Blink
A young boy with black hair blinks slowly, as if awakening from a long dream. He opens his eyes again, his pupils reflecting the faint shafts of light piercing through the thick canopy overhead.
He lifts both hands in front of his face. Small palms, pale and smooth skin, and his gaze is filled with confusion. He opens and closes his hands a few times, as though trying to reacquaint himself with his own body, each movement, each sensation.
All around him is darkness.
A shadowy forest, filled only with the whisper of wind rustling through leaves and the thick scent of damp earth hanging in the air.
'Where is this…?'
'Why am I here…?'
'What's my name?'
'Who… am I?'
Questions rush through his mind, one after another, none with any answer
He crouches down, small hands trembling as they cover his face. Only the sound of his own sharp breaths echo in the night-soaked woods
Rustle.
A sudden sound.
To his right.
The boy startles. His head jerks up. Eyes wide, hands gripping the edge of his shirt, he instinctively takes a step back.
'What was that?'
His heart beats faster. His breath grows uneven.
Then, he steps forward.
Carefully. One step at a time. His bare feet press against the ground layered with fallen leaves and wet soil. Thick bushes block the way, but he pushes them aside, eyes straining to catch even the slightest movement in the dark.
Swish
He pulls back one final curtain of leaves.
And then
"…A cat?"
Right in front of him, in a small clearing between the trees, lies a large black cat,or rather, plump might be more accurate. Its black fur gleams like velvet in the faint light, its body round and heavy, all four legs stretched out as if it's sleeping atop a bed of fallen leaves.
His thundering heart slows just a bit.
He tilts his head, confusion giving way to curiosity… then delight.
'So cute'
He steps closer, gently, as if afraid to scare the cat away. But the cat doesn't move, only blinks back at him.
He reaches out, slipping both hands under its belly, and lifts it up with both arms. It's heavy, but the boy's face lights up with joy.
"Whoa… pretty heavy" he mutters, turning the cat slightly to examine it more closely. His eyes pause on its belly.
'It's… a girl'
He gently strokes the cat's soft, plush fur, eyes never leaving her round face.
"Meow."
A short meow. Quiet, yet crystal clear in the stillness of the forest.
The boy blinks. Then smiles and replies
"Meow."
He gazes deeply into the cat's golden eyes.
That seemingly vacant stare wavers ever so slightly, as if a ripple flows gently across it. And then… in the boy's dark eyes, a faint white shimmer, barely visible, begins to spread at the edges of his irises.
He smiles.
"Rimi? What are you doing here?"
The cat's ears twitch.
"Meow?" Rimi meows softly, eyes widening in surprise, her head tilting slightly as if to say, 'Did you just call me that?'
But before she can say more, the boy gently sets her down and turns to look around the forest. His face remains dazed, like a child lost and searching for direction, but there's a subtle glimmer in his gaze.
"We should get moving, Rimi. It's getting dark"
Rimi is clearly confused but says nothing. Instead, she quietly steps closer, brushing her head gently against his leg.
The boy starts walking again through the shadowy forest, small arms holding the plump black cat close to his chest.
Each step softly presses into the thick layer of dried leaves blanketing the ground. The sky shows no sign of brightening. Around them, only dense tree shadows and still silence remain. The boy doesn't know where he's going. He isn't even sure what he's looking for.
"We need to find somewhere safe, don't we?" he murmurs, glancing down at the cat in his arms.
Rimi lifts her head and looks up at him. "Meow" a small, quiet sound, as if in agreement.
And so, the two continue wandering.
Along the way, tangled branches form a maze that the boy bumps into more than once. At one point, he sits on the ground, carefully tearing a strip from his already torn sleeve to wrap a small scratch on his leg.
"It's probably fine" he whispers to reassure himself, then stands again and keeps walking.
On that journey, he begins collecting curious little things, a large silver-purple leaf, a stone that glows faintly in the dark, or a flower with petals curled up as if sleeping. He wraps them all carefully into a simple pouch made from vines and leaves, tied together in a neat bundle.
Suddenly, a soft sound rises from behind the bushes.
