Suddenly, the sound of footsteps snapped Kaya out of her thoughts.
She turned sharply, her eyes narrowed, heart still heavy.
But when she saw who it was, her shoulders relaxed just a little.
"Oh, you," she muttered.
It was Rean—the shopkeeper boy. He looked completely out of breath, sweat clinging to his forehead as he bent over, hands on his knees, panting hard.
"You! You—do you even know how long you’ve been gone?" he huffed. "We’ve been searching everywhere for you!"
Kaya blinked, taken aback. She looked up at the sky instinctively... and realized it was already dark.
Her brows furrowed in confusion. When did that happen? How had she not noticed?
Then it hit her.
"...Right. The cloth on my eyes," she mumbled, touching the edge of the blindfold as if it could give her back the lost time.
She sighed softly. "I didn’t realize... I must’ve lost track."
Rean straightened up, still breathing heavily. He looked both annoyed and worried.
Kaya gave a half-hearted shrug and added, "Sorry. I think I got a little... distracted."
She sounded distant, like her mind was still somewhere else.
Because, honestly—it was.
Rean squinted at her, clearly trying to stay mad, but he gave up with a loud exhale.
"Well, at least you’re alive," he muttered. "I was already planning your funeral in my head. I even thought of a dramatic speech."
Kaya snorted softly, one side of her lips twitching. "Was it going to be tear-jerking or full of insults?"
Rean smirked, brushing his messy hair back. "Both. Obviously. I was gonna say, ’She was annoying as hell... but she owed me money.’"
Kaya rolled her eyes. "Wow. Touching."
"Yeah, yeah," he waved her off, then nudged her lightly with his elbow. "C’mon. Let’s go back before someone sends a search party with torches."
As Kaya followed behind Rean, her pace unhurried, she glanced back at the tree where she had been lying just moments ago. Something tugged at her — a feeling, maybe. A whisper of instinct. But she shrugged it off and turned away, walking on.
Behind the thick bushes, hidden from view, the silence was slowly breaking.
A low groan echoed — muffled, hoarse.
"Ugh..."
"Guh... my ribs..."
The sound was faint, but it lingered in the air like the aftertaste of fear.
The Bull Tribesmen were sprawled on the ground, battered and broken. Their limbs twisted in pain, their bodies bruised from head to toe. Some had deep scratches across their arms. Others clutched their sides as if their bones had cracked like dry wood.
One of them shifted slightly, trying to raise himself — only to drop back with a grunt of agony.
....
Earlier this afternoon
They had come with revenge in their hearts, fury in their fists. Just a few hours ago, they’d spotted Kaya alone beneath that tree. Vulnerable. Sleeping.
An opportunity.
They had crept forward through the woods, keeping their footsteps light.
They had tried to ambush Kaya, thinking her defenseless as she lay under the shade of the tree. The woman who humiliated their leader. Revenge had burned in their hearts.
But they hadn’t made it past the tree’s shadow.
Because something had been there — waiting.
A black figure, darker than the night itself, had appeared without a sound. It didn’t growl, didn’t shout. It didn’t even breathe. It simply moved.
Fast. Lethal. Silent.
It had struck them down before a single one of them could touch Kaya. Every blow landed with brutal precision — a fist to the stomach that knocked one out cold, a kick that sent another crashing into the tree trunk.
They couldn’t scream. Something about the air... it swallowed the noise.
Now they lay there, groaning softly, too weak to crawl, too scared to try again.
"Wh-what... was that thing..." one whispered, blood dripping from the corner of his mouth.
Another just shook his head slowly, eyes wide in a mix of confusion and terror.
Stillness returned, broken only by the occasional pained whimper.
The tree stood quiet again.
.
.
.
On the other side, not too far — maybe one or two kilometers away — inside a quiet, slightly damp cave, sat a boy who looked like he was around seventeen or eighteen.
He dangled his legs over the edge of a small rock, staring out at nothing, his expression sulky and full of frustration.
He wasn’t tall, just about five feet. His hair was dark brown, a bit messy, and short enough to stick up in places. His skin was a warm brown tone, and his left leg... it had clearly been hurt before. The marks were old but still there — maybe from a cut... or something more.
His eyes, though? Full of fire.
"That damn Kaya!" he muttered under his breath, arms crossed.
He huffed, puffing out his cheeks.
"I can’t believe she just left me here! Me! Alone! In this creepy, dark forest! I’m just a tiny, helpless, small thing!" he complained, clearly not believing the ’helpless’ part himself.
He kicked the air a little harder, a tiny pebble flying off the rock edge.
The cave echoed with the sound of his foot tapping against the stone.
A long, eerie howl pierced the silence.
"Awoooooooo—"
It echoed through the stone walls like a death call, raw and guttural, thick with hunger.
The boy froze.
His tiny frame trembled violently, feathers ruffling in panic.
Poof!
In an instant, he turned into a sparrow — no taller than a thumb — hiding beneath a jagged rock, pressed so close to the ground his heart might as well have been buried with it.
"C-Creep!" he hissed, voice shaking with fury. "This damn Kaya! All because of that woman!"
Another low growl reverberated through the cave, distant but closing in.
"Awooooo—!"
’If I become wolf food,’
he seethed in his tiny chirp, ’I swear I’ll haunt her! Kill her! Tear that hair of hers out strand by strand!’
His beady eyes darted around, body shivering. ’Why the hell did she leave someone as small and helpless as me to guard salt? Salt?! Of all things!’