I stood up and took the sword, looking around. I wanted to start moving as soon as possible.
The long, blue cover had a clip on it. I guess it was meant to be attached to my belt that I had also discovered. Once I attached the cover onto my belt, I heard the door open violently. I sneakily checked the entrance of my hotel room and saw cloaked men coming in. Alarmed, I jumped off the balcony and landed safely onto the ground. Several people looked at me surprised before letting the city gloom creep into their faces again.
I saw cloaked men at the hotel entrance and they had spotted me. Without giving them so much as a glance, I began running hard into the bleak streets and out of sight. I had no idea who those men were, but their intentions were clear. I rested within a dark alleyway before heading out onto the streets again. I went up to a grimy person leaning on a wall and asked, "Do you know where Astar Route is?"
The man's eyes opened to reveal tired, grey eyes and he pointed, "If you head north of this town from this street, you'll find it. It has a large sign with the name Astar Route on it, you can't miss it."
"Thanks," I said and he closed his eyes again.
I continued upon the streets that never really did have any passing vehicles, and even if it did, it was very rare. I had the habit of looking back and around me, atop the buildings and within its cracked windows, to see if anyone was watching or following me. I guess the "no trust" mindset was something I was already used to. It was yet another familiar feeling.
The man's directions were correct as I saw the curled words, "Astar Route". It was basically a cliff, but then I saw the line. A strong, metal cable led far down into the mist. I saw the weathered sign and read it, "CAREFUL, CABLE CHAIRS ARE UNSTABLE".
There were cable chairs that came timely, lowering onto the grounds before lifting off and descending down the line. I quickly hopped onto one and tightly gripped the arm of the chair. The cable chairs could fit around five people, so the other arm wasn't close enough for me to grip on. The chair was incredibly unstable that it swung every so often, and so often, I was afraid that I would fall. No wonder why I saw no one else on the chairs.
As soon as the cable chair entered the mist, something felt weird. It felt like there were people with the mist, but there was no one on the chairs behind me. Huh? Something else was weird. An image rushes through my mind of a pair of yellow eyes and a gruesome smile, but it was only a small moment. There was this vigilant feeling that echoed throughout my body. My eyesight sharpened to the point that even a slight shadow in the mist could be seen. My hearing honed to the point that even the weakest whisper could be heard. My sense of smell's radius increased to kilometres. My sense of touch was sensitive as the cold chilled my skin.
"Kagayuki, we have finally found you," said a crude voice. I could sense them immediately. I looked around me to see the same cloaked men that were at the hotel floating around me. They floated a noticeable distance away from me, as if they were expectant.
Immediately, one of the cloaked men behind me threw something to which I instantly catched. I felt a sharp pain sear through my hand and I looked at my bleeding hand. It was bleeding. My mind blanked as a short moment played in my mind:
"This boy's weak! I can't believe he's the one who committed the massacre!" laughed a man joyfully. I saw myself lying, bloodied and shivering from the cold. I had no idea why I knew why it was cold since I couldn't feel anything, but that wasn't what I was focused on that right now. There were several cloaked men surrounding my corpse of a body. I was barely breathing and still, somewhat alive. My eyes gleamed with anger even though it was faint. The anger quickly enveloped me and I briskly looked away.
"Hmm? Something's wrong," said another. The me on the ground rose as if raising from the dead and I couldn't even comprehend the next moment. Blood. Not mine. The cloaked men's. It spilled all over the grounds, creating gruesome patterns. There was nothing left of the men, but their blood. I shivered and fell onto the ground. I could only stare at the me who started grinning, was that really me? Could that really be me? Would that be me?
The memory disappeared and logged itself into my head, another memory fragment secured. I felt like I could face the cloaked men now, and it was not just a feeling, I knew. Call me arrogant, but my resolve to survive stayed firm.
I noticed that the cable chair stopped completely. Looking around me, the men were holding knives. I couldn't escape unless I tried something daring. Without given much time to plan, ten knives were thrown at me. I skilfully caught five of them each with both my hands. With a small grin, I took out ten of the men. Some of them caught the knives, but others were already falling through the mist.
My eyes widened in horror when I noticed a large amount of people coming towards I am. I had to escape now! I was lucky that I had my common sense intact. Even if I can regenerate, didn't mean I couldn't die. I quickly hooked my silver hook from one of the tapes attached to my coat onto the cable. Without giving the cloaked men time to aim, I jumped off the cable chair and started sliding fast down into the mist. I held onto the black rope-like tape for life.
Knives shot pass me, aiming for either the tape I was holding onto or me. Several had already latched onto my back or grazed my sides. The grazes healed instantly, but my back wounds refused to heal because the knives were stuck into my flesh. I could only gasp in pain and grit my teeth. My arms felt like they were ripping and the knives slashing through the flesh was making it true.
I hesitantly let go of the tape, but it still held me. I caught two knives and threw it backwards, not sure if I missed or not. I grabbed onto the tape again, losing blood and feeling faint.
I almost gasped in horror when I noticed a knife cutting through the tape. I gave a short scream as I fell from the cable. I found myself drowning in spiky branches and countless leaves. It took almost five minutes to reach the ground, falling on my back.
***
I opened my eyes, feeling agonising pain everywhere. I helped myself to a sitting position, feeling something wet beneath me. Blood, my own puddle of blood.
"It hurts," I groaned, reaching for my back. One by one, I took out the knives while screaming in extreme agony. I felt my body empty of blood, but heal all the same. This was obviously bad news. I didn't have any idea of how to get to Caspt now that I was no longer on Astar Route.
I took some time to heal before noticing the darkness surrounding me. It was already nighttime! There were few strange, yellow eyes looking at me, flickering before fading into the blackness. Insect chirping filled the air with the measured hooting of owls. The forest scent relaxed me, but I could still feel pain even when I healed.
I stood up, feeling ringing in my ears and dizziness overwhelm me. The mental effects of the attack remained. That was the down side to my regeneration, I guess? I also had the feeling that in return for my regeneration, the mental pain was stronger.
I fell onto the ground, resting against a tree. My head was hurting with aching pulses that refused to die down. I had to get to Caspt. I felt so unreasonably desperate. I had this complicated way of thinking that if I I didn't hurry and collect all my memories, I'd lose a reason to live. It wasn't like I was suicidal or anything. It was just this insecurity that threatened to overtake my mind.
I shook my head, downtime kills me. I had to get moving. I stood up, facing the wilderness and started walking.
