Kratos cleaned off his dagger, the blood of Martel was carried down the river with the water. He did not regret the decision he made, Crucis would return to power because of it. He sheathed his dagger and started to walk to the north, to the town of Telius. "Now that I have harmed Martel, I can give my dagger a more… frightening name. And maybe one to myself. Maybe, Kratos, the master of the gods, or Kratos, goddess killer. He continued to walk through the thick forest. His mind focused on names for himself and his weapons. Crack! A twig snapped somewhere behind him. Kratos didn't notice the noise, he just kept on walking.
"Dang, stupid twig!" Sheena whispered. Se hid behind a thick birch tree, her eyes focused. She was sent here by the people of Mizuho to kill Kratos before he injured Martel, but she was too late. She held her dagger in her left hand; her right was pressed against the tree. Kratos had moved farther ahead. She darted to a tree about six feet away from Kratos. She reached the destination without being noticed. "Your time is over Kratos Aurion, father of Lloyd Irving. You have done too much for Crucis." She leapt out from behind the tree and sprinted toward Kratos, her knife raised.
Kratos spun around, and his face turned pale. He could feel the cold blade of the dagger in his body. His warm blood soaked his clothes. "How… how did this happen? How was I so careless to not notice a ninja form Mizuho?" His vision was fading, he could see his life flashing before him, the betrayal of his own sun, the fight with Yuan. "What can I do? I do not want to die yet… I… I do not want to die here." He barely had the strength to utter,"Firs… First aid!" His bleeding suddenly stopped, and his vision cleared, yet the pain was still there. He pried the dagger out of his back and tossed it aside.
Sheena looked at him, her eyes wide in fear. "How! How are you still alive?" She slowly backed away from him.
"Demon fang!" Kratos yelled. A blue blade of magic flew from his dagger and sent Sheena skidding across the rough ground. Her head hit a tree and everything went black.
---
Cless and Chester had their weapons ready and were walking toward the forest. They reached the beginning of the masses of trees and stopped to rest.
"How does your father know all this stuff about Martel and Crucis, and all that stuff?" Chester asked.
"I don't really know… He never told me anything about it until today… I wish he would tell us more though." Cless stood up. "Come on; let's go before the boars retire for the night.
They walked further into the forest, checking for any sign of boars. They could not find any foot prints, droppings, or tusk marks anywhere. Yet they went deeper, because they hadn't found one in a long time and they wanted to fight something.
"Wait… I thought I saw something move." Cless said. He stopped and hid behind a tree. He motioned for Chester to hide behind one on the opposite side of the path. A red haired man stumbled down the path, his purple clothes were blood-stained and he was clutching his back and groaning. Cless rushed out to the man and caught him as he started falling.
"Let go of me kid, I have important… things to attend to." The man brushed Cless away and continued down the path.
"Are you okay, sir?" Cless followed the strange man. He wanted to help him.
"I'm fine kid." The man stumbled, but regained his balance.
"Who are you?" Chester asked, he jumped out from behind the tree he was hiding behind. "You look… suspicious…"
The man forced a laugh. "I'm suspicious, eh? I am Kratos Aurion. My reasons for coming here are my own. Now I need to leave." He started for the edge of the forest.
"How did you get hurt?" Cless asked. He was staring at the gash in his back. "He must've been attacked…"
"Let's just say that I was attacked by an… an animal." He walked away and would not answer any more questions.
Cless shrugged and walked on. "Do you think that Martel's scream upset the animals of the forest?"
"It might've… But I don't know… He did say that an animal attacked him. Maybe it made them upset." Chester shrugged. "Wait… What's that? Do you see it?"
Cless squinted, and he saw something lying against a tree. "It's either sleeping… or dead…" He rushed to the place where the body was, Chester was right behind him. "It's a girl!" He said.
"Is she dead?" Chester asked. He poked her with his bow.
"Stop that, Chester." Cress crouched down and took the girls wrist in his hand, he could feel a pulse. "She's definitely alive. Maybe she got attacked by an animal too…"
Chester shrugged. "We better get out of here then; we don't want to be attacked by raging animals too." He started for the town.
"We can't just leave her here," Cless protested. "We've got to take her home, or at least to the inn. Now help me pick her up." Cless and Chester lifted the girl and started the walk to the town.