Black Shadow created a game one of the other days he spent hiding in his secret cave. Regarding the mice, he would set the trap and wait. Watching a mouse slowly creep towards the trap, Black Shadow would notch an arrow. His goal, to wait for the mouse to trip the trap, and shoot it out of the way before it would be killed by the trap. Sometimes he would remove to arrow tip from the arrows and replace them with a dull or blunt makeshift head. If he did this, the mouse would not die, and he could reset the trap to try it again.

It was quite often that Black Shadow would miscalculate the timing and hit an already dead body, but usually he would shoot it out of the way before even tripping the trap. This was a game for fun, but also for training. Firing too early could lead to missing your target, or lead to murdering an innocent. Firing too late could lead to your own death.

This game was Black Shadow’s favorite. Though he would fire too late often, he would fire at a mouse or Rat every two minutes. This game he would play for hours at a time, firing nearly one thousand times a day. Among these shots, more than half would be fired on time. This game was very amusing to Black Shadow, watching the creature fly into the wall beside it harmlessly beside a possible bruise, then for it to get up and try again only a few minutes later. It shows how idiotic and stupid these tiny creatures are.

This cave had another thing about it that was secret and helped him remain hidden. The shape of the cave was almost like a megaphone in the idea that any noise from outside the cave would be much louder inside. Footsteps could be heard nearly ten feet farther away than normal, voices were magnified three times. This would give Black Shadow time to react in case he needed to, and to prepare for any possible incoming attacks, even though he has never in his over one year spent inside the cave had to defend himself.

He was comfortable here too. Espoir would give Gavner pictures and have him deliver them to Black Shadow, and now the walls were littered with pictures, paintings, and letters that were barely legible. Clay pots were on the ground to collect drinking water, while other objects were just decorations. Black Shadow truly loved his daughter, and would do anything, absolutely anything for her.

He picked up a clay “fox” that Espoir made for him, studying it. He smiled and laughed to himself, it looked nothing like a fox. But he loved his daughter, and no matter what he would love everything she made.

“I will come back to you my little sparkle.” Black Shadow said to himself, grasping the clay fox in his hand.