It screams, its voice switching from a human to something that should not exist.

I’m paralyzed, my heart racing as I try to process this monstrosity. The sound of flailing limbs fills the dead air.

The woman stands straight, her blade at the ready. Her stance is peculiar, her right arm raised high, as if ready to thrust despite wielding a short sword.

“I don’t have a barrier… shit.”

The creature moves—not like a human, but like something that possesses no control over its limbs, just the general body itself.

Its torso opens up, revealing a mess of tentacles that bristle like blades, its jaw no longer attached to any recognizable face.

Beads of sweat trail down my face. My body is paralyzed with fear.

“What the hell are you staring at?! Help me out!” The girl yells, tossing me a small dirk.

I catch it.

It’s quite small, no larger than a kitchen knife, yet it has a more symmetrical design.

I can’t fight that thing with this. No way.

The woman bites into her finger. And with a quick flick of her hand, she shouts:

“Flash!”

The area is suddenly lit with a brilliant glow, nearly blinding me. In retaliation, I raise my arms, shielding my face.

A loud screech informs me that the attack has been successful.

Lowering my arms, I take note of the woman charging at the creature. She leaps at the creature, her sword poised to strike, but before she can make contact, a tentacle whips toward her. She parries it effortlessly, using her leg to kick into its side. It staggers, and she spins around, sinking her blade deep into its chest.

It’s clear she possesses a high amount of skill.

A red hole opens in the mimic's shoulder, to which she yells:

“Thread!”

Swiftly, she pulls out her blade and slices downward at the shoulder of the mimic, presumably severing something vital.

It lets out a screech as it falls down to the ground, collapsing into a heap of flailing limbs. The corpse once again flails around, limbs moving without reason. A mockery of the beautiful gift that is life.

After what feels like forever, it stops.

She stands there, panting. A clear indicator that his feat was no easy task.

Me, however, I’m shaking, the dirk in my hand looking more awe-worthy than me. I can feel my legs buckling, as well as my mouth shaking.

However, that’s not an issue.

How.. How had she accomplished such a feat? The pile of questions in my head further increases, reaching higher and higher. The instinct known as curiosity screams to be satiated, yet it cannot.

The woman pulls out a glowing orb from her hand, tossing it over the creature's corpse. Upon contact, it dissapates and melts into the earth.

Sighing, she bends over and picks it up, and stores it in her pocket.

Mind you, she’s doing all this, not taking me into consideration.

Sheathing her sword, she walks over to me and extends her hand.

“Mine.”

She says, demanding. She’s gesturing towards the dirk.

I glance at her hand for a moment, dumbfounded. From the remaining shock in my body, or confusion, I cannot tell.

She grabs the bladed part to my surprise, and attempts to take it, but is forced to pull, given how tightly I’m holding it.

“You’ve got a horrible sense of danger. That thing was trying to lure you into its nest. Be careful next time, or you’ll die a painful death.” She sheathes the dirk in her chest holster.

With that, she walks past me, scoffing to herself.

Muttering something about: ‘I can’t believe I’ve wasted so much time..’

How can one merely ‘walk away’ after performing such an action so easily? It’s as if she’s going home from throwing out the trash.

As she walks further and further away, I realize something. Something that cements itself into my brain. A horrible future that is moments away from cementing itself in reality.

Is she going to leave me? In this forest?

I glance around, the area growing darker and darker the farther she walks. Trees grow faces, glowing eyes stare back at me. For god’s sake, the moon is smiling!

If she leaves me alone, something might happen to me. No, something will happen to me.

I’m not going to die alone here, no way.

“U-Um, excuse me..”

She doesn’t stop, but she’s taken note of my attempt to speak to her.

“Hm?” She glances over her shoulder, still walking.

“Can you take me with you..?”

She stops.

For a second, I feel like she’s looking at me like I asked the most ridiculous question in the world.

Then she responds.

“Nope, no way.”

“Wait, Why?!”

She stops, turning fully around, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Tell me, why should I help you? What purpose does it serve me?”

She’s got a solid argument. Why help a random person you found in the forest? After all, she wouldn’t lose anything, as this is a remote place and no one would know she left me.

Well, to her it may seem like that, but to me, it’s:
‘This is your only chance at surviving this crazy forest, so beg her, please!!’

“...You’d be a good person if you do it…” I say, putting on my best car salesman smile, with a hint of lost puppy.

She turns around and continues her walk.

“Wait! Wait! Wait!!”

“I’ll do anything! Please! I’m grateful to you for saving my life, let me repay you!”

Perhaps if I offer her the illusion of some kind of compensation, she’ll consider it.

She thinks for a moment, as if she’s pondering whether this conversation is worth her time.

“You, what’s your name?”

“Ah, it's…”

I think for a moment.

Wait.

I don’t remember my name.

What is my name? How can I forget something as important as that? This is my identity.

Did I truly lose my memory?

I obviously can’t say I forgot something as important as my name, since she’d really leave me here, so I come up with one on the spot.

I look at the sky.

Sky..

“Uh, it’s Kaito.”

“Weird name.”

Weird?! You just yelled “Flash!” and turned into a portable sun!

“Ya see, I only take things when they have worth to me. Everything else is useless, people included. After all, everything in this world is determined by worth. You understand that, right?”

I find myself nodding. To be honest, I’m tuning out of 90% of the things she’s saying.

She smiles.

“Well Kaito, you’re grateful to me since I saved your life, right?”

“Yes.”

“And you’d be willing to do anything to repay me?”

“Yes, anything.”

“Well, congratulations Kaito. My name is Navi Highergald, and you are now my slave.”


She says it so casually, I find myself ignoring the phrase, waiting a second, thinking about what she said, and then realizing the gravity of it.

“….What.”