The sound was small, but it thundered through me. A sound that split my chest open wider than the shattering wall ever had. The sound of an innocent body, falling to the ground.
Silence swallowed the world. Not the silence of peace, not the silence of sleep, but the silence that comes after something breaks beyond repair.
I couldn't breathe. My throat worked, but no air came. The screams of the villagers blurred into nothing, the flames danced without heat, and even the Nyx's presence seemed far away. All that remained in my sight were the still bodies of my parents, lying side by side in the dirt.
My father's hardworking hands - the ones that taught me to tie nets. My mother's gentle touch - the one that always fixed the mistakes in my clumsy knots.
A ragged sound tore itself out of me. I didn't recognize it as my own voice until my lungs burned.
"No… no, NO, NOO!!"
I tried to stand. My legs betrayed me. I pushed again, but my knees buckled. The earth clung to me, dragged me down as though it wanted me to join them in the dirt. My fingers dug into the soil until I thought they would snap.
And then my body finally broke free.
My legs, numb a heartbeat ago, launched me forward in blind desperation. I didn't think. I didn't plan. I just ran. The only thing I could think of were my mother's dying words: "Run".
Run, away from the corpses. Run, away from the shadow. Run, away from the truth that had crushed the world in a single night.
The village was a storm of screams and shattering wood. Figures sprinted past me - neighbors, friends, strangers - all of them reduced to the same thing: prey scattering from a predator that couldn't be stopped. The lanterns that once glowed warmly now swung wildly, throwing frantic shapes across broken walls.
My feet pounded the dirt road, too fast, too clumsy. My chest burned. My lungs felt like knives. Every step was a stumble away from falling - and then I did.
My feet caught on a plank sticking out from the ground. The world turned sideways.
I slammed into the earth. Pain exploded through my arm as it landed on something sharp - splintered wood or jagged stone, I didn't know. All I knew was the searing agony that ripped up my arm. I grunted, clutching my hand, only to feel blood already slicking my skin.
I didn't have time. Not for this.
I forced myself up, but the hand wouldn't obey. It throbbed uselessly against my chest, and every jolt of movement only deepened the wound. Tears blurred my sight, mixing with the dirt and blood on my face.
Behind me, the Nyx was wreaking havoc. It didn't need to rush. It didn't need to run. It was certain - absolutely certain - that I could not escape.
But it wasn't interested in me.
It moved with incredible speed. My eyes could barely notice it. The movements were small, but devastating. Everything behind me was dying, and yet the monster barely seemed to struggle at all. Destruction followed it simply because it existed. Screams rose, but were cut short in sickening silence. Roofs collapsed, fires roared higher.
The ground shook as another wall crumbled. Shards of clay, stone and wood rained down, nicking my arms, catching in my hair. The air was thick with smoke and ash, stinging my lungs. Every breath was a battle, every step a gamble between balance and collapse.
I stumbled forward, clutching my bleeding hand to my chest, forcing my legs to obey. My vision swam, dark spots creeping in at the edges, but I couldn't stop. I couldn't look back. If I did, I knew I would never move again.
The road twisted through the heart of the village, now a graveyard of burning wood and broken dreams. My chest heaved as if my ribs might crack open, each inhale slicing me apart. The injury in my hand pulsed with every heartbeat, hot and wet, threatening to drag me into unconsciousness. Still, I pressed on. Because if I stopped, even for a second, I knew the silence would take me too.
The edge of the village came into view - a jagged line where broken fences gave way to the forest. Trees loomed dark and silent, their branches tangled like grasping fingers. Smoke still curled behind me, flames thriving at the remains of homes.
Branches clawed at my face and arms as I stumbled over roots and fallen stones. Dirt smeared my cheeks. The forest smelled of wet leaves and broken wood - a strange comfort compared to the smoke and ash behind me. In my rear, the village was a chaos of screams, fire, and shadow. But for some reason, the Nyx did not follow me. It stayed, as if it had decided its prey was elsewhere. I didn't understand why - didn't care. I only knew that each step forward pulled me farther from what had once been my home, my world.
The village disappeared behind me. Ahead, only the forest stretched endless, dark, and quiet. But even in that silence, I felt the weight of everything I had lost.
It felt as if hope itself was consumed by darkness.
Finally finding a moment, I leaned on a tree, barely breathing.
My head tilted up again. The same clouds, covering the sky at all times. They never changed. Every single day, every single night. They were there, covering the two lights they called Sun and Moon. Watching. Unmoving. Indifferent.
And then I saw it.
A faint glimmer, barely noticeable among the shades. For a moment, I thought my eyes were deceiving me. But as I focused my blurry vision, I could distinguish a body, curled on the forest floor, bathed in the subtle glow of the covered moon, filtering through the trees.
I froze.
The world seemed to hush around me. The fire, the screams, the chaos of the village - they all faded to nothing. All that existed was her - impossibly fragile, yet somehow untouched by the nightmare I had just fled. Her bright blonde hair with black ends fanned around her like a soft golden halo. She had a face so calm and serene, almost angelic in the dim light that it felt surreal. A single spark of life in the ruins of everything I had known. She wore a simple white dress, and didn't look older than me. Her dress was impeccably clean, as if someone had intentionally placed her here.
I knelt beside her, hesitant, afraid to disturb the miracle. My hands shook as I brushed a strand of hair from her face, and she stirred slightly, a faint exhale that made my chest tighten with relief.
Alive. She was alive.
I lifted her carefully, cradling her against me, ignoring the pain flaring in my wounded arm and the way my legs threatened to give out. Holding her was holding hope itself - a fragile light I could not let go of.
Through the trees, I glimpsed the distant outline of Neoshima. The city waited like a colossal lotus, its metallic petals acting like walls. I had never set foot there in my life, but it was a silent promise of shelter - or at least a chance to survive.
I whispered, more to myself than to her, "I won't let anything happen to you. Not like them. Not ever."
For the first time since the village fell, hope felt real.