Darkness devours the cave…
and the cold seeps into Railey's bones.
His torn body still lies on the ground…
his eyes are closed, yet he is not asleep.
He is sinking somewhere else… deeper… far darker.
Nightmares… or memories?
He sees himself as a child…
but the child's face has no features.
The features turn into a wide mouth… laughing… then suddenly screaming.
He hears his father's voice…
but it comes out distorted, as if rising from the bottom of a well:
"You are a failure… you are a stain of shame… if you were a man, you would have died long ago."
He tries to run away…
but his feet sink into hot blood.
The faces of the goblins he killed appear…
without eyes… without mouths…
smiling at him even though he was the one who cut them.
One of the goblins stretches out its hand and brings its broken jaw close to him,
whispering in the voice of an old man:
"Why didn't you die with us?"
Railey screams…
but his scream does not come out.
His mouth does not move.
Everything begins to turn into thick darkness…
then a small light…
then the face of an elderly man…
a face that looks like—
It is his own face.
Before he can understand, the image explodes and disappears.
---
Awakening
Railey opens his eyes suddenly, as if he has risen from a grave.
His chest rises rapidly…
he breathes in fear…
examines his body.
Ah… the wounds… almost all of them are gone.
But the stab marks on his face…
the lines… the disfigurement… remain fixed, as if carved into his skin.
He touches his face with his trembling left hand:
"I… am I still like this?"
He breathes slowly…
tries to stand…
falls.
He grabs his sword like a cane to steady himself… and stands again.
He walks slowly out of the cave.
One step…
two steps…
until he reaches a small pool among the rocks.
He bends to see his face—
And freezes.
---
An old man… in his fifties
He no longer sees a young man.
Instead, he sees:
Faded white hair
A long, unkempt beard
A face full of wrinkles
Dull eyes… like those of a man who has lived through a hundred-year war
He hears his voice…
and does not recognize it.
A rough voice… low… broken… the voice of a man in his sixties.
Railey (in shock, with an aged voice):
"This… is me?"
He touches his cheeks…
touches his beard…
pulls his white hair between his fingers.
He trembles.
Then he whispers:
"I died… long before I actually died."
He collapses onto a rock beside the pool…
staring at his reflection as if looking at a corpse.
He sinks into a long silence…
hearing nothing but the weak beating of his heart.
And after minutes…
his mind finally begins to understand…
and he laughs… a quiet yet insane laugh at the same time.
The laughter of a man who no longer has anything to lose.
---
A New Decision… and a New End
He wipes away a tear that falls on his cheek.
Then he says in an aged, faint voice:
"Fine… if I have not died yet… I will return to isolation."
He rises slowly…
draws his sword…
looks at the cave behind him.
"Fifteen more years… just to learn how to control mana."
A soft… terrifying laugh escapes his chest:
"If this is not my end… then it will be my final beginning."
He enters the cave once more…
And the shadows close behind him, as if swallowing him whole.