Lioraen didn't think.
He yanked Rae's arm and ran.
They ran, sprinting off the main road, taking sharp cuts between buildings, ignoring the planned route, ignoring everything except
*Run.*
The monster bolted after them, screeching and alerting others.
"A little more!" He panted, running faster. She couldn't keep up with his speed and slipped.
Rae let out a sharp cry as her foot twisted sharply, pain shooting up her leg.
"Rae!" Lioraen didn't pause. The mountain was just ahead, promising the only chance of escape. Behind them, the screeches of the creatures grew louder and closer.
Without hesitation, he swung her onto his back, arms locking around her. Her hands clutched his shoulders, her face buried against him.
The ground was steep, but he forced his legs forward. He got to it and began to climb. Each step was silent except for the rasp of his own breathing.
"I'm sorry," she murmured in tears.
He gritted his teeth, pushing every ounce of strength into reaching it.
Finally,
They reached the top, lungs burning, muscles screaming in pain. Lioraen carefully set Rae down on the rocky ground. She sank to her knees, hands clutching her thighs, eyes wide with terror.
Without a pause, he darted toward the small hut perched atop the ridge, calling out in a voice, strained and urgent:
"Mother! Mother, are you there?"
Rae stayed where she was, shivering and panting. Her mind wandered for a moment, a flash of the peace she experienced that morning.
Walking to school like every other day, with Lioraen and Imyn.
*Where is Imyn? Where is father?*
The world beyond the mountain seemed dead, and the only reality was the eerie stillness that enveloped the mountain.
Rae forced herself to her feet, squinting through the dusk as she saw Lioraen standing rigid by the hut's doorway.
"Lio?"
*Did his mother leave the mountain?*
"Lioraen?"
She limped toward him, wincing with each step.
"Lio… what's wro—"
Her words caught in her throat.
A bloody katana rested at his feet, its edge still dark with fresh crimson. A few feet away lay the cold, unmoving body of his mother. Scars of a desperate struggle marred the ground around her, claw marks and torn fabric hinting at the monster that had attacked.
Rae's eyes widened. Her breath hitched, choking her words.
The air between them was taut. She stared at him, his widened eyes, his silence, his twitching fingers.
"Lio..."
Lioraen's hand went to his mouth, pressing hard as if to stifle a scream. His chest rose and fell in gasps. His legs trembled beneath him, forcing him to stagger back a step, eyes fixed on the lifeless form of his mother.
Rae reached for him, her fingers brushing his arm. He snapped his hand up, yanking hers away with a motion sharp enough to sting.
Not a word escaped his lips. Not a sob.
Only the raw weight of grief, shock, and barely contained fury.
Thud! Thud!
The sound rolled through the trees, heavy and deliberate. Both of them looked up.
A massive, single-eyed beast loomed over them, claws scraping the rocks. One eye was bloodied and half-closed, a cruel scar running across its face. Its muscles rippled as it adjusted its stance, clearly the same creature that had climbed the mountain with terrifying ease and visited his hut. It drooled.
Rae froze, her breath catching in her throat.
"Lio…" she whispered, voice trembling.
But Lioraen had already grabbed her hand, yanking her along. No time for hesitation.
They dashed into the forest, the underbrush snapping beneath their feet, branches clawing at their faces, the growl of the beast echoing behind them.
He tore through the hillside, branches slashing at his arms, his lungs burning hot. He held her wrist as he dragged her behind him. She stumbled, choking on her sobs, but he didn't dare slow, each breath felt like it carried their last seconds.
"Keep...keep going," he panted, voice cracking. He looked back for only a heartbeat. His eyes widened. "It's still there."
Rae cried harder, nearly losing her footing as they scrambled up the slope. Dirt slipped. The hill dropped off abruptly and as they pitched forward, the ground caved in.
The monster burst out behind them towering, wrong-shaped, and fast.
She broke.
The moment the monster screeched, her knees buckled and she erupted into panicked, unfiltered terror.
"I can't do it! I can't!" she cried, clawing at her own face as if to hold herself together.
"Rae! Move!" he begged, pulling her backward, dragging her as monsters shrieked from every direction.
Another root caught her foot.
She tripped hard.
Her scream tore the air as she tumbled over the cliff's edge. He lunged, fingers closing around her wrist.
"I've got you! Don't—"
A blur of claws and teeth surged upward from the darkness.
Her eyes widened in pure horror.
"Lio..."
The monster snatched her mid-fall and swallowed her whole, jaws snapping shut with a wet, final crunch, taking the boy's hand with it.
The world stopped.
He stared at the bleeding stump, uncomprehending, breath trapped in his throat. The monster had tumbled down the hill, its one eye fixed on him.
Then he realized—
He was still kneeling on the cliff's edge.
And she was gone.
He froze at the cliff's edge for a long, unbearable moment. The wind whipped at his hair, the forest below eerily silent except for distant, fading screeches.
Then the weight hit him. A gut-wrenching, body-shaking blow. His right arm throbbed where it had been torn away, pain radiating up into his shoulder. His chest tightened.
He didn't scream. He couldn't. His teeth ground together as his body convulsed in trembling fear and agony. Each shiver ran from his toes to the top of his head.
Finally, he bent his knees, pushed off the cliff, and ran back. Fast. Blindingly fast. Branches whipped his face, roots snagged his feet. He tripped, nearly face-first, but held himself mid-fall and kept going.
The path home blurred. Every second carried the memory of her hand, her scream, the silence after.
At last, the familiar hut came into view. He crashed through the door without pause, slamming it shut behind him. Darkness swallowed him.
His eyes fell on the body of his mother. Cold, still. He stepped past her without a word, without looking back, moving into the farthest, darkest corner of the room.
And then it happened.
The tears came.
Pure, unrelenting torrents. He collapsed against the wall, chest heaving, left hand clutching himself as though he could somehow contain the agony within.
Each sob felt like his heart would burst from his chest. The world outside ceased to exist. There was only him and the unbearable loss.
"Mother... Rae..."
TBC...