Chapter 27: Greetings Again
Flashlight. Dead.
Black shard. Dropped.
Because of the boy and his 'brave' act. Although maybe the boy spared the gruesome pain Hope was about to commit to wrench free from the Profaned's grasp. At least the boy still had his pocketknife, so that was something.
Step. Step. Step.
Hope walked slowly as he kept his injured hand out and traced it along the tunnel's wall for support but also to find an exit of some kind.
During the night and through the dawn, Hope's hand had somewhat healed.
Not exponentially—by all means the wound still looked fresh and sharply stung with each contact—but it healed faster than when he got injured as a mundane human. And there was the fact of his cursed [Tears of Sorrows] Attribute curing maladies, so, his wounds wouldn't get infected and therefore worsen in the process.
Step. Step. Step.
Hope's steps echoed in the darkness.
The silver morning light he left behind could barely reach anymore in these thickened shadows. Even the water next to him, which had appeared like a liquid of ink with flecks of rays in it, started to merge with the rest of the darkness into one blinding black wall.
At some point, he turned right, and light simply ceased to exist at all.