A perfectly valid response

  It had been several days since Kato had let the boar escape. This was a mistake he was rapidly starting to regret. Peering under another small bush, Kato sighed. He had been doing this a lot lately, and he wasn’t really sure why. The odds of a gigantic boar hiding under a bush a fifth of its size were slim, to say the least.

  On his first day here, he had searched for tracks, but there had been nothing. The behemoth hadn’t left a single imprint. Even the bush it had crashed through looked untouched. It was as if the world itself was conspiring against him.

  Thankfully, not everything was a lost cause. He’d found a small pool of clear water, and the hard, red berries that clustered on the dark green bushes around his verdant prison were edible enough to keep him going.

  He’d tried every door, some more than once. He’d even chopped one apart with his sword. It had taken hours. His reward? It had exploded into motes of light. It was a beautiful sight, but it had filled him with rage.

  He’d mapped out the extent of this testing facility too. It appeared to be one hundred metres by one hundred metres. While he was thankful it wasn’t enormous, a gigantic boar should have been easy to spot.

  That led him to now, where he was sniffing the ground and praying to Cogul for all that was good that he’d get a whiff of wet fur. He supposed it was marginally better than being tortured in a starless void, but then again, that hadn’t lasted nearly as long.

  Sniff! Kato inhaled a deep breath of clean, crisp and mossy air. ‘Still no boar.’ He glanced around, straining his eyes into the wilderness. ‘This place really isn’t that big.’

  A low grunt echoed behind him.

  Kato spun, his heart racing. The boar stood proud and majestic at the base of a thick, gnarled tree. It bent its head, rooting around the undergrowth and turning the ground over.

  Kato darted forward, looping around the edge of the thick tree. He would approach it from behind, get close, and then shoot through the still-opened door on its back.

  He lost sight of it for only a second while he circled the tree. When he emerged from the other side, it was gone. There was no boar. No sound. No movement.

  Even the ground the creature had disturbed appeared untouched. Kato narrowed his eyes, scanning the ground. There wasn’t even a hair.

  He raised a hand and rubbed his eyes. ‘That’s not possible.’ Kato walked forward to where it had stood. He knelt, searching the ground for anything. He wasn’t successful. Kato turned away. Still, it hadn’t been long. Maybe he could still catch it! He turned to give chase and stumbled.

  His foot caught on a divot in the ground, interrupting his movement.

  He looked down. The ground was flat. ‘What did I catch my foot on?’ He knelt down again, running a hand along the vibrant green that carpeted the floor. ‘What’s this?’ His eyes narrowed as his fingers sank into a freshly rutted hole. It was warm, and he could vividly feel the depression in its earth, but his eyes only saw an unbroken flat surface.

  ‘They’re messing with my head.’ Kato dug into the ground and tore out a clump of the wet earth. The illusion shattered.

  Before him lay mounds of upturned dirt and deep gouges where the boar had dug. He unclenched his hand and let the warm soil fall spill through his fingers.

  The air reeked of wet fur, but the beast had gone. His eyes locked onto the now visible tracks that led away. ‘This is a small place, and just because I can’t see it doesn’t mean it can’t be touched.’

  This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

  He had a plan.

  Kato climbed the tree and began cutting thin branches down. If he couldn’t see the boar, he would trap it.

  When he was done, piles of freshly cut branches littered the floor. Thankfully, he could see them. That would make the next part a lot easier. He jumped down, landing by the fruits of his labour with a slight grin. This would take a while, but he was confident it would work.

  He pulled a stick close and ran his blade along both ends until it had two sharpened points. He jammed one end deep in the ground, burying it at an angle. Then he grabbed another.

  Scrapings of bark littered the floor as Kato crafted spear after spear before planting each carefully. He worked deep into the night, until only the stars lit his progress.

  Walls of jagged, rough-cut spears lined the grassy expanse. Kato wasn’t sure where the boar was, but that hardly mattered. He would force it to appear. He’d tried guile. Now he would try violence.

  A creak echoed above.

