Astel drifted in and out of consciousness. Sometimes he would wake up, only to pass out again from the pain and blood loss. His right arm wasn't bleeding anymore, but he had already lost too much blood—his life was in constant danger.
Thanks to his Control fragment, he managed to circulate and replenish his body's energy. It was almost instinctive, his senses hazy. After struggling to remain alive, he eventually woke up—pain striking through his entire body. He lay there, eyes wide open. He still couldn't see, but he didn't want to risk fainting again. Each time he passed out could be his last.
He was hungry, thirsty, and low on blood—his skin even paler than before.
Astel forced his body to obey and slowly rose into a seated position. He ripped his improvised clothing to bandage his arm. He didn't know how to do it properly, which caused him immense pain again. He grit his teeth, then threw a piece of the makeshift bandage across his neck to create a crude sling. It would hold his arm in position and make sure no more blood leaked out.
"I've really outdone myself this time," he muttered, coughing into his free hand and feeling the dryness of his own blood.
"Have I really managed to kill a category 4 monster?"
He still couldn't believe it. How was that even possible? Even Combat fragmenters struggled with category 3 beasts. He shouldn't even stand a chance against something of that category—much less one above.
As he thought this, he slid down from the monster's body, landing by its torn belly. He fell to his knees when his legs hit the ground, unable to support his weight.
"I really shouldn't move around... but I'm so hungry."
He reached toward the hole in the beast's stomach, stuck his arm deep inside, and felt around for flesh. With some difficulty, he ripped out a piece and began eating it raw. He almost puked before managing to swallow a bite.
"Ew, this is so disgusting... I swear I'm gonna be sick after this."
Still, he ate more—his hunger too overwhelming. He drank the monster's blood to quench his thirst, this time puking from the nearly indigestible liquid. Yet he drank more, until his body physically stopped him, his heart skipping a few beats, causing him even more pain.
Astel coughed again, then got to his feet.
"Maybe the eggs will taste better."
He walked toward the pile of warm sand where three eggs rested. He still didn't know how the sand had become warm, or why the monster was so afraid of light. Maybe he would figure it out. Maybe it simply didn't matter.
He tried cracking one of the eggs, but the shell was too tough. He tried calling upon his dagger, but it didn't respond—he couldn't feel its presence in his mind.
"Damn it! I forgot that it broke..."
It was his first and only notion. It hurt to lose it so early, but it had only been a category one. He tried to tell himself that to distract from the feeling of losing his first real weapon. He gave up trying to break the eggs with his hands.
Astel got up and descended the mound of sand, looking for a suitable rock to crack the eggs. It wasn't long before his foot tripped over something hard—it was the cold leg of the dead creature.
"What if I rip one of its claws off?"
He tried acting on the idea, but it was pointless. He had no way to disconnect the claw from the leg. Then another idea came to him.
"Maybe just a single scale would be enough. It should be better than any stone I could find around here."
He was in luck. The beast had just shed its old scales, and the new ones were still settling—somewhat loose. He pried one out and succeeded with little effort.
"That was oddly easy..."
Armed with a single hard scale from a supposed category 4 beast, he walked back to the eggs. He raised the scale above his head with his mostly unharmed arm and struck one. The egg shattered easily—but as it did, it began dissolving into energy.
"What the hell?" Confusion painted his face. "Why? The monster's corpse is still here, so why not the eggs? Why do they just disappear? Are they not real?"
He had so many questions—but no answers.
He tried smashing open the second egg, but the same thing happened. He felt the energy merge with the surrounding atmosphere and disappear. He sighed, disappointed.
"I guess I won't be having eggs for breakfast anytime soon..."
He frowned and looked at the last egg. He considered his options and hesitated a bit.
"Might as well..."
He struck the last egg, expecting it to disappear—but it didn't, at least not immediately. It began slowly dissolving into energy, and Astel quickly reached inside it. The scale had already fallen from his hand.
He felt around inside the egg, hoping for something—anything. But it was empty.
The egg kept crumbling, disappearing from top to bottom, and as it did, something strange happened. The energy from the shell was gathering at the bottom, forming into a single, dark ebony scale.
Astel couldn't see what was happening, but he could slightly feel the gathering energy. When the egg disappeared completely, only the ebony scale remained, lying in the sand where the egg used to be.
He picked it up and grinned.
"How lucky," he laughed maniacally.
After all, he had just found another notion—this one belonging to the offspring of the dark reptilian beast he had slain. Possessing a strong notion was nice, but he didn't have any way to crush the scale of a category 4 beast.
"Perhaps I could crush it with the other scale?"
He picked up the earlier scale. It suddenly felt different. He couldn't describe it, but it was as if he was holding two completely different objects. It was an odd feeling.
Nevertheless, he climbed down the sand pile again, placed the newly obtained notion onto the ground, and struck it with the regular scale.
Nothing happened.
He tried again.
Still nothing.
He struck it over and over to no avail.
Eventually, the regular scale started cracking in his hand—and then it shattered, slicing his palm.
"Ouch!" He winced in pain. "I guess this really won't be that easy."
He decided to put the notion away for now and placed it in his improvised bag, which was somehow still in one piece.
He had to find a way out of here. What if there was another one of these monsters?
But first, he wanted to solve the mystery of the hot sand. He walked to the pile and started digging with one hand, sand grinding against his fresh wounds and causing stinging pain. The deeper he dug, the hotter the sand became—until... he reached something solid.
"Is this... glass?"
Indeed, it was a scorching hot layer of glass. And beneath it was something heating the sand. But there was no light, so he ruled out the possibility of lava or fire.
He removed as much sand as he could, uncovering a glass dome. He took out the notion scale and struck the hot glass.
Immediately, he felt it shatter—and an immense wave of almost unbearable heat escaped. He jumped back.
"What is this? I still can't see... but this... is this fire?"
He blew onto his burned hand, trying to cool it down.
"I almost dropped the notion. That would be quite anticlimactic."
He returned the scale to his bag.
"Anyway... I thought fire was supposed to emit light. So how come there's none?"
He thought, trying to remember if anyone had ever mentioned something like this. Then he remembered—Lyra, once talking about light. Apparently, light was made up of tiny waves, and humans could only see some of them.
"I think this fire might be emitting waves in a way that I simply can't see..."
He was starting to get excited as he considered what this might imply.