'Leaves rustle?'
He stops. Rimi's ears twitch in his arms.
A creature steps out from the undergrowth, a small animal with pale blue fur, long ears like a rabbit's but a bushy, foxlike tail. Its body glimmers as if dusted with frost.
The boy's eyes widen.
"So pretty…"
The little creature steps forward slowly. It shows no signs of aggression. In fact, it lowers its head slightly, almost like a bow.
The boy gently sets Rimi down and slowly moves closer to the strange animal.
When he's just a few steps away, he stops, kneels down, and extends a hand toward it, palm open.
The glowing creature blinks a few times… and then, very slowly, it steps forward and presses its nose to his hand.
"You're really cute" the boy whispers, then giggles softly.
Behind him, Rimi watches. For a fleeting second, her cat eyes flash with sharp awareness, but it quickly fades back into lazy calm, as if none of this matters to her.
—
Not every creature is so friendly.
Not long after that, another one had appeared, a black panther with two twisted horns and glowing red eyes. It had growled low from a high branch above.
The boy hadn't noticed. He was too busy picking purple flowers at the base of a tree.
The panther crouched, ready to leap.
But before it could, Rimi vanished from where she was.
A second later, the panther recoiled, startled, crashing down from the branch with a groan. The boy turned around, just in time to catch it dragging itself back into the bushes and disappearing.
Rimi was already back at his feet, looking harmless and calm, as if she'd never moved at all.
"Meow?" she called softly.
"Did you see something?" the boy asked, puzzled, then patted her head
"Don't worry, I'm here."
Rimi squinted, nuzzled into his hand, and flicked her tail. Inwardly, she thought 'So silly. But… still kind of adorable'
That night, the two of them find a small clearing under a giant tree. The boy gathers dry branches into a small pile.
"Umm… I'm not sure I can light this" he murmurs.
He tries rubbing two stones together, doing it so poorly that his hands turn red. But eventually, a small spark, tough to see, flares. The fire catches quickly. He stares in surprise, then lights up with joy.
"I did it!"
Rimi, curled nearby, only glances sideways
In the flickering firelight, the boy begins sorting flowers by color, one by one. He mutters names for each, most likely ones he's made up himself.
"This one's… Star Puf."
"This one's… Ribbon Petal"
"This one… hmm… Rimi's Ear" He grins, placing a small flower shaped like a cat ear on her head.
Rimi's eyes widen… then she sighs.
—
And of course, the boy's life in the forest can't last forever.
Even though Rimi always stays close and the two of them gradually develop their own way to survive, the passing days quietly gnaw at the uncertainty in his mind, about himself, about the past, about why he's here at all.
Until the sixteenth day, when the midday sunlight filters through the thick canopy above, casting faint patches of light onto a barely visible path in the forest, The boy meets another person for the first time.
"Who are you, kid?" A deep and raspy voice calls out from ahead.
The boy freezes, eyes wide.
At the end of the path, beneath the shade of an old tree, stands an old man with shoulder-length silver hair tied back loosely with a thin rope. A large wooden crate is strapped to his back, packed neatly with dried herbs, flowers, and various plants.
There's nothing threatening about him. On the contrary, there's a strange kindness in his aged gray eyes
The old man leans forward slightly, resting a hand on his knee as he lowers himself to get a better look at the boy's face.
"Why are you out here alone?"
The boy grips his arms a little tighter. The black cat in his embrace lifts its head, ears twitching.
His gaze wavers, as if he's asking himself the same question.
"M-Me? I… I don't kn-"
He stammers, each word shaky, like someone just learning how to speak.
But then
Something flickers across his eyes. Slowly, a thin ring of white begins to spread at the edges of his irises.
The shift is so subtle that anyone not paying close attention might think it's just a trick of the light.
He suddenly smiles
"I am Cassius" he says, voice much clearer than before
His tone carries a maturity far beyond his years, then vanishes just as quickly.
He blinks. The white fades from his eyes
He looks at the old man, slightly confused, then repeats
"…Cassius. My name is Cassius"