Kai gripped his knife tightly. He was prepared for anything—any kind of fanged beast, or even the feathered nuisance again.
But he wasn't expecting a human.
Well, maybe it was just a humanoid creature—like a goblin or something. He was getting tired of there being no peaceful creatures anyway. Only the fox earlier had been calm, and he'd lost it because the bird wanted breakfast…
'Should I take off my backpack or…?' he hesitated.
Kai wasn't sure whether it would restrict his movement—though honestly, he could barely move comfortably as it was because of his leg.
'How did I even end up in this situation?'
He should have been neutralized before anything even started, and yet his paranoia had bought him a little time—because it was only a matter of time before he lost.
In the end he decided to set his backpack aside. Not just for mobility, but in case he survived, to avoid breaking any of his belongings. His clothes had already been through enough — he wasn't about to risk anything else.
As the dust cloud faded, the silhouette wasted no time and took up a fighting stance—though it didn't seem to want to take the initiative and opted to feel Kai out, moving out slowly.
Kai, having already set down his backpack, crouched with as little movement as possible to avoid hurting his leg and made the gesture of grabbing some pebbles—though there weren't any on the ground. He had tucked his knife into his hoodie pocket before grabbing the handful of blood berries he had left in his pants pocket.
The silhouette stepped out fully and Kai made out… a kid? What the hell was a kid doing hunting him?
'It can't be…'
On a second look, Kai made out a pair of animal ears on alert atop the boy's head. Well, that—and a sword.
Shaking the thoughts about the animal ears out of his head, Kai forced himself to focus.
In a quick move he faked as if he were bolting to one side—the blonde boy moved fast in an impulsive response. Kai then tossed the berries into the air from behind his back, pulling the boy's attention away again, just for an instant, but it was enough.
He had thrown his staff at his opponent barely an instant after the berries, forcing him to step aside or ideally shield himself from the hit.
Before his opponent could decide, Kai had already thrown himself into some bushes beside him, grabbing his backpack from the ground and taking cover. He had no intention of actually hurting his opponent with just that staff.
He tucked his backpack away quickly—he didn't even have time to run, and having jumped so awkwardly to avoid the pain in his leg, he barely managed to get up in time to see the boy charging at him again, which he dodged by a hair by dropping back to the ground.
'Lucky that all my enemies so far only have one attack pattern…'
Kai threw himself back into the clearing as the boy emerged from the bushes having overshot. He seemed to barely be able to keep himself under control—hardly surprising at that speed.
Then Kai realized. He hadn't even considered the diplomatic route.
He decided to try it—knife still in hand. He cleared his throat and raised his free hand.
"Salutations—" Kai coughed, cutting himself off after saying… that. "Uh… Hi." He made a very sad gesture with his hand that went nowhere.
The boy held his guard but still shot Kai a puzzled look.
'Right—why did I think he'd speak my language? Damn novels.' Kai grimaced.
The boy's voice came out suddenly, expression unchanged.
"Că?"
Kai didn't even try to decode the language the boy was speaking—it was clearly a question. He hadn't understood him.
'What do I do? What do I say? Does it even make sense to keep trying?'
Foolishly, Kai kept talking in his own language but more slowly, as if that would change anything.
"Me no want fight, me pacifist, me injured." He accompanied it all with exaggerated gestures.
The boy looked even more confused than before, his brow deeply furrowed. Suddenly he shook his head aggressively and returned to the cold expression he'd had before, his golden eyes seeming to have remembered their earlier resolve.
'Did he forget he's not supposed to talk with his prey? Well, I tried...'
Kai tightened his grip on the knife, feeling his hand somewhat sweaty under the glove, and waited for the boy's move.
'Come on!' Kai goaded him mentally—he wasn't going to say it to his face. He immediately regretted it, though. 'No, actually I'd prefer you didn't come. You can leave.'
As if he'd heard him, the boy took a calm, firm step before charging. Kai braced himself—this time it wasn't a full charge. A moment later, already at Kai's level, the boy planted his feet, dropped his stance slightly and landed a powerful punch to Kai's solar plexus that Kai barely managed to attempt to block.
All the air left his lungs in an instant and Kai felt enough pain to blank out for a few moments. He let out a strangled groan and tried to pull away, but the boy grabbed his arm, forced a simple lock, and with a kick to the ankles had Kai easily pinned on the ground.
'Not even ten seconds… Pretty sad.'
Kai had always thought he could put up some kind of fight in a street brawl, but the almost mechanical ease with which he'd gone down hit him like… well, like the ground. The boy showed no expression at all—just a crushing seriousness and calm.
"Ia te-bava în deza, că Ryo dezid."
'Yes, I understood that perfectly.'
The boy tied him up and hoisted him onto his shoulder.
"How are you doing this? I've got at least two heads on you." Kai couldn't hold back the question even knowing he wouldn't be understood.
The boy obviously didn't respond—he had tucked Kai's knife into a pocket, and after getting to his feet he carried Kai off at a terrible speed.
***
Following Nex through the forest, Ryo had forgotten about her patrol—all she cared about was finding Calin before he got himself hurt. Though thinking about it, that was unlikely unless he ran into some ridiculous monster.
Calin had been one of the best of his generation and the one who had found it easiest to earn a name, even despite having taken the trial ahead of time.
Stopping mid-path, Ryo made Nex halt. There, in the middle of nowhere, was an impact mark showing where Calin had launched himself without thinking again. Despite his peculiar fighting style that sometimes brought him to a cold, mechanical clarity, his own puppy impulses still worked against him.
There were other things at the site too: a carved branch, a handful of blood berries scattered around, and another mark on the ground—the mark of a firm, heavy footstep. At least she was sure he hadn't drawn his sword; there was no blood on the ground. Ryo felt some unease about the little blonde's self-control.
She glanced toward some bushes nearby with broken branches and fallen leaves, but before she could investigate, Nex caught her attention with a small whimper. Ryo went to him—if she hadn't gotten too turned around, she already knew where her companion was pointing. Toward the village.
"Calin…"
Ryo held back the urge to scold him—in reality it had been mostly her fault. She'd lost sight of him twice already.
She'd have words with him at the village.
***
During the journey Kai didn't know what to do—should he keep trying to talk? It probably wouldn't do any good. He didn't even know what to think. Where was he taking him? What was he going to do with him? He didn't know if he'd survive, and what worried him most right now was how uncomfortable and bored he was.
It was like a car ride with a stranger at the wheel. The only good thing was he didn't have to think about where to sit, because he was being carried—somehow.
All he could do was watch the scenery. He didn't know if it was intentional, but the journey wasn't too bumpy—just very fast. But why would it be intentional? Why bother carrying your catch comfortably?
'At least I don't have to worry about where to spend the night…'
The various howls and sounds of the forest told him he wouldn't have been as comfortable as the night before. Though he wasn't sure comfortable was the right word.
"Hey, are you going to eat me or something?" he asked in a casual tone, as if the answer didn't matter.
And there was no answer, of course. Just a quick glance.
Kai sighed and looked back at the scenery. As he did, he spotted a black shape. He squeezed his eyes shut for an instant before looking again, but there it was. A small animal with velvety black fur was following them in the distance—it didn't seem able to match the boy's speed, and yet it wasn't losing sight of them either.
That small animal was a cat. A perfectly ordinary cat—so ordinary that it seemed out of place in that fantasy world.
There was another figure following them too, this one from the sky.
"Why don't you surprise me?" he murmured.
Of course—it was the bird, which at this point seemed incapable of living without Kai nearby.