A hefty pair of knockers

Kato walked with heavy steps, his head low, consumed by thought of the encounter. He felt utterly defeated; he had only wanted to say hi.

‘How could I have messed things up this badly?’ he thought miserably, his spirit sinking lower and lower as he trudged away.

Ultimately the situation didn’t affect much regarding himself; but it led to uncomfortable questions. ‘What type of man carves a bloody path to his future, leaving chaos and uncertainty in his wake?’ Not the type of man Kato wanted to be, even if fate itself demanded it.

Cogul’s influence had guided Kato, he was convinced. The events and the circumstances around them were just so unlikely they felt almost orchestrated. An artificial hand reaching out and making puppets dance to its tune.

The alternative was hard to think about; subconsciously deep down, buried under his constructed persona. This is who he was, it was what he wanted. “This isn’t… I'm not” he muttered; the words bitter on his tongue.

The idea that he craved the chaos and was more than capable, more than culpable for what had just happened gnawed at him. Kato was left questioning his own nature.

So lost in these musings Kato didn’t notice when the ashy wasteland began changing, dirt and shrubbery covering the previously barren land.

Only when a wayward root snagged him and sent him stumbling did he return to the present.

“Need to concentrate” Kato admonished himself violently shaking his head to snap back and focus.

“You can question yourself when you can afford to” he resolved to push on leaving his doubts behind.

Kato looked up, the once desolate hellscape was changing. The cavern roof that had been a constant oppressive above him had disappeared letting natural sunlight fall upon him. He tipped his head back letting the sunlight soak into him. A mixture of hope and excitement filled him. ‘I'm not going to be stuck forever’ he though feverishly.

His stride became noticeably faster as he began to move forward, vigour filling his steps.

“You will not beat me” a slightly delirious tone undercut the words. Laughter followed his declaration, stretching over an uncomfortable period of time.

After several more minutes of walking through the changing landscape, Kato’s elation started to wane, replaced by a growing sense of unease. The density of bushes and shrubbery were noticeably increasing. There was even the occasional small tree. Frail and small yet standing resilient in the face of it all.

Kato nodded towards one of the trees acknowledging their struggle.

And yet, despite life prevailing, there was no sign of water. Kato couldn’t see a single cloud in the sky and hadn’t since he got here. Reaching down the ground felt rough and dry there was not a sign that a single drop had fallen in weeks. Perhaps even more concerning was the signs of life; or rather the lack of them. No birds chirped; no small creatures scurried through the undergrowth, it was silent, deafeningly so.

Kato had been raised in the city, a true city slicker but he knew this wasn’t right, something was wrong. This isn’t the bustling life he’d imagined as a child looking out at Redusk’s walls that had hemmed him in his entire life.

‘It is a false façade hiding the death buried just beneath the surface’. The thought came mostly unprompted installing worry in Kato he hoped his subconscious was just confused and far too sceptical. He’d been overthinking a lot recently, and now he was overthinking about overthinking! ‘This is severely out of character for me ‘he mused, guessing that the isolation was taking more and more of a toll on his mind.

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Kato continued walking forward, doing his best to ignore his instinctual doubts but routinely checking his surroundings, nonetheless. After an hour or two had passed the horizon was interrupted by large tents, atop a hill.

‘New friends’ Kato thought ecstatic, before immediately tempering himself

“That can not happen again” he rebuked himself firmly, emphasising the words. His blade vibrated by his leg, he looked down towards it, nothing, it just sat there innocent and still.

A deep yawn escaped him. “How long has it been since I slept” he muttered his fatigue evident as he trudged towards the settlement.

“Hello” Kato called out as he approached nearly there. His stride remained unbroken as he pushed towards the settlement, the pressing need for sleep goading him on.

“Anyone home” he loudly called as his hand rapped twice against the wooden archway he stood before, that he could only assume was the official demarcation of the settlement’s entrance.

Only silence greeted him, broken by the faint murmuring of the winds.

‘Why is no one answering’ he thought to himself, ‘do they not know I'm a friendly guy.’ His mind trailed off and his eyes slightly widened that must be it ‘duh’ he tapped the side of his head with his palm.

