Nyr and Senna walked toward one of the smaller houses in the village after asking a passerby about the missing child's family.
Then Nyr gave Senna a meaningful look and asked, "Do you think the well is the artifact?"
Senna brushed a strand of hair from her face and replied, "No, genius. If it was the artifact, it would've been stolen years ago."
They walked up to the house and knocked. The door was opened by a human woman in her early thirties—though she looked much older, worn down by the grief of her missing child.
Senna stepped forward and said gently, "Hello, ma'am. We're from the Adventurer's Guide."
The woman blinked at them, her eyes red and tired, as if she hadn't slept in days. For a moment, she just stared, as though struggling to process who they were or what they'd said.
Then her expression crumpled slightly—relief, desperation, and exhaustion mixing in her face.
"Adventurers?" she repeated, her voice hoarse. "You're here to help…?"
Her hand tightened on the edge of the door, knuckles white. It was clear she was trying to hold herself together.
Senna stepped forward gently, her voice softening. "Yes, ma'am. We're here to help find your child. We'll do everything we can."
She placed a reassuring hand on the woman's arm, grounding her. "You don't have to face this alone anymore."
The woman let out a shaky breath, her eyes glistening. "Please… come in," she said, stepping aside to let them through.
Her home was dim and quiet, filled with the heavy stillness of grief. Toys lay untouched in a corner, and a small coat still hung by the door.
Nyr glanced around, taking it all in with a quiet, watchful eye.
As they stepped inside, Senna waited until the woman had settled into a worn armchair before crouching beside her, speaking with calm care.
"Can you tell us about the last time you saw your child?" she asked gently.
The woman's gaze dropped to her hands, which trembled slightly in her lap. She took a moment before answering, her voice barely above a whisper.
"It was four night ago. Just before sunset. Ryne was playing out front, like always. I only stepped inside for a minute to stir the soup… when I came back out, he was gone."
Her eyes welled up with tears, and her voice cracked. "No scream. No sound. Just… gone."
Senna exchanged a glance with Nyr, her expression growing more serious.
Nyr stepped closer, his voice quiet but steady. "What about Ryne's father? Was he here that evening?"
The woman's face tightened, and she shook her head slowly. "No. He… he left us last year. He was giant and he missed his homeland a lot. He decided to visit giant kingdom but he never came back."
Giants were colossal creatures—some so massive they rivaled mountains. But not all giants towered over the world. Some were surprisingly small, with a few barely taller than an average human. A giant standing just two meters wasn't unheard of.
Perhaps her husband had been one of the smaller ones, which would explain their marriage. He likely left the kingdom, where size was everything and smaller giants were often looked down upon.
Varganthor—the Kingdom of Giants—bordered this region, Thyrm's Reach. So, while rare elsewhere, unions between humans and giants weren't particularly unusual here.
Senna gently asked a few more questions—what Ryne had been wearing, if he had any favorite places, whether anyone suspicious had been nearby. But the mother's answers were vague, fogged by grief and repetition. Nothing stood out. Nothing new.
After a few more minutes, they stood to leave. Senna lingered by the door, offering soft reassurances and a warm hand on the woman's shoulder. "We'll find him," she promised. "Just hold on a little longer."
Nyr stepped outside first, quiet and thoughtful, the door closing softly behind them as Senna followed.
The chill of the late afternoon air met them as they stood on the porch, eyes scanning the village path.
As they stepped away from the house, Nyr glanced sideways at Senna, his voice low and even.
"Why did you do that?" he asked.
Senna arched a brow, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "Do what?"
"All that comforting," he said, not unkindly, but with a note of curiosity. "You know we don't have anything solid yet. No leads. No promise we can keep."
Senna shrugged slightly, eyes ahead. "Sometimes people need to believe something good is coming, even if it's just words."
She looked over at him, her expression unreadable. "You don't always need to know the end before you start the story."
Nyr didn't reply right away, his gaze distant.Nyr looked at her, his expression unreadable but steady. After a pause, he spoke again—blunt, as always.
"Her child is most probably dead."
Senna stopped walking and turned to face him fully. There was no anger in her eyes—just a quiet intensity. "Maybe," she said. "But until we know, we act like he isn't."
Nyr didn't flinch. "False hope can break people worse than the truth."
Senna crossed her arms. "And no hope breaks them faster."
For a moment, they stood in silence, the wind tugging at their cloaks. Then Nyr gave a slight nod, not in agreement, but in acknowledgment. He wouldn't argue further—for now.
Nyr exhaled slowly, eyes drifting toward the distant treeline beyond the village.
"The world is a truly messed up place," he said quietly.
Senna didn't disagree. She just looked out at the same horizon, the sky dimming into the bruised tones of evening.
"Yeah," she murmured.
The silence that followed wasn't heavy. Just real.
Then, without another word, the two of them turned toward the path that led to the part of the village—where Ryne had last been seen.
Senna stared at the well a moment longer, then muttered, "Creepy."
Nyr gave a slight nod. "Where else but that creepy well."
He turned his gaze toward a nearby cottage—worn but well-kept, with herbs hanging from the eaves. "Old man Darel said he saw her last. Lives just over there."
Senna sighed. "Of course it was an old man. It's always an old man near a cursed-looking well."
They started toward the cottage, boots crunching over gravel. As they walked, Senna glanced back once more at the well, unease prickling at her spine.
"Feels like the kind of place stories start," she murmured.
Nyr replied without looking back. "Or end."