Haru looked at Yuki, his eyes holding not mere sympathy, but a deep and bitter understanding.
"Past events often turn into poison, Yuki," Haru said in a very low, steady voice.
"I, too, have left many of my memories far behind... or perhaps I forced them away just so I could survive. To carry those memories is to die every single day."
Yuki took a long, heavy breath, as if the stone sitting on his chest had lightened slightly.
"You are right, Haru..." he whispered, yet his voice still carried a pain that was far deeper than words.
Luka, who had been silent until now, peered into Yuki's eyes.
Within Yuki's red and swollen eyes, that horrific scene was clearly afloat—
The silence of his home, the lifeless palms of his parents, and that empty corridor.
Luka could palpably feel that Yuki was still buried beneath that rubble.
Every line on Yuki's face, the way he sat hunched over, and his trembling hands screamed that he had never truly escaped that tragedy.
Haru's words had shown him a bitter truth, but the wound in Yuki's heart from losing his siblings was still raw.
In the dim yellow light of the cell, the shadows of the four of them stretched long and eerie against the walls, as if they were reflections of their hidden agonies.
out?"
Haru rubbed his dry palms together, his eyes still fixed on some point in the void.
"Yes," he repeated in a low tone.
"In all my life, of all the energies I have witnessed, I have never seen one change."
"Once dark energy takes hold of someone, it becomes a mark etched in stone. It never changes..."
Yuki's heart began to sink. He stole a glance at Lane, who sat there quietly.
"But..." Yuki's voice trailed off, sensing Haru had more to say.
"But what are you trying to say, Haru?"
On Haru's face, which had been as hard as stone until now, a mysterious smile suddenly flickered.
It wasn't the kind of smile that terrified; rather, it held a profound sense of wonder.
He lifted his gaze and looked directly into Lane's golden eyes.
"But..." Haru said haltingly, as if he himself could hardly believe his own words.
"For the first time with my own eyes, I have seen something that should be impossible."
"I have seen how someone's dark energy... suddenly transformed into a remarkably pure and sacred energy."
Yuki's breath hitched.
He realized Haru was gesturing toward the small child sitting among them.
Luka, too, tightened his grip on Lane's shoulder, a new spark igniting in his eyes.
The heavy darkness of the cell no longer felt quite as dense.
Haru's single statement had transformed the fear between them into a deep sense of awe.
Was Lane the 'miracle' Haru was speaking of?
Lane's curiosity was beginning to outweigh his fear.
He tilted his head slightly and gazed at Yuki with his large, wide eyes.
"Yuki Bhaiya..." Lane's voice echoed in the silence of the cell, "but how did you get here?"
At the sound of that question, Yuki's body turned to stone.
The shock on his face was evident, as if Lane had knocked on a long-closed door in his mind.
Yuki's gaze fixed on the floor, and deep lines formed across his forehead.
He was trying to search for something within the mists of his memories.
"I... I honestly don't know how I ended up here," Yuki said in a low, faltering voice.
His hands unconsciously began twisting the edges of his shirt.
"I was in my house. Everything was so quiet... terrifyingly quiet."
"I was looking for my younger siblings, running from room to room, but they were nowhere to be found."
He took a long breath, as if he could still feel the cold air of that day.
"When I couldn't find them inside, I ran outside in a panic. But the sight out there..."
Yuki paused, his eyes widening.
"There wasn't a sound, not a single movement. The entire settlement seemed deserted."
"Not a single human soul was in sight... just a silence so absolute it felt deafening."
"What happened after that, or how I got here... I remember nothing."
There was a strange emptiness in Yuki's voice. Both Luka and Haru watched him intently.
In the dim yellow light of the cell, Yuki's face looked like that of someone who had just woken up from a nightmare.
The silence Yuki had mentioned began to settle between them again—
A silence that felt like the harbinger of a coming storm.
Lane stepped closer, a deep sympathy reflected in his eyes.
"Yuki Bhaiya... why were you looking for them?" Lane asked in a very tender voice.
A shudder ran through Yuki's body.
He closed his eyes as if trying to push those memories back into the darkness.
"Because..." his voice began to crack,
"When I entered the house... there were only the bodies of my parents."
"They were holding each other's hands, as if offering support in their final moments."
"Their throats had been brutally slashed with something sharp."
Suddenly, Yuki covered his entire face with both hands.
His shoulders began to tremble violently.
"I... I was outside. If only I hadn't listened to my parents, if only I hadn't gone out, then maybe..."
His voice dissolved into stifled sobs,
"Maybe it would have been better if I had died with them. At least I wouldn't have to face this crushing loneliness."
The silence in the cell was so profound that Yuki's heavy breathing behind his hands could be heard clearly.
"But when I realized my younger siblings weren't there, I started looking for them like a madman."
"I searched every corner, every single room of the house."
"When they were nowhere to be found, I ran outside... but there was only that same terrifying silence."
"No noise, no trace. Everything was gone. And after that..."
Yuki removed his hands from his face; his eyes were bloodshot and filled with a strange void.
"After that, I remember nothing. I don't even remember how I reached this dungeon."
Luka and Haru remained silent.
Haru's gaze was fixed on Yuki, as if he were trying to read the fragments of those missing memories within his energy.
Lane gently placed his small hand on Yuki's knee, as if trying to reassure him that he was no longer alone.
Haru looked at Yuki, his eyes holding not mere sympathy, but a deep and bitter understanding.
"Past events often turn into poison, Yuki," Haru said in a very low, steady voice.
"I, too, have left many of my memories far behind... or perhaps I forced them away just so I could survive."
"To carry those memories is to die every single day."
Yuki took a long, heavy breath, as if the stone sitting on his chest had lightened slightly.
"You are right, Haru..." he whispered, yet his voice still carried a pain that was far deeper than words.
Luka, who had been silent until now, peered into Yuki's eyes.
Within Yuki's red and swollen eyes, that horrific scene was clearly afloat—
The silence of his home, the lifeless palms of his parents, and that empty corridor.
Luka could palpably feel that Yuki was still buried beneath that rubble.
Every line on Yuki's face, the way he sat hunched over, and his trembling hands screamed that he had never truly escaped that tragedy.
Haru's words had shown him a bitter truth, but the wound in Yuki's heart from losing his siblings was still raw.
In the dim yellow light of the cell, the shadows of the four of them stretched long and eerie against the walls, as if they were reflections of their hidden agonies.
To be continuous...