--- Raizen’s POV ---
My mother’s body fell.
First to her knees - then forward into the earth, beside my father.
The sound was small, but it thundered through anyway - the sound of an innocent body falling to the ground.
"No... no, no... NO!" My voice cracked so hard it didn’t even sound like mine.
Her last word kept ringing inside my skull.
Run.
Run away from the corpses.
Run away from the shadows.
Run away from the truth that just tore my world in half.
And right then, my body finally obeyed. With no plan, without even thinking, I just ran.
I sprinted through smoke and ash, through screams that blurred together, toward the only gap I could see between burning hos and the forest. There was a small crack in the wall.
Suddenly, my feet caught on sothing - a plank half-buried in the dirt. Pain snapped up my arm as I fell and my hand landed on sothing sharp. Wood? Stone? I didn’t know. I hissed and yanked my palm back.
Blood slicked my skin instantly.
For half a second, I just stared at it. Then I forced myself up. I didn’t have ti to care about pain.
Behind , the Nyxes were still moving through the village. They didn’t need to rush. They were certain, absolutely certain that they were the strongest. But none of them ca for .
That was the part that made my stomach twist.
They were... Letting go.
Like my escape had already been decided.
One of them moved with such speed my eyes barely caught it. Wherever it passed, things died. Roof beams split. Stone cracked. It didn’t even struggle - death and destruction followed it simply because it existed.
I didn’t look back.
The edge of the village ca into view - the wall between and escaping.
I ran for it.
Clutching my bleeding hand to my chest, I shoved through the gap and stumbled into the trees.
Behind , smoke rose into the clouds. Flas burned whatever was left, as my ho was quickly becoming ash.
Suddenly, sothing buzzed at the edges of my mind.
Not a thought.
That sa cold, inhuman presence from before. And this ti... It wanted to lead sowhere.
This way.
My feet moved before I understood why. My body turned through the trees like it already knew the path. Branches whipped my face, and wet leaves slapped my arms. The world slled like sap, smoke and dirt.
I braced myself against a tree and dragged air in like I was drowning. My vision was shaking and blurry.
I blinked hard.
And then I saw her.
At first, I didn’t think it was real.
A pale shape between the branches, a body curled on the forest floor. Ti felt as if it was slowed down. She was beautiful:
Bright blonde hair - its ends black like they’d been dipped in ink. It caught what little light there was and almost shimred. Her face was calm. Too calm. Like she wasn’t even sleeping in such a cruel world.
The girl didn’t look older than . Fifteen, maybe.
A simple white dress covered her - impeccably clean. Not mud-stained. Not torn. Clean enough to feel wrong.
I stepped closer, kneeling beside her, brushing a strand of hair back.
She exhaled faintly.
My chest clenched so hard it hurt. She was alive.
Unconscious - but alive. The whisper slid through my mind again, soft and absolute.
Take care of her.
It wasn’t a suggestion.
It was an order.
And in the wreckage of everything, it gave sothing.
A reason to keep breathing.
I slipped an arm under her shoulders and lifted. She was lighter than she looked. My injured hand scread anyway, but I ignored it, gritting my teeth as I pulled her against my chest.
Holding her felt like holding sothing the world had tried to erase that night.
Hope - fragile, terrifying, but real.
Through the trees, I caught sight of sothing distant.
Neoshima.
Even from here, it didn’t really look like a city. It looked like a colossal lotus shaped like a fortress, tallic petals rising like walls.
I’d never set foot there in my life. But right now, it was the only shelter I could imagine.
I looked down at the miracle I was holding.
"I won’t let anything happen to you" I whispered, without knowing why I really said it.
"I promise."
For the first ti since the village fell, hope felt real.
Then the air vibrated faintly - not thunder. Sothing stronger.
I looked up.
An aircraft cut through the clouds, coming from Neoshima, lights blinking blue beneath its wings. It moved fast. Very fast.
Then, two silhouettes recklessly dropped from it.
Soone was heading toward the hell I’d just escaped.
✦ ✦ ✦
I don’t know how long I walked after that. My legs trembled. My vision wavered. Every few minutes, I lowered my ear toward her chest just to hear the fragile heartbeat. As long as it was there, I kept moving.
I stumbled into a field cut by concrete paths. Beyond the swaying grass, Neoshima rose higher. The iron walls lood in front of at last.
Cold tal, sealed lines. No warmth, no welco - just a barrier built to keep the horrors out.
I staggered the last few steps, driven by one thought and one thought only.
Keeping her safe.
My knees hit the ground. Breath ca out in broken pieces.
"I swear..." My voice scraped, more like a hiss than sound. "I will kill... all Nyxes."
Still clutching her, I collapsed against the dirt and gravel.
--- A few hours later---
A pair of heavy leather boots stepped onto the path.
A faint tallic clink rang out - the quiet hum of a chanical arm.
The man walking towards Neoshima’s walls carried war like it was forged into his posture. Broad shoulders, asured movents...
His grey-streaked hair was tied back loosely, strands falling over a scarred face.
Suddenly, he stopped.
Because soone was there.
A boy sprawled in the dirt and gravel, unconscious, blood dried dark on his hand.
And in his arms - a girl held like she was the last thing in the world worth saving.
For a long mont, the man didn’t move. His jaw tightened, but his expression remained unreadable.
Then sothing flickered in his eyes - not pity, not softness.
mory.
Like he’d seen this before.
Without any kind of warning, a voice slipped into his mind.
His chanical fingers twitched toward the pistol at his side. He didn’t hear it with his ears. It was already there - too cold to ignore, too calm to fear.
You failed your family once.
Don’t fail again.
As if the darkness already knew what he’d buried his whole life.
The man’s hand froze.
His gaze dropped to the boy, then to the girl.
He felt... Watched.
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