Passing by the many bystanders looking equally stunned as others, I push through the sea of crowd, and the harsh drizzle of rain welcomes back to its embrace.
My destination is hazy, or more accurately, I have no idea where I'm going except for the fact that all I need to do is to run as far as I can.
The pavement is dark and misty, probably because of the rain. Street lamps serve as the only way for me to navigate the road without getting lost, but when there’s light, there’s shadow.
Then, one of the street lamps died out.
Sensing something amiss, I pause to take in my surroundings.
A slashing sound echoed in the air.
Something obscure, dark, I don’t know how to describe it, but it’s way too blending in the night to make its shape, yet I can tell it’s lethal, otherwise it wouldn’t be able to tear down the street lamp I just passed. Something flew over me, it was the same sensation as our first confrontation. Out of reflex, I hurl three stringed blades over it, only to be easily disintegrated by it.
"W-What...?"
What sort of Trait is that!?
It's too difficult to discern whether it was a pre-constructed object, or something borne through the usage of elements. If the latter were the case, then my pursuer had to be a Naurtan, the true master of elementals.
Ugh, does it really matter where he came from!?
At the end of the day, his abilities are far from overpowering, but even then I still try to find a way to overcome my enemies.
But not this one.
This is a fight I can't win, but escaping from him has proven more difficult than I thought.
A sudden sense of danger overcomes me, forcing every functioning reflex within me to roll to the side, evading an abrupt moon-shaped slash flying towards my direction. A move so absurdly quick and I’d have gotten killed if it weren’t for doing that.
A figure enters into the circle of light, beneath the last standing street lamp. My pursuer is holding a blade-like object, dyed in pitch black. To see it is quite unnerving because it looks pretty unalive to me.
"W...What is that...?"
It was a rhetoric question, but was met with his sudden dash. Immediately, I rolled to the side, barely managing to evade his strike by a hair's breadth away.
If I knew this was going to happen, I should have kicked him harder in the balls earlier!
“Give up before this thing goes int you! I warn you, I won't be gentle with this!”
After making a significant gap between him, I used my strings to create the exact same weapon as him. Apart from making animals and simple constructions, I can use my hair to create weapons like this. By wovening the strings together helped make my desired object even dens, but of course, to make it as hard as steel would cost a lot of my hair which is pretty much a girl’s nightmare.
There’s only one problem though, I have no idea how to use a sword. So by the time he slashes at me, all I can do is to defend against his brutal strikes. At some point, our swords clashed against each other, sending sparks flying. Although dark with barely any visibility, I can still see his face with the help of my glowing strings.
Our eyes met, his burns with animosity, while mine simply wanted to roll away and hide.
“I thought the assassin was an old man. Too bad you aren’t one!” For a second, my own attitude caught me by surprise, for being able to bark like that even when I'm on the verge of losing.
“Disappointed? I’m not sorry for that!” As a response, his push against the blade grows stronger, as if responding to his budding anger. Lesson learned, don’t intimidate the opponent as it will only make them stronger.
“You don’t even know how to use your weapon! Why bother struggling!?”
Well, someone's got to do something to go somewhere!
Then, an idea comes to me like tides washing over the shore. A very stupid one. Yet, I have to do it in order to escape his pursuit.
“Because I’m doing this to escape from people like you!” With that said, I ram my forehead against his, a loud clashing erupting as our blades fell, and so do us.
My head buzzes, shaking, spinning, and my visions begin to waver. However, I have to move forward.
This was stupid and I won’t do it again even if it’s the last thing I’ll do. “Oww, oww…” But on the bright side, he fell completely to the ground, with a hand sustaining his wavering figure, and a whimper unbecoming of his character. Finally, a chance, and thus I sprinted away, continuing my escape from him.
For my very first fight in my life, that was an incredibly poor attempt. There’s no way I’m winning this one! Rather than trying to find a higher ground against him, my only focus right now is to avoid being flattened like a pancake, or captured facing indoctrination from Rapture, whichever comes first!
Suddenly, when all hope seems to be lost, I found the light beyond this endless darkness. Familiar voices are calling for my name, and despite my own limits, it becomes a fuel to push myself and beyond.
I try to call back, say something, make a mark, announcing to the world that I'm alive and well, but my voice doesn't come out.
...Is the air always this frosty? Before realizing it, I stop on my tracks, the coldness preventing me from running any further.
“What is this…” I mutter through gritted teeth, because the cold isn’t the only thing that’s bizarre, but somehow, my eyesight begins to blur for no reason. There’s no way a cold should be able to affect this much. To begin with, Cathures's low temperature has never been this biting. Though at this point, I can hardly call this cold.
My mind thinks this is freezing me, when in reality, it is as though my strength is stripped away by something.
I hear voices, vague yelling of my name from a distant location, or is it close enough?
I don’t know, and it’s impossible to tell.
Their voices died after that.
What happened to them? I don’t know, but my shoulders are finally starting to give in.
In my final vision before blacking out, I saw a glimpse of white in the dark. It wasn’t a light or anything, I think it was a hair? And a voice following afterwards.
“Take her while it’s still dark, Reed. Your path is secured. I'll distract the rest.”
I felt something, gloved hands on my back, then everything sank into darkness.
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