Chapter 10: The New Space
The next day, Shuun-Vo created a new space.
It was different from the others. It wasn't an abandoned alley, or an underground chamber, or a hidden cavern. It was a clearing on the outskirts of Arin, where sunlight touched the ground and made the moss glow.
Shuun-Vo spent the morning preparing the place. He removed the system's pressure. He removed the expectation that something should happen. But this time, he did something he had never done before: he added something.
A stone. Small, smooth, warmed by the sun. He placed it in the center of the clearing, like an invitation.
- "What's this? - asked Sari, who had followed him there."
- "A place to sit."
- "But you never put stones in your spaces. You always use the ones already there."
- "I know. But this one is different."
Sari sat on the stone. It was comfortable. The sun warmed her back. The moss on the ground glowed faintly.
- "It's good - she said."
- "I know."
Shuun-Vo sat on the ground, beside the stone, and closed his eyes. The silence of the new space enveloped him, but it was a different silence, warmer. More alive.
- "Are you going to keep creating spaces? - Sari asked."
- "I am."
- "Even without the plates?"
Shuun-Vo opened his eyes and looked at his hands. The skin was still pale, but it no longer seemed fragile. The scars still pulsed, but they no longer hurt.
- "Especially without the plates - he said."
Sari smiled.
- "My mother will like this one. She needs a place to rest."
- "Everyone does."
Shuun-Vo looked at the sky, where the clouds moved slowly. He had never paid attention to clouds before. They were just... clouds. But now, without the plates, he noticed things he had never noticed. The texture of the wind. The smell of the earth. The warmth of the sun.
- "You're different - Sari said, echoing Kael and Yallin's words."
- "I'm remaking myself - Shuun-Vo replied."
- "Into what?"
Shuun-Vo thought for a moment.
- "Into someone who can sit in the sun."