Rain began with a single drop.
Then another.
Then the sky collapsed.
Frogs croaked from their burrows as the forest drowned within minutes. Water flooded the ground. Soil turned slick and treacherous.
Through the downpour, one sound persisted.
Footsteps.
Water splashed violently through bushes and branches. Ki burst from the trees, drenched, staggering. His legs trembled with every step. He had been running since dawn.
Then his foot slipped.
He crashed into the mud, murky water spraying everywhere. He tried to rise.
His body refused.
His face sank into the cold ground. Rain hammered his back. His limbs no longer answered him.
But he crawled.
Fingernails dug into mud. Arms dragged his useless legs behind him. He crawled until he found a narrow cave, barely large enough to shelter a dying body.
There, he collapsed.
Night was merciless.
Cold seeped into his bones. His teeth chattered violently. His breath came out in broken gasps. His lips turned blue. His chest burned.
And then he slept.
Kenji stood before him.
Blank eyes.
Blood soaked his clothes.
"You did nothing," Kenji said.
The words echoed.
"You watched me die."
Again.
"Die, Ki."
Again.
Ki jolted awake with a silent scream lodged in his throat.
Morning light stabbed his eyes. His head throbbed like it would split open. His lips were cracked and bleeding. His body felt like wet stone.
Still, he forced himself up.
With a broken branch as a crutch, he staggered forward. His vision swam. Pain tore through every step.
But he walked.
Until he reached a river.
He fell to his knees and drank like an animal. Water spilled down his chin and soaked his chest. He drank until he gagged.
His stomach growled violently.
He hadn't eaten since the escape.
A dagger. A stick. Nothing else.
Ki wandered.
Weak.
Desperate.
Then he found it.
A rotting animal corpse tangled in leaves. Flies swarmed it. The stench punched into his lungs.
He knelt there for a long time.
Then he ate.