Stark waited for a moment, calmed his wildly beating heart down and tried to stand up. However, just right then, his eyes unwillingly drifted to the lifeless hollow brown eyes of Mr. Solomon.
Stark recoiled and slowly moved his eyes away, Uttering a silent curse.
'Shit...'
He then lightly shook his head a few times, looked at himself, let out a distraught sigh and moved his exhausted body towards the small wooden desk, while thinking...
The creature behind the eerie whispers was possibly a Name Eater.
The Name Eater is a sinister creature that feeds on names, memories, and identities. It is a creature that lures humans into its grasp with eerie, hypnotic voices. In this particular case, the vague whispers.
Stark was repeatedly told by Miss. Sia to never speak his name aloud when alone, even if he felt tempted to...
Although, What Stark did was the total opposite. He gave it his name the moment it asked him. Though, truth be told, he was probably not in his right mind.
'I was hypnotized'
But, it did not do anything to Stark. How did that work?
Stark pondered for a while and came with an logical explanation.
It is simple actually.
Our names; True names are connected to every single part of our memories. And the name eater feds on them.
Therefore, if a person gives The name eater their fake name it can't steal it. It is unable to.
And in Stark's case, the name he knew; he wasn't fully sure, if it was his or not. And The doubt, even as insignificant as it might have been, it was processed as a fake name.
Thus, The name eater couldn't steel it.
'Lucky me, I guess...'
As, for The old clown, he might have given his real name to the name eater after getting hypnotized by it's alluring whispers.
He looked at the corps of the old man and let out regretful sigh.
"..."
But, why did it not take control of his, Mr. Solomon's body?
He looked at the corps, his hollow eyes unfocused.
"Oh... !"
The reason it did not take control of Mr. Solomon's body, might have something to do with his body being weak and old. Therefore, the Name eater did not take control of it. Maybe. Perhaps. He couldn't be sure though.
These are just Stark's speculations. Stark did not know what actually happened.
But, He did not waste time pondering long on that. Right now, Stark had to think of a way to survive this situation.
"What to do? What to do?" He muttered and thought inwardly, closing in on the Wooden desk that somehow found it's place in the small carriage.
Zawa Zawa Zawa Zawa
But just right then, The whispers from before buzzed again. Piercing his ears like the sharp point of a sword.
Stark swayed slightly before clenching his teethes so hard that it seemed they would break any moment.
Stark, once again was being hypnotized. Being tempted to listen to the whispers. The Irresistible, alluring, dreadful whispers...
However, just right then, Stark moved his right hand closer to his mouth and abruptly bit on them, with all his might.
Crimson-red liquid started to fall from Stark's right hand before he shook it slightly while biting his lips to hold in a pained grunt.
Stark shivered, looked at his hand for a few moments and uttered a silent curse.
"Damn it. I can't stay inside for too long."
Stark could not stay inside the carriage. The whisper is literally directed towards the people who are inside the carriage.
He had to hurry.
He hastily looked at the small wooden desk, his eyes drifting from the diary of his to the small covert placed under the wooden frame of the desk.
He bent down, lifted his right hand, pulled it backwards, enough to put his left hand inside and fished out a small-sized dagger.
He looked at the dagger with his hollow eyes and griped it by the hilt, tightly.
Actually, The dagger wasn't stark's.
It was his other carriage-mate's, Mr. Edmond's.
He is a tall, bulky and rough looking fellow. Mr. Edmond was a mercenary that the Big-heart circus hired to help them travel through the dark forest.
'hope he is safe...'
At that, he spun clockwise and faced the exit door of the Carriage and moved his half-dead body towards it.
'So... Tired'
Stark had a feeling that he might have lost a lot of blood. As a result, his head feel a bit dizzy.
Right Now, seeing his pale hands become even more paler after tightly griping the dagger, made his thoughts run wild.
The name eater, probably does not like to be seen by it's pray. Therefore, It always hides in shadows when catching it's pray.
So, Right now, the only logical thing Stark could do was to get out of the Carriage and use this probable weakness of the name eater to his advantage.
'Maybe the Name eater does not know how to attack people directly. Maybe.' he thought.
Zawa Zawa Zawa Zawa
Stark clenched his teeth and tightened his grip on hilt of the Short-size dagger in his right hand.
As he did that, Suddenly Stark's lips curled upwards and on his deathly pale face--covered in crimson-red blood, a twisted semblance of a smile was panted in blood.
Stark was smiling.
He wasn't particularly happy or anything from seeing his situation. but...
"..."
The more unbecoming one's situation seems to be, the more one should feel compelled to paint a happy smile on their faces—whether real or fake.
It doesn't change the reality of things, but it makes the mind feel a little bit calmer, allowing one to assess the situation slightly better.
Or at least, that was what Stark thought, at that moment.
He didn't know why he thought that way though. Maybe his past self thought like that. That is probable, highly probable.
Whilst, thinking that, Stark neared the exit of the carriage. He looked down on himself, let out a self deprecating sigh, unlocked the door with a slight click and pulled on it by the knob.
A gust of cold wind corseted his pale skin as he took steps after steps before jumping down from the carriage.
He swayed slightly, feeling light headed because of the blood-loss. Then, After a few steady moments, stark straightened.
He looked around with his dark hollow eyes, only the foggy forest came to sight. He realized the whispers from before had slowed down, slightly.
Stark waited for a moment and walked sideways, tracing the wooden wall of the carriage. As he reached the corner-side of the it.
His wildly beating heart started to beat faster after realizing a vague figure was standing near the carriage.
Stark did not stop and walked closer to it.
As he did the fog faded slightly and a human figure was reflected on Stark's Dark hollow eyes.
But just as he was about to take another steady step and call out, the figure suddenly shivered and faced Stark.
It did not move for a while.
But just when stark thought of saying something, it moved backwards and let out a high pitched guttural screech and ran opposite of the Carriage.
Stark looked at the scenes passing in front of him dazedly. Not moving a muscle.
'What was that?! A human? No, might be a vessel of the Name eater. Yes. That is highly probable."
However, The thing whatever it was, ran the moment it saw Stark. That proves Stark's speculations to be true.
The Name eater does not have any method of direct attacks.
Now then, Should he follow it? But that is still risky, isn't it?
Maybe he should walk to the other carriages and look for others. Miss. Sia, Mr. Shin Or perhaps Mr. Edmond.
Stark moved his head, looked to his side and abruptly realized that the other carriages were not there.
"Where are they? Did our carriage get separated from them after getting attacked by the Name eater?"
Stark hurriedly ran to the front of the Carriage. There he saw that the front of the carriage was broken and battered.
He let out a silent curse.
"Shit... What should I do now? The thing that ran away, might come back with other vessels of the Name eater. I can't stay here for too long. Should I walk into the dark forest then, on my own?"
But, he could not see anything because of the misty fog covering the whole forest. He'd get lost if he is to wonder aimlessly in that fog.
Stark felt a headache knocking on the door.
'Agh...'
After sometime, Stark with clenched teeth and moved his body forward.
With few measured steps, he neared the foggy forest and stopped.
Stark looked at the fog for a few moments, let out distraught sigh before taking a stepping forward.
Slowly but surely his whole body vanished into the Misty fog.