Another few days passed without much happening and Kai had given up on keeping an eye on the village during the morning since nothing much ever happened then.
Instead, he pulled out a knife and began carving wood. He first tried to make a box out of a thick branch but ended up making something in between a cube and a dodecahedron. Throwing it to the ground, Kai used his knife to cut off another part of the branch he was seated on; ensuring he was closer to the trunk than the location he was cutting, and pulled out another piece of wood.
Time passed and by now Kai was able to create a somewhat acceptable cube. Well, he was not trying to gain anything from doing this; the only objective for this activity of carving wood was to pass the time so that something would actually happen.
And finally, after a week of doing nothing but carving wood, exercising, eating, and sleeping in the morning, and being on the lookout during the nights while following Victoria whenever she appeared, something happened other than him losing Victoria's tracks in the middle of the forest.
Kai heard some sounds which were coming to his ears from the ground below him. For the past few days, it had been raining almost nonstop, and it had been raining just a few moments ago as well. However, it suddenly stopped. This had allowed Kai to pick up on this sound and immediately he began searching for it.
The sky was as cloudy as ever, but no rain was falling onto the soaked ground below. This did not bother Kai as he slowly followed the sound, trying not to make noise. It was currently the morning, so he did not expect something to actually occur during this period of time.
Soon enough, he found where the sounds were coming from. It was an old-looking tree which had died a long time ago. Now, it was just a hallow…
As Kai came to this thought, his pupils constricted as he rapidly retreated 5 steps and took out his dagger which in his hands looked like a small sword. Contrary to his fears, nothing happened, but the sound he had heard continued.
It sounded like something or someone was shuffling around in a tight space, while also hitting something hard against something considerably softer.
Calming his wildly beating heart, Kai slowly approached the dead tree, but nothing else happened. He took a round around the tree to make sure there was nothing wrong with the tree, but he found what he could only assumed were footholds. And they had mud on them!
Of course, this mud had to be newly added to the tree, else the rain from a few minutes ago should have washed it away.
Kai sighed as he climbed up onto the tree and followed the footholds as silently as he could, until he reached an opening in the old black tree. All of a sudden, a black shadow flew at his face, and he rapidly moved his head to avoid it, following the shadow with his eyes.
It landed onto the mud with a splat, and only then did Ka get a good look at it. It was mud!
'Someone is digging…' Kai mused as he got closer to the entrance. With the dim sunlight above him, he could barely make out that there was a person inside. Due to the sheer size of the dead tree, the light from the sun was not blocked just by Kai's head and the person inside did not notice anything.
Kai rapidly made a decision and jumped, his 'sword' in his hand in case, and he used his foot to land on the person's head heavily as the two crashed to the ground. He did not waste a second and immediately put the hand of the person with the shovel in a lock between his legs; twisting tightly to make him let go of it.
Using one hand to hold onto the person's other hand, Kai placed the blade of the dagger on the person's neck. Kai toyed with the thought of just cutting off the person's head cleanly. That way, he would not have to worry too much about many things. Just kill everything suspicious, and sooner or later the problem will be solved…
'No! He might have important information.' The unnatural grin on Kai's face instantly vanished as he shook his head.
"Drop the weapon." Kai said to the person who was already unable to moved his hands and neck.
The person stiffened upon hearing Kai's words, but ultimately let go of the shovel, and Kai kicked it away. They were a about 5 feet below the ground level, yet the unhindered light from the cloudy sky shone right into this area, illuminating everything in a faint grey glow.
"Tell me… who are you, what are you doing here, and why. Then, give me a reason to spare you." Kai said with an indifferent expression.
"I- I am Victor! I am…"
As Kai heard the story of the man he had caught digging in a tree, his expression gradually became increasingly ugly, while his eyes widened in shock. However, it was soon replaced with a. cold glint as he released the man.
"If what you said is true… I will return and heal you."
"Wha-" before the man could question Kai, a light gleamed past his eyes and landed on one of his thighs. Before the excruciating pain could affect him, the dagger was pulled out and stabbed into his other thigh. Meanwhile, a piece of cloth was shoved into his mouth which was just opened to let out a scream.
"It will not bleed out, and as long as you keep it clean, it will be fine for a day or two. I will confirm your accusations and return. If they are true, I will heal you, and if not, well I can only hope we come to that point…" Kai mused as he liked his upper lip subconsciously, climbing out of the hole in the ground inside the dead tree.