Kuro's eyes gently opened as a searing pain coursed through his wounded body. The rough feeling of dirt underneath himself provided little comfort, and his gaze quickly scanned his surroundings in confusion.
A girl sat poised on a tree stump, her petite frame blending with the woody surroundings. Her long dark hair spilled down her back, while her skin had a warm, golden-brown hue. She wore a plain outfit in dull earthy tones, allowing her to camouflage into the forest.
"Wha?" Kuro's hoarse croak shattered the silence, and the girl's intense stare sent a chill down his spine.
She slowly approached Kuro like a specter, a sudden coldness enveloping his body. The air grew heavy, tinged with the odor of wood and blood, as she gently traced her cold fingers over his injuries.
The girl whispered a peculiar invocation, a barely audible plea, "Open thy soul" Her voice was a low whisper, adding a sense of unease to creep onto Kuro's face.
Kuro's mind raced as he tried to comprehend the strange scene unfolding before him. Who was this girl?
Before he could even muster up the courage to ask, he felt the pain slowly delude from his limbs, it was still very prominent, but it morphed from the pain of an infernal blaze to a campfire.
Kuro's forehead glistened with cold sweat, and the color on the girl's brown face was turning opaque, kuro didn't fully understand what she had done but he knew, it taking her energy which made her feel even more strange.
More questions flooded his mind, but he said what he'd been wondering from the moment he noticed the leaf bandages on his wounds, "why are you helping me?"
The girl's gaze fixated on Kuro's eyes, her left eye resembled the radiant beauty of a sunflower, its yellow petals dancing in the wind. Yet, her right eye held a stark contrast, evoking a sense of an unrelenting blizzard, its frozen depths forever poised to swallow him whole if he dared to linger too long in its frosty embrace.
Kuro's confusion deepened as he took in the girl's cryptic response. Her words, "You need to live," didn't quite answer his question, leaving him feeling more puzzled than before.
He tried to read her face, to glean some insight into her thoughts and motives. But her expression remained guarded, her eyes betraying nothing but a mix of unreadable emotions.
Kuro didn't trust this girl in the slightest, but he felt a sort of pull to go closer to her, maybe it was just because of his ignorance of everything that's been happening to him.
But she strangely reminded him of his sister.
The girl stood up and began walking out into the darkness of the night "Wait!" kuro yelled out.
She didn't stop or even hesitant, only her words shone she even heard Kuro "Be careful dear Kuro, the Beyonder test hasn't truly commenced yet"
Kuro felt a rush of emotions as the girl called him by his name. How did she know it?
His mind was a hive of new worries now, she was already walking away, leaving him alone on the moist grassy ground.