Suzie relaxed her grip after remaining silent for a moment. "Is it true that Wayne dying had nothing to do with you?"

  Hezekiah didn't respond immediately. Instead, he extended his hand, revealing a crumbled piece of notebook paper.

  "I can't erase my mistake." Hezekiah unfolded the paper, avoiding eye contact. "If I understood my abilities more, maybe things could've been different."

  Her tears were far from dried. She was about to speak, but her lips sealed tightly afterward. Wiping her face, she looked towards the opening of the cave that led the way out.

  "I just want to leave. Just tell me what needs to be done already," she whispered.

  "Uncontrollable power, you say?" the old man laughed. "You Abna might be more dangerous than Mr. Hyonda. Nothing is more unpredictable than unchecked power."

  They both ignored the man as Hezekiah read his rules again on the manifested copy. Although he particularly didn’t need it, the same couldn’t be said for Suzie. As he was reading it, however, a particular rule stood out that furrowed his brows:

  4. If you see someone trapped, you must let them go.

  He turned toward the man who was tapping against the floor of his cage, not hiding his discontent.

  You’ve got to be kidding me.

  "Care to explain what you're holding? I'm assuming this is what Wayne saw you hiding earlier," Suzie began, taking a step.

  "Don't move!"

  Suzie froze instantly as a rush of dread filled her. Hezekiah noticed this and positioned the paper in front of her.

  "That's how Wayne died. These are the rules on how to survive this cave. They were originally meant to be for Hyonda, but I didn’t expect they would affect all of us," Hezekiah explained while Suzie read the rules.

  Her mind blanked after his explanation, attempting to reconcile how a power like that even exist. Nevertheless, her thoughts prioritized elsewhere.

  "So you're responsible—accidental or not. His blood is on your hands."

  Hezekiah raised an eyebrow at her words. But he couldn’t find it within himself to disagree.

  "Just follow the rules," he said, withdrawing eye contact. "I'll make my way to the old man."

  The process was arduous and by no means short. Something that shouldn’t even take a minute was now leaning toward half an hour. Fortunately, taking massive steps was fine, but at this rate, there’s no telling how long it will take to leave this cave.

  Suzie was inching closer to the torches to remove them while Hezekiah finally made it to the cage.

  "Looks like fortune sided with me today," the old man said, with a hint of mockery. "And you're not allowed to harm me even after freeing me, are you?"

  Remembering the rules that were already explained to him, he took his shot. He couldn’t believe how this Abna created a scenario where he had to free him, despite wanting to leave him here to rot.

  "A power to force people to obey your instructions. But you yourself are bound to them? I bet the blood in your bones is screaming right now," the old man continued as he watched Hezekiah unlock his cell.

  Hezekiah smiled. "If they were, I doubt they’d be louder than Hyonda’s."

  The old man narrowed his eyes as the cage finally opened. "Hyonda genuinely cared for the evolution of mankind. You have stunted our growth as a species."

  "Yeah yeah, go pick up some torches—unless you want to end up like him."

  Hezekiah couldn’t dwell on the older man’s ideals forever. There’s no telling how much time they have to take down all the torches. Only being able to take six steps an hour is way too time-consuming.

  Dozens more minutes had gone by after freeing the older man, and so far only four torches had been removed. Suzie, whose fists were trembling, finally spoke up.

  "How much longer do we have to be here!? Is there no other way around this? I have family to go back to!"

  If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  Seeing her visibly agitated, Hezekiah put out the torch he was holding by smothering it against the ground.

  He thought about writing a new rule, but it might make things worse. Fortunately, however, he may have discovered something critical in this span of time.

  Although my safety may be guaranteed, how do I confirm it? And what should I do about the others?

  "At this rate, we might die of starvation before leaving. Hey Abna, how about you create some tasty fish with those fancy powers of yours? I’m sure that’ll make the Miss quiet for a while," the man dryly said as he took a major lunge. He almost lost his balance, nearly dropping the torch he was holding and almost taking another step, causing him to grunt slightly as he rested his palm on his side.

  "This body has only gotten worse after being in that cage so long. It doesn’t help that my age already isn’t treating me well. If only someone hadn’t killed the only solution to this problem."

  Hezekiah shifted his sight between the two—one who always had to make their displeasure known, and the other clearly bottling everything up inside, gradually overflowing.

  Do I really need to be here for them?

