Chapter 733: How Did I Get Here?
Liam jolted awake with a sharp inhale, and before his mind had fully caught up with his body, a dagger had already formed in his hand.
The black blade appeared from shadow as naturally as breathing, his fingers closing around the handle while he pushed himself up in one swift motion. Pain immediately flared through his ribs and side, but instinct overrode discomfort. Within the next breath, he was on his feet, knees slightly bent, shoulders angled, and dagger held low in a defensive grip as his crimson eyes swept across the darkness around him.
For a moment, Liam expected trees.
He expected broken earth, ash, the smell of burnt forest, and the lingering pressure of the eastern woods. He expected to see the ruined aftermath of his fight against the Berserker or the shadowed canopy above him where that final blurry silhouette had stood over his body before everything had gone black.
Instead, he saw stone.
The hollow chamber was dim, enclosed, and familiar. Rough rock walls curved around him, uneven and cold, with claw marks still faintly visible along certain sections where he had noticed them before.
The narrow crevice entrance sat across from him, barely wide enough to be called an opening, with faint light from outside slipping through the gap in thin pale streaks. Near the center of the chamber, a small fire crackled steadily within the pit he had created earlier, its orange glow brushing over the stone floor and throwing soft, trembling shadows against the walls.
Liam remained still for several seconds, dagger ready, breath controlled, eyes moving from one corner of the chamber to another.
Then the realization settled.
He was back at the outcrop.
More specifically, he was standing inside the same hidden shelter he had found within the rocky formation before heading east.
That realization surprised him more than he allowed his face to show.