Rowan stood in the doorway of the office building, staring into the sea of what he now saw were ravens. They had figured out the previous day that the birds were extremely patient, standing in the doorway caused them to stir slightly, but they never left the ground.
It was now their third day in the office, and Rowan needed the fresh air after being cooped up for so long. It hadn't taken long for them to get over their distaste of the fruits, each of them rationalising it in their own way.
Rowan figured there was no point in letting the food go to waste, though he still thought back to the dreadful image of Ben and Leah, consumed by vines. But his hunger was constant, as he hardly spared a moment outside of resting and training.
There was no way out of this that wouldn't involve them running or fighting for their lives, and so Rowan wanted to be in the best physical form he could. To his surprise, he was already miles beyond where he had started, the nutrients from the wolf meat and the constant training having a beneficial impact on his body.
The door clicked closed with a thud as Rowan turned back inside. Aoife and Nadia were each doing something different, Aoife was continuing to train, while Nadia was sealing the letters they had each written.
Each of them had come to the same conclusion, that one of them would have to be caught in order for the others to survive, by acting as bait. Aoife had been the one to raise the idea, and neither Rowan nor Nadia had rejected it, yet none of them had volunteered either.
They all wanted to survive, but were each hoping that someone else would change their mind. And so long as they had fruit, they would continue to put the impending decision off for as long as they could. But eventually someone would likely die, and they had each written letters in case they were the ones who didn't survive.
Rowan hadn't realised it the first day, but there were plastic panels in the roof, through which the sunlight came in. He sat in the office chair now, staring up between them to where the sun was hidden behind a thick fog of clouds.
They hadn't said much to each other since this day had began, stemming from the awkwardness that followed the idea of one of them having to sacrifice themselves. Rowan wondered if they were still trying to think of another way, a possible escape method that didn't result in one of them being torn limb from limb by a demonic flock of ravens.
He wished his aether would regenerate faster, so he could spend less time thinking. He was currently out of it, having just finished an intensive workout that had used all his aether simply in healing the tearing muscles.
He had gotten a rough gauge on how much his regeneration could handle at this point. he could likely suffer five or so minor injuries, or one big one in a fight before his aether was drained. Until he somehow found a way to enhance his aether storage, regeneration or tier up, it was likely that that would be all that he could handle.
There was also still the mystery of what would happen when the mastery maxed out on his ability. Would it grow stronger, be 'mastered', whatever that meant? Yet it was still stuck at a strange 52%. Not a clean halfway as he might have thought reasonable, but just over the line.
Sighing, Rowan returned to the door, hoping for there to be something interesting he could distract himself with. As bright light flooded the room, Rowan took in the sight of what must have been thousands of ravens.
Like a sea of black feathers, they covered every surface, and Rowan had to stifle a shiver as they all turned to look at him, in unison. nothing could be heard beyond the wind blowing through the buildings, yet Rowan was sure he could hear the birds shifting in anticipation.
But before he could dwell on how many there were, or how sharp their beaks looked, or anything like that, he spotted something far away in the distance. A small black void was approaching, far enough out that it was barely a bleck speck against the horizon.
'It seems the food won't be what makes us move. That thing... Is a problem.'
Rowan stared at it for a few more minutes, taking in what it meant now that there was a Hell approaching. Closing the door, he sighed before calling out to Aoife and Nadia.
"There's a Hell approaching. I don't know how far away it is, but I saw it on the horizon where it hadn't been before."
Aoife's head snapped up, a mix of interest and worry on her face.
"It seems like it's a tier 1, though it's quite difficult to be able to tell from this distance."
She quickly got up and dashed to the doorway, squeezing past Rowan to look into the distance where he had seen it. It still hung there, and Rowan felt his gut sway as he felt its impending arrival.
"I don't see any white... This could be a good thing. I think this is actually perfect for us right now."
Rowan didn't hide the shock and confusion on his face at all, and stared incredulously at Aoife.
"How is it a good thing? Now there are two rocks pushing us against a hard place. If that thing starts spewing out beasts, they probably won't be as patient as these ravens have been."
Aoife paused for a second before she continued, her voice eager in renewed hope.
"Beasts will only come out if it's fully mature, so if we're lucky, we can hitch a ride to wherever that thing first appeared, and ditch these ravens."
The very feature of Hells that had gotten them stranded in this position in the first place, now seemed like the most reasonable way for all of them to survive. Of course, not without more challenges first.