  Hezekiah could care less about the Kraken hybrid worshipper. But is saving Wayne’s friend worth the effort? He stuck around out of a sense of responsibility, but is this really necessary for a couple of strangers?

  As he took his next step, he found his foot above Wayne’s arm. His dead gaze pierced right through him. Quickly withdrawing his foot, he exhaled and looked away, suppressing the condemning feeling.

  "Aren’t you even listening to me? Keep your foot off of him!" she commanded, the flames revealing her emerald-colored eyes.

  "That upset you? I get it, trust me. I lost count of how many times people did that to me. But why don’t you say thank you for once? Instead of always being ungrateful."

  Suzie stood in silence in response to his unapologetic tone. She knew Hezekiah didn’t mean to step on him, but a seething sensation ignited every time she looked at him.

  "After what you did, there’s nothing to be grateful for. You should’ve died instead of Wayne."

  The old man, on the other hand, only smiled. "As expected. Abnas have no heart. They care for nothing that is beneath them."

  Tensing at their words, Hezekiah slightly chuckled and shook his head in amusement. The other two glanced at each other with uncertain looks.

  "Of course. Why for a second did I think this was something I had to do? I should’ve known. You two figure it out yourselves." With those words, he began making his way out of the cave.

  Their eyes widened when he began taking multiple steps at a time.

  "Wh-what!? Weren’t you bound by your rules!? Or was that also a farce?" Suzie shouted, almost tipping over.

  Hezekiah thought so too. But nothing happened to him when he violated the One Step rule an hour ago.

  Based on what he’d seen, it doesn’t take more than a couple of minutes for the consequences to manifest, so he concluded the rules didn’t affect him.

  He knew it was still a gamble even now, but he wasn’t convinced that the creator of the rules also had to be subjected to them.

  "Do you understand now, Miss Suzie? The Abna was only playing with us. We’re nothing but a game to them, left up to their whims. This is why Mr. Hyonda sought to give people like us an opportunity to be equal with them."

  Hezekiah found no obligation to explain himself. Instead, his gaze remained fixed ahead. Before he moved farther, he detected movement from the corner of his eye. Before him lay Hyonda’s body in a puddle of the blue substance, converging with the chemicals he’d knocked over earlier.

  Am I seeing things?

  Readily about to dismiss the thought, one of the tentacles sprung toward Hezekiah. Fortunately, his instincts kicked in and he leapt out of the way, but his cheek was still grazed. A sharp pain zipped through his injured leg, but he couldn’t let that slow him down.

  "He’s still alive!? I thought you said you killed him!" Suzie cried out while gaining distance from it.

  Hezekiah thought so too. He assumed he died from hemorrhage. Thinking quickly, he summoned the pen.

  The surrounding temperature spiked. The tentacle that still hovered around Hezekiah recoiled with newly formed scorched marks.

  Hyonda winced as he rose up. "Still quick on your feet after losing so much blood. You’re quite resilient, aren’t you, human?" Hyonda spoke.

  His skin was shifting, turning inside out. Each section of him was splitting like a zipper. More tentacles leached out from within the slits and homed in on Hezekiah.

  "Damn it!"

  Hezekiah's mouth dropped. Dodging was impossible, and attempting to write a rule would be suicidal. In a hopeless attempt to survive, he threw the pen at the tentacles and shielded his head.

  To his surprise, the pen’s form transfigured, and in its place was a chaotic flame. The temperature once again skyrocketed.

  Hyonda withdrew his tentacles, recognizing the threat, and retreated. But even before contact was made, his tendrils were already disintegrating into smoke.

  His deafening screech echoed throughout the cave, forcing rocks and pebbles to descend from above.

  "How dare you!" The old man, not willing to sit by and watch the events unfold, rushed toward Hezekiah, disregarding the rules.

  Hezekiah wasn’t expecting the old man to be this fast, but without thinking too much about it, he swung his unharmed leg in the air, connecting it to the old man’s jaw.

  The clean strike caused the man to falter and collapse to his palms, but the fire didn’t dissipate from his eyes, despite the world around him spinning. Hezekiah could almost feel the hatred radiating from him as he spat out a tooth.

  What’s wrong with him? How is he still awake?!

  After Hyonda evaded the flame and created enough distance, his tentacles were no longer being scorched and reduced to nothingness. But the damage has already been done.

  He was entirely coated in his own blood, and no longer resembled an unkempt, scruffy-aged man. Instead, what stood before Hezekiah was a towering squid-like creature.