A faint ringing echoed through the darkness.
At first it was distant, little more than a whisper brushing against the edges of Fenix's mind. He frowned, instinctively turning his head toward the sound.
There was nothing.
Only darkness.
The ringing came again.
Louder.
It grew steadily until it seemed to come from every direction at once, vibrating through the empty void surrounding him.
Fenix instinctively reached for his ears.
His heart lurched.
His hands...
They were gone.
No matter how desperately he tried, he could not feel his arms, his legs, or even the weight of his own body. It was as though he had become nothing more than a mind suspended within an endless sea of black.
Panic seized him.
He tried to scream.
Nothing came out.
Only the frantic pounding of his own heartbeat remained, each beat louder than the last until it merged with the relentless ringing.
The sound burrowed deeper into his skull.
His thoughts blurred.
His heart raced faster.
The ringing became unbearable.
It felt as though invisible hands were driving nails through his temples. Every instinct screamed at him to make it stop, yet there was nothing he could do. He had no body to curl into himself, no hands to cover his ears, no voice to cry out.
Then...
It stopped.
Not gradually.
Instantly.
The silence lasted only a heartbeat.
Then came birdsong.
Soft.
Gentle.
Real.
Fenix lurched upright with a sharp gasp, drawing in lungfuls of cool air. He clutched desperately at his chest, each breath ragged as though he had been drowning moments before.
He remained there for several long seconds, forcing himself to breathe.
In.
Out.
Again.
Only when the pounding in his chest slowed did he finally lift his head.
He was still inside the forest.
Yet...
It was not the same forest.
The towering green canopy had disappeared. Instead, magnificent trees stretched toward the sky, their leaves painted brilliant shades of crimson, amber, and gold. Sunlight filtered through the branches, making the entire forest appear as though it were burning without flame.
A gentle breeze stirred the leaves overhead.
They answered with a soft rustling unlike anything he had heard before.
Then another sound reached him.
Birds.
Dozens of them.
Their songs echoed through the forest, joined by the buzzing of insects and the distant rustling of small animals moving through the undergrowth.
Life.
Everywhere.
Fenix slowly rose to his feet, confusion replacing panic.
The Western Forest had never sounded like this.
From the day he had entered its borders, silence had ruled these woods. It had been unnatural, almost oppressive, as though every living creature deliberately avoided him.
Whenever Aeris and Sylvia ventured out to hunt, they returned carrying rabbits, birds, and fish without much difficulty.
Yet every time Fenix accompanied them...
Nothing.
Not a rabbit.
Not a squirrel.
Not even an insect.
The forest had emptied itself around him.
He had joked once that perhaps the animals simply disliked princes.
Aeris had not laughed.
Now, however, life surrounded him on every side.
It was as though whatever invisible wall had separated him from the forest had finally vanished.
His thoughts were interrupted by movement.
Several paces away, beneath a towering maple whose scarlet leaves drifted lazily to the ground, crouched a small child.
Blond hair.
Small frame.
Motionless.
Fenix's breath caught.
It was him.
The same child from that night outside the cottage.
The same child who had led him into the darkness.
The same child with the impossible smile.
His legs moved before his mind could stop them.
Step by careful step, he approached.
The boy remained crouched beneath the tree, staring intently at something on the ground before him.
Fenix stopped only a few feet away.
"I..."
His voice caught.
A violent cough tore from his throat.
He dropped to one knee, clutching at his neck as though unseen fingers had wrapped around it. Each attempt to speak dissolved into another choking fit.
The child finally looked at him.
Curious.
Calm.
Innocent.
For one fleeting moment, Fenix almost believed he was looking at an ordinary little boy.
Then he saw his eyes.
They were completely black.
Not merely dark.
Not brown.
Not shadowed.
Black.
Endless.
There were no pupils.
No whites.
Only an empty abyss that reflected nothing.
Cold spread through Fenix's body.
He forced himself to look away.
Instead, his attention settled upon the object the child had been watching.
It was a mound of earth.
Small.
Deliberately shaped.
Someone had buried something there.
No...
Someone had been buried there.
At the foot of the nearby tree, carved carefully into the bark, was a strange symbol.
A circle.
Bisected by a single diagonal line.
Simple.
Ancient.
Intentional.
It resembled neither a family crest nor any kingdom's emblem that Fenix had ever studied.
His pulse quickened.
Who was buried here?
Why was there no name?
Who had carved the symbol?
His thoughts spiraled endlessly until a gentle tapping interrupted them.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
He looked down.
The blond child was smiling.
He clapped his tiny hands together once before pointing excitedly toward Fenix.
No.
Toward his wrist.
The ashes.
They had tightened again.
Not painfully.
Almost...
Expectantly.
The child reached forward with surprising gentleness and touched the black bracelet encircling Fenix's arm.
Warmth spread through the ashes.
Not burning.
Comforting.
The child withdrew his hand and pointed toward the opposite end of the clearing.
Toward a narrow path disappearing between the crimson trees.
Fenix swallowed.
His voice finally returned, rough and barely audible.
"...Do you want me to go there?"
The child nodded enthusiastically.
His smile widened.
For the first time, it did not seem frightening.
Only... lonely.
Fenix glanced once toward the strange grave before slowly rising to his feet.
"But..."
His words barely escaped his lips.
"...Why?"
The child merely continued smiling.
No answer came.
After a long hesitation, Fenix turned and began walking toward the narrow path.
Each step felt strangely heavy.
As though he were leaving behind something precious.
When he reached the edge of the clearing, an uneasy feeling settled over him.
He looked back.
The blond child was still there.
He lifted one small hand and waved happily.
Fenix found himself raising his own hand in return.
A deep ache tightened inside his chest.
So sudden.
So powerful.
His throat burned.
For reasons he could not understand, it felt like saying goodbye to family.
Like standing before the gates of the palace once more.
Like watching his father lower his head.
Like pretending not to notice the tears gathering in his mother's eyes.
Like accepting Solis's letter.
Like leaving Cassius behind.
The sorrow was so overwhelming that tears threatened to spill from his eyes.
He blinked them away.
"This is ridiculous," he whispered to himself.
"I don't even know you."
Still...
The child continued waving.
Not once did his smile falter.
Fenix finally turned away and continued down the forest path.
He never noticed the ashes tightening gently around his wrist.
He never noticed that they had reacted in exactly the same way they had when he first met Aeris.
And he never noticed that the moment he disappeared beyond the trees...
The child lowered his hand.
His smile slowly faded.
He turned back toward the lonely grave beneath the maple tree and quietly sat beside it once more.
Waiting.
As though he had done so for a very, very long time.