The chirping of the night helped him think. Aren was smoking, leaning against a wooden pillar two meters away from the clinic's main door.
"How long have you been standing out here alone? You should've told me you were back," Nashira said as she stepped out of the clinic.
Aren exhaled the tobacco smoke and remained silent. Nashira sat down on the wooden floor, using a pillar as support. She pulled her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs.
"Was anything missing from the delivery?"
Aren shook his head. He stayed quiet for a moment before speaking.
"In a week, the Capital's dragon will come to resupply the town. You should go back to Siro."
"There you go again," Nashira said with a sigh. "I already told you I'm not doing that."
"Yeah, always so stubborn," he replied calmly.
"If you want me away from you, just say it."
"How old are you? Ten?" he asked, half sarcastic, half amused.
Nashira let out a quiet laugh.
"I just like hearing that you want me close."
"You know damn well you're ruining your life for no reason. You have nothing to do in this town."
"A break from the city's chaos doesn't hurt. Yes, I admit it's a town… well… But I won't leave you. If I do, I'll never see you again. You're my only friend, and you know I don't like being alone."
"You're a woman. You'll find people around you quickly."
"Yeah, people I don't care about at all. I'd rather stay with you."
Aren exhaled and tossed the cigarette into the mud. Despite his pale, somewhat unkempt appearance, he shaved his beard every day. His hair was short and slightly messy, black in color. His expression was mostly calm and serious. His eyes were dark pink, framed by glasses.
"We can't make money here, and it makes me feel guilty that you have to live like this. Unlike me, you can still live in the Capital; you have so many opportunities. You're an exceptional scientist with a strong reputation. You're free of blame—there's no evidence tying you to anything—so they'll let you go soon. You'll find work in another lab."
"I know. That's been my plan from the start: to get a job at the same lab that accepts you."
Aren snorted in frustration and spoke again.
"Nashira, I appreciate your loyalty as a friend. You're incredible, and you know I've always admired that about you. But you've already proven what you needed to prove."
"Proven?" she asked, standing up. "And according to you, what exactly am I trying to prove?"
"Loyalty? Friendship? Sticking around when things get bad."
Standing in front of him, she crossed her arms and frowned.
"I'm not trying to prove any of that. I'm by your side because I want to be. We've known each other for eleven years, Aren—we studied at the same university! For God's sake, you've seen me naked already! More than once, actually. And you think I'm only here to prove something to you? Honestly, that offends me."
Aren pressed a hand to his forehead, as if they had already had this exact argument countless times.
"Nashira…"
"…What are you going to say now? There's no way you're making me leave you behind."
"Nashira, you're ruining your life!"
"I already told you—it's not forever, it's temporary!"
"It's not temporary! I have a debt of five lives, understand that!"
"Don't—!"
They both fell silent when they heard the clinic door open. Liani smiled awkwardly at the tense moment and said,
"S-sorry, it's just that your relative is a bit restless."
"He's not our relative," Aren said sharply. "We're coming. Just a moment."
"A-ah, I'm afraid I'll have to insist. He's… well, very restless."
Aren sighed as he exchanged a look with Nashira. When they entered the young man's room, two nurses were trying to restrain him as he attempted to climb out the window.
"Please lie down. It's dangerous to go out right now!"
Nashira hurried over and grabbed his wrist, saying,
"Pretty eyes, going out at night is dangerous. There's more than just beasts around Ahklar."
"I want to see. Beyond. Something inside me wants to go out and walk."
"It's the natural instinct of the Echoes," Aren said as he entered the room. "It's also their greatest enemy—and the reason thousands of them die every day. If you don't learn to control it, you'll die out there without even lasting a week after being born."
"Echoes? What am I? Why am I here? Why can't I stop feeling this desire to explore?"
Aren sat beside the bed and replied,
"I'll explain the basics if you get back into bed."
The young man considered it but didn't move. Noticing the delay, Nashira added,
"Come on, pretty eyes."
When he finally agreed, the nurses relaxed and let out long sighs of relief.
"I thought we'd have to chase him through the forest," one of them said.
After the nurses left the room, the young Echo sat on his bed with bandages wrapped around his shoulder. Nashira stood to the right side of the bed, and Aren remained standing in front of him.
"Normally, we have a full procedure to explain all of this, but given the circumstances, this will have to be more casual and direct," Aren said, scratching his head.
The young man looked at him with an innocent, calm, curious expression. Aren exhaled, tired and sluggish.
"Alright. You are an Echo—neither human nor monster, but something in between. As far as history tells us, nine hundred and two years ago, the goddess of the world created monsters as punishment for humanity. This was called the New World. But within that chaos, she allowed the Echoes to appear as saviors.
"You are the heroes of the world. You can control the massive spread of monsters, allowing humans to have a future. Our saviors. But in the past, the Echoes grew arrogant and became a danger themselves, so the goddess cursed them eternally to prevent that from happening."
"A curse?" the young man asked.
"Yes. That marked a before and after in our history. That's why we're in the year 902 After the Curse. And over time, the name of our world was officially changed to the Cursed World."
The young man looked out the window, straight at the night sky, and asked,
"Am I a creation of the goddess? A savior?"
Aren closed his eyes and replied,
"It seems so. Though history contradicts itself in many ways. For example: if you're saviors and creations of the goddess, why did she curse you? Why did she leave our world, and why did her followers disappear? And if she allowed you to be saviors, why did she make your lives so difficult?"
"The curse of the Echoes causes the world itself to treat them cruelly. You will suffer in more ways than one, and you will never live comfortably. No matter what you do, your curse is known as Inheritance. You will gain nothing but misery in your life. Even if you ascended to the heavens, killed a god, and then demanded payment for such a feat, you'd only receive a couple of coins—just enough to eat for the day. Your curse turns money into misery."