  Kato turned, eyes rising. The boar started down at him from the very tree he’d just climbed. Puffs of white mist curled from its snout, its warm breath fogging the night air.

  ‘No.’ Kato stared at the beast in abject horror. ‘Why can it climb?’ The boar turned, snorting once before disappearing and taking its door with it.

  Kato blinked. He looked back at the artificial phalanxes he’d built. His stomach turned. ‘No, this wasn’t a waste. It’s not toying with me. I've trapped it in the trees!’

  Gritting his sword between his teeth, Kato’s calloused hands met the tree, and he began to climb.

  Kato clambered from branch to branch, running his hand along the wood’s grain, but he found no sign or impressions of the beast in the hard surface. ‘This might be a problem.’ He rapped a hand against the wood. ‘I can’t stick spears in the tree. Not unless I want to be here for years.’

  Kato sat down heavily, brow furrowed. This was… troublesome, to say the least. Nestling his head in his hands, he closed his eyes and began to breathe deep, long breaths he held before exhaling. He needed to think.

  Creak.

  Kato’s eyes snapped open as his head jerked towards the sound. There was nothing there.

  He shut his eyes again, breathing deeply as he tried to centre himself. He had to focus.

  Creak.

  Kato turned his head in the direction of the noise but didn’t open his eyes.

  Creak. Creak.

  It wasn’t stopping. He stood, slowly and deliberately, his eyes still closed. His breath was steady, and his focus sharpened.

  The creaking wasn’t stopping. Trusting his awareness, Kato moved forward with careful, silent steps.

  When the terrain shifted beneath him or grew too tricky to navigate blind, he cracked open an eye just long enough to guide him before closing it once more and listening.

  Kato was in tune with his senses, and he was getting closer. The rhythmic creaking of a lumbering brute filled the air.

  He opened his eyes once more and climbed a branch higher. Closing them again, he felt the tremors of something heavy stomping across the wide branch. A smile crept across his face. He had found it!

  His eyes sprang open. The boar stood several paces ahead, its back was turned, and a dull, inert door had been embedded in its spine.

  Kato stepped forward, then faltered. ‘The door's not glowing?’ He stared at the gigantic boar as it folded its legs beneath it and lay down. Kato watched it. The door was open on its back, but he could see straight through the gap. ‘Did I break it?’ he cursed silently.

  ‘Leaving the door opened might have drained its energy.’ He cursed aloud, striking the tree with a palm.

  The boar turned. A drip of saliva slipped from its mouth as it rose from the ground. Its eyes locked onto him, filled with a hateful rage. Kato turned and leapt down to the next branch, sprinting along it.

  The brute followed him down, landing with a brutal crack, chasing him away from the trunk and pushing him towards the branch’s edge. Kato sprinted backwards.

  The boar charged, tendrils of red mist spinning around its massive tusks.

  Kato reached the end of the branch. There was nowhere else to go. He was at least twenty feet above the ground that had been perforated with a vicious array of spikes set by some madman.

  Kato glanced down, then at his sword. He wouldn’t go down without a fight. Darting forward, he raised his blade overhead.

  The boar thundered forward, ready to impale him.

  Kato’s arm moved in slow motion as his blade arced toward the beast, resolve burning in his eyes.

  The boar’s eyes met his, beady and blazing with unbridled fury. It wouldn’t stop its charge for anything. This man had taken its door, desecrated its home and refused to leave. Now, the boar would take his life in return.

  The boar’s crazed expression suddenly widened in surprise as Kato’s lithe form darted around its side, his blade dragging a thin line of red along its thick hide. The boar snorted in rage. It had been tricked. Its cloven hooves skidded, but it was no use. Snorts of rage twisted into squeals of terror as it tumbled from the branch, landing with several sickening crunches.

  Kato peered over the edge. His makeshift spears had struck clean through the beast. ‘At least I'm not dead,’ he thought sardonically as his eyes drifted over what had been his only escape.

  Chapter 1

  follow the story here!