The crow

It was midnight, a sudden crash woke Rōjū and Kohana up, feeling dizzy and disoriented. They looked around, seeing a vast amount of trees and foliage filling their surroundings. They tried to stand up, barely being able to, and searched for Hanonai without even thinking about what happened or where were they, mainly because they didn't remember in the first place. Eventually, they found Hanonai, tugging at the clothes Gaarek was wearing. That was when Gaarek groaned in pain, moving slightly in place. This revealed a long splintered wooden plank piercing through his right leg. This plank of wood probably came from the wooden cart, that the kids just now noticed had crashed into a tree. Gaarek began waking up and the kids rushed to his aid. Rōjū got on his knees and tugged at the wooden plank slightly, instantly beginning to worsen the bleeding. After that Rōjū made sure he was tugging from the bigger side as to not harm the leg too much, and quickly pulled the plank, a cascade of blood oozing now. Kohana came back with a specific set of leaves with medicinal properties, which she learnt from that crooked school. Kohana then proceeded to carefully but tightly cover the large wound to stop the bleeding and heal the spot, she also used a rope and tightened it slightly higher than the wound, but barely tight at all actually. She did this to lower the amount of blood circulating by a tiny bit, to at least give some amount of time for the wound to heal and for the force of this red cascade to calm down, as to not break the dams barely holding this river back.

Rōjū and Kohana sat next to Gaarek's head, staring at his eyes. Gaarek spoke "I don't want to hold you back on your journey" he barely let out. "Why should we leave you here? You've done nothing but help us all this time!" Kohana cried out. Rōjū tugged at Kohana's clothes softly, "Look" he pointed at smoke rising from the horizon, appearing on the direction they were headed towards. "There is a town, not too far from here" he coughed "You can go there and start from scratch, with a better quality of life". Kohana felt an aching stab on her chest, grief. But in contrast to the intensity of this feeling, the length of it was reduced. "Stay here, I will go to the town and ask for help". Gaarek tried to extend his arm to grab him and stop him, but his body failed to obey him. A cloud of dust was born after Rōjū took off towards the town. "Kohana, you don't have t-" he was cut off. "Don't speak! Save your energy. We will stay by your side and help you in any way we can, just like you have done. Let me repay you for giving me a life to live, let me try and keep you alive" She began tearing up slightly but frowned while gripping Gaarek's hand with all her emotions. "Don't leave us". Gaarek let a sigh, giving up on arguing, he did not have any energy to do so. He closed his eyes and started resting, trying to keep his breath steady. If they were going to try their best to keep him alive, he was going to give them as much time as he possibly could.

Rōjū kept running, sprinting, as fast as possible with a fixed destination. The town was now in full view and glory if you could call it that. It was made with 5 houses, 4 of each almost filled to the brim with vegetation, though there was light inside, giving signs of life. The other house, bigger and carefully taken care of, had a tough roof of bricks, sustained by wooden pillars that stretched to the ground. It was big enough to have a second floor. Rōjū was instantly drawn to its uniqueness. However, he didn't have enough time to think, and so he knocked on the door as soon as he reached it.

A pause, a moment, the spine-chilling freeze of time was reaching his neck, as if making it hard to swallow. It just hit him what was happening. Losing Gaarek would mean losing his chance at survival. How would they get food? How would they protect themselves from others? What if Gaarek was the only one willing to help others? What if the people living here refused to help? He shook his head, it was pointless to worry, he would leave the outcome up to luck.

The door opened, and Rōjū was greeted by a dark crow, or better said, a mask that resembled such thing. This monsterous figure had a top hat, a black robe matching with black pants, with some shiny dark shoes, as clean as they could be. He was wearing black gloves, and his right hand was holding a walking stick, with a shiny black pearl as a handle. The figure tilted its head, as if awaiting for words to justify it opening the door. The figure was tapping his finger on the side of the door, impatiently.

Rōjū realized and nervously tripped with his words trying to talk. "I- Can you help my friend? He is injured and bleeding!" it was the first time he felt so intimidated by a presence. And a presence it was, the speech and tone in which the figure spoke was sophisticated yet rough, implying both knowledge and social status at the same time. Not that it mattered to the figure, but the whole dark aura the he was emitting did not make it easy for Rōjū to talk to him. The figure replied right away "Let me grab some things, then take me to him." And so, closing the door with hurry, the crow went to his nest to grab the needed tools. Hidden in the nest were saws, knives and all sort of sharp blades, quite unorthodox for healing utensils.