It's been barely five days since the battle between Eclipse and one of the worshippers but he had covered a lot of distance, he walked all through the day, then rested at night but he haven't come across another Stain.
And as a result he has covered a lot of distance from his starting point, the mockingbird had taken him out of the city and deep into the forest, when he looked at it from behind the back of the Mockingbird, it didn't seem deep, but the fact that he had been walking for three days before he saw one of the worshippers and another two days before he could escape the Forest showed how much of a distance he and the Mockingbird had covered. When he walked out of the forest he appeared in a wide expanse, looking ahead at the far end he saw mountains, blurry mountain despite his greater eye sight. Being exposed in the open didn't go well with him so he decided to stick with moving along the side of the forest.
It was the evening of the fifth day, not that he knew if he was correct, the sky never changed ever grey. he was laying at the edge of the forest looking at the sky in hunger and desperation, it's been barely over a week without human relation and exhaustion has taken over, he was bored, hungry, thirsty, angry and exhausted. All this emotions and the pang of hunger was driving him insane, all the Aether in his body including the one he got from absorbing the soul shard of the slain were used up trying to heal him, not only was the damage done by his Exousia severe but this damn place, this place was stopping his Aether from refilling back.
"Where is everybody, or is it that I am the only one here". This was the question he often pondered on every night, and he did get a answer to that question— in a way.
"Face it fool you will probably die single, I can already picture it on your obituary— lived a single life, literally. Wait a minute who am I kidding you will most likely die of starvation first".
Eclipse gaze shifted from the sky and looked to his left, he could see an apparition of himself leaning onto a tree trunk with a disgusting smile. The Apparition looked so thin, starved and transparent testament of his low Aether and his hungry stomach.
"I don't want to die single". The sad voice of a broken teenager rang out, even the Apparition seems shocked at the voice of Eclipse, he seems to have lost his light, desolation filled his voice.
"Take a look at reality, when last did you shower, hell you are wearing clothes you picked up from that little house in the forest. That little thing you called a hut. Anyway even if there are people here you would probably die before you can get to them".
Eclipse frowned at the harsh word of the Apparition, he was used to it already but sometimes it still stung, this had become a daily occurrence. He was walking through the forest the and the only sound present was his feet crushing the twigs and the crunchy sound of dried leaves. Then a thought struck him— why not summon Confessor and talk with the Apparition. And there and then he summoned it despite his low Aether which was a foolish move, and until this moment he had never known peace, and now he couldn't even unsummon it as that required Aether, although it did fulfill it's purpose.
"Sigh you think if I had a choice I would still be listening to your constant yapping". Eclipse let out a sigh then muttered under his breath imagining life with humans again.
"What did you say". Eclipse was no longer in the mood to entertain to the bastard, then he activated his ability— to zone in and out of conversation.
As the voice of the Apparition toned down until it was no longer audible, he turned to face the opposite direction and then his eyes widened. He hurriedly stood up and started to back away picking up the sword on his way up. He could see the grin on the face of the Apparition, tha Apparition had seen whatever was behind him but chose to remain quiet and instead taunted him to draw away his attention.
He aggressively pointed confessor at the new commer, and then he froze, his eyes widened beyond possible as he registered what was in front of him— In front of him was a human.
The human wore a black tight fitting armour and held a very long sword which could be mistaken for a spear. And from the shape of the body he could tell that the human was a girl but the hump on her chest region had already confirmed it if he ever had doubt, and on her face was a mask. The mask was a pale white skull with two elongated horns which stretched upwards slightly curving back ward, her white hair flowing behind her like a wave.
"Hello". Eclipse shaky voice rang out, he thought she was an illusion, his mind playing demented tricks on him. The girl didn't respond, she just stood there gazing at him, he didn't even know if she was gazing at him or she, on her eyes pools of darkness nestled comfortably obscuring
her eyes from being seen.
"Are you real". His voice came out, fearful and hopeful, he hoped against all odds that the girl was real. The girl didn't give him enough time to ponder any other question.
She burst out with speed, before Eclipse could even realize she was attacking him she was already in front of him. He instinctively positioned his sword on his side blocking the sword from cutting through his ribs, as soon as the swords met Eclipse was pushed back his strength failing him due to days of hunger and lack of Aether to supplement his body.
Before he could come to his senses the girl attacked again this time with a slash— caught of guard he took a step back which proved to be a fatal mistake.
The girl struck again at his chest when he was in the middle of stepping back from her previous attack, he hurriedly moved back again but the girl kept swinging at different angles and positions she couldn't hit him but her reckless swinging did achieve another purpose— he couldn't find his footing. He was pulled out of shock when he sting on his cheek, it seems the tip of her blade had scratched his cheeks.
'why does everything want to kill me'. He started to get angry but this was no place for anger. The girl in front of him was inhumane, the strength behind her swings were not something he could comprehend. Higher then that worshipper but then again the worshipper was holding back but this girl in front of him he wasn't so sure.
Somewhere along the line he had found his footing. He parried another blow aimed at his arm, then again aimed at his waist then again and again. Her sword strikes and movement was like a barbarian throwing caution out of the window, her fighting was full of flaws but he couldn't take advantage of it as he could barely stop her from killing him.