WOUNDED

I sat on the ground in silence, staring at the man's outstretched bloodied hands. I didn't know know what to say as my mind still struggled to process all that I had just witnessed.

The chase, being close to death, the blur, and now this stranger standing before me, offering his hands as though we were close friends-I just didn't know how to react to it all.

The smile on the man's face remained, widening as he withdrew his hands back. His strange expression seemed out of place, a stark contrast to the blood-soaked chaos before me, but still, I couldn't deny the fact that I felt some kind of... safety in his presence.

"You're not good with strangers, I see," the man said as he unsheathed a bloodied sword from his side that I had not seen in his hands before. Part of the blade that was not covered in blood gleamed in the sunlight as he wiped it with a small rag. "And you seem to be the quiet type too."

"I'm... I'm sorry," I muttered, my voice barely a whisper. My gaze flickered from