16 Wolves

Kuoka slowly walked down the hill, "I hope those things don't return anytime soon, I need to get more food..." He approached the dead body of a half-eaten deer.

As soon as he took out his knife, he heard a growling from behind him. He slowly turned around in fear, and there it was. A wolf's head, jutting out from the tree behind him. He slowly stood with great caution, so as to not alert any potential threats. His breathing slowed, and he prepared for an all out dash from the forest.

He whispered, "3... 2... 1..." and prepared himself. "I'm not dying like this." He gritted his teeth and kicked the ground beneath him.

A thousand heads, with shining yellow eyes instantly stuck their heads out from the trees altogether. "WHA-" He immediately ducked under the heads, but the wolves were on par with his own ability.

They also reacted fast enough to catch his shirt's wrist. Luckily it was ripped off, allowing Kuoka to crawl out from beneath them, while they tried to gnaw at him. "AGH!"

*Slam*

'What are you doing?! Faster! You're almost out!' Kuoka managed to crawl out from the forest, but not without being injured. 'Your shoulder!' Regalia seemed to be panicking, even though she couldn't do anything. 'Oh no no, w-what do I do... uhhhh.' Kuoka quickly ran back up the hill.

He opened one of his pouches and took out a wood cup, as well as a handful of herbs. He grabbed a pestle, some water, and put both the water and herbs into the wooden cup. He violently shoved the pestle into it. He grinded the herbs, until they were in a pasty form.

He took out the pestle, then slapped the herbs onto a cloth from his other pouch. He grunted while tightly wrapped the cloth around his injured shoulder. He panted as he tried to relax while the wolves growled at him from the forest. "Hah... hah... you damn..." His eyes slowly closed, and he fell unconscious.

Regalia panted, "it's working..." she lifted her legs towards her chest. She planted her face in between her thighs while staring at the screen. "I don't think I'm going to win dad... I'm sorry..."

After a day, Kuoka awoke. He woke up panting, and in a cold sweat. "T-the wolves?! Where are they!" He frantically sat up, but his shoulder still felt like he had been stabbed by a knife. "Ugh..." he sighed while squinting his eyes at the edge of the forest.

"They're gone again... Regalia?"

*Sob* *Sob* *Sob*

"R-Regalia? Are you alright? Look, I'm fine now alright? Stop crying, it's annoying..." Kuoka sighed and rested his head against the tree. "O-ow... is there something wrong? Just so you know, my shoulder only hurts a little bit more now."

He whispered to himself, "no wait I'm supposed to say it hurts less. But that was probably because of the adrenaline... I'm still alive see? You can stop crying now alright? Alright? Hello, are you still there? Regalia?"

'...'

He sighed again, as the sky opened up; letting sunlight into the valley. "Looks like we'll be able to finally get past this god-forsaken forest... could you say something, I feel really weird right now."

'...'

"Listen, it was my fault ok? It's my fault that I went into the forest without telling you. You don't have to feel bad..."

'... *Sob* S-shut up...'

Kuoka was surprised by what she said, so he closed his mouth. His gaze fell towards the floor before him; muddled lines were drawn in the soil. "Was something written here?" He lifted his arm from his shoulder and wiped away the lines.

"Ow... I probably shouldn't stop applying pressure..." He quickly placed his hand back on his shoulder.

He sat against the tree and stared at the sky as light rays could be clearly seen. Light slowly covered the entire valley, and the cold air started to become hotter. "Ha, ha... looks like I'll actually survive..."

He gently smiled, and lifted his head from the tree. "Regalia... that name doesn't sound quite right, you're more human than I thought... how about another name? Do you have one?"

'... I do...'

"Could you tell me?"

'... Shizuku."

"Shizuku? It fits you perfectly. Whoever named you must be great at naming things."

'It was my father...'

"Your father? I see... for me it was my mother. My father died long ago in a war. You should take care of your parents, or else you might end up wandering around, being ordered to go into dense valleys filled with wolves by a voice. Like me."

'I'll take care to avoid valleys *Sob*.'

"Why are you crying? Nothing's going to happen for a while now. I'm not going to die on you alright... could you stop crying already?"

'*Sob* sure...'

Kuoka rested his head against the tree again, as the mountains surrounding the valley became clearly visible. "Quite a good view." He breathed in and loudly exhaled. "We're going to accomplish whatever you want to accomplish, I'm sure of it. So stop worrying."

'You'd better keep that promise.'

"I don't remember promising anything though? I can't promise you anything, but I can be sure that we won't lose."

'Why is that?'

"Because I'm going to make sure of it, myself."

'Then you'd better keep that promise.'

"What?! What did I just say!"

Shizuku giggled as she sat up from her chair. 'I have business to attend to, it was nice to have a chat with you. I'll be back tomorrow so do-'

"Don't go anywhere? I know, I know. I won't be going anywhere, especially not with this wound. I'll still be here when you come back, unless if something else happens. But I trust that it won't happen until you're back to help me."

Shizuku stood at the door of her room and smiled, "see you later!" She joyfully waved and left.

"She's gone again... what am I supposed to do now... I can't move much. I guess I could try and make a camp here in the meantime..." Kuoka carefully stood from underneath the tree, and proceeded towards his bag. He opened it and took out a stack of dry sticks.

"I wonder if there are any dry stones nearby... the sun only just came up, I doubt that there'll actually be any. Guess I'll just wait."