My name's Jesse, by the way. I'm sixteen," the boy said after a long stretch of silence.
He trailed behind Kenan, his step light but deliberate, as if it afraid to disturb the oppressive quietness of the forest.
Kenan didn't reply as the younger boy chattered on with a hushed voice, The name wasn't necessary since bloody face had already imprinted itself in his memory. If nothing
else, that would suffice.
"Did you wish to be a transcendent." Jesse asked suddenly, his voice small but carried an edge that was tinged with pure curiosity.
Kenan let out a quiet, derisive huff.
Who wishes for things like this? The hype, the respect, the value that the world would put on you—it would surely be tempting for most, but to voluntarily enter the Dark Lands as a-still-awakening was no different from risking your life for a taste of fleeting glory. A kind of glory that you may never even live to experience.
Jesse continued, his tone suddenly sounding reflective. "I cried myself to sleep when I started noticing the symptoms, I thought I was cursed," He sighed after every statement, not failing to resume after each pause.
Kenan listened his words quietly. He had never viewed becoming a transcendent as a curse, instead, it was a kind of luck he didn't wish to have. If he somehow survived this and awoke as a weak transcendent, his life would become even worse than most normal humans.
"Then I heard some people had to come here three times before they awakened fully... or died trying." He paused again, scuffing his boot against the ground.
"I had a friend—well, used to have. His dream was to awaken. It's stupid, isn't it? Just
absolutely crazy and dumb, He didn't awaken, though."
'Sad.' , Kenan thought to himself, wishing he could trade places with this supposed friend.
Jesse stepped on a twig, snapping it in two, the sound was deafening in the silence. resounding through their ears like the drums of death beating behind their ears. Jesse froze, staring down at his feet as though betrayed by his own clumsiness.
Kenan stopped in his tracks, his body tensed. Nothing had changed in the forest, it was still the same expanse of shadow and silence—but it felt like they had crossed into another dimension. Cold wind hit against their skin and the quietness was enough to knock out the air in their lungs.
"Shh." Kenan placed a finger on his lips as soon as Jesse opened his mouth to speak. His gaze swept through the surroundings as he slowly backed away.
-Rattle!
The sound came suddenly, dry and menacing like the clicking of brittle bones and the sawing of dry wood.
Jesse's eyes widened in horror, "It's that one, I think it can detect sound." He whispered underneath his breath.
'Shit, and you decided to tell me just now?' Kenan wanted to say out loud but he clenched his jaw tightly. If they stayed quiet enough maybe the beast would pass them by.
The rattling stopped, plunging the forest back into an unbearable stillness.
They both held their breaths, his knuckles turned white as he gripped his sword tightly. The noise came again. It louder this time, indicating that the monster was not too far from their position anymore. A rhythm of death slithering towards them.
From the shadows emerged a monstrous form, its shape twisting the air around it. The Blood Bloom's petals quivered violently, opening and closing with an unnatural rapidity that generated the spine chilling rattle before coming to a stop. The sound was hypnotic yet repulsive, like a macabre melody meant to lure and scare its prey at the same time.
Whilst Kenan was considering possible ways to escape from this situation, both of them stared, unmoving at the beast in silence.
And as soon as a plan began to formulate in Kenan's head, Jesse's biosync beeped loudly in the darkness, shattering the saving silence.
[Blood Bloom - Fiend Rank]
The sound was like a death knell, announcing their end. The fiend's petals froze mid-quiver, its entire body snapped towards Jesse with unnerving speed, the slithering stem surged forward, intent on silencing the disturbance.
Jesse yelped rather stupidly as he raised his sword to defend against the fiend.
Kenan materialized his katana in one swift motion, positioning himself between Jesse and the fiend.
Jesse, however, still ran past Kenan and delivered his first strike.
The first strike was chaos.
"Wait!"
Jesse's sword bounced of the Blood Bloom's hardened surface, the force sending him
stumbling backward and the Blood Bloom followed suit.
