^...^
Young Aether stood up from the bed without waiting for her response. He simply walked out of the wooden house.
Once outside, he began walking through the streets without knowing where he was going. His head remained lowered, his eyes dull, while his feet dragged heavily against the ground.
There was no destination waiting for him, and there was nowhere he particularly wanted to reach.
He simply continued moving because stopping would require him to decide what he was supposed to do next, and he no longer possessed the will to make that decision.
His body felt strangely lifeless, as though he were carrying someone else's corpse around inside his own skin.
Every step was heavy, and yet he continued walking without reacting to the people passing around him.
No matter how hard he tried to push the memories away, his thoughts kept returning to the same moment.
The moment those voices had laughed.