“I'm friendly” he paused “I swear” nothing.

‘Perhaps the people who live here are social recluses’, Kato thought sagely, letting out a resigned sigh, he could not afford to spend another night in the wild, his paranoia wouldn’t allow it.

In most scenarios he would have respected their privacy and moved on, but he was so alone, and something needed to change before isolation took him. He entered the tent village, hoping to seek solace in the commune, but instead of help and comfort his unease grew, his hair stood on its ends and his body began to shiver. It was clear why no one had answered him, it looked as if the place had been attacked. Deep gashes ran though the hides of several of the tents, food remained out and had long since turned into a black sludgy substance lining cooking pots.

‘Whatever had made these people leave had not been him’ he thought firmly, his tired brain seeking reassurance amidst the chaos. Despite the flashing warnings created by the site, he clung to the comforting notion that he wasn’t responsible for this, and his exhausted brain ignored everything else.

He walked into one of the larger tents adorned by some sort of animals’ skull and left mostly untouched. He collapsed on the furs he assumed were a bed and sleep rushed to greet him.

Kato awoke to sunlight filtering through the holes in the tattered fabric of the tent. A smile furnished his face, the first one of its kind in a long time. He was in a deserted encampment, lost and alone, and yet he was happy.

It was incredible how waking up right can make your entire day.

With newfound energy, Kato practically leapt up, a spring in his step.

Ready to embrace the day, he strode over towards the furled over entrance and pushed past it, his feet hitting the hard packed earth of the village streets. A smile tugged on the corner of his lips, and he took a deep breath taking a moment to enjoy the present.

While it would have been nice to stay in that moment forever, Kato had stuff to do. He couldn’t ignore his curiosity it urged him to search the camp and he would’ve felt foolish not doing so.

“Call me detective Kato” he said with a flourish and bow, “and I will solve this mystery” he began giggling at the sharp juxtaposition between his former life of crime and the lawman position he now imagined himself in, ‘what would Maya say?’

Careful not to spoil his reputation Kato methodically moved between tents pocketing anything he thought may have value in his bag, optimistic that one day he would see its contents again.

Kato could already imagine the citizens returning “my stuff where’s it gone?” “it’s the newcomer it must be” “him? Really Bruce where would he have put it all?” Kato shook his head in mirth at the imaginary conversation, not a single person would believe that he could carry the contents of a village.

Kato reached the last tent, its’ fabric sagging and forlorn. A couple of jewels and coins mingled with the rest of the pilfered loot he now carried, but apart from that nothing, no secrets suddenly revealed he stepped back out.

The tents were in varying states of disrepair. Many of them had wooden barricades crudely slapped across the entrances and were marked by a circle with a slashed line through, drawn in ash that had been smeared across the fabric.

As Kato surveyed the dilapidated and abandoned domiciles, he pondered over their fate.

It was unlikely any had been inhabited in a long time and while disappointed Kato was comforted by the lack of bodies or even blood staining the ground. What happened here Kato could only guess at. For all he knew the people just decided to leave one day and everything else happened years later.

After Kato finished with the tents he regarded the rest of the village, it appeared trapped in time, frozen in a perpetual state of decay. The only building that appeared to have survived time’s machinations was one large structure on the outskirts. Composed of stone and the only dwelling that carried a sense of permanence and real investment.

It looked like some of the temples from his home that the Afodites worshipped their respective gods in. He began making his way over towards it noticing the ground turn from hard packed earth to paved cobblestone, someone had really cared for this place.

He stood outside the double door entrance it was made from thick weathered wood with iron rivets punching through the wood. The door boasted a substantial pair of knockers, ‘um hefty spherical handles’ Kato gave up there was no innocent way to describe them.

Emblazoned upon the doors was the same symbol that had marked some of the houses; this time, painted in a striking white against the wooden background. Its meaning as elusive as before, Kato stared at it for a moment trying to decipher its mysteries, but nothing jumped out at him.

‘There’s not much point in just staring at a door I've got a mystery to solve.’ Kato approached ‘and things to steal’ he quietly added as he pressed against the door and pushed.