had taught her a few days earlier. He'd noticed she always came and stayed all day without returning to her family, and boredom would show in her eyes. For some reason, Sol didn't want this girl to feel bored, so he'd taught her.
After some time playing, Sol looked at the sky.
"Looks like it's time for her to go."
He glanced at the girl and gestured toward the sky. She understood. She gathered the stones into her little bag, went to retrieve the cloth cover from the cave, then waved at Sol with that bright smile—and left. Sol noticed her bright expression shift to something slightly sad as she went.
"Seems like she had a fight with her family. Well i don't care...time to go back to the cave now."
He took the remaining wood and returned to rekindle the fire inside the cave, while the light gradually faded.
Click! Click! Click!
"You're here."
Sol's tone was cold as he stared at the fire.
***
At noon, Sol sat in the cave, watching the path the girl always came from.
"She's late."
He was slightly surprised—she'd never been late during the weeks they'd spent together. In fact, she usually came early.
Suddenly he remembered the time she'd arrived injured. Someone had hit her, it seemed—bruises she'd tried to clean up and hide. But Sol couldn't be fooled in that regard. He'd noticed immediately but chose to ignore it, thinking it wasn't his concern.
Sol looked at the fruit peels. "Looks like we'll have to find food ourselves today, then."
He took the fur coat from the cave and a knife he'd made from stone, then headed into the forest.
It wasn't long before he found the plant's leaf. As he bent down toward it, he heard a loud scream. He recognized the owner.
Sol ran quickly toward the sound. And he was right—it was the girl. She was clinging to the top of one of the trees, staring down at something below. strange creature