The Door
The ruined street was eerily silent as Kaen reached Riku's home. His breath came shallow, misting faintly in the dawn air. The door was ajar, swaying on broken hinges with a low, rasping creak.
Every sound — the creak, the whistle of the morning wind through cracks in the wood, the faint drip of blood somewhere unseen — felt amplified, like the world itself was holding its breath.
Kaen's pulse hammered in his ears. His fingers tightened around the stone in one hand and the splintered spear shaft in the other. The house before him wasn't just Riku's house. It was the last thread of hope he had left.
He pushed the door with trembling hands. It groaned louder, as though protesting his entry. He hesitated, his chest heavy with fear, with memories of the last door he opened — the one that revealed his brother's broken body, his sisters' lifeless forms, his mother's final breath.
What if this door showed him the same?
His lips moved without sound. A prayer. A plea.
Please… please let her be alive.
And then, he stepped inside.
The Scene
The air was thick with the stench of iron. Blood. It clung to his throat, metallic and suffocating.
Inside was chaos. The table was overturned, its legs splintered. Shards of pottery littered the ground, crunching faintly beneath his cautious steps. Blackened claw marks scarred the walls.
And then he saw her.
Riku. Huddled against the far wall, her small frame trembling, tears streaming down her dirt-streaked face. She wasn't alone.
A beast — smaller than the massive monsters that had destroyed Orvale, yet still terrifying — crouched low before her. Its scaled body rippled as it moved, claws scratching against the wooden floor, fangs bared in a hiss that rattled through the room. Its yellow eyes glowed with hunger.
Kaen froze.
His mind screamed at him to move, to act, to save her. But his body — his legs, his arms, even his breath — refused to obey.
He remembered too much.
The roar of the massive dinosaur. The crunch of his brother's bones. The sight of blood soaking into the earth beneath his sisters. His mother's dying words.
The memories chained him in place.
His chest tightened painfully, and air scraped his lungs as if he were drowning. His vision blurred, sweat dripped down his temple, his knees shook.
The beast shifted closer to Riku. She whimpered, pressing herself tighter into the corner, eyes wide with helpless terror.
Kaen's fingers dug into his palms until blood welled.
Move.
MOVE.
But he couldn't.
Not yet.
The Instinct
The dinosaur lunged.
It was so fast Kaen barely saw the blur of its body, only the glint of its fangs descending toward Riku's throat.
And in that moment—
Something snapped.
His mother's words, her last breath, whispered through the storm inside him:
"Don't cry, Kaen. Become someone who protects the weak… My ember."
The ember inside him roared awake.
Fear didn't vanish, but it was consumed — smothered by a surge of desperation, of rage, of something deeper.
Kaen's eyes widened, burning with a wild light. His hand shot out without thought, grasping a broken spear that had been discarded among the rubble. His knuckles whitened as he lifted it, the wood splintering against his grip.
Time slowed.
He saw the beast's fangs an inch from Riku's skin. Saw the way her lips parted in a silent scream, her pupils dilated in terror. He heard the pounding of his own heart, louder than the monster's growl, louder than the world itself.
And then his body moved
The Kill
Kaen roared. A raw, guttural sound that tore from his throat, shattering the chains that bound him.
He surged forward, the spear lancing through the air.
The beast turned — too late.
The sharpened point plunged into its front leg with a sickening crunch. The creature shrieked, stumbling as bone cracked and muscle tore. It collapsed partially, claws scrabbling wildly against the blood-slick floor.
Kaen didn't stop. His body moved on instinct, faster than thought, driven by something primal. He ripped the spear free, twisted his body, and swung with all the force his trembling arms could muster.
The spear's jagged edge tore through the beast's other leg. A spray of hot blood splattered across Kaen's face, his arms, the floor. The smell burned his nose, thick and coppery.
The beast screamed, thrashing, its tail lashing and smashing furniture aside. But Kaen was no longer paralyzed.
With a furious cry, he slashed downward again, tearing into the creature's remaining limbs. Each strike was savage, unrefined, fueled not by skill but by pure survival, by fury, by a desperate need to protect.
Blood painted the walls. The floor turned slick beneath his boots. His arms burned, his lungs heaved, but he didn't stop.
Finally, with a final roar, Kaen thrust the spear deep into the beast's chest. The wood splintered further under the force of his strike, driving the point between its ribs, into its heart.
The dinosaur convulsed violently, screeching one last time, before collapsing with a thud that rattled the floorboards.
Silence followed.
Kaen's chest rose and fell in ragged gasps. His hands trembled violently, still clinging to the spear buried in the beast's corpse. His face was streaked with blood — his, its, he didn't know. His vision swam, his ears rang.
This was his first kill.
Not an accident. Not survival by chance.
He had chosen to fight. To kill.
And he had done it.
His knees buckled. The spear slipped from his hands. He staggered forward — not toward the corpse, but toward Riku.
The Embrace
Riku was frozen in place, her eyes wide, her small body trembling uncontrollably. When Kaen fell before her, she snapped from her paralysis.
"Kaen…!" she cried, throwing herself into his arms.
He caught her, holding her tightly against his chest. His body shook — not with fear anymore, but with the overwhelming weight of everything he had just done. The blood on his hands smeared across her back, but she didn't care.
Her tears soaked into his shirt as she clung to him like a lifeline. "I… I thought I was going to die," she sobbed.
Kaen buried his face against her hair, his own eyes burning. For the first time since the night began, he allowed himself to feel something other than grief and terror. Relief.
"You're safe," he whispered hoarsely, voice breaking. "I… I made it in time."
She only cried harder, gripping him tighter.
Riku's Story
After long minutes, her sobs softened, though her body still shook. She pulled back slightly, her tear-filled eyes searching his face.
"Kaen…" her voice cracked. "My parents… they… they're gone."
Her words spilled out in broken gasps. She told him everything — how her parents had grabbed weapons, how they'd tried to hold the beasts back while shouting for her to run. How she had stumbled into this room, hearing their screams as they were cut down. How the smaller dinosaur had followed her, cornered her, and she had thought… that was the end.
Her voice broke again. "If I wasn't here… if I didn't need protecting… they'd still be alive."
Kaen gripped her shoulders firmly, his eyes fierce despite the tremor still running through him.
"No," he said, his voice sharp, leaving no room for doubt. "Don't you dare blame yourself. They didn't die because of you. They died because monsters attacked our home."
Her lip trembled, but he pressed on.
"If you're alive, it means they protected what mattered most to them. That's not your burden. That's their love."
He pulled her into his arms again, whispering, "And I'll protect you now. No matter what comes."