He flailed , his feet tangled in the roots beneath him, and he fell hard to the ground.
Kenan wanted to curse as he turned to run towards Jesse.
The Blood Bloom's razor-like petals snapped shut mere inches from his face, the sound like a guillotine sealing his fate. Though, the movement of the fiend was incredibly slow due to its large body, it didn't weaken it by any means.
Kenan lunged forward, his katana cutting through the air in desperate arcs. The blade scraped against the fiend's tough stem, leaving shallow
rashes and sometimes simply bouncing off.
The Blood Bloom lashed out, its petals clapping wildly, forcing Kenan to retreat but it gave them enough time for Jesse to recover.
Jesse scrambled to his feet, only to trip again over the uneven terrain, His breaths came in shallow, panicked gasps as the fiend turned its attention from Kenan and pressed closer towards Jesse.
'How unlucky,' Kenan thought bitterly. 'I'm risking my life to save a boy who can't even stand up properly.'
He stomped on a dry leaf, the loud crunch momentarily drawing the fiend's attention…
Scraping his katana against the ground in succession, he created a grating metallic screech that made the creature quiver in irritation, but it wasn't enough to completely divert its attention. The fiend turned its attention back to Jesse, who was sobbing quietly as he clawed at the ground in a futile attempt to escape. His fingers and knees dug into the wet ground continuously.
Kenan's grip on the katana tightened as he struck the fiend, however, the katana bounced off whenever it came into contact with the hard cambium.
'I can just make a run for it.' He thought. 'Let the fiend have the bleeding kid and escape, maybe climb up a tree and hide. It's his own fault for being weak in a world like this, after all.' The thoughts were tempting, almost logical—no, completely logical.
Survival above everything else but his body and conscience refused to act according to this logical thought.
Kenan gritted his teeth as he watched the fiend encroach Jesse slowly as if deliberately savoring his fear. The fiend played with its prey, knowing fully well that neither of them could hurt it.
Kenan stepped forward, slamming the flat of his blade against the tree again. The sound
reverberated througn the forest, sharp and jarring.
The blood bloom hesitated, its petals twitching in confusion, between the noisy prey and the now-silent one. One was clearly alive and vibrant, and the other seemed to have given up on life.
Kenan took the chance to strike, his katana flew past the hard stem, and dug into one of the soft petals. And it was easier since the fiend was bending towards Jesse.
The creature recoiled with a hiss, its movements becoming rather erratic as it turned to its assailant.
Just then, the distant sound of clashing metal echoed through the forest. The fiend froze, its petals quivering loudly enough to make a hissing sound.
With a jerky, unnatural motion, the Blood Bloom turned away from Jesse and slithered past Kenan as fast as it could go, towards the source of the new annoying sound.
Kenan watched it leave, his chest beating with exhaustion. The forest was silent once more, save for the faint, fading sounds of the fiend in departure and the sound of clashing metals moving further away as well.
Without a word, Kenan turned and stumbled towards Jesse, who was still crumpled on the ground.
He grabbed the boy's wrist and hauled him to his feet. Jesse's legs trembled beneath him, but he managed to stand. Kenan let go off his wrist without a glance and began walking in the opposite direction of the fiend… his katana dangling limply at his side.
Jesse bent down slightly and picked up his cracked glasses before putting them on with shaky hands.
Whoever made the noise was probably trying to draw the fiend's attention to themselves, however, Kenan was not very eager about finding out who this crazed person was. At least, the person bought them enough time to escape.
They trudged throuch the underbrush in silence, the echoes of the distant noise grew fainter with each step and soon the noise disappeared like it never even existed.
After a little more time spent on walking in silence, Kenan stopped abruptly, his eyes narrowing as he spotted a figure through the trees. A humanoid shape emerged trom the shadows, armed and poised.
The person's sword glinted faintly in the dim light as they stepped closer. Jesse's breath hitched. Kenan's grip on his katana tightened as well.
"I'm glad you both had enough time to escape." The person said in a calm and friendly voice.