"Aarhh! Shit!"
It's freaking painful! So painful that Dein started feeling like he's a bipolar of some sorts.
He woke up strangely joyous and energetic, comes night he became aloof because of the fearful sensation he's feeling and now… now Dein is crying and cursing in pain.
He doesn't know losing a finger hurts so bad.
'Stupid, stupid nerves! Making me feel pain!'
Dein gritted his teeth and clicked his tongue over and over again for some time as he covered his wound with pieces of cloth that he had torn off from the tunic Clay had once given him.
Then, with a heavy breath, he calmed down.
The little girl looked at him perplexedly. Se asked. "What are you doing? Why are you tearing your arms off mister?"
Hearing this, Dein quickly answered, his voice ragged and his face grimaced from the pain. "I'm not tearing I'm arms off stupid, just…" he let out a deep breath before adding with a twisted smile "just a finger."
With that, he grasp his torn finger with one hand, positioned its tip on the crevice his had just recently made on the wood and started rubbing it back and forth. Creating friction on the wood.
By now, you can already tell what Dein is actually planning. He's was planning on starting a fire inside this small stupid wooden prison of his.
It was a plan he had deviced if ever he failed to convince Clay into freeing him.
A plan B to be exact.
However, at first, there are a lot of missing ingredients for him to actually accomplish this plan, hence why he made it his plan B.
The first ingredient he was missing at that time was a hearthboard, but seeing that the floor is made out of dry wood, Dein figured he could just use it as one – in fact, the whole reason why he had come up of this plan actually, was because the cage was made out of wood. Wood that isn't even polished at that.
But still, at that time he has two more thing he had to get. One was a spindle – the stick like wood that you'll either spin on the board or rub it back and forth to create friction. And for this Dein had used his own finger.
At first, he planned on just enduring the pain while he does but he soon found out how impossibly excruciating it was. Dein wasn't able to hold out long enough and kept on stopping everytime the pain grow unbearable. And so…
He decided to cut his own finger off.
Sure it was painful but not as much as having to rub his finger on a wooden board to hopefully start a fire. And sure enough, now that Dein had done that, he was fairing much better than he had earlier and the wood below was already starting to create embers.
Just a few more…
Knowing this, Dein moved his hand faster and faster, ignoring the pain and fatigue he's feeling. While doing this Dein is also counting down and keeping his attention to the forest surrounding him.
Klen after all, was already on his move to change position after he and Dein's eyes met earlier.
And Dein doesn't want him to know what he's planning so early on and so, he was on a hurry.
He has two more minutes was left.
'Come on fire hurry up!'
He hissed internally, and after a few more seconds, smoke started rising up resulting to a smile appearing on Dein's face.
The third ingredient Dein was missing back then was a tender. But just like the hearthboard, Dein had found his replacement for it pretty easily.
Dein's hand went inside his ragged tunic for a moment and when it came out, it was already holding two long half dried leaves.
The reason why it was only half dried was because, Dein had only blind the leaves in the sun for a good three days. Well, one was three while the other – the one he had received yesterday – was two and the one from his food early this morning... He didn't dry that.
In fact, Dein did not eat this morning even though he was only allowed to eat once a day, so right now he was very hungry.
Ignoring it, Dein finally lifted the small ember he created, opened his supposed breakfast consist of dried fruits and and gently flaced the ember in the middle of it. Then he blows at it gently.
'don't dissapear flames'
He pleaded and in the next second, as he thought that, the smoke strengthen and after a few more blowing, fire was already burning on it.
Dein let out a sigh of relief.
But he did not rest yet. After all, what Dein completed was just the first phase of the plan. What comes next was much riskier and so he really needed Klen to be out of the picture when he's executing it.
He stood up. Placing the small fire in middle of the cage where the little girl stands.
The little girl tilted her head.
"Fire? Are you going to get us killed mister?" She asked, serious for the first time which almost sends shivers down on Dein's spine but he ignored it.
Even if the little girl doesn't want him to escape, Dein simply has to and so unless she made a move, Dein will not stop.
He finally placed the the fire on the ground before throng some of the leaves on his hand to make it stronger, next he tore pieces of his shirt off to do the same.
After a while, when the fire finally grows strong enough, Dein looked at the little girl again before giving her a smile.
"Actually, I am"
With that, the little girl stared at him incredulously.
A minute and thirty nine seconds remained.
*****
Klen's feet moved in an appalling speed as he ran, his head looking around to find a new place to hide in that'll also give him a wide range of sight where he could watch over the damn talking monster who calls himself Dein.
To be honest, if Klen wanted too, he could just create a pose somewhere near the monster to keep him in his watch closely 24/7 but Klen chose not too.
Instead, he choose to be far away from him as well as out of his gaze as much as possible. His reasons? Because he doesn't trust that monster and at the same time, he doesn't trust himself being near it.
He almost snapped at the last time after all. And if the bastard decided to keep on taunting him like that, Klen did not know if he could still hold himself back.
His second reason was because he's sure that that monster would somehow try to find a way to escape just like how he obviously tried to manipulate that naive Clay.
Now that Klen had think of it, it might actually be the reason why that bastard taunted him at first.
'Devious rat!' he snarled in his mind as he clicked his tongue.
Klen just knows that if the bastard was left alone, he would surely show his true color to try and escape. And Klen wants to see him do that.
So he could prove to everyone and the priestess that that beast is just a monster same as any of its kind.
He's sure that he is. After all, that bastard took one of Lei's eye off and turned his face into an ugly mess.
Only, there was one problem. And a stupidly annoying one at that. It was that, wherever he go, the damn beast seems to always know where he is! Even when Klen could just barely see him from where he's hiding, the beast could still see him. Even waving at him from time to time.
Simply pissing him off even more.
And so, every once in a while, Klen would have to change place to make sure the bastard doesn't know he's watching.
Now, in the depths of the night, just like always, Klen was doing the same again and is searching for a good place to hide.
Except this time, he chose a much closer tree with a huge hole inside where he could hide in to avoid the monster's gaze.
It was a tree that he found just today.
Arriving at the tree, Klen wasted no time and climbed on to it. As he reach one of its branches he exhaled, pushing off the fatigue of running for minutes on end before proceeding to climb a tree. Still, it wasn't that bad, after all, he had done this many times already ever since he was a child.
This short activity was just a child's play for him.
Klen sigh, lifting his body to stand up. Finally, his gaze lay on the part of forest in front of him where the monster's cage, along with dozen more monsters was kept in.
'Now, what is this bastard doin–'
But his thoughts got cut off as in the next moment, he suddenly froze and his eyes sprung impossibly wide.
In front of him, a huge tree where the monsters prison and the monster himself, Dein, was supposed to be hung in was brightly burning with quick flame that seek to spread further. But even then, Klen's eyes wasn't focus on that because in front of him...
The cage itself was on fire and is now plummeting to the ground.
Klen's mouth hung open and a single thought escaped his mouth.
"Huh?"