Cato glared at her confident expression, annoyed by her lack of agony. He wanted her to hurt, he wanted to hear her pained cries, he wished that she would suffer the same way she made him suffer. But he knew that she wouldn't give him that satisfaction, any hope of revenge had been killed off long ago.
He reached into his pack, pulling out a bundle of wooden stakes, which he had carved beforehand. The best he could do was restrain her for a bit, before she had the strength to reattach her destroyed neck.
One by one he nailed the wooden stakes into her clothes, trying his best to ignore her pleasant smile. When his job was complete, he returned to hiding in the shadows, hoping to put some distance between the two of them.
She wasn't strong nor fast, but her regeneration made her a competent opponent, it was an impossible battle, no matter what he did he couldn't rid himself of her. He had no choice but to treat her with caution. He only had one life while she had limitless chances, so one mistake from him and she'd be the winner of their little game.
Chapter 3
Sasha lay at the edge of the cliff, his back resting on the crystal surface.
The old man must not mind me sleeping in class he sighed, remembering that he was still in science class.
I'm going to have so much catching up to do he grimly thought with a frown forming on his face.
He jumped when he heard a tumble beneath him, peering over the cliff's border to see if he could locate where the sound was coming from.
But the landscape was too vast for him to pinpoint the single movement he had heard. He sighed, defeated.
In a last ditch effort, he attempted to call out , hoping that someone would come and explain things to him.
“Please”
“Someone, anyone!”
“Where even am I?!”
“Is anyone around?”
“C’mon answer me”
He was about to give up and just mope around endlessly until he finally just woke up from the dream, but then a quiet voice caught his attention.
“Sasha…”
He tried to detect where the voice was coming from but had little luck, it was too dim and sudden for him to react in time.
“Who's there?” Sasha asked, even though he could tell that the voice belonged to the same boy from before, he wanted an introduction, so that he'd have an idea of who the boy was.
The boy peeked his head from out of the underbrush, his face was drenched in a red layer of what looked to Sasha, like blood. An expressionless gaze masked the boys face and his eyes were staring blankly into the distance.
Trying his best to hide his shock over the boy's blood sullied state, Sasha brushed a hand through his hair and gave the boy a cheerful smile, not wanting to drive him away.
“T-The names Sasha, but I guess you already know that, huh?” Sasha mentioned, trying to make conversation.
The boy’s eyes widened at the introduction, taking a small step back before he nodded his head and replied sheepishly “Cato..M-My name is Cato.”
“Cato, huh? That's a sharp sounding name”
Bombarding Cato with questions didn't seem like the best way for Sasha to start things off, the boy already seemed on edge, so he didn't want to make him more nervous than he already was.
"Thanks." Cato shrugged, trying to keep up his unreadable face, trying his best to hide his emotions from Sasha.
He didn't exactly know what persuaded him to show his face to Sasha, but it was better that he got to him first, before Kamil had a chance to deceive Sasha's view on this world.
Judging by Sasha's confusion, it looked like Kamil was telling the truth when she said that he wasn't getting there through regular methods, so it seemed pointless to give the boy a warning, telling him not to come back. Instead he'd need to explain things the best he could, to keep Sasha from falling for the same traps as before.
"So.." Cato struggled with his words, "Y-You asked where you were, right...?"
He was trying his best to come up with a way to explain the situation without sounding completely crazy.
"Maybe you should wash off before you start talking" Sasha suggested, pointing to his blood soaked skin.
Cato winced, the moment he remembered that he was still drenched in Kamil's blood, he didn't have the chance to wash it off before he heard Sasha's calls.
He looked to the ground in a failed attempt to hide his appearance from Sasha's staring eyes. At the realization that he probably looked like a complete mess, not only was he soaked in blood, but his hair was a mess, it was knotted and small twigs were caught in his curls. His clothes were dirty, covered in a mix of mud and rips. Up until now, he couldn't remember the last time he had been self conscious about his appearance, then again, Sasha was the only person that made him want to take care of the way he looked.
“You can wash up upstream and then we can talk.” Sasha murmured calmly.
Cato nodded his head slowly, brushing his sleeve against his face, trying his best to remove the dry blood.
When the pair reached a calmer point of the running river, Cato bent down and splashed the shimmering water against his olive skin, rubbing his cheeks in order to remove the stains. The cold water seemed to be numbing his face as he continued to scrub, but he ignored the chill, bent on cleaning his face.
His messy hair came next, he dipped his head into the rushing water. Grimacing when his head hit the water, as a stroke of pain shot through him, causing his head to ring. He ran his fingers through his shaggy hair, trying to smooth it out and remove any leftover sticks or leaves in the process.
He pulled his hair out of the cool water, allowing it to drip down his back and dampen his clothing.
This is stupid He thought. He had more important things to take care of, but instead he was fretting over the way he looked in Sasha’s presence.