The fog creeps over the battlefield…
and the blood that covered the ground begins to cool.
Railey wakes up slowly… with difficulty… his eyes half open, his breathing broken, as if he is dying.
His body does not move.
His right hand is severed.
His left leg is completely torn apart.
His face is disfigured by stabs, and his chest is filled with wounds that cannot be counted.
He tries to get up… he falls.
He tries a second time… he falls.
He tries a third time… he goes silent… then a small, soulless laugh escapes him.
Railey (whispering to himself):
"What is the meaning of staying alive…? What is left of me?"
Thoughts of suicide begin to swallow him.
He sees his sword lying beside him…
he extends his left hand and grabs it, points it toward his neck…
but his hand trembles.
He no longer knows…
does he want death?
or does he just want this pain consuming him to stop?
He tries to scream, but only weak air comes out.
His throat dries… his heart dries… all his feelings dry up.
After long moments, he throws the sword away.
Not because he wants life…
but because he does not have the strength to kill himself.
He tries to crawl… places his left elbow on the ground and drags himself like a wounded animal.
Every movement ignites fire in his body.
The pain makes the tears fall on their own.
The distance to the cave is long… more than he can bear.
But he has no choice.
Night falls.
The air becomes cold…
and Railey crawls, leaving behind a long trail of blood.
Every few meters… he stops…
cries…
hits his head against the ground…
murmurs words no one hears:
"Why me?… Why is my life like this?… Why didn't I die?"
The darkness around him grows deeper.
The monsters in the forest smell the blood…
but they do not come close.
As if something worse than them is crawling on the ground…
Something broken… shattered… with no meaning for life.
He finally reaches the trunk of a large tree.
He lies beside it… stops crawling.
He is no longer able.
He stays there for a full day… without food… without water… almost unconscious.
He sleeps, then wakes, then sleeps…
every time he opens his eyes, he sees only darkness.
And on the following night…
he gathers the last speck of strength in his body and crawls again.
The road back to the cave becomes like a road of death…
but he continues… not because he wants to, but because his body moves on its own by instinct of survival.
After days of crawling…
the opening of the cave appears before him.
He collapses at the entrance…
enters with difficulty…
then immediately loses consciousness.
.
"He no longer knows whether he wants to live… or die."